and to the Reubenites and the Gadites I gave the territory from Gilead as far as the Valley of the Arnon, with the middle of the valley as a border, as far over as the river Jabbok, the border of the Ammonites;
Moses is drawing lines on a map. He gave Reuben and Gad the land east of the Jordan, from Gilead down to the Arnon gorge and north to the Jabbok. Two questions follow: why call this a gift when the tribes asked for it, and why does the line stop at Ammon's border?
A Gift, Not a Request
Read this account on its own and you would never guess that Reuben and Gad had asked for this land. Moses says only that he gave it:
C. H. MackintoshAbout this second subject, notice something interesting. He raises no question about whether they were right or wrong to choose their possession short of the promised land. In fact, from the account given here, you could not tell that the two and a half tribes had expressed any wish in the matter.
Moses has an aim in this speech, and it shapes what he leaves out.
C. H. MackintoshMoses' aim is to set before the whole congregation the exceeding goodness, loving-kindness, and faithfulness of God. God brought them through all the difficulties and dangers of the wilderness. He has already given them such striking victories over the Amorites, and put them in possession of regions so attractive and so suited to them. In all this Moses is laying down the solid basis of the LORD's claim on their wholehearted obedience to His commandments.
Where the Line Stops
The verse fixes both ends of the land: the Arnon gorge in the south, the Jabbok in the north. That northern line was Ammon's border, and Israel could not cross it. God had ruled it off limits earlier on the same journey:
C. H. MackintoshAnd again: "When you approach the territory of the people of Ammon, do not harass them or contend with them. For I will not give you any of the land of the people of Ammon as a possession, because I have given it to the sons of Lot for a possession."
Centuries later that exact boundary line became the subject of a war. Ammon's king claimed the whole stretch had been stolen, and the judge Jephthah had to answer him:
William Kelly"And the king of the children of Ammon answered the messengers of Jephthah, 'Because Israel on coming up from Egypt took away my land, from the Arnon to the Jabbok and to the Jordan; now therefore restore it peaceably.'" But the answer was wrong. The king of the Ammonites did not speak honestly. Israel had not taken those lands from him, as he claimed. Ammon had lost them earlier to other peoples, and those peoples Israel could lawfully attack and plunder. But God had forbidden Israel to plunder Ammon, Moab, or Edom. God held even to the distant family tie — a most striking proof and witness of the ways of our God.
The Names on the Map
Gilead heads the list of places in this verse, and its name carries a memory. Commentators differ on its root, but one traces it back to the pile of stones Jacob and Laban raised:
Numerical Bible NotesGesenius takes Gilead to mean "hard, rocky." But there seems good reason to connect it instead with Jacob's Galeed (Genesis 31:47), "a heap of witness." That would set it in striking contrast with Manasseh, the name linked with it here, which means "forgetting." A heap of witness exists for one purpose: to make forgetting impossible.
Good Land, Wrong Side
Generous as the grant is, every acre of it lies outside Canaan. One writer names what kept them there, and what it costs:
Samuel RidoutThe inheritance of the two and a half tribes on the east side of Jordan gives us reason for sober reflection… Notice what keeps them east of Jordan: their cattle. They stay on the wilderness side — we might say, right on the border of the world. How often do business and earthly interests hold God's children back! They keep them from entering fully and practically into their heavenly calling.
Another writer names what they chose instead:
H. Forbes WitherbyThey would rather sit down and enjoy their riches than press on to the inheritance. What was convenient guided them, not faith. The cities of Gilead drew them more than the soldiers' tents across the Jordan. Settling down, whatever form it takes, is a sorrowful thing. Faith inherits "yonder and forwards," in nearness to God.
Summary
- Given. Moses tells it as a gift handed over, with no hint that anyone asked for it.
- Gracious. Moses leaves the failure out. His aim is to display God's goodness, and to make that goodness the ground of Israel's obedience.
- Guarded. The line stops at the Jabbok. Ammon's land belonged to Lot's descendants, and God kept faith with even a distant family tie.
- Grieved. Cattle and comfort held these tribes on the wilderness side, close to the world and short of their calling.
- Go on. Gilead may mean "a heap of witness" — a marker set up so nothing is forgotten, and so faith keeps pressing forward.