the most convenient Quarters for their Army See I Deut. 33. Verse 34 Ver. 34. And the Cloud of the LORD was upon them by day when they went out of the Camp It seems this Removal of their Camp from Sinai was in the day time as some times they removed in the night IX 21. and the Cloud being taken up from off the Tabernacle so moved over the Ark as to overspread them all by day As the Pillar of Fire was over them by night to give them assurance of the Divine Protection See Note upon XIII Exod. 21. and CV Psal 39. Verse 35 Ver. 35. And when the Ark set forward There being the letter Nun turned the wrong way in the Hebrew word for set forward as there is in the word for complained in the first verse of the next Chapter the Jewish Doctors fancy it denotes here God's gracious converting his Face towards them at the Prayer of Moses and in this following Story the Peoples aversion to God and ungrateful turning away their hearts from him Moses said It was his Custom to pray in this manner upon such occasions as R. Levi ben Gersom expounds it Rose up This is an expression saith Abarbinel like that in XXXIII Isa 10. Now will I rise saith the LORD and will be exalted c. Where his taking vengeance upon his Enemies is called his rising According to XXXI Job 14. What shall I do when God riseth up c. The next words Let thy Enemies be scattered c. justifie this sense LORD It seems very strange to me that any should alledge this place as a proof that the Ark is called JEHOVAH when the Prayer of Moses is so plainly directed to the LORD himself who was there in a glorious Symbol of his Presence and not to the Ark. Considering also that in other places where this very form of Speech is used the LORD and the Ark are most manifestly distinguished the one from the other See 2 Chron. VI. 41. and CXXXII Psal 8. And yet an Anonymus Anti-Trinitarian Writer confuted by Joseph de Voisin fifty Years ago observing that the Chaldee here instead of the LORD hath the WORD of the LORD is so absurd as to say that the Ark is called the WORD Because God saith he p. 234. ante illam responsa vel oracula sua dabat c. before the Ark gave his Answers or Oracles when the Priest in dubious Matters consulted the Mouth of the LORD Which Exposition carries its own Confutation in it for if the High-Priest consulted the Mouth of the LORD as he speaks then by the WORD which gave the Answer must be meant the LORD himself To whom Moses here directs his Prayer as the Hierusalem Targum excellently Paraphrases this verse And it came to pass when the Ark was taken up that Moses lifted up his hands in prayer and said Rise now O WORD of the LORD in the strength of thy Power and scatter the Enemies of thy People c. And let thine Enemies be scattered This is a Prayer that God would put all those to flight as he had done the Amalekites Exod. XVII who opposed their passage to the promised Land As after they came thither they used this Prayer LXVIII Psal 1. for his Aid against all those who sought to disposess them of it And let them that hate thee flee before thee This is a Repetition of the same Prayer as is usual For thy Enemies and those that hate thee signifie the very same XXI Psal 8. IV Daniel 19. I Luke 71. Verse 36 Ver. 36. And when it rested As it did wheresoever the Cloud staid and moved no further He said He prayed again So the Hierusalem Targum understands both this and the former verse Moses lifted up his hand in Prayer and said c. and Jonathan Vzielides Moses stood in Prayer and begged Mercy of God saying c. Return O LORD unto the many Thousands of Israel Which Onkelos thus Paraphrases Come again and dwell with thy Glory in the midst of us And so he did the Cloud wherein the Divine Majesty resided setling upon the Tabernacle over the Ark of the Testimony as soon as it was again pitched Others translate it Give rest O LORD which the Hebrew words will bear secure us that is in Peace against the Incursions of our Enemies and all other Dangers R. Levi ben Gersom expounds it bring back the Israelites into the Land of Promise where their Forefathers dwelt when they were few in number whose Posterity was now increased to ten thousand thousands as the last words are in the Hebrew And there are those who will have this to be a Prayer for their Increase and Multiplication into many more Thousands than they were already And thus the Hierusalem Targum who still by the LORD understands his WORD Return now O WORD of the LORD from the vehemence of thy Anger and come back to us in thy merciful Goodness bless the Myriads and multiply the Thousands of Israelites CHAP. XI Chapter XI Ver. 