They came near to him, and said, “We will build sheepfolds here for our livestock, and cities for our little ones; but we ourselves will be ready armed to go before the children of Israel, until we have brought them to their place. Our little ones shall dwell in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land. We will not return to our houses until the children of Israel have all received their inheritance. For we will not inherit with them on the other side of the Jordan and beyond, because our inheritance has come to us on this side of the Jordan eastward.”
Moses said to them: “If you will do this thing, if you will arm yourselves to go before Yahweh to the war, and every one of your armed men will pass over the Jordan before Yahweh until he has driven out his enemies from before him, and the land is subdued before Yahweh; then afterward you shall return, and be clear of obligation to Yahweh and to Israel. Then this land shall be your possession before Yahweh.
“But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against Yahweh; and be sure your sin will find you out. Build cities for your little ones, and folds for your sheep; and do that which has proceeded out of your mouth.”
The children of Gad and the children of Reuben spoke to Moses, saying, “Your servants will do as my lord commands. Our little ones, our wives, our flocks, and all our livestock shall be there in the cities of Gilead; but your servants will pass over, every man who is armed for war, before Yahweh to battle, as my lord says.”
So Moses commanded concerning them to Eleazar the priest, and to Joshua the son of Nun, and to the heads of the fathers’ households of the tribes of the children of Israel. Moses said to them, “If the children of Gad and the children of Reuben will pass with you over the Jordan, every man who is armed to battle before Yahweh, and the land is subdued before you, then you shall give them the land of Gilead for a possession; but if they will not pass over with you armed, they shall have possessions among you in the land of Canaan.”
The children of Gad and the children of Reuben answered, saying, “As Yahweh has said to your servants, so will we do. We will pass over armed before Yahweh into the land of Canaan, and the possession of our inheritance shall remain with us beyond the Jordan.”
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv17, 20, 21, 22, 23, 28, 31 In the land of Canaan.
In the land of Canaan.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv16, 23 Num 32:16 And they came near unto him, and…
Num 32:16 And they came near unto him, and said, We will build sheepfolds here for our cattle, and cities for our little ones:
Ver. 16. We will build sheep folds.] This was their intent at first, though Moses mistook them. There may be gross mistakes, and thereupon grievous unkindnesses, betwixt dearest friends. Cyril, and John, bishop of Antioch, objected heresy one to another, and proceeded as far as excommunication; postea comperti idem sentire: so did Cyril and Theodoret.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv17, 20, 22, 23, 24, 26, 30, 31 We ourselves; either all, or as many of us…
We ourselves; either all, or as many of us as shall be thought necessary, leaving only so many as may be necessary to provide for the sustenance and defence of our wives and children here. See Jos 4:12,13.
The inhabitants of the land; the Moabites and Edomites, or other bordering people.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32 But we ourselves will go ready armed before the…
But we ourselves will go ready armed before the children of Israel,.... This they said to free themselves from the charge of cowardice, and that they did not mean to sit still while their brethren went to war; they were willing to put on their armour, and be ready to meet the enemy upon the borders of the land, and engage with them, and to expose their lives in favour of their brethren:
until we have brought them unto their place; to the land of Canaan, the place designed for them, and given unto them, to the possession of it, and a settlement in it:
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and our little ones shall dwell in the fenced cities, because of the inhabitants of the land; where they might be safe from them, which they proposed to repair and refortify for the security of them, while they went with their brethren into the land of Canaan, to put them into possession of that, of which they made not the least doubt; and so served to clear them of suspicion of any distrust they had of entering into and possessing the land, which might tend to discourage the people.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv17, 20, 22, 23, 30, 31 We ourselves - Either all, or as many as…
We ourselves - Either all, or as many as shall be thought necessary, leaving only so many as may be necessary to provide for the sustenance and defense of our wives and children here.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv16–17 Verse 16. We will build - cities for our…
Verse 16. We will build - cities for our little ones] It was impossible for these, numerous as they might be, to build cities and fortify them for the defence of their families in their absence. Calmet supposes they meant no more than repairing the cities of the Amorites which they had lately taken; which work might have been very easily accomplished in the time which they spent on this side of Jordan, before they went over with their brethren, to put them in possession of the land.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv17, 18, 20, 23, 30 Num 32:17. We ourselves will go — Either all,…
Num 32:17. We ourselves will go — Either all, or as many of us as shall be thought necessary, leaving only so many as may be requisite to provide for the support and defence of our wives and children. Because of the inhabitants of the land — The Moabites and Edomites, or other neighbouring people, together with such of the Amorites as had saved themselves by flight, and would watch all opportunities of seeking to reinstate themselves in their lost possessions. Accordingly we find that forty thousand of the Reubenites and Gadites went over with their brethren, ready armed for war, to the plains of Jericho, Deu 3:18; Jos 4:12.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv23, 27 Be sure your sin will find you out -…
Be sure your sin will find you out - literally, “know ye your sin that it will find you out.” Moses implies that their sin would eventually bring its own punishment along with it.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv17, 19, 20, 21, 25, 26, 30 Cities, which in the space of two months they…
Cities, which in the space of two months they would repair sufficiently, so that their children might be protected against the Amorrhites, &c. They left strong garrisons, very prudently, to keep possession of the conquered country: 70,580 remained in the cities; while 40,000 went before their brethren. See chap. xxvi. 7, 18., and Josue iv. 13.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv16, 17, 20, 28 they came near--The narrative gives a picturesque description of…
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.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 28, 30 THE MODIFIED PETITION OF REUBEN AND GAD, Num_32:16-32.
