Commentaries:
Barnes' Notes
The Reubenites established themselves more compactly than the Gadites. Elcalch (el-' Al) a mile to the northeast; Nebo (Nebbeh) probably three miles to the southwest; Baal-meon (Main) nearly two miles to the south; Kirjathaim (Kureiyat?): and Shibmah, more properly Sibmah, famous at a later period for its vines (compare Isaiah 16:8), four miles east of Heshbon; all clustered round the old Amorite Capital. The Reubenites probably retained at the partition all these cities with the exception of Heshbon, which, passing to the Levites, were thenceforth reckoned as within the tribe of Gad.
Neither the Reubenites nor the Gadites were "builders" in the sense of founders of the cities of which they thus took possession. They probably fortified them, for the first time or afresh, so as to render them places of safety for their families during the campaigns on the other side of the Jordan; and provided them with all conveniences for their flocks and herds.
Other Barnes' Notes entries containing Numbers 32:38:
Exodus 23:31
Numbers 25:3
Numbers 32:3
2 Kings 3:4
2 Kings 3:4
Isaiah 16:8
Ezekiel 25:9
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