Numbers 32:1

Here are reported the events that led to the settlement of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh on the east side of the Jordan. As Noth said, "The content is fairly simple and clear ... and the basic form of the chapter is neither `deuteronomistic' nor `priestly'."[1] The significance of this is that we have here another one of those scores of chapters in the Pentateuch which are incompatible with the theories about the so-called "sources" of the Pentateuch. It has been known for almost a hundred years that whole sections of the Five Books of Moses are impossible of being fitted into the current unbelieving theories about the origins of these books. Gray stated in 1903 that, "A strict analysis of the chapter as between JE and P cannot be satisfactorily carried through."[2] This basic fact, however, does not prevent the eager-beaver critics from attempting it. Keil's comment on all such futile efforts is that "the arguments are all weak,"[3] and of no force whatever.

"Now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great multitude of cattle: and when they saw the land of Jazer, and the land of Gilead, that, behold, the place was a place for cattle; 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, Ataroth, and Dibon, and Jazer, and Nimrah, and Heshbon, and Elealeth, and Sebam, and Nebo, and Beon, the land which Jehovah smote before the congregation of Israel, is a land for cattle; and thy servants have cattle. and they said, If we have found favor in thy sight, let this land be given unto thy servants for a possession; bring us not over the Jordan."

"A great multitude of cattle ..." (Numbers 32:1). Owens seems to have had some question of this in his remark that, "It seems strange that they could have had such a great abundance of animals after such a long period of wanderings in the desert."[4] We find no cause whatever for surprise. Israel had received almost incredible numbers of animals after the conquest of Midian; and the assumption that these vast herds of cattle remained equally divided among the tribes could not be correct. The herds would have to go to the tribes equipped to care for them and where pasture was available. Reuben and Gad came to have the majority of the cattle.

"A place for cattle ..." Even as recently as 1924, Wade quoted a traveler in that section thus: "We should never have believed the amount of the flocks had we not seen and attempted to count them."[5] Cook also mentioned an Arab proverb concerning wealth and desirability of this section called by them "the Belka." "Thou canst not find a country like the Belka."[6]

It is rather curious that this Trans-Jordan area is referred to here as "The land of Jazer, and the land of Gilead" (Numbers 32:1). Gray noted, "The word `Gilead' is a very elastic term,"[7] and it was applied loosely to practically all of the country east of the Jordan river. Thompson narrowed down the area requested here to the area between the Arnon and the Jabbok rivers where the nine towns mentioned here were located,[8] Carson agreed with this and identified "the land of Jazer" as the "northern half of the territory between the Arnon and the Jabbok."[9] Bible students will remember that when Jacob left Laban to return to Canaan, "Laban pursued him and caught up with him in Gilead,"[10] where a final covenant between Jacob and Laban was celebrated.

Was this a sinful request on the part of these tribes? Differences of opinion are expressed, but in the light of Moses' severe rebuke in the next verses, our own conclusion is that their request represented a fundamental departure by those tribes away from the true will of God. It has been the same in all generations where men looked on present advantages and temporal benefits and elected instead of following God's will to choose their own changes and walk in their own ways instead of God's. We shall return to this question later.