The children of Reuben and the Gadites and half the tribe of Manasseh, of valiant men, men who carried shield and sword, drawing the bow and skilful in war, were forty-four thousand seven hundred and sixty, able to go forth to war.
This chapter lists the tribes who settled east of the Jordan: Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh. This verse counts their fighting men. Why does a book of family lists pause to number an army? And why did these tribes need one?
The chapter shows Reuben pushing to enlarge his borders. One writer compares that drive with Caleb's and finds a different motive behind it.
It is true that the text stresses Reuben's energy to enlarge his borders (v. 10). But this is no longer the virtue we have seen in Caleb, which sprang from faith alone. Reuben's activity has a motive that is merely human and earthly: "Their cattle were multiplied in the land of Gilead" (v. 9).
The shields and bows match the map. These tribes stood between Israel and every enemy that came from the east.
Being on the east of Jordan, Gad, with Reuben and Manasseh, would have to bear the shock of the enemies that attacked Israel on the east (1 Chr. 5:18-22). They were a warlike tribe, suited to such an exposed position.
That position also carried a cost. One writer treats the Jordan as the edge of the promised land, and reads their choice to settle outside it as a loss.
The Jordan may also be seen as the boundary of the promised land. So the two and a half tribes who stayed on the east of it stopped short of their privileges. They are a picture of many Christians who do not accept by faith the heavenly portion God intends for them, a portion reached through death and resurrection. Such Christians are more open to the attacks of the enemy, as the two and a half tribes were — they were the first to be carried into captivity.
This verse counts trained men. The verses that follow credit the win over the Hagrites to something else: a cry to God during the fight, and God's own character.
These two and a half tribes waged war against the Hagrites, Jetur, Naphish, and Nodab... "for they cried out to God in the battle, and He granted their urgent plea because they trusted in Him" (vv. 19-20). God granted their prayers just as He had answered the prayer of a single man, Jabez. "They trusted in Him." The God of grace owed it to His own character to answer them, however guilty they were when it came to the unity of the people of God. So, despite the ruin, grace always responds to faith.
The same writer holds two things together here: God judges the flesh, and God answers faith.
The flesh is condemned. The captivity is the consequence of its independence, but faith is answered. God is not only a God of government, who gives to each person according to his responsibility; He is also a God of grace, who cannot deny His character. In verse 22 we read, "The war was of God." He had stirred up the trouble to exercise the faith and confidence of His people, so that He could then answer them.
Long name-lists can look like filler. One writer picks this war out of them as proof of the power of faith, and adds a second case beside it.
The sons of Reuben, too, with their allies who overcame the Hagrites, are cited as another instance of the power of faith (chap. 5:18-20). Nor does God forget Zelophehad, the man who had no sons to inherit after him. He claimed a portion for his daughters, and learned that the strength of the Lord is made perfect in weakness.
Victory did not secure their future. The next verses name what went wrong, and it was not a shortage of soldiers.
In His grace God had prospered the men of Manasseh: "They were many" (v. 23). But God's favour had won them blessings, and those blessings turned them away from Him instead of drawing them closer: "And they transgressed against the God of their fathers" (v. 25).
Others draw the practical point from where they chose to live:
Settling down in the world, allowing selfish interests to dictate our path and testimony, is to open the gates for the enemy's assail.
- Position. They settled east of the Jordan and stopped short of their privileges. That choice left them exposed.
- Preparation. Their exposed border made them a warlike people — 44,760 trained men was the cost of the ground they chose.
- Prayer. Trained men still cried out to God in the battle, and He granted their plea because they trusted Him.
- Purpose. The war itself was of God, arranged to exercise their faith so that He could answer it.
- Peril. Numbers, land and wealth did not hold them. They turned from the God of their fathers, and were carried into captivity first.
And they made war with the Hagarites, with Jetur, and Naphish, and Nodab;
A long list of names pauses here for a border war fought by Reuben, Gad and half of Manasseh, the tribes settled east of the Jordan. Why does God hand victory to people who were living outside the land He had chosen for them?