THE MODIFIED PETITION OF REUBEN AND GAD, Num_32:16-32.
16. They came near — Evidently after retiring from the first audience with Moses and consulting with the people of their tribes.
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Sheepfolds — It is the custom of the nomads of this region to surround their tents with stone walls about the height of a man, that the flocks may not be scattered in the night, and that the falling of the cobblestones laid on the top, knocked off by the wolf climbing up the wall, might give an alarm.
Cities — Captured cities were to be repaired. In Argob, a district east of the Sea of Galilee, Jair took sixty cities.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv17, 23, 24, 30 17. will be ready armed] Heb. has lit. ‘will…
17. will be ready armed] Heb. has lit. ‘will arm ourselves hastening.’ But the expression is awkward, and the last word (חֻשִׁים) is doubtful. חֲמֻשִׁים should probably be read: will arm ourselves in battle array; cf. Exo_13:18, Jos_1:14; Jos_4:12.
our little ones] Including, of course, the wives and all members of the family who were not fighting men. God would take care of them while all the soldiers were fulfilling the sacred duty of conquering the land of Canaan (cf. Exo_34:24). An historical basis underlying the passage probably was that some portion of Gad took part in the battles on the west of Jordan. This seems to be referred to in the early poem in Deuteronomy 33 (Num_32:20 f.).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv16, 17, 19, 20, 22 (16) We will build sheepfolds . . . —The…
(16) We will build sheepfolds . . . —The sheepfolds were commonly constructed of loose stones piled up on one another.
And cities for our little ones.—The word which is rendered “build” often means to “build up” or “repair,” and it probably has that meaning in this place, as applied to the cities. (See Num_32:26.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv16, 17, 19, 20, 23, 26, 28 Sheep-folds. axo trodGi. These were rude enclosures built of…
Sheep-folds. axo trodGi. These were rude enclosures built of loose stones piled on one another, into which the flocks were driven at night for safety.
Vers. 16-32. The final arrangement.
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I REUBEN AND GAD DO NOT RESENT THE LANGUAGE OF MOSES. This is all the more noticeable because the language is so strong and humiliating. They seem to admit that his reproaches, his warnings, and his predictions had been only too clearly justified by their conduct. Learn from this that when there is occasion to express righteous anger, one must not begin to take counsel with the shallow maxims of worldly prudence. There is need in the service of God for great common sense, for far more of it than usually finds exercise, but there is no common sense where courage, straightforwardness, and the manly assertion of all Christian principles are absent. It is a very foolish thing to use strong language just by way of liberating the effervescence of the soul. But when strong language is deserved and the occasion demands the utterance of it, then do not spare. Moses might have said to himself, "This is a very ticklish state of affairs; if I do not humour these people they will certainly act according to their desire, whether I consent or not." Some leaders and so-called skilful managers and tacticians would have humoured Reuben and Gad at such a crisis as this. But it was not for Moses to humour anybody, or trifle with men who were trifling with God. And he had his immediate reward. "They came near unto him" (verse 16). You can see them almost cringing before Moses, fawning upon him in their eagerness to get their requests. His eye has pierced into their mean hearts, and they know it. They have not one word of defense to offer, not one protest against being so hardly dealt with. Learn then from the example of Moses here, and of Paul on more than one occasion, how to speak out when silence, or, what is worse, delicate picking and choosing of words, involves unfaithfulness to God. We must never be coarse, vindictive, abusive, or spiteful; but if we have a genuine concern for the good of men and the glory of God, he will put as it were his own word into our lips, so controlling language, tone, and features that it will be what his word always is, a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
II BUT THOUGH THEY DO NOT RESENT THE REBUKE OF MOSES, THEY HOLD TO THEIR ORIGINAL PURPOSE. So confident are they that they call this much-coveted]and their inheritance. They cannot but feel the probing force of what Moses has said, but they are also quick to notice what he has omitted to say. If they had put their thoughts into speech they would have run somewhat like this: "He has been a shepherd himself, a practical man in flocks and herds, and of course he knows nicely that these lands for which we ask are just the place for our cattle. We shall hold to our choice, though it may involve a little more trouble and delay than we could have wished." Even when men are made to smart under a just, unanswerable rebuke they keep to their darling projects. They do not believe in their hearts, even though Christ says it, that one cannot serve God and mammon. Reuben and Gad mean to try the experiment of living east of Jordan, and yet keeping their place in the unity and the privileges of Israel.
