[Let’s be honest. How many readers of the Hebrew Scriptures REALLY bother to look at and study the geography described in the journey of Israel and final conquest of the Land? Unless one has a STUDY BIBLE where the designers have taken pains to include maps and illustrations, does the average reader do the research on his own? And yet, one’s understanding is greatly enhanced when we do take the time and effort to do the extra research.
Interestingly, we have found NO version of the Hebrew Scriptures that provides these extra visual aids and understandably so; if Jews write for Jews, they are expected to know their history and their Land.
This chapter is best understood if you check out the territory being described and why some tribes preferred to claim it as their inheritance . . . and the problem that their preference posed for the other tribes who have yet to fight and claim their territories.
Now here’s a question: if the God of Israel had promised this land of Canaan to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the tribes that composed the nation of Israel, why did He not just hand it to them as promised?
‘What?! We have to fight for the Promised Land? Isn’t it already OURS by Divine bestowal?’
Not so fast, Israelites, the Land happens to be inhabited by Canaanites; eliminate them, cleanse the land of their abominations, and then you deserve the set-apart for YHWH and yourselves, ‘Holy’ Land.
And so the saga continues . . . . Commentary is, as usual, from Pentateuch and Haftorahs, ed. Dr. J.H. Hertz, and translation is EF/Everett Fox The Five Books of Moses. —Admin1.]
TRIBES REMAINING EAST OF THE JORDAN
The tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh desire to settle east of the Jordan. They protest their willingness to accompany the other tribes until Canaan is conquered.
Eastern or Transjordanic Palestine is 150 miles long; its breadth varies from thirty to eighty miles. It is throughout over 2.000 feet above sea level, with a temperate climate, a land of health and fertility. The middle region—Gilead—bore perfume and medicine for the whole Eastern world. Gilead is covered with forests; and its valleys, by orchards and vineyards. Even more famous was its pasture. ‘Flocks and pastures have ever been the wealth, the charm, the temptation of Eastern Palestine—a land of opulence and insecurity’ (George Adam Smith).
Numbers/Bamidbar 32
1 Now many livestock had the Sons of Re’uven and the Sons of Gad, an exceedingly mighty (amount); and they saw the land of Ya’zer in the land of Gil’ad: here, the place was a place (fit) for livestock.the land of Jazer. Referred to in XXI,32 as having been captured by Moses from the Amorites.
Gilead. Gilead sometimes stands for the whole territory east of the Jordan (e.g. in v. 29) that was occupied by the Israelites. Sometimes, however, as in v.39, it denotes only the land north of the river Jabbok, as far as the river Jarmuk.
2 So the Sons of Re’uven and the Sons of Gad came and said to Moshe, to El’azar the priest and to the leaders of the community, saying:3 Atarot and Divon, Ya’zer and Nimra, Heshbon and El’aleh, Sevam, Nevo and Be’on,
4 the land that YHVH has struck before the community of Israel- it is a land for livestock, and your servants have livestock.
5 And they said: If we have found favor in your eyes, let this land be given to your servants as a holding; do not make us cross the Jordan!
6 Moshe said to the Sons of Gad and to the Sons of Re’uven: Should your brothers go out to war, and you, you stay here?
7 Why would you constrain the will of the Children of Israel from crossing into the land that YHVH has given them?
turn away the heart. Their request, if granted, would dishearten the other tribes, as it would reduce the fighting strength of Israel.
8 Thus did your fathers, when I sent them out of Kadesh Barne’a to see the land:9 they went up as far as Wadi Eshkol and saw the land, then they constrained the will of the Children of Israel so they did not come into the land that YHVH had given them.
10 And the anger of YHVH flared up on that day, and he swore, saying:
11 If they should see, the men who went up from Egypt, -from the age of twenty and upward- the soil about which I swore to Avraham, to Yitzhak and to Yaakov . . . ! For they did not follow-fully after me,
12 excepting Calev son of Yefunne, the Kenizzite, and Yehoshua son of Nun, for they followed-fully after YHVH.
13 And the anger of YHVH flared up against Israel, and he had them wander in the wilderness, for forty years, until it came-to-an-end, that whole generation that was doing what was ill in the eyes of YHVH.
14 Now here, you have arisen in place of your fathers, a brood of sinning men, to add further to the flaming anger of YHVH against Israel.
15 If you turn away from him, he will add further to leave them in the wilderness, and you will bring-ruin-upon this whole people!
destroy all this people. The unworthy desires of these might infect the other tribes, and thus the whole nation would be shut out from entering Canaan and perish.
