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The Petition of the Reubenites and Gadites
v. 1. Now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great multitude of cattle, having apparently gained great wealth in this respect by the recent conquests of Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan; and when they saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead, that, behold, the place was a place for cattle, for they had become acquainted with this great country east of the Jordan on their recent campaigns,
v. 2. the children of Gad and the children of Reuben came and spake unto Moses, and to Eleazar, the priest, and unto the princes of the congregation, saying,
v. 3. Ataroth, and Dibon, and Jazer, and Nimrah, and Heshbon, and Elealeh, and Shebam, and Nebo, and Beon,
v. 4. even the country which the Lord smote before the congregation of Israel, is a land for cattle, a very rich and fertile country, especially for purposes of stock-raising, and thy servants have cattle;
v. 5. wherefore, said they, if we have found grace in thy sight, let this land be given unto thy servants for a possession, and bring us not over Jordan. Even if this request was made in consequence of the supposition that the other tribes would be fully able to conquer the land west of the Jordan, the real Canaan, it was an evidence of selfishness on the part of these two tribes and showed that they did not feel the bond of unity which held them together with the other tribes. It seems that at this time the two tribes did not even have the intention of aiding their brethren in gaining possession of the Land of Promise.
v. 6. And Moses said unto the children of Gad and to the children of Reuben, Shall your brethren go to war, and shall ye sit here? To think of enjoying peace, security, and plenty while the other tribes were still engaged in warfare did not give evidence of much brotherly feeling.
v. 7. And wherefore discourage ye the heart of the children of Israel, make their heart heavy with apprehension and fear, from going over into the land which the Lord hath given them? For this effect their action was likely to have, to turn or hold away the hearts of the people, to make them unwilling, to draw them away from the leadership of God.
v. 8. Thus did your fathers, the spies, when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to see the land.
v. 9. For when they went up into the Valley of Eshcol and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the children of Israel, turned it away from the Lord by filling it with fear, that they should not go into the Land which the Lord had given them. Cf Numbers 13.
v. 10. And the Lord's anger was kindled the same time, and He sware, saying,
v. 11. Surely none of the men that came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, because they have not wholly followed Me, they had not done their full duty in following the Lord;
v. 12. save Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, the Eenezite, and Joshua, the son of Nun; for they have wholly followed the Lord.
v. 13. And the Lord's anger was kindled against Israel, and He made them wander in the wilderness forty years, driving them about, causing them to wander back and forth aimlessly, until all the generation that had done evil in the sight of the Lord was consumed.
v. 14. And, behold, ye are risen up in your fathers stead, an increase of sinful men, a brood carrying on the tradition of your fathers, to augment yet the fierce anger of the Lord toward Israel.
v. 15. For if ye turn away from after Him, He will yet again leave them in the wilderness, that would be the consequence of their refusal to take part in the conquest of Canaan proper, and ye shall destroy all this people, the entire nation would suffer as a result of their willfulness.
v. 16. And they came near unto him, to show that they had a good conscience, and that they were perfectly willing to amend their first thoughtless and selfish proposition, and said, We will build sheepfolds here for our cattle and cities for our little ones, rebuild and fortify the towns for their wives and children;
v. 17. but we ourselves will go ready armed before the children of Israel, they would arm themselves in haste and act as a vanguard of champions before the army of Israel, until we have brought them unto their place, until every tribe has secured its possession; and our little ones shall dwell in the fenced cities because of the inhabitants of the land, for the latter had not been utterly uprooted and annihilated, as had the Midianites.
v. 18. We will not return unto our houses until the children of Israel have inherited every man his inheritance.
v. 19. For we will not inherit with them on yonder side Jordan or forward, because our inheritance is fallen to us on this side Jordan eastward, toward sun-rising. These two tribes, therefore, in a manner of speaking, would not receive a clear title to the land for which they asked until they had fulfilled their promise. That is the rule in the kingdom of God: first war and battle, then the inheritance. He who will not battle need expect no inheritance.