IF YOU WILL ARM YOURSELVES

“Moshe said to them, ‘If you will do this – if you will arm yourselves to go before Adonai to the war, and if every one of your soldiers will cross the Yarden before Adonai, until he has driven out his enemies ahead of him, and if the land has been conquered before Adonai, and only after that do you return – then you will be clear before Adonai and before Isra’el, and this land here will be yours to possess before Adonai.’”
Numbers 32:20-22

To be honest, I always knew that a few of the tribes stayed back to inherit a portion of land that was not in the Promise, but never knew which, or where this account was found. In reading this week’s Parashah, I found it. The details go as such. Starting in Numbers 32:1, the descendants of Re’uven and Gad had a great deal of livestock. When they saw that the land of Ya’zer and Gil’ad were fit for their animals, they came before Moshe asking if they could stay behind. Right away Moshe reminded them of the heartache this could produce within the camp by reminding them of what happened with the spies. When ten of the twelve came back speaking discouragement, the nation as a whole lost hope. Moshe was fearful that the same thing would happen again.
To the credit of the two tribes, though, they approached Moshe a second time and offered to fight. The men of fighting age, over twenty years, would give their services alongside the remaining tribes. As Moshe considered this action, he gave them a warning. They would be allowed to inherit the land and begin building cities for their people, but the men would move forward to fight. If their promise was not kept, Moshe warned that their sin would find them out. Moshe may be dead when this war raged, but the covenant they were making now was between them and Adonai. There was no hiding from Adonai the end result. Let us also keep this truth in mind. Nothing can be hidden from Adonai – nothing.

Numbers 32:1-19
Numbers 32:20 – 33:49