1. AND when the People complained Or as Verse 1 it is translated in the Margin were as it were Complainers or Mutterers Which words D. Kimchi in his Michol brings as an Instance to prove that the Particle Caph which we translate as doth sometimes serve only to signifie the truth of a thing and to confirm it and imports nothing of likeness For the Discontent of the People did not rest in their Minds but broke out into open Murmurings and undutiful Complaints The like he observes XXV Gen. 31 33. and V Hosea 10. The Princes of Judah were like them that remove the bound Where we make it to signifie a Similitude but should only have taken it as a strong Affirmation of the truth of the thing See Theod. Hackspan Disput IV. de Locutionibus Sacris n. 4. Complained Of their long March for three Days together with their little Children Cattel and all their Baggage So it is commonly thought but I can see no good ground for it For no doubt the Cloud stood still though it did not come down and settle as I said X. 33. that they might make some convenient Rests in their Journey else how should they gather the Manna that fell every Night about their Tents and would keep but one Day as we read XVI Exod. I conclude therefore that this Muttering was the beginning of those loud Complaints which were made a little after v. 4 5 c. because they were not brought by this Removal to a place where they might have had other Food than Manna of which they now grew weary having lived upon it near a whole Year It displeased the LORD In the Hebrew It was Evil in the Ears of the LORD That is though it was only a Muttering which did not come to the Ears of Moses as this Complaint shortly after did yet the LORD took notice of it and was much offended at it as it here follows And the LORD heard it and his Anger
killed all this People As one Man On a sudden with one stroke as if they had all but one Life Then the Nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak saying Of which the Nations that have heard the fore-named Report of thy Majesty will make this Construction Verse 16 Ver. 16. Because the LORD was not able to bring this People into the Land Because he whom they called Omnipotent was indeed defective in his Power which at last failed him so that he could not compleat what he had undertaken Which he sware unto them XV Gen. 17 18. XXIV 7. Therefore he hath slain them in the Wilderness Killed them all before they came to the Land he had solemnly promised to them for that was an easier work than to make good his word The sum of this Argument is That it would be a great disparagement to the Divine Majesty if he now destroyed this Nation because his Enemies would conclude he had deluded them with false Promises which he wanted Power to effect Ver. 17. And now I beseech thee let the Power of Verse 17 my LORD be great That is let it appear to be unlimited by bringing them into the Land which he sware to give them v. 16. or by pardoning their Sin which had provoked his high displeasure against them v. 11. For by Power may be meant either that which is properly called by that Name viz. his Omnipotence which can conquer all Opposition Or his Mercy and Clemency in overcoming his Anger and bearing with an ungrateful People Which agrees very well with what follows but both tend to the same meaning that he would not destroy them but bestow the Land of Canaan upon them according to his Intentions According as thou hast spoken saying Which will be suitable to thy blessed Nature which thou didst proclaim to me when thy Glory passed by me XXXI Exod. 22. XXXIV 5 6. Ver. 18. The LORD is long-suffering and of great Verse 18 mercy forgiving iniquity c. In these very words though something more largely God proclaim'd his Name to Moses when he showed him his Glory XXXIV Exod. 6 7. where they are explained And by no means clearing the guilty Even these words according to the Interpretation I have there given of them are a plain Argument to move the Divine Goodness to pardon their Sin But the next words visiting the iniquity of the Fathers upon the Children c. seem to be directly contrary to the intention of his Petition till it be considered that they had not now committed Idolatry against which Sin God in these words particularly declares his Severity and that Moses did not now plead for an absolute Pardon without any Punishment at all but only that he would not destroy the whole Nation as one Man and utterly disinherit them as he seemed resolved to do v. 12 15. This Threatning he hoped his gracious Nature would incline him to revoke notwithstanding which he might