Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament · 민수기 32장

“ Behold, ye rise up instead of your fathers,” i.e., ye take their place, “ an increase ( תּרבּוּת , from רבה ; equivalent to a brood) of sinners, to augment yet the burning of the wrath of Jehovah against Israel.” על ספה , to add to, or increase.

return to '

“ If ye draw back behind Him,” i.e., resist the fulfilment of the will of God, to bring Israel to Canaan, “ He will leave it (Israel) still longer in the desert, and ye prepare destruction for all this nation.”

return to '

Moses then gave to the sons of Gad and Reuben, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites, and Og king of Bashan, namely, “ the land according to its towns, in (its) districts, (namely) the towns of the land round about,” i.e., the whole of the land with its towns and the districts belonging to them, or surrounding the towns. It appears strange that the half-tribe of Manasseh is included here for the first time at the close of the negotiations, whereas it is not mentioned at all in connection with the negotiations themselves. This striking fact may easily be explained, however, on the supposition that it was by the two tribes of Reuben and Gad alone that the request was made for the land of Gilead as a possession; but that when Moses granted this request, he did not overlook the fact, that some of the families of Manasseh had conquered various portions of Gilead and Bashan (Numbers 32:39), and therefore gave these families, at the same time, the districts which they had conquered, for their inheritance, that the whole of the conquered land might be distributed at once. As O. v. Gerlach observes, “the participation of this half-tribe in the possession is accounted for in Numbers 32:39.” Moses restricted himself, however, to a general conveyance of the land that had been taken on the east of the Jordan to these two and a half tribes for their inheritance, without sharing it amongst them, or fixing the boundaries of the territory of each particular tribe. That was left to the representatives of the nation mentioned in Numbers 32:28, and was probably not carried out till the return of the fighting men belonging to these tribes, who went with the others over the Jordan. In the verses which follow, we find only those towns mentioned which were fortified by the tribes of Gad and Reuben, and in which they constructed sheep-folds (Numbers 32:34-38), and the districts which the families of Manasseh had taken and received as their possession (Numbers 32:39-42).

return to '

The family of Manasseh named after Machir included “ Jair the son (i.e., descendant) of Manasseh.” Jair, that is to say, was the grandson of a daughter of Machir the son of Manasseh, and therefore a great-grandson of Manasseh on the mother's side. His father Segub was the son of Hezron of the tribe of Judah, who had married a daughter of Manasseh ( 1 Chronicles 2:21-22); so that Jair, or rather Segub, had gone over with his descendants into the maternal tribe, contrary to the ordinary rule, and probably because Machir had portioned his daughter with a rich dowry like an heiress. Jair took possession of the whole of the province of Argob in Bashan, i.e., in the plain of Jaulan and Hauran (Deuteronomy 3:4 and Deuteronomy 3:14), and gave the conquered towns the name of Havvoth Jair, i.e., Jair's-lives (see at Deuteronomy 3:14).

return to '