Thru the Bible - #147-Numbers 32- Reuben and Gad Settle in Gilead

Transcript

Welcome And Setup

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to the greenest corner by book chapter by chapter and first. Wherever you are in the world, thank you for joining us. Grab a glass of water, a cup of coffee, a tea, and let's get into today's lesson. Welcome back, welcome back. Thank you for joining me here on Berean's Corner. Open your Bible to Numbers chapter 32. The title of today's lesson is Reuben and Gad Settle in Gilead. As always, we'll have the reader come up and read the chapter for us, and then we will break down the chapter. Numbers chapter 32, and let's read.

SPEAKER_00 0:51

Numbers 32. The Reubenites and Gadites, who had very large herds and flocks, saw that the lands of Jazzer and Gilead were suitable for livestock. So they came to Moses and Elieas the priest and to the leaders of the community and said, and beyond, the land that the Lord subdued before the people of Israel are suitable for livestock, and your servants have livestock. If we have found favor in your eyes, they said, Let this land be given to your servants as our possession. Do not make us cross the Jordan. Moses said to the Gadites and Reubenites, Shall your countrymen go to war while you sit here? Why do you discourage the Israelites from going over to the land the Lord has given them? This is what your fathers did when I sent them from Kaddish Baniya to look over the land. After they went up to the valley of Ishkar and viewed the land, they discouraged the Israelites from entering the land the Lord had given them. The Lord's anger was aroused that day, and he swore this oath, because they have not followed me wholeheartedly. Not one of the men twenty years old or more who came up out of Egypt will see the land I promised on earth to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Not one, except Caleb, son of Jephune, the Kennesite, and Joshua, son of Nun, for they followed the Lord wholeheartedly. The Lord's anger burned against Israel, and he made them wander in the desert forty years until the whole generation of those who had done evil in his sight was gone. And here you are, a brood of sinners, standing in the place of your fathers, and making the Lord even more angry with Israel. If you turn away from following him, he will again leave all this people in the desert, and you will be the cause of their destruction. Then they came up to him and said, We would like to build pens here for our livestock and cities for our women and children. But we are ready to arm ourselves and go ahead of the Israelites until we have brought them to their place. Meanwhile, our women and children will live in fortified cities for protection from the inhabitants of the land. We will not return to our homes until every Israelite has received his inheritance. He will not receive any inheritance with them on the other side of the Jordan, because our inheritance has come to us on the east side of the Jordan. Then Moses said to them, If you will do this, if you will arm yourself before the Lord for battle, and if all of you will go armed over the Jordan before the Lord until he has driven his enemies out before him, then, when the land is subdued before the Lord, you may return and be free from your obligation to the Lord and to Israel, and this land will be your possession before the Lord. But if you fail to do this, you will be sinning against the Lord, and you may be sure that your sin will find you out. Build cities for your women and children, and pens for your flocks, but do what you have promised. The Gadites and Reubenites said to Moses, We your servants will do as our Lord commands. Our children and wives, our flocks and herds will remain here in the cities of Gilead. But your servants, every man armed for battle, will cross over to fight before the Lord, just as our Lord says. Then Moses gave orders about them to Elieasha the priest, and Joshua, son of Nun, and to the family heads of the Israelite tribes. He said to them, If the Gadites and Reubenites, every man armed for battle, cross over the Jordan with you before the Lord, then when the land is subdued before you, give them the land of Gilead as their possession. But if they do not cross over with you armed, they must accept their possession with you in Canaan. The Gadites and Reubenites answered, Your servants will do what the Lord has said. We will cross over before the Lord into Canaan armed, but the property we inherit will be on this side of the Jordan. Then Moses gave to the Gadites the Reubenites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, son of Joseph, the kingdom of Sin, king of the Amorites, and the kingdom of Og, king of Bashan, the whole land with its cities and the territory around them. The Gadites built up Debon, Aterath, Eroer, Atrath, Shofan, Jezer, Jagbeha, Bethnimra, and Beth Haran, as fortified cities, and built pens for their flocks. And the Reubenites rebuilt Heshmon, Elieleh, and Kiryathaim, as well as Nebo and Baalmion. These names were changed, and Sibma. They gave names to the cities they rebuilt. The descendants of Machia, son of Manasseh, went to Gilead, captured it, and drove out the Amorites who were there. So Moses gave Gilead to the Makarites, the descendants of Manasseh, and settled there. Jair, a descendant of Manasseh, captured their settlements and called them Havoth Jaeir. And Nobah captured Canaph and its surrounding settlements and called it Nobah after himself.