III THEY PROPOSE A RASH AND DIFFICULT COMPROMISE. The more we consider what they undertook to do, the more also we see their short-sighted policy. Mark their overweening self-confidence. They cannot risk the chance which was indeed no chance at all, but a Divine certainty of finding suitable pastures in Canaan, but they are quite willing to risk their families and flocks in fenced cities of the land they had chosen. Yet on their own admission fenced cities were no adequate security. The fighting men among them were going across Jordan to help in conquering a land where, as had been reported to their fathers, the cities were walled and very great. (Num_13:28) There appears in their resolution a curious mixture of reasonable faith and rash self-confidence. They have learned enough to assure them that Canaan will be conquered, and they are quite ready to believe that in some unaccountable way their own dearest possessions will also be safe. Yet they did not really know how long they were to be absent. It seems to have been several years before they were allowed to return, and when they did return it was not with the unmingled self-congratulations which might have been expected. He who would]earn how disastrous their choice turned out in the end must carefully consider Jos 22. Most assuredly, whatever Reuben and Gad gained in pastures they more than lost in their permanent isolation from their brethren. Y.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv16, 23 We will build sheepfolds here for our cattle, and…
Num_32:16-27
We will build sheepfolds here for our cattle, and cities for our little ones.
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But we ourselves will go ready armed.
The amended proposal of the Reubenites and Gadites
I. The amended proposal made.
1. That they should province at once for the safe settlement of their families and their flocks and herds.
2. That they would assist their brethren in the conquest of Canaan.
3. That they would not leave their brethren until that conquest was completely effected.
4. That they would not seek for any inheritance with their brethren on the other side of the Jordan.
II. The amended proposal accepted.
1. Moses re-affirms the chief terms of their proposal.
2. He accepts their proposal as righteous.
3. He warns them that if they fail to faithfully fulfil its terms punishment will overtake them.
III. The amended proposal confirmed. Lessons:
1. The duty of manifesting a practical regard for the rights and interests of others.
2. The importance of faithfully fulfilling the engagements into which we enter.
3. The delusiveness of the notion that any one can sin and escape the punishment of sin. (W. Jones.)
Conflict the condition of attainment, and suffering the consequence of sin
I. A truth to be confirmed--that those who would share in the inheritance must engage in the conflict.
II. A warning to be applied--that sin brings punishment; and that those who think to sin with impunity, under a dispensation of mercy, will find themselves fearfully disappointed.
III. A personal application to be made. (Samuel Thodey.)
Necessity for conflict in the open field
A skilful botanist, an exile in a foreign land, was thankful to accept the position of an under-gardener in the service of a man of wealth. While filling this humble office, his attention was attracted by a rare plant which had been sent to the owner of the garden, and which had been placed in the hot-house under the impression that it was a native of the tropics. So far from thriving, it had begun so evidently to wither and decay that the unskilful gardener was about to remove it to a still warmer place, when the observant eye of the botanist discovered it to be a production of the Arctic regions, and insisted that it should be exposed to the icy breath of winter. Forthwith it revived, and began to flourish. In like manner, if Christians will shut themselves up in the confined and heated atmosphere of worldliness and sin, they can neither hope for growth nor fruitfulness. Heroic conflict in the open field with the enemies of our salvation, the overcoming of temptation in the way of daily duty, constant communication with the Holy Spirit of God in the use of the appointed means of grace--these are the only safeguards for the soul. (Christian Age.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v20 The Petition Granted with the Proposed Condition
The Petition Granted with the Proposed Condition
v. 20. And Moses said unto them, If ye will do this thing, if ye will go armed before the Lord to war,
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v. 21. and will go all of you armed over Jordan before the Lord, until He hath driven out His enemies from before Him, the matter was to be performed in good faith, in solemn earnestness, as before the face of Jehovah, with His eyes resting upon them,
v. 22. and the land be subdued before the Lord, then, afterward, ye shall return and be guiltless before the Lord and before Israel, since they would then have fulfilled all the obligations resting upon them as members of the Lord’s people; and this land shall be your possession before the Lord.
