Numbers 32:6

_AND MOSES SAID UNTO THE CHILDREN OF GAD AND TO THE CHILDREN OF REUBEN, SHALL YOUR BRETHREN GO TO WAR, AND SHALL YE SIT HERE?_ Shall your brethren go to war, and shall ye sit here? Their language was ambiguous, and Moses, suspicious that this proposal was an act of unbelief-a scheme of self-policy and indolence, to escape the perils of warfare and live in ease and safety, addressed to them a reproachful and passionate remonstrance. Whether they had really meditated such a withdrawal from all share in the war of invasion, or the effect of their leader's expostulation was to drive them from their original purpose, they now, in answer to his impressive appeal, declared it to be their sincere intention to co-operate with their brethren; but, if so, they ought to have been more explicit at first....

6._And Moses said unto the children of Gad. _So sharp and severe a reproof shews us the greatness of the wrong: for neither did inconsiderate warmth carry away Moses into such violent anger, nor did he fall into error, so as to deliver his opinion on a point which he did not well understand. He knew, therefore, what the sons of Gad and Reuben asked; and hence he inveighed against them thus vehemently, because they desired to lacerate the body of the Church by this wicked severance. He begins by expostulating with them with regard to their sinful and unreasonable covetousness, in that they sought to indulge in idleness, when their brethren were about to march through a hostile land; for they were possessed of no rightful superiority, so as to throw upon the others all the labors, perils, and burdens of the war. Since, therefore, God had imposed the same condition upon all, (213) it was no...

6-15 The proposal showed disregard to the land of Canaan, distrust of the Lord's promise, and unwillingness to encounter the difficulties and dangers of conquering and driving out the inhabitants of that land. Moses is wroth with them. It will becomes any of God's Israel to sit down unconcerned about the difficult and perilous concerns of their brethren, whether public or personal. He reminds them of the fatal consequences of the unbelief and faint-heartedness of their fathers, when they were, as themselves, just ready to enter Canaan. If men considered as they ought what would be the end of sin, they would be afraid of the beginning of it....

EXPOSITION THE TWO AND A HALF TRIBES BEYOND JORDAN (Numbers 32:1). NUMBERS 32:1 THE CHILDREN OF REUBEN AND THE CHILDREN OF GAD. Reuben and Gad had both been camped on the same (southern) side of the tabernacle, but had not apparently been neighbours, since Simeon intervened on the march (see on Numbers 2:10-4). Simeon, however, was at this time enfeebled and disgraced, and was not likely to assert himself in any way. The "great multitude of cattle" belonging to the two tribes probably point to pastoral habits of long standing, since the cattle o

AND MOSES SAID UNTO THE CHILDREN OF GAD, AND TO THE CHILDREN OF REUBEN,.... Being displeased with their motion, as his following discourse shows, it having at first sight an appearance of covetousness and cowardice: SHALL YOUR BRETHREN GO TO WAR, AND SHALL YE SIT HERE? it is not reasonable that your brethren should be left by you and engage in a war with your common enemies, to dispossess them of their land before they can settle in it and you remain here easy and quiet in the possession of a fruitful country....

8. THE TRIBES OF REUBEN, GAD, HALF-MANASSEH AND THEIR PORTION CHAPTER 32 _ 1. The petition of Reuben and Gad (Numbers 32:1)_ 2. The rebuke by Moses (Numbers 32:6) 3. Their answer (Numbers 32:16) 4. Moses' reply (Numbers 32:20) 5. The final agreement (Numbers 32:25) Failure is now again manifested. Reuben and Gad looked upon the beautiful territory which had been taken from the two Amorite kings, Sihon and Og. As Reuben and Gad were especially rich in cattle and the territory was one of great

A REQUEST BY REUBEN AND GAD FOR PERMISSION TO SETTLE ON THE E. OF JORDAN. The character of the high moorland S. of the Jabbok still bears out the description of it as suitable for pasturage (Numbers 32:1; Numbers 32:4); and a traveller declares, We should never have believed the amount of (the) flocks, had we not seen and attempted to count them. The pastoral associations of Reuben are alluded to in Judges 5:16. NUMBERS 32:1. GILEAD: the term here denotes the country S. of the Jabbok, for the towns enumerated in Numbers 32:3 are all thus situated.

DISCOURSE: 182 MOSES REPROVES THE REUBENITES Numbers 32:6. _And Moses said unto the children of Gad, and to the children of Reuben, Shall your brethren go to war, and shall ye sit here? And wherefore discourage ye the heart of the children of Israel from going over into the land which the Lord hath given them?_ ACTIONS are good or evil according to the motives from which they proceed: but, as these are known only to God, it must often happen that our conduct is either viewed in too favourable a light, or subjected to unmerited censure. Our inability to dive into the hearts of men should certainly incline us at all times to lean rather to the side of charity, and to hope and believe all things of a favourable nature, as far as circumstances will admit. This consideration however is not to operate so far as to blind our eyes to what is manifestly evil, or to keep us from re

AND MOSES SAID, &C.— Those two tribes had applied to Moses for a settlement in the country where they were, and desired that they might not be _brought over Jordan,_ Numbers 32:5. This justly irritated the spirit of Moses, who, with a proper indignation, said unto them, _shall your brethren go to war,_ and shall ye sit here? He remarked, that their ill example would certainly much dishearten the rest of their brethren; in which view he tells them that they are acting the part of their predecessors, the spies, who discouraged the rest of the people by their fears, and so kindled the Lord's anger against that generation, that they were all, for their mutinous and distrustful spirit, excluded from the land of Canaan. He, therefore, exhorts them to beware of the same spirit, lest the same evil consequences should follow, and the people be left to perish in the wilderness;...

F. REBUKE BY MOSES vv. 6-15 TEXT Numbers 32:6. And Moses said unto the children of Gad and to the children of Reuben, Shall your brethren go to war, and shall ye sit here? 7. And wherefore discourage ye the heart of the children of Israel from going over into the land which the Lord hath given them? 8. Thus did your fathers, when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to see the land. 9. For when they went up into the valley of Eshcol, and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the children of Israel, that they should not go into the land which the Lord had given them. 10. And the Lord's anger was kindled the same time, and he sware, saying, 11. Surely none of the men that came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob; because they have not wholly followed me: 12. Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenez