Numbers 32:20

20 And Moses said to them, If ye will do according to these words, if ye will arm yourselves before the Lord for battle,

Numbers 32:20 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 32:20

And Moses said unto them
Being better disposed towards them, and more satisfied with the reasonableness of their request, it being explained unto him:

if ye will do this thing;
which they had promised:

if ye will go armed before the Lord to war;
they had said they would go ready armed before the children of Israel, but Moses expresses it "before the Lord"; which is more agreeable to their encampment and order in marching, for not the standard of Reuben but that of Judah went foremost, yet the standard of Reuben marched directly before the sanctuary bore by the Kohathites, ( Numbers 10:18 Numbers 10:21 ) , and so might be properly said to go before the Lord, who dwelt there.

Numbers 32:20 In-Context

18 We will not return to our houses till the children of Israel shall have been distributed, each to his own inheritance.

19 And we will not any longer inherit with them from the other side of Jordan and onwards, because we have our full inheritance on the side beyond Jordan eastward.

20 And Moses said to them, If ye will do according to these words, if ye will arm yourselves before the Lord for battle,

21 and every one of you will pass over Jordan fully armed before the Lord, until his enemy be destroyed from before his face,

22 and the land shall be subdued before the Lord, then afterwards ye shall return, and be guiltless before the Lord, and as regards Israel; and this land shall be to you for a possession before the Lord.

Footnotes

• [a]. this word.