Inheritance east of the Jordan
32
📚Now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great number of livestock, and when they saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead, that it appeared to be a good place for livestock,32:1-5 Lot made a similar mistake (Gen 13:10-11).⚜
2 the children of Gad and the children of Reuben came and spoke to Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and to the leaders of the congregation, saying, 3 📚“Ataroth, and Dibon, and Jazer, and Nimrah, and Heshbon, and Elealeh, and Shebam, and Nebo, and Beon, 4 📚the land which the LORD struck before the congregation of Israel, is a land for livestock, and your servants have livestock”.
5 📚“Therefore”, they said, “If we have found grace in your sight, let this land be given to your servants as a possession, and do not take us over the Jordan”.
32:5 Reuben and Gad, instead of going on to the promised land and accepting God’s place for them in it, wanted to choose for themselves. This was a source of much trouble in later years because the region they chose had no safe frontiers and was vulnerable to attack from enemies. Syria was on the north, Ammon on the east and Moab on the south. It is always better to leave the choice of our place to God (Ps 47:4).⚜
6 📚And Moses said to the children of Gad and to the children of Reuben, “Shall your brothers go to war, and you sit here? 7 📚Now why do you discourage the heart of the children of Israel from going over into the land which the LORD has given them? 8 📚Your fathers did like this when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to see the land. 9 📚For 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 would not go into the land which the LORD had given them. 10 📚And at that time the LORD’s anger burned, and he made an oath, saying, 11 📚‘Surely none of the men that came up out of Egypt, twenty years old and over, will see the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, because they have not wholly followed me; 12 📚except Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite, and Joshua the son of Nun, for they have wholly followed the LORD.’ 13 📚And the LORD’s anger burned against Israel, and he made them wander in the desert for forty years, until the whole generation that had done evil in the sight of the LORD, was consumed.
14 📚“And, see, you have risen up in your fathers’ place, a brood of sinful men, to make the fierce anger of the LORD toward Israel still greater. 15 📚For if you turn away from following him, he will once more leave them in the desert, and you will destroy all these people”.
16 📚And they came near him, and said, “We will build pens here for our livestock, and cities for our little ones, 17 📚but we ourselves will be armed and ready to go in front of the children of Israel, until we have brought them to their place. And our little ones will live in the fortified cities, because of the inhabitants of the land. 18 📚We will not return to our houses, until each man of the children of Israel has taken possession of his inheritance. 19 📚For we will not have an inheritance with them on the other bank of the Jordan or beyond, because our inheritance has come to us on the east side of the Jordan”.
32:16-19 Their promise to help the rest of Israel conquer Canaan pacified Moses, but it did not make their choice good.⚜
20 📚And Moses said to them, “If you will do this thing, if you will arm yourselves for battle in the presence of the LORD, 21 and all of you go armed over the Jordan in the presence of the LORD, until he has driven out his enemies from before him, 22 📚and the land is subdued before the LORD, then afterwards you may return and be guiltless before the LORD and before Israel, and this land will be your possession in the presence of the LORD.
23 📚“But if you will not do so, see, you have sinned against the LORD. And be sure your sin will find you out.
32:23 Not doing what we should do is sin just as much as doing what we should not (Deut 23:3-4; Jud 5:23; 1 Sam 12:23; Matt 21:28-32; 25:24-27, 41-46; 1 Tim 5:8). In either case, sin will bring great trouble.⚜
24 📚Build cities for your little ones and folds for your sheep, and do what has come out of your mouth”.
25 📚And the children of Gad and the children of Reuben spoke to Moses, saying, “Your servants will do as my lord commands. 26 📚Our little ones, our wives, our flocks, and all our livestock will be there in the cities of Gilead, 27 📚but your servants will cross over, each man armed for war to battle in the presence of the LORD, just as my lord says”.
28 📚So Moses gave orders concerning them to Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the family heads of the tribes of the children of Israel. 29 And Moses said to them, “If the children of Gad and the children of Reuben will cross over the Jordan with you, each man armed for battle in the presence of the LORD, and the land is subdued before you, then you will give them the land of Gilead as a possession.
32:1-2 Lot made a similar mistake (Gen 13:10-11).⚜
30 📚But if they will not cross over with you armed, they shall have possessions among you in the land of Canaan”.
31 And the children of Gad and the children of Reuben answered, saying, “We will do just as the LORD has told your servants. 32 We will cross over armed in the presence of the LORD into the land of Canaan, so that the possession of our inheritance on this side of the Jordan may remain ours”.
33 📚And Moses gave to them, that is, to the children of Gad, and to the children of Reuben, and to half the 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 its boundaries, the cities of the surrounding land.
32:33 The half tribe of Manasseh was not mentioned when Reuben and Gad made their request. Evidently they decided later to join them.⚜
34 📚And the children of Gad built Dibon, and Ataroth, and Aroer, 35 📚and Atroth, Shophan, and Jaazer, and Jogbehah, 36 📚and Bethnimrah, and Bethharan, fortified cities; and folds for sheep. 37 📚And the children of Reuben built Heshbon, and Elealeh, and Kirjathaim, 38 📚and Nebo, and Baal Meon (their names being changed) and Shibmah, and gave other names to the cities which they built.
39 📚And the children of Machir the son of Manasseh went to Gilead, and captured it, and drove out the Amorite people who were in it. 40 📚And Moses gave Gilead to Machir the son of Manasseh, and he lived in it. 41 📚And Jair the son of Manasseh went and captured its small towns, and called them Havoth Jair 📖. 42 📚And Nobah went and took Kenath and its villages, and called it Nobah, after his own name.