visit the Sin of the Fathers upon the Children unto the third and fourth Generation That is punish them and their Posterity a long time And so this latter part of the verse is to be interpreted according to what I observed XXXIV Exod. 7. in making desolate he will not make quite desolate though he visit the iniquity of the Fathers upon the Children c. Verse 19 Ver. 19. Pardon I beseech thee the Iniquity of this People So far as not to destroy them utterly According to the greatness of thy Mercy Which God himself had proclaimed v. 18. As thou hast forgiven this People from Egypt even until now This looks like an Argument against them for they having provoked him so often as they had done since they came out of Egypt in the space of one Year and a little more See v. 22. and been as often forgiven it might seem more reasonable that he should now punish them and not forgive them any more But he appeals to that long-suffering Goodness which he mentions as the prime Character of the Divine Nature v. 18. which though it had been exercised by them many ways yet he hoped would still bear longer with them Ver. 20. And the LORD said I have pardoned according to thy word Granted thy desire not to destroy them utterly and altogether v. 12 15. Ver. 21. But as truly as I live all the Earth shall be Verse 20 filled with the Glory of the LORD In the Hebrew Verse 21 the words run plainly thus As true as I live and that all the Earth shall be or hath been filled with the Glory of the LORD For so the Egyptians themselves confessed v. 14. that the fame of it was come to them and afterwards he did many more wonderful things when he brought them into Canaan Unto which if these words be taken in the Future Tense he hath respect when he saith As true as that he would in a most glorious manner subdue the Canaanites not one of these murmuring Israelites should come into that good Land Ver. 22. Because all these Men c. The sence Verse 22 would have been clear if we had left out the word because as we might have done the Hebrew Particle ki being sometimes only an expletive or if we had translated it that as it signifies in XXII Gen. 17. and many other places For the meaning plainly is though the words be something intricate That all the Men of whom he is speaking should perish and not one of them come into Canaan Which have seen my Glory Which appeared to them in the Cloud upon Mount Sinai and resided in the Tabernacle And my Miracles which I did in Egypt Mentioned in the IV VII VIIIth and following Chapters of the Book of Exodus And in the Wilderness Where he divided the Red Sea for them to pass through on dry Land and gave them Manna constantly from Heaven with Water out of a Rock which followed them whithersoever they went c. And have tempted me now these ten times That is very oft as this Phrase ten times signifies XXXI Gen. 7 41. IV Nehem. 12. XIX Job 3. But some of the Hebrews will not be satisfied with this Explication but indeavour to find out precisely just ten Provocations of which they were guilty Though to do this they are forced to begin with one which fell out before they came to the Red Sea XIV Exod. 11 12. and all the other Nine they find in the Wilderness See Pirke Avoth cap. 5. and Paulus Fagius his Scholia upon it with Genebrard upon the LXXVIII Psal v. 46. Mr. Mede hath observed that to tempt God in Scripture Language is to provoke him by some presumptuous Fact to anger as it were to try whether he will punish or not or in fewer words to dare God Book I. Discourse 26. p. 153. And the following words in the next verse justifie this Notion in this place And have not hearkned to my Voice This seems particularly to refer to their Disobedience when he
kindled greatly Which brake forth shortly after in a great plague upon them v. 34. And Moses also was displeased The same Phrase with that v. 1. It was evil in the Eyes of Moses i. e. Grieved him so that it made him wish himself rid of the burden of their Government Ver. 11. And Moses said unto the LORD I suppose Verse 11 he went into the Sanctuary to bewail himself and pray God to relieve him See v. 24. Wherefore hast thou afflicted thy Servant By committing this People to his charge And wherefore have I not sound favour in thy sight By granting the Prayer which he made at his first Call to this Office III Exod. 2. IV. 10. That thou layest the burden of this People upon me i. e. The principal Care of such an untractable Multitude upon one Man to whom they resorted in all difficulties XVIII Exod. 22 26. Ver. 12. Have I conceived all this People have I begotten Verse 12 them Are they my