Deuteronomy 3:18

18 And I charged you at that time, saying, The Lord your God has given you this land by lot; arm yourselves, every one powerful, and go before your brethren the children of Israel.

Deuteronomy 3:18 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 3:18

And I commanded you at that time
Not all Israel, but the tribes of Reuben and God, and the half tribe of Manasseh; for what follows only concerns them:

saying, the Lord your God hath given you this land to possess it;
the land before described, lately in the hands of Sihon and Og; this at their request Moses gave them, by the direction of the Lord, on the following condition:

you shall pass over armed before your brethren the children of Israel,
all [that] are meet for the war;
that is, they should pass over Jordan with the rest of the tribes, being armed to assist them in the conquest of Canaan: for this phrase, which we render "before your brethren", does not signify that they went in the forefront of them, only that they were present with them, and joined them in their war against their enemies; see ( Numbers 32:29 Numbers 32:30 ) and therefore should be rendered "with your brethren" ^F1; even as many of them as were able to bear arms, at least as many as Joshua would choose to take of them; for he did not take them all by a great many; see ( Joshua 4:13 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F1 (Mkyxa ynpl) "cum fratribus vestris", Noldius, p. 531, No. 1492.

Deuteronomy 3:18 In-Context

16 And to Ruben and to Gad I gave under Galaad as far as the brook of Arnon, the border between the brook and as far as Jaboc; the brook the border to the children Amman.

17 And Araba and Jordan the boundary of Machanareth, even to the sea of Araba, the salt sea under Asedoth Phasga eastward.

18 And I charged you at that time, saying, The Lord your God has given you this land by lot; arm yourselves, every one powerful, and go before your brethren the children of Israel.

19 Only your wives and your children and your cattle (I know that ye have much cattle), let them dwell in your cities which I have given you;

20 until the Lord your God give your brethren rest, as also he has given to you, and they also shall inherit the land, which the Lord our God gives them on the other side of Jordan; then ye shall return, each one to his inheritance which I have given you.