Numbers 32:34
in Numbers 32And the Gadites built up Dibon, Ataroth, Aroer,
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And the children of Gad built Dibon, and Ataroth, and Aroer,
KJV
And the children of Gad built Dibon, and Ataroth, and Aroer,
⋯
This verse in Numbers 32
Commentary
6 notes on this verseThe 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.
This site's exposition
the children of Gad built Dibon
on Numbers 32:34-36
Built here carries the sense of rebuilt, since these were standing Amorite towns taken in Numbers 21 and damaged in the taking, and Clarke, Gill and Jamieson all read the verb that way. Dibon turns up again on the Moabite Stone, the inscription of king Mesha found at Dhiban in 1868, whose tenth line says the men of Gad had dwelt in the land of Ataroth from of old. An outside record left by a hostile king names Gad in the towns this passage assigns to Gad.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Jazer - A city and country of the Amorites; Gilead - A mountainous country, famous for pasturage 6. Ye sit here - In ease and peace, while your brethren are engaged in a bloody war.
And the children of Gad built,.... Or rather repaired the walls and fortifications, and rebuilt houses which had been demolished in the wars with Sihon and Og; when the following places were taken by the Israelites: Dibon, and Ataroth, and Aroer; the two first are mentioned in Num 32:
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
And the children of Gad built--(See on Nu 32:16). Dibon--identified with Dheban, now in ruins, an hour's distance from the Arnon (Mojeb). Ataroth (Hebrew, "crowns")--There are several towns so called in Scripture, but this one in the tribe of Gad has not been identified.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
The cities here named fall into three groups. On Dibon, compare Num 21:19. The Moabite stone was discovered here in 1868. This city, occupied on the first acquisition of the territory by the Gadites, and assigned by Joshua to the Reubenites, was eventually recaptured by the Moabites, in whose hands it remained. Ataroth, i. e., “crowns” (Attarus?) was seven miles northwest of Dibon. Aroer (Arair) lay between Dibon and the Arnon. Atroth, Shophan - , was Atroth-Shophan, i. e., Atroth, or Ataroth of Shophan, or “of the burrow;” thus distinguished from the Ataroth named in the verse preceding from which it was probably not far distant. These four cities may be styled the Dibon settlement. Num 32:35 Jaazer - (compare Num 32:1) with the neighboring “Jogbehah” (Jebeiha), seven miles to the northeast, formed the second group. Num 32:36 The third Gadite settlement lay in the valley of the Jordan, to the west of the preceding. It comprised the cities of Bethnimrah (Nimrun) and “Beth-haran” (Beit-ha-ran).
The words behind it
9 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיִּבְנ֣וּ | vaiyivnu | and they built | H1129 → | 376 times |
| בְנֵי־ | venei- | [the] descendants of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| גָ֔ד | gad | Gad | H1410 → | 72 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| דִּיבֹ֖ן | divon | Dibon | H1769 → | 11 times |
| וְאֶת־ | veet | and <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| עֲטָרֹ֑ת | ʾatarot | Ataroth | H5852 → | |
| וְאֵ֖ת | veet | and <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| עֲרֹעֵֽר׃ | ʾaroer | Aroer | H6177 → |
וַיִּבְנ֣וּand they built
vaiyivnuH1129 →376 times
בְנֵי־[the] descendants of
venei-H1121 →4930 times
גָ֔דGad
gadH1410 →72 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
דִּיבֹ֖ןDibon
divonH1769 →11 times
וְאֶת־and <obj.>
veetH853 →10935 times
עֲטָרֹ֑תAtaroth
ʾatarotH5852 →
וְאֵ֖תand <obj.>
veetH853 →10935 times
עֲרֹעֵֽר׃Aroer
ʾaroerH6177 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Isaiah 17:2The cities of Aroer are forsaken; they will be left to the flocks, which will lie down with no one to fear.
it leads to
- Ezekiel 25:5
I will make Rabbah a pasture for camels, and Ammon a resting place for sheep. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’
- Zephaniah 2:6
So the seacoast will become a land of pastures, with wells for shepherds and folds for sheep.
- Deuteronomy 2:36
From Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley, along with the city in the valley, even as far as Gilead, not one city had walls too high for us. The LORD our God…
- Jeremiah 7:33
The corpses of this people will become food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and there will be no one to scare them away.
- Micah 4:4
And each man will sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree, with no one to frighten him. For the mouth of the LORD of Hosts has spoken.
- Ezekiel 25:5
Through
Deuteronomy 2:36From Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley, along with the city in the valley, even as far as Gilead, not one city had walls too high for us. The LORD our God…
it leads to
- Joshua 13:9
The area from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley, along with the city in the middle of the valley, the whole plateau of Medeba as far as Dibon,
- Deuteronomy 4:48
extending from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley as far as Mount Siyon (that is, Hermon),
- Deuteronomy 3:12
So at that time we took possession of this land. To the Reubenites and Gadites I gave the land beyond Aroer along the Arnon Valley, and half the hill country of Gilead, along with…
- Joshua 13:9
About Numbers
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament.