Numbers32chapter 32

Numbers 32:6

“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.”

Numbers 32:7

“Wherefore discourage ye the heart of the children of Israel....”

Numbers 32:8

“Your fathers - The generation of the Exodus was now substantially extinct. Compare Num 26:64-65. Kadesh-barnea - See Num 13:26.”

Numbers 32:9

“For when they went up unto the valley of Eshcol,....”

Numbers 32:10

“And the Lord's anger was kindled, the same time,.... Against the spies that brought the ill report, and against all the people that were disheartened and murmured upon it, and which, above all things, was to be dreaded now: and he sware, saying; as follows.”

Numbers 32:11

“Surely none of the men that came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upwards,.... See Num 14:28. shall see the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob; the land of Canaan, which at various times he sware to give to them, and to their posterity: because they have not wholly followed me; the laws which he prescribed them, the directions he gave them, and particularly the orders they had to go up and possess the land at once, Deu 1:21.”

Numbers 32:12

“Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite - It was Jephunneh that was the Kenezite, and not Caleb. Kenaz was probably the father of Jephunneh.”

Numbers 32:13

“And the Lord's anger was kindled against Israel,....”

Numbers 32:14

“And, behold, ye are risen up in your fathers' stead,....”

Numbers 32:15

“For if ye turn away from after him,....”

Numbers 32:16

“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 defense 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.”

Numbers 32:17

“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.”

Numbers 32:18

“We will not return unto our houses,....”

Numbers 32:19

“For we will not inherit with them on yonder side Jordan, or forward,....”

Numbers 32:20

“It is God's cause more than your brethren's, and to him you must have an eye, and not to them only." Before the Lord, that is, before the ark of the Lord, the token of his presence, which, it should seem, they carried about with them in the wars of Canaan, and immediately before which these two tribes were posted, as we find in the order of their march, ch. ii.”

Numbers 32:21

“And will go all of you armed over Jordan before the Lord,....”

Numbers 32:22

“And the land be subdued before the Lord,....”

Numbers 32:23

“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.”

Numbers 32:24

“Build ye cities for your little ones, and folds for your sheep,.... For their safety and security, as they proposed to do: and do that which proceedeth out of your mouth; all that they had promised.”

Numbers 32:25

“And the children of Gad and the children of Reuben spake unto Moses, saying,.... In answer to his speech: thy servants will do as my lord commandeth; both with respect to their march before the Lord to battle, and with respect to their provision for their children and flocks.”

Numbers 32:26

“Our little ones, our wives, our flocks, and all our cattle,.... Their families, and their substance: shall be there in the cities of Gilead; such as are before mentioned, Num 32:3 and which they proposed to repair and fortify, to preserve their families and possessions from the Amorites about them.”

Numbers 32:27

“Before the Lord - i. e., immediately in front of the sacred tokens of the Lord’s presence; compare Num 10:17 note.”

Numbers 32:28

“So concerning them Moses commanded,.... That they should have a grant of the land they requested: this looks as if Moses determined the case himself, though perhaps it was by the vote, and with the consent of the whole court; only Moses strictly enjoined them to observe it, namely: Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the chief fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel; and the rather he did this, because he knew that he should die, and not see either the thing itself or the conditions of it performed.”

Numbers 32:29

“And Moses said unto them,....”

Numbers 32:30

“But if they will not pass over with you armed,.... Shall change their minds, and break their promise, and refuse to go over the river Jordan with the other tribes, and armed ready to engage in battle with the enemy: they shall have possessions among you in the land of Canaan; take their lot there, but have no inheritance or possessions on this side Jordan.”

Numbers 32:31

“And the children of Gad and the children of Reuben answered,...., The word is in the singular number, and shows their unanimity, that they agreed to what Moses said, and replied all of them as one man, as Jarchi expresses it; and it may be there was one that was the mouth of them all, and answered for them: saying, as the Lord hath said unto thy servants, so will we do; here they make use of the word Jehovah, taking what Moses had said unto them as from the Lord, and therefore should strictly and punctually observe it, as if they heard the Lord himself speak it.”