Children that I should make provision for the Satisfaction of all their desires That thou hast said unto me carry them in thy Bosom as a nursing Father beareth the sucking Child unto the Land c. Take a tender Care of them as a Parent doth of a little Infant and conduct them into Canaan c. Nothing can more lively express the Affection that Princes ought to have for their People if they have any regard to the Will of God than this Divine Command to Moses Verse 13 Ver. 13. Whence should I have Flesh to give unto all this People It is impossible for me to do what they desire For they weep unto me saying Give us Flesh that we may eat And yet they will not be satisfied without it He seems to be affected with their weeping as the most loving Parents are with the Tears of a sucking Child when it cries for that which they have not for it Verse 14 Ver. 14. I am not able to bear all this People alone because it is too heavy for me Let me have some joined to me to take part of this trouble with me and help to manage them in such Mutinies For it is beyond my strength to undergo the toil of hearing all their Complaints and appeasing their Tumults Some may imagine there was no reason for this request he having several Persons already appointed to assist him by the advice of Jethro XVIII Exod. But Rasi thinks those Men were burnt in the late fire because they did not suppress the beginning of this Mutiny v. 1. but perhaps join in it And so Bechai But the true account is rather this that they were set only to hear and judge smaller Causes all the weighty and difficult Causes being still brought before Moses to whom also the last Appeal was made in every Cause Which was so great a burden that he complained for want of help in those great things which lay wholly upon him See XVIII Exod. 22. Ver. 15. And if thou deal thus with me If thou leavest me still alone in this Office Kill me I pray thee out of hand if I have found favour in thy sight I shall take it for the greatest Verse 15 kindness to be taken immediately out of the World And let me not see my wretchedness Live to be a most miserable Creature For to see wretchedness is to be wretched as to see death is to dye LXXXIX Psal 48. And what could make such a tender Parent as he was more miserable than their perpetual untowardness together with the intolerable trouble it would give him to see heavy Punishments continually befal them for their Wickedness and the Enemies of God rejoyce in their Ruin Ver. 16. And the LORD said unto Moses Here Verse 16 is not the least sign of God's dislike of this Expostulation of Moses with God which seems not very dutiful because the Vexation this stubborn People gave him was really so great that he had reason to desire to be eased of it Which though he begged with much earnestness yet no doubt with no less submission to God's holy Will and Pleasure Gather unto me These words are interpreted by the Talmudists as if the meaning was that they may be a Sanhedrim to my Land i. e. a holy perpetual standing Council to endure throughout all Generations For wheresoever we meet with this word li unto me they think it signifies a thing to be established by God to all Generations The Examples they alledge of it are these of Aaron and his Sons he saith they shall Minister unto me in the Priests Office XXVIII Exod. 41. and of the Levites he saith III Numb 12. they shall be mine or unto me and of the Israelites XXV Lev. 55. unto me the Children of Israel are Servants The like is said of the First-born III Numb 13. of the Sanctuary XXV Exod. 18. of the Altar XX Exod. 24. of the holy Oyntment XXX Exod. 31. of the Kingdom of David 1 Sam. XVI 1. and of the Sacrifices XXVIII Numb 2. See Mr. Selden Lib. II. de Synedr cap. 4. n. 2. Seventy Men of the Elders of Israel This Number is generally thought both by the Jewish and Christian Writers to be derived from the number of Persons that came down into Egypt with Jacob XLVI Gen. 27. Who saith R. Bechai were a kind of Prototype of this Number in future Ages For hence they were governed by so many Elders when they were in Egypt III Exod. 16. where there is no mention indeed made of Seventy but he gathers it from what followed and those were the Seventy whom we find at the giving of the Law a little after they came out of Egypt XXIV Exod. 1 9. who are called Nobles or Great Men v. 11. So that this number was not now first constituted but rather continued and confirmed Whom thou knowest to be the Elders of the People For there were many Elders out of whom Seventy were chosen See XXIV Exod. 1. And Officers over them That is saith