Why Gilead Fits Livestock

Promise To Abraham Revisited

Moses Warns About Disunity

The Tribes’ Four Proposals

Moses’ Four If Clauses

Formal Promise And Joshua Link

Priestly Confirmation Of Terms

Land Assigned And Cities Renamed

Takeaways And Closing Blessing

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SPEAKER_01 6:08

The last time we were together, we looked at the battle against Midian, a battle that would be the last for Moses. We also looked at how the spores were divided amongst the tribes. Today, we're looking at how blessed Israel is. And then we will break this down into seven parts. So seven parts for this whole lesson is how we're going to break this down, starting with part number one. Reuben and Gad asked to move east of the Jordan. We see this in verses one through five. Now the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad had an exceedingly large number of livestock. So when they saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead, that it was indeed a place suitable for livestock, the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben came and spoke to Moses and Eliezer the priest and to the leaders of the congregation, saying, Atheroth, Dibon, Jazzer, Nimrai, Hashban, Eli, Al Alah, Saddam, Nebo, and beyond, the land which the Lord conquered before the congregation of Israel is a land for livestock, and your servants have livestock. And they said, if we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants as a possession. Do not take us across the Jordan. Now, most of the cities that are listed in these five verses are locatable today. So let me uh break some of that down to you. Let me give you a little ideal of where some of these cities are today. Atheroth is Atticus, excuse me, not Atticus, Atharus located today about seven and a half miles north of uh Deban and eight miles west of the Dead Sea. Deban is um is modern-day uh Taiban, located about four miles north of Arman or Arnan and 12 miles west of the Dead Sea. Jazer is modern-day Jazer. Nimra is Tel El uh Belai Bel. Sorry I thought I butchered that a little bit. About 11 miles east of the Jordan and 27 miles west of ancient Rabbah. Hisban is Hisban about 13 miles east and north of the Dead Sea. El Ala is El northeast of Hesban. Siban is Martin Day Sibin or Sidma, about five miles southwest of Hisban. Ebo is a couple miles north of Kern El Kibbs, and Bian is about 10 miles southwest of Heshban. Now, like I always say, when we're talking, when we're in the Old Testament and we're looking at some of these, excuse me, old cities and old names, I gotta be honest, sometimes when you're reading it, it catches you off guard and like you just feel like you're just you're just butchering them. But it's interesting a lot of times when I'm in just my regular Bible study, I seem to do well with them. But when I'm talking to you all, sometimes I get a little tongue-tied. But I think you all can understand what I'm saying. Now, for those who think that these two tribes are being unreasonable by requesting to move east of the Jordan, let's look back at Genesis chapter 15. So hold your finger here and turn back to Genesis chapter 15. And we will see that the Lord promised Abraham this land. So Genesis 15 and look at verse 18. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, To your descendants, I have given this land from the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates. So that is where they are. So if you really look at the land dimensions, you'll see that the land that these two tribes are asking for. They're not asking for extra land or something that's not theirs that's not theirs. They're asking for a part of the land which was which will be suitable for them for livestock. But this is land that the Lord promised Abraham. Which brings us to part two. Moses thought this request could be a threat to their unity. Notice verses six through 15. But Moses said to the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben, Shall your brothers go to war while you yourself sit here? In other words, do you want your other ten brothers to go to war while you just waited out? Now, why are you discouraging the sons of Israel from crossing over into the land which the Lord has given them? This is what your fathers did when I sent them from Kedish Barnea to see the land. For when they went up to the valley of Ishkal and saw the land, they discouraged the sons of Israel so that they did not go into the land which the Lord had given them. In other words, he's saying, This request that you're asking, your brothers are gonna have to go to war for this. That might discourage them from wanting to go into the land. The same way when I sent the spies out, some of them came back with a bad report, and all it did was it didn't bring unity. What it did was it caused the people to possibly not want to go into the land. So the Lord's anger burned in that day, and he swore, saying, None of the men who came up from Egypt from 20 years old and upwards shall see the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, for they did not follow me fully. Except Caleb, the son of Nun. Remember, Caleb was the only one who came back and gave a favorable report of Jephani the Kizanite and Joshua the son of Nun, for they have followed the Lord fully. So I I'm sorry, and Joshua as well. So the Lord's anger burned against Israel, and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, and to the entire generation of those who had done evil in the sight of the Lord was destroyed. Now, behold, you have risen up in your father's place a brood of sinful men to add still more to the burning anger of the Lord against Israel. For if you turn away from following him, he will once more abandon them in the wilderness, and you will destroy all these people. So it's understandable why Moses could look at this as breaking the unity and causing division because he saw this happen before, and that's exactly what