Numbers 32:1-42
The Israelis Wander the Desert for Forty Years
The Reubenites and Gadites, who had very large herds and flocks, saw that the lands of Jazer and Gilead were suitable for livestock. 2 So they came to Moses and Eleazar the priest and to the leaders of the community, and said, 3 “Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo and Beon —4 the land the Lord subdued before the people of Israel—are suitable for livestock, and your servants have livestock. 5 If we have found favor in your eyes,” they said, “let this land be given to your servants as our possession. Do not make us cross the Jordan. ”
6 Moses said to the Gadites and Reubenites, “Should your fellow Israelites go to war while you sit here? 7 Why do you discourage the Israelites from crossing over into the land the Lord has given them? 8 This is what your fathers did when I sent them from Kadesh Barnea to look over the land. 9 After they went up to the Valley of Eshkol and viewed the land, they discouraged the Israelites from entering the land the Lord had given them. 10 The Lord’s anger was arousedthat day and he swore this oath: 11 ‘Because they have not followed me wholeheartedly, not one of those who were twenty years old or more when they came up out of Egypt will see the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob — 12 not one except Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua son of Nun, for they followed the Lord wholeheartedly.’ 13 The Lord’s anger burned against Israel and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until the whole generation of those who had done evil in his sight was gone.
14 “And here you are, a brood of sinners, standing in the place of your fathers and making the Lord even more angry with Israel. 15 If you turn away from following him, he will again leave all this people in the wilderness, and you will be the cause of their destruction. ”
16 Then they came up to him and said, “We would like to build pens here for our livestock and cities for our women and children. 17 But we will arm ourselves for battle and go ahead of the Israelites until we have brought them to their place. Meanwhile our women and children will live in fortified cities, for protection from the inhabitants of the land. 18 We will not return to our homes until each of the Israelites has received their inheritance. 19 We will not receive any inheritance with them on the other side of the Jordan, because our inheritance has come to us on the east side of the Jordan.”
20 Then Moses said to them, “If you will do this—if you will arm yourselves before the Lord for battle 21 and if all of you who are armed cross over the Jordan before the Lord until he has driven his enemies out before him — 22 then when the land is subdued before the Lord, you may return and be free from your obligation to the Lord and to Israel. And this land will be your possession before the Lord.
23 “But if you fail to do this, you will be sinning against the Lord; and you may be sure that your sin will find you out. 24 Build cities for your women and children, and pens for your flocks, but do what you have promised. ”
25 The Gadites and Reubenites said to Moses, “We your servants will do as our lord commands. 26 Our children and wives, our flocks and herds will remain here in the cities of Gilead. 27 But your servants, every man who is armed for battle, will cross over to fight before the Lord, just as our lord says.”
28 Then Moses gave orders about them to Eleazar the priest and Joshua son of Nun and to the family heads of the Israelite tribes. 29 He said to them, “If the Gadites and Reubenites, every man armed for battle, cross over the Jordan with you before the Lord, then when the land is subdued before you, you must give them the land of Gilead as their possession. 30 But if they do not cross over with you armed, they must accept their possession with you in Canaan. ”
31 The Gadites and Reubenites answered, “Your servants will do what the Lord has said. 32 We will cross over before the Lord into Canaan armed, but the property we inherit will be on this side of the Jordan. ”
33 Then Moses gave to the Gadites, the Reubenites and the half-tribe of Manasseh son of Joseph the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites and the kingdom of Og king of Bashan —the whole land with its cities and the territory around them.
34 The Gadites built up Dibon, Ataroth, Aroer, 35 Atroth Shophan, Jazer, Jogbehah, 36 Beth Nimrah and Beth Haran as fortified cities, and built pens for their flocks. 37 And the Reubenites rebuilt Heshbon, Elealeh and Kiriathaim, 38 as well as Nebo and Baal Meon (these names were changed) and Sibmah. They gave names to the cities they rebuilt.
39 The descendants of Makir son of Manasseh went to Gilead, captured it and drove out the Amorites who were there. 40 So Moses gave Gilead to the Makirites, the descendants of Manasseh, and they settled there. 41 Jair, a descendant of Manasseh, captured their settlements and called them Havvoth Jair. 42 And Nobah captured Kenath and its surrounding settlements and called it Nobah after himself.
God had the Israelis wander the desert for forty years...A whole generation of those who caused God anger was gone...The people had cried out for water, for meat, and at one time said if only we had died in Egypt (Numbers 14:2-3)...How soon they had forgotten their very hard times of being slaves to the Egyptians...The next generation were now traveling to the Promised Land, and they are very close to their destination...Had they learned from the lessons of their past?...
Walking in the desert to the Promised Land would be exhausting...Things that are valued in our lives, seem to take time, and we make sacrifices to get them...Life often is associated with sufferings, hard work, and hardships -but God promises much to the ones that are faithful...But finally after forty years, the wandering is close to over -the Promised Land is just across the Jordan River...Victory and the Promised Land is now within their reach...
Our minds and mankind is funny in the sense, we forget about many good things and can stay focused on the bad things in our lives...God had delivered the people out of bondage, and had promised them the land, He had shown to their first Patriarch, Abraham...It was to be their land, the land of milk and honey, the Promised Land...Yet, the people, as we so often do, forget about their goal and the Promised Land...Something tough might come up in their lives (or ours) and the negativity and focus took their minds off the land of milk and honey, and took them on another path...Now God would have His people fight for the land that He had promised them...They must fight for the land across the Jordan...Did all the tribes want to fight for their new land?...
The nation of Israel has wandered the desert for forty years, their new land awaits...Yet, the Reubenites and the Gadites did not even want to go into the Promised Land that God had promised...They wanted to settle first, and outside the Promised Land...They saw the land east of the Jordan and liked how it looked, and seem to impulsively just want to live and settle there...There asking for this settlement outside the Promised Land shows a little disregard for the forty years of wandering, traveling, and the promise to Abraham...This odd request, angered Moses against these tribes...After all those years of walking in the desert, they still did not completely trust in God and Moses...Moses thought that the Reubenites and Gadites did not want to fight with the other tribes of Israel, to obtain the Promised Land across the Jordan River...Maybe he thought they could take this fertile land on the east side of the Jordan River and let the other ten tribes battle those on the west side of the Jordan River by themselves...But Moses agrees to let them have this unpromised land, if they do battle with their other tribes, in helping to obtain the land that God had promised Abraham...But even though Moses consents to the two tribes, the land they was settling for was something less than God had promised...
Mankind often sees something he wants and gets it into his head that-that is what he wants, and goes about trying to get it, and doesn't stop until he has it...They had been with not only Moses, but with God for forty years...The past generation had thoughts about going back to Egypt and being slaves again, and now almost out of the blue, the two tribes of Reubenites and Gadites do not even want the Promised Land...They have seen a fertile spot along the east side of the Jordan River and have made a decision, instead of doing what God has asked of them (and that is living in the Promised Land) they want to settle now (after all those years thinking about their Promised Land)...
Sometimes for whatever reasons we have, whether it be something that we see that we like, whether it be just for our comfort, or for our convenience -it seems, we to turn from God and His path and go our own way...