The enemies named here were not strangers to Israel's family tree. One writer traces where Ishmael's descendants settled, and how they mixed with their neighbours:
The wilderness of Paran was Ishmael's earliest home. But his descendants spread right across the northern parts of Arabia, from the district of Sinai in the west to the Euphrates. The sons of Keturah lived in this district too. So Ishmaelites, or Hagarites, became mixed up with Midianites, as we can see in Genesis 37:25-28, 36, Judges 8:22-26, 1 Chronicles 5:20.
The two and a half tribes lived where the raiders came from. Their location made fighting men a necessity:
Gad lay east of the Jordan, with Reuben and Manasseh, so this tribe had to bear the shock of the enemies that attacked Israel from the east (1 Chronicles 5:18-22). They were a warlike tribe, suited to such an exposed position.
The land they were defending was land they had chosen for themselves. One commentator weighs that choice, and what their cry to God lacked:
Reuben and Gad (Numbers 32) are the two tribes who seek an inheritance other than the one God had provided. No doubt their influence drew half of Manasseh with them. So two and a half tribes choose apart from God… Here in 1 Chronicles 5:25 the divine record says, "And they transgressed". These words point to their great sin: they chose for themselves when God had chosen for them… God did not forget them while He noted their sin. He helped them in their wars because they trusted in Him. They cried to Him in their need, a sort of faith in God; but where was their obedience? Where was His honour?
Everything about their position was wrong, and God helped them anyway. The reason lies in His character, and in His own purpose in the war:
God granted their prayers just as He had answered the prayer of a single man, Jabez. "They put their trust in Him." The God of grace owed it to His own character to answer them, however guilty they might be about the unity of the people of God. So, despite the ruin, grace always responds to faith. This is one of the distinctive marks of these books of Chronicles. God condemns the flesh, and the captivity is the result of its independence, but He answers faith. For He is not only a God of government who repays each person according to his responsibility, but also a God of grace who cannot deny His character… In verse 22 we read, "The war was of God." He had stirred up the trouble so as to exercise the faith and confidence of His people, so that He could then answer them.
(The ESV renders verse 20: "he granted their urgent plea because they trusted in him.")
Being heard while in the wrong is not approval. A writer turns that kindness into a question for the reader:
God always hears those who put their trust in Him and call on Him in time of danger, even though they may be in a wrong position and in practice forget Him when things around them seem prosperous. And is this not one of His gracious ways of rebuking our unfaithfulness?
Long name-lists are easy to skip. Yet these few verses sit among them on purpose, beside other small portraits of faith:
It is sweet and strengthening to the soul to trace out these brief notices of what divine grace had worked in one person and another as they walked their often lowly paths, with faith in exercise and conscience active. If this were only a human book, such notices would seem out of place in the middle of long lists of names… The sons of Reuben, too, with their allies who overcame the Hagarites, are recorded as another instance of the power of faith (chapter 5:18-20).
- Wrong place. Reuben, Gad and half Manasseh settled east of the Jordan by their own choice. Scripture's verdict is blunt: "And they transgressed."
- Real danger. That self-chosen ground left them facing the full shock of raiders from the east — the Hagrites, Jetur, Naphish and Nodab, peoples of Ishmael's line. Yet the war itself was of God, stirred up to exercise their faith.
- One cry. In the fighting they cried to God. The record singles out not their skill but their trust in Him.
- Grace answers. God governs and repays each person. Yet He cannot deny His own character, so He answers faith even in guilty people.
- Kindness that corrects. Being heard in the wrong place is no approval. It is one of God's gracious ways of rebuking unfaithfulness. He keeps the whole story among the name-lists as an instance of the power of faith.
and they were helped against them, and the Hagarites were delivered into their hand, and all that were with them; for they cried to God in the battle, and he was intreated of them, because they put their trust in him.
The men who won this battle lived east of the Jordan, outside the land God promised Israel. So why did He answer their cry in the middle of the fight, when their own position was a compromise?
Most of Chronicles is lists of names. Now and then the record stops to mark where God worked in a life. Older translations of this verse say God "was entreated of them," where the ESV says "he granted their urgent plea."
It is sweet and strengthening to the soul to trace out the brief notes of what divine grace had done in one person and another, as they walked their often lowly ways with faith at work and conscience active. If this were only a human book, those notes would seem out of place among long lists of names… The sons of Reuben, too, with their allies, overcame the Hagarites when "they cried to God in the battle, and He was entreated of them, because they put their trust in Him." That stands as another instance of the power of faith.