v. 23. But if ye will not do so, refusing to fulfill the duty which lay before them so plainly, behold, ye have sinned against the Lord; and be sure your sin will find you out, its punishment would surely strike them.
v. 24. Build you cities for your little ones and folds for your sheep; and do that which hath proceeded out of your mouth, they should keep the promise which they had made of their own free will.
v. 25. And the children of Gad and the children of Reuben spake unto Moses, saying, Thy servants will do as my lord commandeth.
v. 26. Our little ones, our wives, our flocks, and all our cattle shall be there in the cities of Gilead;
v. 27. but thy servants will pass over, every man armed for war, before the Lord to battle, as my lord saith.
v. 28. So concerning them Moses commanded Eleazar, the priest, and Joshua, the son of Nun, and the chief fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel, since Moses knew that he himself would not live to see the accomplishment of the agreement;
v. 29. and Moses said unto them, If the children of Gad and the children of Reuben will pass with you over Jordan, every man armed to battle, before the Lord, who still accompanied the host, and the land shall be subdued before you, then ye shall give them the land of Gilead for a possession, which they were now holding only in a temporary and tentative manner, subject to the fulfillment of their promise;
v. 30. but it they will not pass over with you armed, they shall have possessions among you in the land of Canaan. The text seems to imply that the two tribes would lose their identity in that case, their status as two separate and distinct tribes, their members being distributed among the other tribes of Israel.
v. 31. And the children of Gad and the children of Reuben answered, saying, As the Lord hath said unto thy servants, so will we do, thus declaring their willingness to accept the terms as stated.
v. 32. We will pass over armed before the Lord into the land of Canaan, that the possession of our inheritance on this side of Jordan may be ours, for the possession of it was actually dependent upon their fulfilling the condition.
v. 33. And Moses gave unto them, even to the children of Gad and to the children of Reuben and unto half the tribe of Manasseh, the son of Joseph, this tribe thus being recognized as having equal claims with the other two, the kingdom of Sihon, king of the Amorites, and the kingdom of Og, king of Bashan, the land, with the cities thereof in the coasts (boundaries), even the cities of the country round about, the entire country with its cities and the cultivated land in the neighborhood of the cities.
v. 34. And. the children of Gad built Dibon, and Ataroth, and Aroer,
v. 35. and Atroth, Shophan, and Jaazer, and Jogbehah,
v. 36. and Beth-nimrah, and Beth-haran, fenced cities; and folds, walled corals, for sheep.
v. 37. And the children of Reuben built Heshbon, the city which had been the capital of Sihon, and Elealeh, and Kirjathaim,
v. 38. and Nebo, and Baal-meon, (their names being changed,) and Shibmah; and gave other names unto the cities which they builded. Some of these cities have been located more or less exactly, while the location of others is altogether a matter of conjecture; but they were all in the territory east of the Jordan. y. 39. And the children of Machir, the son of Manasseh, went to Gilead, that is, they had gone there, this fact causing them to be included in this grant, and took it, and dispossessed the Amorite which was in it.
v. 40. And Moses gave Gilead unto Machir, the son of Manasseh; and he dwelt therein.
v. 41. And Jair, the son of Manasseh, went, had gone, and took the small towns thereof, and called them Havoth-jair.
v. 42. And Nobah went, had gone, and took Kenath and the villages thereof, and called it Nobah, after his own name. Cf Deu 3:4-14; 1Ch 2:22-23, where we learn that Jair was the leader in these expeditions, that he himself took twenty-three cities, and that the total number of towns with their suburbs taken in the campaign was sixty. For the people of God the motto holds true: A common warfare and peril, a common triumph and inheritance.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv16, 18, 20, 23, 26, 28, 31 will be ready and armed
will be ready and armed
"will be ready with weapons" or "will be ready to fight a war"
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in the fortified cities
"in the secured cities"
translationWords
Moses
cow
family
stronghold
people group
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv16, 20, 25, 28, 31 32:16-19 The Reubenites and Gadites assured Moses that they…
32:16-19 The Reubenites and Gadites assured Moses that they would not discourage their fellow Israelites and would support the war to its very end. There were still dangers east of the Jordan River, so they wanted to safeguard their livestock and families.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.