happened, and that's the reason why they wondered for 40 years. If you were wondering, was it because they were lost? Was it because there were not street signs back then or ways to know where you were going? No, that wasn't the reason. It was because of the bad report that the uh that some of the spies brought back. It discouraged the people from doing what the Lord told them to do. So, in other words, they were listening to the words of men and not the words of the Lord. So the Lord made them wonder for 40 years until the old guard died off. So that is what that was all about, which brings us to part number three. Moses thinks this is going to be a problem, but two tribes come up with a solution. We see this in verses 16 through 27. Then they came near to him and said, We will build here sheepholes for our livestock and cities for our little ones, but we ourselves will be armed, ready to go before the sons of Israel until we have brought them to their place while our little ones live in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land. We will not return to our homes until every one of the sons of Israel has possessed his inheritance. For we will not have an inheritance with them on the other side of the Jordan and beyond, because our inheritance has fallen to us on this side of the Jordan and towards the east. So Moses said to them, If you will do this, if you will arm yourselves before the Lord for the war, and all of you armed men cross over the Jordan before the Lord until he has driven his enemies out from before him, and the land is subdued before the Lord, then afterwards you shall return and be free of obligation towards the Lord and towards Israel, and this land shall be yours for a possession before the Lord. But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the Lord, and to be sure your sin will find you out. Uh build yourselves cities for your little ones and sheepholes for your sheep, and do what you have promised. The sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben spoke to Moses, saying, Your servants will do just as my Lord commands. Our little ones, our wives, our livestock, and all our cattle shall remain there in the city, excuse me, cities of Gilead, while your servants, everyone who is armed for war, will cross over in the presence of the Lord to battle just as my Lord says. Now we should point out the four proposals made by the two tribes. Because the tribes are they came up with a solution and they gave four proposals. Let's re-look back at it. Proposal number one, we will build sheepfolds for our livestock. Remember what they said. We will build them right here because we can go off the war. Proposal number two, we ourselves will lead the way in the fight with our brothers. Look at look, read look at verse 17. But we ourselves will be armed, ready to go before the sons of Israel. Proposal number three, we will not return to our homes until Israel has their inheritance. Look at verse 18 again. We will not return to our homes until every one of the sons of Israel has possessed his inheritance. So these two tribes are saying that we're gonna go out and we're gonna do the fighting. We're not gonna just sit back and do nothing. Proposal number four, their inheritance will be on the west side of the Jordan and ours on the east side. Look at verse 19. For we will not have an inheritance with them on the other side of the Jordan and beyond, because our inheritance has fallen to us on this side of the Jordan towards the east. So Moses thought it was going to be a problem, but these two tribes came up with a solution, which brings us to part number four. The response of Moses has four if clauses. We see this in verses 20 through 24. So Moses said to them, If you will do this, if you will arm yourselves before the Lord for the war, and all of you armed men cross over the Jordan before the Lord until he has driven his enemies out from before him, and the land is subdued before the Lord, then afterward you shall return and be free of obligation towards the Lord and towards Israel, and this land shall be yours for a possession before the Lord. But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the Lord, and be sure your sin will find you out. Build yourself cities for your little ones and sheepfolds for your sheep, and do what you have promised. So we see that uh Moses is okay with this, but he gives them some ifs in there. You know, if you do this, this will happen, but if you don't, this will happen. Which brings us to part number five. The tribes of Gad and Reuben make a promise to Moses to do exactly what he said. We see this in verses 25 through 27. The sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben spoke to Moses, saying, Your servants will do just as my Lord commands. Our little ones, our wives, our livestock, and all the cities shall remain there in the cities of Gilead, while your servants, everyone who was armed for war, will cross over in the presence of the Lord to battle just as the Lord says. Now, these tribes did as they said that they would, and we can see this actually play out in Joshua. So keep your finger here and turn and go write in your Bible, a few books, and go to Joshua chapter one. And I would like to point this out. Joshua chapter one, we are going to look at verses 11 through 18. Actually, let's start at verse 10. Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, Pass through the midst of the camp and command the people, saying, Prepare provisions for yourselves, for within three days you are to cross this Jordan to go in to possess this land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess it. And to the Reubenites and to the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, Joshua said, Remember the word which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, saying, The Lord your God gives you rest and will give you this land. See he's pointing back to the promise that they made. Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle shall remain in the land which Moses gave you beyond the Jordan, but you shall cross before your brothers in battle array, and all your valiant warriors and shall uh shall help them. And to the Lord gives your brothers rest, and he gives you as they also possess the land which the Lord your God has given them. Then you shall return to your own land and possess that which Moses, the servant of the Lord, gave you beyond the Jordan towards the sunrise. And they answered Joshua, saying, All that you have commanded us, we will do, and whatever you excuse me, wherever you sent us, we will go. Just as we obey Moses in all things, so we will obey you. Only may the Lord your God be with you, and as he was with Moses. Anyone who rebels against your command and does not obey your words and all that you command in him shall be put to death, only be strong and courteous. So we see there that Joshua brought that back up. You if you uh don't know, when you get to the book of Joshua, Moses has passed away. Where we are in numbers, Moses is coming near to his last days, but in Joshua he has passed away, and Joshua has uh taken command. We move on to part number six. Eliezer takes this oral contract before the Lord. We see this in verses 28 through 32. So Moses gave command concerning them to Eliezer the priest, and to Joshua the son of Nun and to the heads of the fathers' households of the tribes of the sons of Israel. Moses said to them, If the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben, everyone who is armed for battle will cross with you over the Jordan in the presence of the Lord, and the land be subdued before you, then you shall give them the land of Gilead for a possession. But if they will not cross over with you armed, they shall have possessions among you in the land of Canaan. And the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben answer, saying, As the Lord has said to your servants, so we will do. We ourselves will cross over, armed in the presence of the Lord, into the land of Canaan, and the possession of our inheritance shall remain with us across the Jordan. So Eliezer takes this command, which is an oral command to the Lord, which brings us to part number seven. The land is officially assigned to Gad, Reuben, and the half tribes of Manasseh. We see this in verses 33 through 42. We ourselves will cross over armed in the presence of the Lord into the land of Canaan, and the possession of our inheritance will remain with us across the Jordan. So Moses gave to them to the sons of Gad and to the sons of Reuben and to the half tribe of Joseph's son of Manasseh the kingdom of Shahan, the king, uh excuse me, of Shahan, king of the Ammonites, and the kingdom of Ag, the god of Bashan, the land with its cities, with their territories, the cities of the surrounding lands. And the sons of Gad built Daiban. Remember we talked about them earlier, and Atharoth and Al Rear, and and uh Atharoth Shohan and Jazar and uh Jugbaha and Beth Mimrai and Beth Haran as fortified cities and sheepholes for sheep. The sons of Reuben built Hezbon and Elial and Kiri Adam and Nubo and Baal and Meon, their names being changed, and Sidmah, they gave other names of the cities they built. Now they did change some of the names of these cities as they went along. And the sons of Makar, the sons of Manasseh went to Gilead and took it, and he possessed the Amorites who were in it. Remember, they were moving into the bottom of land. So Moses gave Gilead unto Mer, the son of Manasseh, and he lived in it. And Jar, the son of Manasseh, went and took his house and called him Had Jaar. And Nabar went and took and his villages and called it Nabar after his own name. So we took that city and he named it after his own name. Alright, that brings us to the end of Numbers chapter 32. As always, I hope that you learned something and got something out of this chapter and out of this lesson. As I always ask, continue to pray for me that I stay said advanced in these scriptures and we continue to learn together as we move through this word of God. And as always, I am always praying for you as well. I appreciate you all a great deal. Well, that brings us to the end of another chapter of numbers. These, you know, these chapters and numbers, some of these people, some people think that, you know, these books are uh hard to get through when you get to like numbers and Leviticus, because there's a lot of laws, there's a lot of hard names, which you all know I butcher a lot of the times to get through. But every bit of the word of God is meaningful. It like I always, like I say every time, it's a puzzle that is meant to go together. And it's like a 10,000-piece puzzle. Every piece of it has to be put in its proper place. You can't look at the square and say, Well, you know, I'm missing that piece. You know, that doesn't matter. It all matters, it all has to come together, and that's what we do. We go through this verse by verse so we don't miss a thing. Well, that brings us to the end of the lesson for today. That is all for now. Until next time. God bless. Thank you for listening to Berean's Corner. We appreciate you joining us as we dive into God's word and seek biblical truth together. If this episode encouraged or challenged you, be sure to subscribe, share, and leave a review on your favorite podcast platform. You can find Bereen's Corner on BuzzSprout, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart, Amazon Music, and more. Let's stay connected. If you have questions, comments, or prayer requests, reach out to us at Bereans Corner.buzzsprout.com where you can follow along with show transcripts and leave a message in the fan mail slot. Also follow us on YouTube at Berean's Corner. And don't forget to subscribe. We'd love to hear from you. Until next time, keep searching the scriptures like a Berean. Stay discerning, stay faithful, and God bless you.