Reuben, Gad and half of Manasseh settled east of the Jordan because the grazing suited their herds. One writer is blunt about what that cost.
Their promise to cross the Jordan, ready armed, ahead of their brothers, drew a kind of consent from Moses. It seemed an extraordinary display of unselfishness and energy to leave all their loved ones behind and cross the Jordan only to fight for their brothers. But where had they left those loved ones? They had left them short of the divine mark. They had robbed them of a place and a portion in the true land of promise. That was the inheritance God had spoken of to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And for what? Just to get good pasture for their cattle.
God answered these men, and the reason given is their trust.
"They put their trust in Him"; the God of grace owed it to His own character to answer them, however guilty they might be about the unity of the people of God. So, despite the ruin, grace always responds to faith. This is one of the distinctive marks of the whole of these books of Chronicles. The flesh is condemned, and the captivity is the result of its independence. But God answers faith. He is a God of government, who repays man according to his responsibility. He is also a God of grace, who cannot deny His character. In verse 22 we read, "The war was of God." He had stirred up the trouble to exercise the faith and confidence of His people, so that He could then answer them.
The wording points to something about God, not only about them: prayer moves Him. One writer recalls a time when God's people fasted and begged for His protection, then turns the phrase on us.
May we not remind ourselves that the God of Israel is our God too, that He is unchanged in His power and in His interest in His own? Their side was to fast and beg God for His help and protection. God's side is expressed in the words, "He was entreated of us." Will not our God be entreated by us? Have we not a marvellous opportunity in these days of weakness? We talk about weakness and say too little about God's almighty power and lasting interest in His own.
They cried out during the fight, not before it only. One writer sees God's purpose in that, and an answer for Christians who keep losing the same struggle.
They were never equal to their enemies by their own strength. God made them like that, so that in every time of stress they would depend on Him. He was their refuge and resource and strength… And God always responded to their appeal. And will He disappoint us if we take up this stand in faith? Let us test Him and see. How fierce are the struggles some Christians face! They want to do right and to overcome when strong temptations press on them. They long for a victorious life, but they seem to long in vain. They find the enemy too strong for them, so they are discouraged and ready to give up the fight.
- The cry. They called on God while the fight was still going on. That dependence in the middle of the battle was the turning point.
- The criers. They were men who had settled short of the land for the sake of pasture, and had left their families outside the true inheritance.
- The ground. God answered because they trusted Him. Grace responds to faith even when a person's position is compromised, because God cannot deny His own character.
- The two hands. He governs, repaying people for what they do; the captivity later proved it. He also gives grace. Both are true of Him at once.
- The invitation. He answered prayer then, and He has not changed. Our side is to ask; His side is to answer. He will not disappoint faith that tests Him.
And they took away their cattle their camels fifty thousand, and two hundred and fifty thousand sheep, and two thousand asses, and a hundred thousand human souls.
This verse counts the plunder: camels, sheep, donkeys, and a hundred thousand prisoners. It came from a war that Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh fought against the Hagrites, a people of Arabia. The size of the haul raises the real question. Who won this battle, and why does a book of genealogies stop to count camels?
We know very little about the people who lost this battle. What we do know comes from the size of the plunder.
People in Arabia on whom the two and a half tribes made war. The great spoil captured shows that they were a wealthy tribe. 1 Chr. 5:10, 19-22; Ps. 83:6. The origin of the name, and where they lived, is not known. In that Psalm they are named separately from the Ishmaelites.
The text does not credit the soldiers' skill. It credits a cry made while the fighting was going on — and it links God's answer to their trust.
These two and a half tribes "made war with the Hagarites, with Jetur, and Naphish, and Nodab… for they cried to God in the battle, and He answered them, because they put their trust in Him" (vv. 19-20). God granted their prayers just as He had answered the prayer of a single man, Jabez.
These men were guilty in the matter of Israel's unity. God answered them anyway.
"They put their trust in Him." The God of grace owed it to His own character to answer them, however guilty they were in the matter of the unity of the people of God. So, despite the ruin, grace always responds to faith. This is one of the marks that runs through the whole of these books of Chronicles. The flesh is condemned. The captivity is the result of its independence. But God answers faith. He is not only a God of government who repays man according to his responsibility, but also a God of grace who cannot deny His character.
