1And much cattle was to the sons of Reuben and to the sons of Gad exceedingly strong: and they will see the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead, and behold, the place a place of cattle. 2And the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben will come and will say to Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and to the chiefs of the assembly, saying, 3Ataroth, and Dibon, and Jazer, and Nimrah, and Heshbon, and Elealeh, and Shebam, and Nebo, and Beon, 4The land which Jehovah smote before the assembly of Israel, it is a land of cattle, and to thy servants are cattle. 5And they will say, If we found grace in thine eyes, will this land be given to thy servants for a possession; ye will not cause us to pass over Jordan. 6And Moses will say to the sons of Gad And to the sons of Reuben, Shall your brethren go forth to battle, and will ye sit here? 7And wherefore will ye hinder the heart of the sons of Israel from passing over to the land which Jehovah gave to them? 8So did your fathers in my sending them from Kadesh-Barnea to see the land. 9And they will go up to the valley of Eshcol, and will see the land, and hinder the heart of the sons of Israel not to go to the land which Jehovah gave to them. 10And Jehovah's anger will kindle in that day, and he will swear, saying, 11If the men coming up out of Egypt, from the son of twenty years and above, shall see the land which I sware to Abraham, to Isaak and to Jacob; for they filled not up after me: 12Except Caleb, son of Jephunneh the Kenezite, and Joshua, son of Nun: for they filled up after Jehovah. 13And the anger of Jehovah will kindle against Israel, and he will cause them to wander in the desert forty years, till the finishing of all the generation having done evil in the eyes of Jehovah. 14And behold, ye rise up instead of your fathers, a growth of men sinners, to add yet to the burning anger of Jehovah to Israel. 15When ye shall turn back from after him, and he will add yet to leave him in the desert; and ye will destroy all this people. 16And they will draw near to him, and say, Sheep-folds will we build for our cattle here, and cities for our little ones. 17And we will arm ourselves, basting on before the sons of Israel, till we brought them to their place: and our little ones shall dwell in fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land. 18We will not turn back to our houses till the sons of Israel inherit each his inheritance. 19For we will not inherit with them from the other side of Jordan and forward; for our inheritance has come to us from this side of Jordan from the risings. 20And Moses will say to them, If ye will do this word, if ye will arm yourselves before Jehovah for battle, 21And all to you being armed, pass over Jordan before Jehovah, till his driving out his enemies from his face, 22And the land subdued before Jehovah: and afterwards ye shall turn back, and be unpunished from Jehovah and from Israel; and this land shall be to you for a possession before Jehovah. 23And if ye shall not do this, behold, ye sinned to Jehovah: and know ye, your sin which shall find you. 24Build to you cities for your little ones, and folds for your sheep; and ye shall do that coming out of your mouth. 25And the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben will speak to Moses, saying, Thy servants will do as my lord commanded. 26Our little ones, our wives, our possessions, and all our cattle, shall be there in the cities of Gilead: 27And thy servants will pass over, all being armed, to war before Jehovah for battle, as my lord spake. 28And Moses will command Eleazar the priest, concerning them, and Joshua, the son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the sons of Israel: 29And Moses will say to them, If the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben will pass over Jordan with you, all being armed for battle before Jehovah, and the land be subdued before you; and give ye to them the land of Gilead for a possession. 30And if they will not pass over armed with you, and they possessed in the midst of you in the land of Canaan. 31And the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben will answer, saying, What Jehovah spake to thy servants, so will we do. 32We will pass over armed before Jehovah to the land of Canaan, and to us shall be the possession of our inheritance from the other side to Jordan. 33And Moses will give to them, to the sons of Gad and to the sons of Reuben, and to half the tribe of Manasseh, son of Joseph, the kingdom of Sihon, king of the Amorites, and the kingdom of Og, king of Bashan, the land with its cities in the bounds, the cities of the land round about 34And the sons of Gad will build Dibon and Ataroth, and Aroer, 35And Atroth, Shophan, and Jazer, and Jogbehah, 36And the house of Nimrah, and the house of Haran, fortified cities: and sheep-folds. 37And the sons of Reuben built Heshbon, and Elealeh, and Kirjathaim, 38And Nebo, and Baal-Meon (the name being changed), and Shibmah: and they will call by names the names of the cities which they built 39And the sons of Machir, the son of Manasseh, will go to Gilead., and take it and drive out the Amorite which is in it 40And Moses will give Gilead to Machir, son of Manasseh., and he will dwell in it 41And Jair, the son of Manasseh, went, and he will take their villages, and he will call them the villages of Jair. 42And Nobah went, and he will take Kenath and its houses, and he will call it Nobah in his 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.
