Numbers 32:1

The Petition of the Reubenites and Gadites

32:1 ¹ 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, ² 

Numbers 32:9

32:9 When ³  they went up to the Eshcol Valley and saw the land, they frustrated the intent of the Israelites so that they did not enter ⁴  the land that the Lord had given ⁵  them.

[32:1]  ¹ 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.

[32:1]  ² tn Heb “the place was a place of/for cattle.”

[32:9]  ³ tn The preterite with vav (ו) consecutive is here subordinated to the parallel yet chronologically later verb in the next clause.

[32:9]  ⁴ tn The infinitive construct here with lamed (ל) is functioning as a result clause.

[32:9]  ⁵ tn The Lord had not given it yet, but was going to give it. Hence, the perfect should be classified as a perfect of resolve.