Verse 22 traces the conflict back past the Hagrites to God. The trouble was not a break in their faith. It was what brought their faith out.
In verse 22 we read, "The war was of God." He had stirred up the trouble to exercise the faith and confidence of His people. Then He could answer them.
Chronicles is largely lists of names. One writer traces the short accounts of faith dropped into those lists, and counts this raid among them.
It is sweet and strengthening to the soul to trace out the brief notices of what divine grace had worked in one person and another, as they walked their often lowly ways, with faith in exercise and the conscience active. If this were only a human book, those notices would seem so out of place in the middle of long lists of names… The sons of Reuben, too, with their allies who overcame the Hagarites, stand as another instance of the power of faith (chap. 5:18-20).
The chapter does not end with the plunder. What God's favour gave these tribes did not keep them close to Him.
In His grace God had prospered the men of Manasseh: "They were many" (v. 23). But the blessings God's favour had won for them turned them away from Him instead of drawing them closer: "And they transgressed against the God of their fathers" (v. 25).
Where a person settles, and why, decides how open they are to attack.
Settling down in the world means letting selfish interests dictate our path and testimony. That opens the gates to the enemy's attack. How often we do this, and what subtle tendencies there are in our hearts to repeat it!
- The war — God was behind the conflict. He stirred it up to draw out the faith of His people.
- The cry — they won by crying to God in the middle of the battle. He answered because they trusted Him.
- The grace — these men were guilty in the matter of Israel's unity, and God answered them anyway. He cannot deny His own character.
- The spoil — the huge plunder shows how rich the defeated tribe was. The genealogies keep the story as an instance of the power of faith.
- The warning — the same blessing God gave them turned them aside. Settling down in the world opens the gate to the enemy.
For there fell down many slain, for the war was of God. And they dwelt in their stead until the captivity.
This verse ends a battle report, and it raises a hard question. How does God hand victory to tribes who had settled east of the Jordan, outside the land He promised them?
The verse does not say the tribes were strong or well-armed. It says the war belonged to God. One writer reads that as God Himself setting the whole conflict going:
In verse 22 we read, "The war was of God." He had stirred up the difficulty to exercise the faith and confidence of His people, so that He could then answer them.
Their position made such raids almost routine. The tribes east of the Jordan stood between Israel and the desert peoples:
Living east of the Jordan, this tribe, with Reuben and Manasseh, had to take the full force of the enemies who attacked Israel from the east. They were a warlike tribe, suited to such an exposed position.
The victory of verse 22 followed their trust in God. Rossier says His own character obliged Him to answer it:
"They put their trust in Him." The God of grace owed it to His own character to answer them, however guilty they were when it came to the unity of the people of God. So, despite the ruin, grace always responds to faith. This is one of the marks of the whole of these books of Chronicles. The flesh is condemned. The captivity is the result of its independence. But faith is answered. God is not only a God of government, who repays each man according to his responsibility. He is also a God of grace, who cannot deny His character.
These men were not where God wanted them, and He still answered them. Another writer turns that into a rebuke:
God always hears those who put their trust in Him and call on Him in time of danger. He hears them even when they are in a wrong position, and forget Him in practice while things around them seem prosperous. And is not this one of His gracious ways of rebuking our unfaithfulness?
Reuben, Gad and half of Manasseh chose the fertile land east of the Jordan. They took it instead of the land God had promised:
The fertility of the land east of the Jordan attracted them, and they paid no regard to the promise. This was not falling in the wilderness, but it was coming short of the grace of God. To their eyes the land of their choice might have every advantage. It was fertile and suitable for "much cattle". But it was not the promised land.
A real victory east of the Jordan is still not a share in what God was doing inside the land:
Because they were outside the promised land, they lost the special privileges of the temple. They also lost the awareness, which the other tribes might have had, that the power Jehovah displayed in the battles with the Canaanites was for them… They became mere onlookers of the triumphs of Israel. The helpful lessons connected with Ai, with Gibeon, and so on, were only second-hand to them… But God's purpose was — and is — to establish all the people of Israel in that land. Humanly speaking, these tribes frustrated that purpose. God's grace rises above man's failure. He will fulfil His purpose, and prove that where sin abounded, grace abounds even more.
