Numbers 32:20-42 - Warning Against Forsaking Their Brethren
These two and a half tribes never entered the national life, as did those on the other side of Jordan. They were far from the center of religious life, first at Shiloh and then at Jerusalem. On them first the tide of invasion broke, sweeping them and their cattle into captivity.
In Deborah's great song Reuben is rebuked for sitting "among the sheepfolds to hear the pipings for the flocks," instead of coming to the help of the Lord against the mighty. The Brahmins say that the holy man dies to every other sin earlier and easier than to the love of money. Their cattle kept these tribes on the wrong side of the river of separation! Let us beware of the cares of this world, if we are poor, and of the deceitfulness of riches, if we are rich. Better lose all than the soul. See Matthew 16:26. [source]
Chapter Summary: Numbers 32
1The Reubenites and Gadites ask for inheritance on the east side of Jordan 6Moses reproves them 16They offer him conditions with which he is content 33Moses assigns them the land 39They conquer it
What do the individual words in Numbers 32:36 mean?