Numbers 32 Footnotes

32:1-5 The Reubenites and Gadites bring their request for territorial allocation east of the Jordan River according to protocol, presenting themselves as servants seeking favor before Moses, Eleazar, and the princes of the congregation (see 31:13). This chapter has all the hallmarks of ancient treaty negotiations, including a ratification of the stipulations before the high priest (vv. 28-32). The tribes claimed that, since the Lord had given victory over the Amorites and others and since the land offered ample pasturage for their animals, they could be allowed to take full possession of it for themselves. Narrative tension is created when they add the stipulation that they not be required to cross the Jordan—they did not want to go to war.

32:6-15 Moses confronts their true reason for wanting to settle the Transjordan highlands: their reluctance to go to war, which is tantamount to rebellion against God’s plan for the nation. The promised land was across the Jordan to the west, not on its eastern side. Moses saw that the possible outcome had all the hallmarks of the great rebellion in which Israel rejected God’s gift of the land. These hallmarks were disunity among the tribes, discouragement to the others, and the potential destruction of the people in another wilderness experience.

32:16-19 The Reubenites and Gadites pledge their full support for the conquest of the land west of the Jordan, provided that Moses will let them have their inheritance in Transjordan and allow them to leave their families in the safekeeping of the local towns. The issue of disunity remains in their words, “we will not have an inheritance with them across the Jordan.”

32:20-24 Moses consents to their request, citing the consequences should these tribes fail to honor their commitment. If they fully support the conquest of the promised land through its completion, they would have their requested inheritance in Transjordan. But failure to do what they had promised would constitute sin against God, leading to the judgment noted in vv. 13-15.