(Ai and Gibeon were early episodes in Israel's conquest of Canaan.)
The verse ends with a time limit on their stay. Their history runs from a famous victory to deportation. The turn comes with one charge in verse 25, quoted here in an older translation:
Their beginning seemed fair; there were brave men among them. They were well known, but there was this fatal charge against them: "And they transgressed." They were shut out from the special blessing of the land. How great their loss! The consequences were both moral and judicial. They went after the gods of the people of the land — they became idol worshippers. That was the moral consequence of their position. The judicial consequence is that the "God of Israel" brought the king of Assyria upon them. He carried them into captivity, far from the land that they valued above God's land.
- Cause. The conflict was no accident of border life. God stirred it up to exercise His people's faith and confidence, so that He could answer them.
- Cry. They called on Him in the time of danger. The God of grace answers trust, because He cannot deny His own character.
- Grace. Their wrong position did not block the answer. God hears those who trust Him even when they are where they should not be. That kindness is itself a rebuke.
- Cost. Grace gave them the battle, but not the blessing of the land. Outside it they only watched Israel's great victories, and the lessons reached them second-hand.
- End. "Until the exile" caps the whole story. A fair start, brave men, one fatal charge, then captivity far from the land they preferred to God's. Yet God's purpose to settle all Israel in His land still stands.
And the children of the half tribe of Manasseh dwelt in the land, from Bashan as far as Baal-Hermon and Senir, and mount Hermon; they were many.
The eastern half of Manasseh gets one sentence here: a people spread from Bashan to the snow-capped heights of Hermon, and very many of them. Two verses later the same record says they broke faith with God — so what did all that land and increase do for them?
Manasseh's half-tribe held this ground by choice. One writer looks at why they asked to settle there.
Israel had not yet crossed the Jordan. The real enemies of the Lord and His people still had to be defeated. Yet these tribes sought a portion for themselves where they were. The place was the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead, and in their eyes it was good for cattle. Material prosperity for themselves, not the glory of God, was the governing motive in their request.
The verse names the high ground at Israel's northern edge. Different peoples had their own names for the greatest of those peaks.
A noble mountain on the north-east border of Palestine. It forms the highest part of the Anti-Lebanon range. Its highest summit is 9,200 feet above the sea, and is almost always covered with snow. The Sidonians called it SIRION (Deuteronomy 3:9; Psalm 29:6). The Amorites called it SHENIR — or perhaps one of its summits was called SHENIR or SENIR (1 Chronicles 5:23; Song of Solomon 4:8; Ezekiel 27:5). One other name for it was SION (Deuteronomy 4:48).
One border name in the verse carries the name of a false god.
Baal-hermon: a town or mountain connected with Mount Hermon. A shrine of Baal probably stood there. Judges 3:3; 1 Chronicles 5:23.
Their numbers and their borders were not self-made. One writer credits their growth to God's grace, then names what they did with it.
Its territory, compared to that of the other tribes, was immense. In His grace God had prospered the men of Manasseh: they were very numerous (v. 23). But God's favour had secured blessings for them, and those blessings turned them aside instead of drawing them closer to Him. They broke faith with the God of their fathers (v. 25).
Their wrong place did not put them outside God's hearing.
God always hears those who put their trust in Him, and call upon Him in time of danger, even though they may be in a wrong position, and in practice forget Him when things around them seem prosperous. And is this not one of His gracious ways of rebuking our unfaithfulness?
Their beginning and their end sit within a few verses. One writer asks why, and points to verse 25. (Where he quotes "they transgressed," the ESV reads "they broke faith.")
Three prominent facts sum up their tribal history: they refused God's land; they went after other gods; Assyria carried them away. The first led straight to the second, and then came judgment. Their captivity may have come at the same time, and by the same power, as the Lord's judgment on Israel. Then why is their end set before us so early, their beginning and their end held in a few verses? Of the other tribes we are told the beginning, but not the end so clearly. The answer is found in the words, "And they transgressed" — as if, by living outside the promised land, they had cut themselves off from the privileges of the temple and from the protection of the Lord's presence among them. Sovereign grace will bring them back at the end. Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh will stand in their lot with the other tribes, and in equal numbers (Revelation 7), at least symbolically.
