1Now the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad had a very great number of livestock; and when they saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead, that behold the place was a place for livestock, 2the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben came and spoke to Moses, to Eleazar the priest, and to the leaders of the congregation, saying, 3Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Shebam, Nebo, and Beon, 4the land which Jehovah has struck before the congregation of Israel, is a land for livestock, and your servants have livestock. 5Therefore they said, If we have found favor in your eyes, let this land be given to your servants as a possession. Do not cause us to pass over the Jordan. 6And Moses said to the sons of Gad and to the sons of Reuben: Shall your brethren go to war while you sit here? 7Now why will you discourage the heart of the children of Israel from going over into the land which Jehovah has given them? 8Thus your fathers did when I sent them away from Kadesh Barnea to see the land. 9For when they went up to the Valley of Eshcol and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the children of Israel, so that they did not go into the land which Jehovah had given them. 10And the anger of Jehovah burned that day, and He swore, saying, 11Surely none of the men who came up from Egypt, from twenty years old and above, shall see the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, because they have not wholly followed Me, 12except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, the Kenizzite, and Joshua the son of Nun, for they have wholly followed Jehovah. 13And the anger of Jehovah burned against Israel, and He made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation that had done evil in the eyes of Jehovah was destroyed. 14And behold, you have risen up in your fathers' place, a brood of sinful men, to add still more to the burning anger of Jehovah against Israel. 15For if you turn away from following Him, He will once again leave them in the wilderness, and you shall have destroyed all this people. 16And they came near to him and said: We will build sheepfolds here for our livestock, and cities for our little ones, 17but we ourselves will be armed, ready to go before the children of Israel until we have brought them to their place; and our little ones shall dwell in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land. 18We will not return to our homes until every one of the sons of Israel has received his inheritance. 19For we will not inherit with them on the other side of the Jordan and beyond, because our inheritance has fallen to us on this eastern side of the Jordan. 20And Moses said to them: If you do this thing, if you arm yourselves before Jehovah for war, 21and you all cross over the Jordan armed before Jehovah until He has driven out His enemies before Him, 22and the land is subdued before Jehovah, then afterward you may return and be blameless before Jehovah and before Israel; and this land shall be your possession before Jehovah. 23But if you do not do so, behold, you have sinned against Jehovah; and recognize that your sin will find you out. 24Build cities for your little ones and folds for your sheep, and do what has proceeded out of your mouth. 25And the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben spoke to Moses, saying: Your servants will do as my lord commands. 26Our little ones, our wives, our flocks, and all our livestock shall be there in the cities of Gilead; 27but your servants will cross over, every man armed for war, before Jehovah to battle, just as my lord says. 28So Moses gave command concerning them to Eleazar the priest, to Joshua the son of Nun, and to the chief fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel. 29And Moses said to them: If the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben cross over the Jordan with you, every man armed for battle before Jehovah, and the land is subdued before you, then you shall give them the land of Gilead as a possession. 30But if they do not cross over armed with you, they shall have possessions among you in the land of Canaan. 31And the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben answered, saying: As Jehovah has said to your servants, so we will do. 32We will cross over armed before Jehovah into the land of Canaan, but the possession of our inheritance shall remain with us on this side of the Jordan. 33And Moses gave to the sons of Gad, to the sons of Reuben, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh the son of Joseph, the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites and the kingdom of Og king of Bashan, the land with its cities within the borders, the cities of the surrounding land. 34And the sons of Gad built Dibon and Ataroth and Aroer, 35Atroth-shophan and Jazer and Jogbehah, 36Beth Nimrah and Beth Haran, fortified cities, and folds for sheep. 37And the sons of Reuben built Heshbon and Elealeh and Kirjathaim, 38Nebo and Baal-meon (their names being changed) and Shibmah; and they gave other names to the cities which they built. 39And the sons of Machir the son of Manasseh went to Gilead and captured it, and dispossessed the Amorites who were in it. 40And Moses gave Gilead to Machir the son of Manasseh, and he dwelt in it. 41And Jair the son of Manasseh went and captured its small towns, and called them Havoth-jair. 42And Nobah went and captured Kenath and its villages, and he called it Nobah, after his own name.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 THE REUBENITES AND GADITES ASK FOR AN INHERITANCE. (Num. 32:1-42)
the land of Jazer, and the land of Gilead--A complete conquest had been made of the country east of the Jordan, comprising "the land of Jazer," which formed the southern district between the Arnon and Jabbok and "the land of Gilead," the middle region between the Jabbok and Jarmouk, or Hieromax, including Bashan, which lay on the north of that river. The whole of this region is now called the Belka. It has always been famous for its rich and extensive pastures, and it is still the favorite resort of the Bedouin shepherds, who frequently contend for securing to their immense flocks the benefit of its luxuriant vegetation. In the camp of ancient Israel, Reuben and Gad were pre-eminently pastoral; and as these two tribes, being placed under the same standard, had frequent opportunities of conversing and arranging about their common concerns, they united in preferring a request that the trans-jordanic region, so well suited to the habits of a pastoral people, might be assigned to them.
6 Moses said unto the children of Gad and to the children of Reuben, Shall your brethren go to war, and shall ye sit here--Their language was ambiguous; and Moses, suspicious that this proposal was an act of unbelief, a scheme of self-policy and indolence to escape the perils of warfare and live in ease and safety, addressed to them a reproachful and passionate remonstrance. Whether they had really meditated such a withdrawal from all share in the war of invasion, or the effect of their leader's expostulation was to drive them from their original purpose, they now, in answer to his impressive appeal, declared it to be their sincere intention to co-operate with their brethren; but, if so, they ought to have been more explicit at first.
