(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
Numbers 32:28–42, “So concerning them Moses commanded Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the chief fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel: And Moses said unto them, If the children of Gad and the children of Reuben will pass with you over Jordan, every man armed to battle, before the LORD, and the land shall be subdued before you; then ye shall give them the land of Gilead for a possession: But if they will not pass over with you armed, they shall have possessions among you in the land of Canaan. And the children of Gad and the children of Reuben answered, saying, As the LORD hath said unto thy servants, so will we do. We will pass over armed before the LORD into the land of Canaan, that the possession of our inheritance on this side Jordan may be ours. And Moses gave unto them, even to the children of Gad, and to the children of Reuben, and unto half the tribe of Manasseh the son of Joseph, the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites, and the kingdom of Og king of Bashan, the land, with the cities thereof in the coasts, even the cities of the country round about. And the children of Gad built Dibon, and Ataroth, and Aroer, And Atroth, Shophan, and Jaazer, and Jogbehah, And Bethnimrah, and Bethharan, fenced cities: and folds for sheep. And the children of Reuben built Heshbon, and Elealeh, and Kirjathaim, And Nebo, and Baalmeon, (their names being changed,) and Shibmah: and gave other names unto the cities which they builded. And the children of Machir the son of Manasseh went to Gilead, and took it, and dispossessed the Amorite which was in it. And Moses gave Gilead unto Machir the son of Manasseh; and he dwelt therein. And Jair the son of Manasseh went and took the small towns thereof, and called them Havothjair. And Nobah went and took Kenath, and the villages thereof, and called it Nobah, after his own name.”
The fact that some people wanted to stay on the eastern side of the Jordan River was a huge issue for Israel. This was a legacy of the fact that the first generation of the nation were afraid of giants and didn’t obey the Lord and take possession of the Land. If there was to be any hint that some of the people weren’t going to do their share in invading the Land then the entire process would be under jeopardy. The condition that the two and half tribes had to satisfy, before they could take possession of the their territory was that they had to send their armed divisions over the Jordan River and help the rest of the nation as they carried out the Lord’s ordered and punished the inhabitants of the Land for debasing the Land.
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