I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Numbers 32-33.

    We often forget that when the Israelites crossed the Jordan to attack Jericho they controlled the land that is now the country of Jordan. They continued to control that land up through the time of Solomon. When the tribes of Reuben and Gad requested this land east of the Jordan as their share in the Promised Land, misunderstanding immediately ensued. We see this sort of misunderstanding repeated several times throughout the Old Testament. Moses immediately assumed that they wished this land because they feared the peoples on the other side of the Jordan, just as the previous generation had when he first tried to lead them into the Promised Land. The two tribes quickly asserted that they had no intention of not joining the other tribes in the conquest of the lands west of the Jordan. They merely wished to set up their families and flocks in defensible positions in the land east of the Jordan because it was ideally suited for them. The tribes of Reuben and Gad were not offended by Moses’ assumption. They understood that human nature is such that all too often Moses’ assumption would have been correct. By spelling out in advance what was expected they laid the groundwork for resolving future misunderstandings.