R. Bechai whom thou knowest to be of the number of those who when they were Officers in Egypt over the People were beaten by Pharaoh's Task-masters V Exod. 14. Which word Officers doth not signifie Men that had any Judicial Authority but only such as had an inspection over others to see they did their Work and to give an account of them But it is very likely they were Persons of note who had more than ordinary Understanding and Breeding which advanced them to be Inspectors of others And therefore the Talmudists rightly observe that the Elders and Officers here mentioned were no doubt Men of Wisdom and Judgment who knew how to use the Authority that was committed to them And it is not improbable as some of them affirm that they were chosen out of those lesser Courts which were erected by the Advice of Jethro See Selden in the same place sect 5. who at large confutes Baronius and others who say that the number of the great Sanhedrim which
LORD by Vrim and Thummim but only before the most holy Place See XXVII 21. And therefore it seems to me far more likely that he means the Ark which was wont to be carried in following times into the Field when they went to fight with their Enemies 1 Sam. IV. 4 5. XIV 18. 2 Sam. XI 1. Yea Joshua himself not long after this time ordered the Ark to be carried with Priests blowing the Trumpets before it when he surrounded Jericho VI Josh 4 6 7 c. And therefore the holy Instruments being here joyned with the Trumpets to blow in his hand it makes it the more probable that the Ark may be here meant There being also something in this very Book to countenance this Opinion See XIV 44. but especially XXXII 20 22. But it must be confessed that it is never thus expressed in any other place of Holy Scripture but always called the Ark of God or of the Covenant or the Testimony or the like And therefore perhaps they give the truest sence of these words who take the following words to be an Explication of them That is the Trumpets were the holy Instruments which he carried in his hand And the Trumpets to blow in his hand Which he delivered to the Priests who followed him to sound an Alarm when they went to fight according to the direction X. 8 9. and as the practice was in future Ages 2 Chron. XIII 12. Ver. 7. And they warred against the Midianites Verse 7 It is not certain whether the Midianites came out of their Country to give them battle or they first broke into their Country and then fought their Army As the LORD commanded Moses One would think this meant no more but that they obeyed the Commandment of God before-mentioned v. 2. But the Jews think he hath respect to another particular Commandment which they say was given by Moses when they went out to this War That they should not when they besieged any City begirt it quite round but only on three sides leaving one naked that the besieged might flee away if they pleased by which means effusion of Human Blood was prevented So Guil. Schickart observes out of Siphri in his Mischpat Hammelech cap. 5. Theor. 18. and Mr. Selden since him Lib. VI. de Jure Nat. Gent. cap. 15. where he shows they understand this of all Wars but those against the seven Nations in Canaan and Amalek towards whom this kindness was not shown as appears by the Siege of Jericho But the Laws about managing Wars which are mentioned in the Book of Deuteronomy do not seem to have been yet given though the Jews fancy this Law was now given about Midian and observed ever after And slew all the Males Who were in this fight and did not save themselves by flight Verse 8 Ver. 8. And they slew the Kings of Midian Little Kings called Princes XIII Josh 21. where they are said to be Dukes of Sihon i. e. great Men tributary to Sihon while he continued King of the Amorites But after the Israelites had conquered him they took perhaps the Title of Kings Besides the rest of them that were slain They made not only a great slaughter of the People but killed their chief Commanders who led them on Namely Evi and Rekem and Zur c. They are particularly named that all their Neighbours might be satisfied of the truth of this History And he that is called Zur is thought to have been the Father of Cozbi whom Phineas slew Balaam also the Son of Beor they slew with the sword He had seen such good success of his wicked Counsel which he gave either as he went home or returning again to them See XXIV ult that presuming the Israelites were forsaken of their God he adventured to go along with the Midianites unto this Battle hoping he might curse the Israelites now that iniquity i. e. Idolatry was found among them which