Albert Barnes Commentary Numbers 32:42

"And Nobah went and took Kenath, and the villages thereof, and called it Nobah, after his own name." — Numbers 32:42 (ASV)

Kenath - Now Kenawat, an important site near the southern extremity of the tract el-Lejah, and on the western slopes of the mountains of the Hauran. The name given to it by its conqueror, as in other cases, fell before long into disuse, and the old name has held its ground to this day.

The notices, both Scriptural and traditional, of the conquest of northeastern Gilead and Bashan by the Machirites, plainly indicate that it was carried out by a few chiefs of great military prowess, who rapidly overran a far larger district than they could colonize. The father of Jair, however, Segub, was of the tribe of Judah (compare Numbers 27:1, and note; 1 Chronicles 2:21–22), and it is likely that the Manassite leaders induced many of the more adventurous of this tribe, and some possibly of other tribes, to join them in their enterprise against Bashan .

The Machirites did not exterminate the whole population of this district (see Joshua 13:15 and following). The conquest of the district east of Jordan seems never to have been so effectively accomplished as that on the other side.

During the troubled times of the Judges the eastern Manassites rendered good service to the nation . Gideon, and probably Jephthah, were of this tribe, and reflect in a later generation the warlike and adventurous spirit which Jair and Nobah exhibited in the days of Moses.