Discovery BoxGenesis 31:21
Context31:21 He left 1 with all he owned. He quickly crossed 2 the Euphrates River 3 and headed for 4 the hill country of Gilead.
Genesis 31:47-48
Context31:47 Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, 5 but Jacob called it Galeed. 6
31:48 Laban said, “This pile of stones is a witness of our agreement 7 today.” That is why it was called Galeed.
Numbers 32:1
Context32:1 8 Now the Reubenites and the Gadites possessed a very large number of cattle. When they saw that the lands of Jazer and Gilead were ideal for cattle, 9
Numbers 32:39
Context32:39 The descendants of Machir son of Manasseh went to Gilead, took it, and dispossessed the Amorites who were in it.
[31:21] 1 tn Heb “and he fled.”
[31:21] 2 tn Heb “he arose and crossed.” The first verb emphasizes that he wasted no time in getting across.
[31:21] 3 tn Heb “the river”; the referent (the Euphrates) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[31:21] 4 tn Heb “he set his face.”
[31:47] 5 sn Jegar Sahadutha. Laban the Aramean gave the place an Aramaic name which means “witness pile” or “the pile is a witness.”
[31:47] 6 sn Galeed also means “witness pile” or “the pile is a witness,” but this name is Canaanite or Western Semitic and closer to later Hebrew. Jacob, though certainly capable of speaking Aramaic, here prefers to use the western dialect.
[31:48] 7 tn Heb “a witness between me and you.”
[32:1] 8 sn While the tribes are on the other side of Jordan, the matter of which tribes would settle there has to be discussed. This chapter begins the settlement of Israel into the tribal territories, something to be continued in Joshua. The chapter has the petitions (vv. 1-5), the response by Moses (vv. 6-15), the proposal (vv. 16-27), and the conclusion of the matter (vv. 28-42). For literature on this subject, both critical and conservative, see S. E. Loewenstein, “The Relation of the Settlement of Gad and Reuben in Numbers 32:1-38, Its Background and Its Composition,” Tarbiz 42 (1972): 12-26; J. Mauchline, “Gilead and Gilgal, Some Reflections on the Israelite Occupation of Palestine,” VT 6 (1956): 19-33; and A. Bergmann, “The Israelite Tribe of Half-Manasseh,” JPOS 16 (1936): 224-54.