- Choice. They settled east of the Jordan because the ground suited their cattle. Their own advantage, not God's glory, chose their home.
- Gift. Their wide land and large numbers came from God's grace, not their own strength.
- Reach. Their border ran up to Baal-hermon, Senir and Mount Hermon. Hermon is the highest part of the range on that north-east border, and a shrine of Baal probably stood at Baal-hermon.
- Drift. The blessing meant to draw them near pushed them away instead. Prosperity came first, then they broke faith with the God of their fathers.
- Return. God heard them even in a wrong position. One writer looks ahead to sovereign grace setting Reuben, Gad and Manasseh in their place at last.
And these were the heads of their fathers' houses Epher, and Jishi, and Eliel, and Azriel, and Jeremiah, and Hodaviah, and Jahdiel, mighty men of valour, famous men, heads of their fathers' houses.
Seven men are named here as leaders of the half-tribe of Manasseh east of the Jordan. They are called mighty and famous — and one verse later the same men are charged with turning away from God.
The verse gives them the best words it has: mighty, famous, heads of families. But their story does not end there:
Their beginning seemed fair. There were men of valour among them. They were famous, yet this deadly charge stood against them: "And they transgressed." They were shut out from the special blessing of the land. How great their loss! Yet their loss is not the most serious part of their disobedience. Worse was this: they preferred their own liking to the goodness of God.
Each name is tied to a place. These heads of families held land east of the Jordan, outside the country God had promised — and that choice, not their courage, shapes how Scripture tells their story:
Eliel. One of the head men in the half tribe of Manasseh, on the east of the Jordan. 1 Chr. 5:24.
The reason they were there was simple, and it is traced back to an earlier decision:
Before the record gives the tribe of Levi, it briefly mentions those who were content to stay outside the promised land. The rich land east of the Jordan drew them, and they paid no attention to the promise. They did not fall in the wilderness; they fell short of the grace of God. To their eyes the land they chose may have had every advantage. It was fertile and good for "much cattle". But it was not the promised land.
That choice did not put them outside the nation. It did put them at a distance from what God was doing:
These two and a half tribes did not stop being Israelites. But because they were outside the promised land, they lost the special privileges of the temple. They also lost the awareness the other tribes might have had — that the power the LORD showed in the battles with the Canaanite was for them. All their armed men crossed the Jordan to help their brothers in the war. Yet they did not go to win an inheritance for themselves where God had chosen for them. They went back to their own choice, where they made their home... They became mere onlookers of the triumphs of Israel... The mighty power shown at Jericho was not for them. The sun and moon stood still for the other tribes, not for them (Joshua 10).
The chapter has already reported a battle these tribes won. Their wrong position did not shut the door on their prayer:
"They put their trust in Him." The God of grace owed it to His own character to answer them, however guilty they were about the unity of the people of God. So, despite the ruin, grace always responds to faith. This is one of the distinctive marks of these books of Chronicles from start to finish. The flesh is condemned, and the captivity is the result of its independence. But faith is answered. God is not only a God of government, who gives to each person according to his responsibility; He is also a God of grace, who cannot deny His character.
Their land and their numbers were God's gift. That is what makes the next verse so sad:
Its territory was huge compared with that of the other tribes. In His grace God had made the men of Manasseh prosper: "They were many" (v. 23). But the blessings His favour had won for them turned them away instead of drawing them closer to Him: "And they transgressed against the God of their fathers" (v. 25).
Their story is told quickly and ends in exile under Assyria. But the record of these families is not closed there:
Three facts sum up their tribal history: they refused God's land; they went after other gods; Assyria carried them away. The first led without fail to the second, and then came judgment... The record seems to dismiss them before it comes to Levi — the tribe that had special charge of the temple and led the worship of God. It is as if, by staying outside the promised land, they had cut themselves off from the privileges of the temple and from the protection of the LORD's presence among them. Sovereign grace will bring them back at the end, and Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh will take their place with the other tribes, and in equal numbers (Rev. 7), at least symbolically.
- Renown — seven men, mighty and famous, at the head of their families. Their fair beginning is what makes the charge in the next verse so sharp.
