Numbers 32:6

6 And Moses said to the children of Gad and to the children of Reuben: "Shall your brethren go to war while you sit here?

Numbers 32:6 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 32:6

And Moses said unto the children of Gad, and to the children of
Reuben
Being displeased with their motion, as his following discourse shows, it having at first sight an appearance of covetousness and cowardice:

shall your brethren go to war, and shall ye sit here?
it is not reasonable that your brethren should be left by you and engage in a war with your common enemies, to dispossess them of their land before they can settle in it and you remain here easy and quiet in the possession of a fruitful country.

Numbers 32:6 In-Context

4 the country which the Lord defeated before the congregation of Israel, is a land for livestock, and your servants have livestock."

5 Therefore they said, "If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants as a possession. Do not take us over the Jordan."

6 And Moses said to the children of Gad and to the children of Reuben: "Shall your brethren go to war while you sit here?

7 Now why will you discourage the heart of the children of Israel from going over into the land which the Lord has given them?

8 Thus your fathers did when I sent them away from Kadesh Barnea to see the land.