he could not do while they were free from it Thus he perished by his own wicked devices and was so far from having his wish that he might die the death of the righteous that is live long that as the Jews say he was slain in the Thirty fourth year of his Age. The Doctors in the Gemara of the Sanhedrim cap. 11. sect 11. ask what did he here To which R. Johanan makes answer he went to receive his Reward for the Death of the Twenty four thousand Israelites which he had procured XXV 9. And thus saith another it hapned unto him according to the Proverb The Camel went to desire horns and they cut off his ears Ver. 9. And the Children of Israel took all the Women Verse 9 of Midian captive and their little ones After they were Masters of the Field as we speak by the overthrow of their Armies they fell upon their Cities and according to the ancient custom in the most bloody Wars they killed only the Men but no Women nor Children XXXIV Gen. 25. 1 Kings XI 16. And so the Law of God afterward required they should do when they took any City that did not belong to the Canaanites XX Deut. 13 14. who were utterly to be destroyed v. 16 17. where he saith Thou shalt save nothing alive that breatheth And they took the spoil of all their Cattle and all their Flocks and all their Goods As belonging to them by the right of Conquest in a just War Verse 10 Ver. 10. And they burnt all their Cities wherein they dwelt and their goodly Castles with fire Made the Country desolate that they who fled might have no encouragement to return again nor be able without great hazzard to settle themselves there where they had not a Fortress left to defend them This was but a necessary care notwithstanding which they had peopled the Country again so well in the space of about Two hundred years that they were able to oppress the Israelites as we read VI Judg. 1. Verse 11 Ver. 11. And they took all the spoil and all the prey both of Men and of Beasts They had possessed themselves of them before v. 9. but now they carried them away Verse 12 Ver. 12. And they brought the Captives and the Prey and the Spoil Here are three different words to express their Booty which they brought to the Camp of Israel The first of which signifies the Women and Children that were taken The second the Cattle and the Flocks though sometimes it includes in it Men and Women and the third their Money and Goods Vnto Moses and Eleazar the Priest and unto the Congregation of the Children of Israel Unto the LXX Elders and Princes of the Tribes who were assembled with them See XXIX 1. as it seems to be expounded in the next verse Vnto the Camp at the plains of Moab c. From whence they marched against Midian and had been encamped there a great while XXII 1. XXVI 3 63. Ver. 13. And Moses and Eleazar the Priest and all Verse 13 the
fenced in that they might lye safely and be defended from Wild-beasts And so this word gedera plainly imports See Bochartus in his Hierozoic P. I. Lib. I. cap. 45. And Cities for our little ones Which stood in need only of repairing and fortifying v. 17. for they already dwelt in those Cities of the Amorites XXI 25. Verse 17 Ver. 17. But we our selves will go ready armed before the Children of Israel until we have brought them unto their place That is a considerable number of them as many as should be thought necessary III Deut. 18. in all Forty thousand IV Josh 12. And our little ones shall dwell in the fenced Cities Where it was necessary to leave some Men to guard them from their bad Neighbours and to take care of their Cattle Because of the People of the Land That is the Moabites who were the ancient Owners of this Country XXI 26. and the Edomites who had showed no good will to the Israelites as they passed through the Wilderness Ver. 18. We will not return unto our Houses until Verse 18 the Children of Israel have inherited every Man his Inheritance Be settled in the possession of the Land of Canaan as we desire to be in this Country Ver. 19. For we will not inherit with them on yonder Verse 19 side Jordan or forward We will not desire any share in the Country beyond Jordan though it lye near to us nor in that Country which lyes still further Westward Because our Inheritance is faln on this side Jordan eastward We look upon this as our Inheritance with which we shall be fully satisfied here in the Land of Gilead Which lay Eastward of Jordan and of the Land of Canaan Ver. 20. And Moses said unto them if ye will do Verse 20 this thing Be as good as your word If ye will go armed before the LORD to war To go before the LORD was to go before the Ark which was the Symbol