- Choice — their real problem was the ground they picked. They chose rich pasture east of the Jordan over the land God promised.
- Loss — they were still Israelites, but outside the land they lost the temple's privileges and watched God's victories from the side.
- Grace — even so, when they trusted Him, God answered them, because He is a God of grace as well as of government.
- Return — their increase turned their hearts away, and Assyria carried them off. Yet sovereign grace will bring Reuben, Gad and Manasseh back to stand with the other tribes.
And they transgressed against the God of their fathers, and went a whoring after the gods of the peoples of the land, whom God had destroyed before them.
Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh had settled east of the Jordan, and this verse names their sin just before the record of their captivity. Why does God single these tribes out, when the whole nation turned to idols?
Where the ESV has "they broke faith," older translations read "they transgressed." One writer traces that word back to Numbers 32. There these tribes asked for a home outside the promised land, and Moses agreed.
Reuben and Gad (Num. 32) are the two tribes that ask for an inheritance other than the one God had provided, and no doubt their influence drew half of Manasseh. So two and a half tribes make their choice apart from God… Moses said that if they went armed over the Jordan, then afterward "you shall return and be guiltless before the Lord" (the ESV has "free of obligation"). Guiltless! So said Moses, but not the Lord. On the contrary, here in 1 Chron. 5:25 the divine record is, "And they transgressed."… "And they transgressed" points to their great sin in choosing for themselves when God had chosen for them. If these words refer only to what follows — they "whored after the gods of the peoples of the land" — then they were no worse in this than all the other tribes. But they stand out here as men who despised God's gift, for they clearly thought they had chosen a better land than the one the Lord had chosen for them.
Another writer lists this verse among the sins that called for a trespass-offering. A trespass robs someone of what is owed to him.
A trespass-offering, then, assumed an act that had wronged the Lord or the man's neighbour. A wife unfaithful to her husband was guilty of a trespass against him, for she defrauded him of his rights. (Num. 5:12.)… But not only were people guilty of such a sin. The nation stood convicted of it too, when they turned to idolatry before the Babylonian captivity… (1 Chron. 5:25…) Separation to God should have marked them out.
Verse 23 has just noted how many the men of Manasseh became. One writer sets verse 25 beside that growth.
Its territory, compared to that of the other tribes, was immense. In His grace God had prospered the men of Manasseh: "They were many" (v. 23). But the blessings God's favour had won for them turned them aside instead of drawing them closer to Him: "And they transgressed against the God of their fathers" (v. 25).
Only a few verses earlier these same tribes had cried to God in battle and been heard (vv. 19-22). That earlier mercy makes verse 25 sharper, and one writer draws out the pattern.
God always hears those who put their trust in Him and call on Him in time of danger. He hears them even when they are in a wrong position, and forget Him in practice while things around them seem prosperous. And is not this one of His gracious ways of rebuking our unfaithfulness?
Yet His help was not His approval.
Though they transgressed like this, they are not left out of this genealogy, for they are sons of Israel, part of the chosen nation. But because of this sin, only a brief mention is made of them… They cried to Him in their need, a sort of faith in God; but where was their obedience? Where was His honour?
Their idolatry did not start from nothing. One writer points to what their position had already cost them. Ai and Gibeon were battles inside the land, where Israel watched God act.
These two and a half tribes did not stop being Israelites. But since they were outside the promised land, they lost the special privileges of the temple. They also lost the awareness the other tribes could have, that the power the Lord displayed in the battles with the Canaanites was for them… They became mere onlookers of the triumphs of Israel. The good lessons of Ai and Gibeon and the rest reached them only second-hand.
One writer applies the geography to believers today, and links their position to the captivity recorded next.
We may also see the Jordan as the boundary of the promised land. The two and a half tribes who stayed on its east side stopped short of their privileges. They picture many Christians who do not accept in faith the heavenly portion, through death and resurrection, that God intends for them. So they are more open to the attacks of the enemy, like the two and a half tribes who were the first to be carried away into captivity.
- Choice — Their sin ran deeper than idolatry. It was "choosing for themselves when God had chosen for them."
- Position — Living outside the land cost them the temple and the sight of God's power. They became "mere onlookers of the triumphs of Israel."
- Prosperity — God's own blessing became their snare. It "turned them aside instead of drawing them closer to Him."
