Numbers 32:2 - Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown

Numbers 32:2

The Tribes Settling East of the Jordan

1 Now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great multitude of livestock; and when they saw the land of ^aJazer and the land of ^bGilead, that indeed the region was a place for livestock,

2 the children of Gad and the children of Reuben came and spoke to Moses, to Eleazar the priest, and to the leaders of the congregation, saying,

3 “Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, ^aNimrah, ^bHeshbon, Elealeh, ^cShebam, Nebo, and ^dBeon,

4 the country ^awhich the Lord defeated before the congregation of Israel, is a land for livestock, and your servants have livestock.”

5 Therefore they said, “If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants as a possession. Do not take us over the Jordan.”

6 And Moses said to the children of Gad and to the children of Reuben: “Shall your brethren go to war while you sit here?

7 Now why will you ^adiscourage the heart of the children of Israel from going over into the land which the Lord has given them?

8 Thus your fathers did ^awhen I sent them away from Kadesh Barnea ^bto see the land.

9 For ^awhen 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 the Lord had given them.

10 ^aSo the Lord’s anger was aroused on that day, and He swore an oath, saying,

11 ‘Surely none of the men who came up from Egypt, ^afrom twenty years old and above, shall see the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, because ^bthey have not wholly followed Me,

12 except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, the Kenizzite, and Joshua the son of Nun, ^afor they have wholly followed the Lord.’

13 So the Lord’s anger was aroused against Israel, and He made them ^awander in the wilderness forty years, until ^ball the generation that had done evil in the sight of the Lord was gone.

14 And look! You have risen in your fathers’ place, a brood of sinful men, to increase still more the ^afierce anger of the Lord against Israel.

15 For if you ^aturn away from following Him, He will once again leave them in the wilderness, and you will destroy all these people.”

16 Then they came near to him and said: “We will build sheepfolds here for our livestock, and cities for our little ones,

Commentaries:

Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown

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Numbers 32:1-5

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.

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