of God's Presence over which his Glory resided And it is to be observed that these two Tribes Reuben and Gad together with Simeon alway lay encamped before the Sanctuary as appears from the second Chapter of this Book v. 10 14 15 16 17. And accordingly when the Camp removed they marched immediately before it as is particularly noted X. 18 19 20 21. So that here he requires them only to hold their usual place when they went to the War against the Canaanites And accordingly it is expresly said they did together with half the Tribe of Manasseh who were joyned with them pass over before the LORD unto battle IV Josh 12 13. Verse 21 Ver. 21. And will go all of you As many as shall be required and can be spared v. 17. Armed over Jordan before the LORD until he hath driven out his Enemies from before him Not only bring us into Canaan but continue with us till we have expelled the Inhabitants of that Country Which he incourages them to undertake by representing the Canaanites as the Enemies of the LORD who would therefore fight for them Verse 22 Ver. 22. And the Land be subdued before the LORD By this Expression and that in the foregoing words it appears that the Ark was carried along with them to the War every where till it was ended as it was when it begun at the taking of Jericho VI Josh 6 7 c. Then afterward ye shall return and be guiltless before the LORD and before Israel and this Land shall be your possession Not only be free from all blame in this desire but have what you desire Before the LORD By his order and appointment Verse 23 Ver. 23. But if you will not do so If this be not your intention or if you go back from your word Behold Observe what I say Ye have sinned against the LORD and be sure your sin will find you out Your Guilt is exceeding great and shall be most certainly punished as it deserves Verse 24 Ver. 24. Build ye Cities for your little ones and Folds for your Sheep c. As for the rest of their Proposals about their Children and Cattle he consented to them without any Exception Ver. 25. And the Children of Gad and the Children of Reuben spake unto Moses saying The word for Verse 25 spake in the Hebrew being jomer in the Singular Number instead of jomru in the Plural their Doctors take it for an Indication that some one principal Person spake in the name of all the rest But there is no need of this for the Singular Number in this Language is often used for the Plural and they never spake all of them together but some one in the name of their Brethren And it had been better if they had observed that this signifies one and all as we now speak were of the same mind Thy Servants will do as my LORD commandeth And as they themselves had proposed v. 17. Ver. 26. Our little Ones our Wives our Flocks and Verse 26 all our Cattle shall be there in the Cities of Gilead Here they promise to leave all that was dear to them in this Country and go to serve their Brethren Ver. 27. But thy servants will pass over every man Verse 27 armed for war c. We our selves will go and fight for our Brethren It hath been often said v. 17 21. that this doth not signifie all the Men of War among them should go but as many as could be spared and as were thought sufficient For it is manifest the far greater half of them were left in this Country to defend their Wives and Children and look after their Flocks and Herds as will appear by computing all the Men of War that were found in the Tribes of Gad and of Reuben which were above Fourscore and four thousand XXVI 7 18. to which if we add half of the Tribe of Manasseth who were in all above Fifty two thousand there were much above an Hundred thousand Men able to bear Arms and not above Forty thousand of them marched into Canaan as was before observed Verse 28 Ver. 28. So concerning them Moses commanded Eleazar the Priest and Joshua the Son of Nun and the chief Fathers of the Tribes of Israel He left this in charge with the principal Persons who had the government of Affairs under him particularly with Joshua who was not unmindful of it but remembred these Tribes what Moses had said when he was about to attempt the Conquest of Canaan I Josh 13 14 c. Verse 29 Ver. 29. And Moses said unto them if the Children of Gad and the Children of Reuben will pass with you over Jordan c. He repeats to these great Men who were to see it executed what he had said to the Gadites and Reubenites themselves v. 21 22. Then ye shall give them the Land of Gilead for a possession They had not a right to it till they had performed the Condition upon which it was granted viz. till their Brethren were in possession of