Numbers 32:1

the land of Jazer Jazer always appears, elsewhere, as the name not of a district but of a town (see Numbers 32:3; Numbers 32:35and notes on Numbers 21:24; Numbers 21:32). It is difficult to see any reason for its special mention here other than the fact that it marked the limit of Gilead on the east (cf. Joshua 13:25).

the land of Gilead The extent of country covered by the name Gilead varies in different passages. Here, and in Numbers 32:29, the name denotes the land southof the R. Jabbok, as is shewn by the towns enumerated in Numbers 32:3; Numbers 32:34; cf. Joshua 13:24 f. The modern name of this tract is -the Belka." But in Numbers 32:39 f., Joshua 17:1; Joshua 17:5 f. the name Gilead is applied to land northof the Jabbok as far as the R. Jarmuk. Once more, these two tracts are sometimes treated as the two halves of Gilead (cf. Joshua 12:2; Joshua 12:5; Joshua 13:31; Deuteronomy 3:12 f.), so that the name could be used in the widest sense of all the land occupied by Israel on the east of the Jordan (cf. Joshua 22:9; Joshua 22:13). Its borders on the north, east and south would vary from time to time, according as the neighbouring nations were weak or powerful; for example, at least ten of the fourteen towns in Numbers 32:34 were at times in possession not of Israel but of Moab. The northern half of Gilead, in the wide sense, is an agricultural territory, its hills covered with forests, and its valleys and plains with orchards, vineyards and cornfields. But the southern half consists of moorland, useless for agriculture but affording rich pasture for flocks. See G. A. Smith, Hist. Geog.ch. xxvii.