Numbers 32:32

“We will pass over armed before the Lord into the land of Canaan,.... This is repeated again and again, for the confirmation of it, assuring that it should be strictly performed according to the true intent of it: that the possession of our inheritance on this side Jordan may be ours; that is, that the possession and inheritance they desired, and which had been granted them, on conditions to be performed by them, might be ratified and confirmed unto them on their fulfilment of them.”

Numbers 32:33

“Half the tribe of Manasseh - That is, (compare Num 32:39; Jos 17:1) the families of Machir. Moses, when assigning to the pastoral tribes the inheritance which they desired, appropriated to these Manassites especially the district they had already subdued, as a reward for their valour and exploits. Thus the whole of the conquered country was provisionally disposed of, and the forwardness anti valour of the Machirites rewarded. It seems clear from Num 32:39 and Jos 17:1, that the claims of the Machirites arose simply out of their exploits.”

Numbers 32:34

“The children of Gad built - Aroer - This was situated on the river Arnon, Deu 2:36; 2Ki 10:33. It was formerly inhabited by the Emim, a warlike and perhaps gigantic people. They were expelled by the Moabites; the Moabites by the Amorites; and the Amorites by the Israelites. The Gadites then possessed it till the captivity of their tribe, with that of Reuben and the half of the tribe of Manasseh, by the Assyrians, 2Ki 15:29, after which the Moabites appear to have repossessed it, as they seem to have occupied it in the days of Jeremiah, Jer 48:15-20.”

Numbers 32:36

“And Bethnimrah, and Bethharan, fenced cities,.... The first of these is the same with Nimrah, Num 32:3, and the other is the same with Betharam, Jos 13:27, it is called in the Jerusalem Talmud (r), Bethramtha, and so by the Syrians, Bethramphta; and to the same place Herod gave the name of Livias or Julias (s): these cities the children of Gad built or repaired for their families: and folds for sheep; they also built for their cattle, as they promised to do, and Moses enjoined them, Num 32:16. (r) Sheviith, fol. 38. 4. (s) Vid. Reland. Palestin. Illustrat. par.”

Numbers 32:37

“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 Isa 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.”

Numbers 32:38

“And Nebo - their names being changed - That is, Those who conquered the cities called them after their own names. Thus the city Kenath, being conquered by Nobah, was called after his name, Num 32:42.”

Numbers 32:39

“The children of Machir - Machir, the son of Manasseh, was long since dead: even his sons had been brought up upon Joseph’s knees Gen 50:23. But the renown acquired by his descendants raised his family almost to the dignity of a tribe; and the Machirites are in the next verse styled Machir, just as the children of Judah or of Ephraim are often spoken of as Judah or Ephraim. So in Jdg 5:14 Machir is coupled with Ephraim and Zebulun.”

Numbers 32:40

“And Moses gave Gilead unto Machir the son of Manasseh,.... That is, to the children of Machir, who went and took it; though some say, as Aben Ezra observes, that Machir himself was now alive, and that it was given to him, but that is not probable; for, supposing him to be living when the children of Israel came out of Egypt, all that came from thence, who were twenty years old and upwards, died in the wilderness, excepting two, see Num 32:11, and he dwelt therein; that is, the family of the Macharite; see Num 26:29.”

Numbers 32:41

“And Jair the son of Manasseh,.... By his mother's side, otherwise he was of the family of Judah; for Hezron, of the family of Judah, married a daughter of Machir, the son of Manasseh, by whom he had a son called Segub, who was the father of Jair, 1Ch 2:21, the same went and took the small towns thereof; of that part of Gilead given to Machir: and called them Havothjair; after his own name: in Deu 3:14, they are called Bashanhavothjair.”

Numbers 32:42

“Kenath - Now Kenawat, an important site near the southern extremity of the tract el-Lejah, and on the western slopes of the mountains of the Hauran. The name given to it by its conqueror, as in other cases, fell ere long into disuse, and the old name has held its ground to this day. The notices, both Scriptural and traditional, of the conquest of northeastern Gilead and Bashan by the Machirites, plainly intimate that it was effected by a few chiefs of great military prowess, who overran rapidly a far larger district than they could colonize.”