- Mercy — God answered their cry in battle even in their wrong position. Yet the record still asks, "where was their obedience?"
- Consequence — Stopping short of God's portion leaves a person open to the enemy. These tribes "were the first to be carried away into captivity."
And the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, and the spirit of Tilgath-Pilneser king of Assyria, and he carried them away, the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh, and brought them to Halah, and Habor, and Hara, and to the river Gozan, -- unto this day.
This verse closes the record of Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh. It reports a political disaster — Assyria carries them off — yet it credits that to the God of Israel Himself. Two questions press. Why did God move foreign kings against His own people? And why did these tribes go into exile first?
Politics explain part of it. Menahem had submitted to Assyria, and Pekah had not. But Chronicles points past the politics.
Pekah had plainly not followed Menahem's rule of submission to Assyria. That would explain the political reasons for carrying these tribes away. The Word does not give us those political reasons. But one statement in Chronicles shows us the divine reason: "So the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, the spirit of Tiglath-pileser … and he took them into exile."
The previous verse charges these tribes with breaking faith. Older translations read "they transgressed." One writer traces that charge back to a choice Moses had allowed but God had not.
Moses said that if they went armed over Jordan, then afterward "you shall return and be guiltless before the LORD." Guiltless! So said Moses, but not the Lord. On the contrary, the divine record here in 1 Chronicles 5:25 is, "And they transgressed." Those words point to their great sin: they chose for themselves when God had chosen for them.
That choice brought two results.
The consequences are two-fold, moral and judicial. They went after the gods of the people of the land — they became idolaters. This was the moral consequence of their position. The judicial consequence is that the "God of Israel" brought the king of Assyria against them. He carried them into captivity, far from the land they valued above God's land.
God had been generous to the half-tribe of Manasseh.
In His grace God had prospered the men of Manasseh: "They were many." But His blessings turned them aside instead of drawing them closer to Him: "And they transgressed against the God of their fathers."
Why were these tribes the first to go? One writer points to where they had chosen to live.
The Jordan can also be seen as the boundary of the promised land. So the two and a half tribes who stayed on the east of the Jordan stopped short of their privileges. They are a picture of many Christians who do not accept in faith the heavenly portion, through death and resurrection, that God intends for them. So they are more open to the enemy's attacks, just as these two and a half tribes were the first taken into captivity.
Commentators differ here. Some hold to the plain reading of the verse, which lists two names.
This man has caused much debate among critics. They now seem to agree that he is the same person as Tiglath-Pileser, one of the greatest and best-known Assyrian kings. But if we keep simply to the letter of Scripture, we are led instead to see Pul, king of Assyria, as a separate person, as 1 Chronicles 5:26 tells us.
Others treat the two names as one man and say the verse still stands.
Pul was evidently one name of the Assyrian ruler, and later he assumed the title of Tiglath-pileser II. This does not clash at all with the statement in 1 Chronicles 5:26.
Their record here is short. One writer explains why, and says what God still did for them.
Though they transgressed, they are not left out of this genealogy, for they are sons of Israel, a part of the chosen nation. But because of this sin, the record gives them only brief mention. God did not forget them while He noted their sin. He helped them in their wars because they trusted in Him. They cried to Him in their need, a sort of faith in God. But where was their obedience?
The verse ends with the tribes still in those distant places, and with the words "to this day." That phrase tells us where things stood when the book was written.
When Chronicles was composed, these tribes were in captivity in the places named here. This passage, like many others, could well be used to establish the date of our book.
But the exile is not the last word.
Sovereign grace will bring them back at the end. Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh will take their place with the other tribes, in equal numbers (Revelation 7) — at least symbolically.
- Choice. Their exile began with an older choice. They asked for land God had not chosen for them. "They transgressed" marks that choosing for themselves.
- Drift. Living outside the inheritance, they took up the gods of the land around them. The moral consequence came before the judicial one.
- Prosperity. Wide territory and large numbers did not draw them nearer to God; the gifts turned them away from the Giver.
- Stirred. Armies moved and tribute changed hands. But the verse names the real mover: the God of Israel stirred the spirit of these kings.
- Grace. They were the first taken away, and the verse ends with "to this day." Yet sovereign grace will set these same tribes back in their place.