16 They came close to him and said: Sheep fences we will build, for our livestock here, and towns for our little-ones;17 and as for us, we shall be drafted hastily before the Children of Israel, until we have brought them to their region. But our little-ones will stay in towns fortified against the inhabitants of the land.
before the children of Israel. They will march in the van of the Israelites’ army.
fortified cities. To protect them from attack by the neighbouring populations whilst they are away on active service.
18 We will not return to our houses until the Children of Israel have inherited each-man his inheritance.19 For we will not take-inheritance with them across the Jordan and further (on), for our inheritance has become ours across the Jordan, toward sunrise.
20 Moshe said to them: If you do this thing, if you are drafted before YHVH for war,
21 and you cross the Jordan, every hand-picked man, before YHVH, until he has dispossessed his enemies from before him,
22 and the land is subdued before YHVH, afterward you may return, and (then) you will be clear (of obligation) before YHVH and before Israel; this land will be for you as a holding before YHVH.
clear before the LORD, and before Israel. The idea contained in this phrase became a general moral maxim among the Rabbis. ‘Man should be clear not only before God but also in the estimation of his fellowmen.’ It is not enough that a man’s conscience is pure. He must strive to make even his outward actions irreproachable and above suspicion. A man should avoid doing things that appear wrong.
23 But if you do not do thus: here: you will have sinned against YHVH, and know your sin-that (it) will overtake you!And know ye your sin—i.e. the punishment for your sin, which will find you. The rendering of the RV, which has passed into a proverbial expression in the English language, is based upon an ancient notion that sin, like a curse, has, so to speak, an individual existence. The sinner cannot escape its consequence; it will seek and find him out.
24 Build yourselves towns for your little-ones and fences for your flocks, and what has gone out of your mouths, do!25 Then said the Sons of Gad and the Sons of Re’uven to Moshe, saying: Your servants will do as my lord commands:
26 our little-ones, our wives, our livestock and all our animals will stay there in the towns of Gil’ad;
27 your servants will cross over, every drafted (member) of the armed-forces, before YHVH, in war, as my lord has spoken.
28 So Moshe commanded El’azar the priest concerning them and Yehoshua son of Nun and the heads of the Fathers of the tribes of the Children of Israel,
29 and Moshe said to them: If the Sons of Gad and the Sons of Re’uven cross over the Jordan with you, everyone drafted for war, before YHVH, and the land is subdued before you, you may give them the land of Gil’ad as an inheritance.
30 But if the drafted (warriors) do not cross over with you, they will receive-holdings with you in the land of Canaan.
among you in the land of Canaan. They would then be forced to evacuate their possession in Gilead, and fight for territory on the west of Jordan.
31 The Sons of Gad and the Sons of Re’uven answered, saying: What YHVH has spoken to your servants, thus will we do:32 we ourselves will cross over, as drafted men, before YHVH, into the land of Canaan, (remaining) with us (will be) our inherited holding, across the Jordan.
33 So Moshe gave to them, to the Sons of Gad, the Sons of Re’uven, and half the tribe of Menashe son of Yosef, the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites, and the kingdom of Og king of Bashan, the land as regards its towns in the territories, the towns of the land all around.
half-tribe of Manasseh. The sub-tribes of Manasseh were pure warriors, who had taken the most prominent part in the conquest of the Gileadite districts. The word ‘half’ in the phrase ‘half-tribe of Manasseh’ is not to be taken in a precise arithmetical sense. it denotes a section. According to XXVI,29-32, there were eight sub-tribes of Manasseh, six of whom were allotted territory on the west of Jordan.
34 And the Sons of Gad rebuilt Divon, Atarot, and Aro’er,built Dibon. i.e. rebuilt it; fortified it so as to make it a place of safety for their families; thus also in v.37.
35 Aterot Shofan, and Ya’zer and Yogbeha,36 and Bet Nimra and Bet Haran, as fortified cities and as fences for flocks.
37 And the Sons of Re’uven rebuilt Heshbon and El’alei and Kiryatayim,
38 and Nevo and Baal Me’on-of changed name- and Sivma; and they called them by (other) names, the names of the towns that they built.
changed. As they were names of two heathen deities.
39 Then went out the Sons of Makhir son of Menashe, to Gil’ad, they conquered it and dispossessed the Amorites that were in it 40 And Moshe gave Gil’ad to Makhir son of Menashe, and he settled there.unto Machir. i.e. unto the clans of Machir.
41 And Ya’ir son of Menashe marched out and conquered their villages, he called them Havvot-ya’ir/Fortified-Havvoth-fair. i.e. the towns of Jair.
42 And Novah went out and conquered Kenat and its daughter-towns, and he called it Novah,after his (own) name.