Albert Barnes Commentary Numbers 32
Albert Barnes Commentary
Numbers 32
Albert Barnes Commentary
Numbers 32
"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;" — Numbers 32:1 (ASV)
Jazer - Compare the marginal reference. This district, although included in the land of Gilead, seems to have had special attractions for the Israelite settlers. All travelers in Gilead, the modern Belka, bear witness to its richness as compared with the country to the west of the Jordan. Its general character is that of an upland pasture, undulating and thickly timbered. In the last respect its northern portions excel its southern; but for fertility of soil the southern province is preferred by the Arabs, on whose lips it has become a proverb: “You cannot find a country like the Belka.”
"Ataroth, and Dibon, and Jazer, and Nimrah, and Heshbon, and Elealeh, and Sebam, and Nebo, and Beon," — Numbers 32:3 (ASV)
See Numbers 32:34-38 notes.
"Thus did your fathers, when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to see the land." — Numbers 32:8 (ASV)
Your fathers - The generation of the Exodus was now substantially extinct. Compare (Numbers 26:64–65).
Kadesh-barnea - See (Numbers 13:26).
"save Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite, and Joshua the son of Nun; because they have wholly followed Jehovah." — Numbers 32:12 (ASV)
The Kenezite - Kenaz (Genesis 36:11) was the name of one of the “dukes of Edom:” but Israel and Edom were of kindred origin, and the use of similar names by the two peoples is not surprising.
"But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against Jehovah; and be sure your sin will find you out." — Numbers 32:23 (ASV)
Be sure your sin will find you out - literally, “know your sin that it will find you out.” Moses implies that their sin would eventually bring its own punishment along with it.
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