16 they came near--The narrative gives a picturesque description of this scene. The suppliants had shrunk back, dreading from the undisguised emotions of their leader that their request would be refused. But, perceiving, from the tenor of his discourse, that his objection was grounded only on the supposition that they would not cross the Jordan to assist their brethren, they became emboldened to approach him with assurances of their goodwill.
We will build sheepfolds here for our cattle, and cities for our little ones--that is, rebuild, repair. It would have been impossible within two months to found new cities, or even to reconstruct those which had been razed to the ground. Those cities of the Amorites were not absolutely demolished, and they probably consisted only of mud-built, or dry-stone walls.
17 and our little ones shall dwell in the fenced cities because of the inhabitants of the land--There was good policy in leaving a sufficient force to protect the conquered region lest the enemy should attempt reprisals; and as only forty thousand of the Reubenites and the Gadites, and a half of Manasseh, passed over the Jordan (
Josh 4:13), there were left for the security of the new possessions 70,580 men, besides women and children under twenty years (compare
Num 26:7,
Num 26:18,
Num 26:34).
We ourselves will go ready armed--that is, all of us in a collective body, or as many as may be deemed necessary, while the rest of our number shall remain at home to provide for the sustenance and secure the protection of our families and flocks. (See on
Josh 4:12).
20 Moses said unto them, If ye will do this thing--with sincerity and zeal.
go before the Lord to war--The phrase was used in allusion to the order of march in which the tribes of Reuben and Gad immediately preceded the ark (see on Num. 2:10-31), or to the passage over the Jordan, in which the ark stood in mid-channel, while all the tribes marched by in succession (
Josh 3:4), of course including those of Reuben and Gad, so that, literally, they passed over before the Lord and before the rest of Israel (
Josh 4:13). Perhaps, however, the phrase is used merely in a general sense to denote their marching on an expedition, the purpose of which was blessed with the presence, and destined to promote the glory, of God. The displeasure which Moses had felt on the first mention of their proposal had disappeared on the strength of their solemn assurances. But a lurking suspicion of their motives seems still to have been lingering in his mind--he continued to speak to them in an admonitory strain; and he concluded by warning them that in case of their failing to redeem their pledge, the judgments of an offended God would assuredly fall upon them. This emphatic caution against such an eventuality throws a strong doubt on the honesty of their first intentions; and yet, whether through the opposing attitude or the strong invectives of Moses they had been brought to a better state of mind, their final reply showed that now all was right.
28 concerning them Moses commanded--The arrangement itself, as well as the express terms on which he assented to it, was announced by the leader to the public authorities. The pastoral country the two tribes had desired was to be granted them on condition that they would lend their aid to their brethren in the approaching invasion of Canaan. If they refused or failed to perform their promise, those possessions should be forfeited, and they themselves compelled to go across the Jordan and fight for a settlement like the rest of their brethren.
33 half the tribe of Manasseh--It is nowhere explained in the record how they were incorporated with the two tribes, or what broke this great tribe into two parts, of which one was left to follow the fortunes of its brethren in the settled life of the western hills, while the other was allowed to wander as a nomadic tribe over the pasture lands of Gilead and Bashan. They are not mentioned as accompanying Reuben and Gad in their application to Moses [
Num 32:1]; neither were they included in his first directions (
Num 32:25); but as they also were a people addicted to pastoral pursuits and possessed as immense flocks as the other two, Moses invited the half of them to remain, in consequence, probably, of finding that this region was more than sufficient for the pastoral wants of the others, and he may have given them the preference, as some have conjectured, for their valorous conduct in the contests with the Amorites (compare
Num 32:39, with
Josh 17:1).
34 And the children of Gad built--(See on
Num 32:16).
Dibon--identified with Dheban, now in ruins, an hour's distance from the Arnon (Mojeb).
Ataroth (Hebrew, "crowns")--There are several towns so called in Scripture, but this one in the tribe of Gad has not been identified.
Aroer--now Arair, standing on a precipice on the north bank of the Arnon.
35 Atroth, Shophan, and Jaazer, &c.--Jaazer, near a famed fountain, Ain Hazier, the waters of which flow into Wady Schaib, about fifteen miles from Hesbon. Beth-nimrah, now Nimrin; Heshbon, now Hesban; Elealeh (Hebrew, "the high"), now Elaal; Kirjathaim (Hebrew, "the double city"); Nebo, now Neba, near the mountain of that name; Baal-meon, now Myoun, in ruins, where was a temple of Baal (
Josh 13:17;
Jer 48:23); Shibmah, or Shebam (
Num 32:3), near Heshbon, famous for vines (
Isa 16:9-
Isa 16:10;
Jer 48:32).
38 (their names being changed)--either because it was the general custom of conquerors to do so; or, rather, because from the prohibition to mention the names of other gods (
Exod 23:13), as Nebo and Baal were, it was expedient on the first settlement of the Israelites to obliterate all remembrance of those idols. (See
Josh 13:17-
Josh 13:20).
39 Gilead--now Jelud.
41 Havoth-jair--that is, "tent-villages." Jair, who captured them, was a descendant of Manasseh on his mother's side (
1Chr 1:21-22).
42 Nobah--also a distinguished person connected with the eastern branch of the tribe of Manasseh.