Numbers 32:39

And the children of Machir the son of Manasseh went to Gilead, and took it, and dispossessed the Amorite which was in it.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(39) And the children of Machir the son of Manasseh went . . . —Better, Now the children of Machir the son of Manasseh had gone to Gilead, and taken it, &c. (See Note on Numbers 32:33.)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

32:28-42 Concerning the settlement of these tribes, observe, that they built the cities, that is, repaired them. They changed the names of them; probably they were idolatrous, therefore they should be forgotten. A spirit of selfishness, of seeking our own, not the things of Christ, when each one ought to assist others, is as dangerous as it is common. It is impossible to be sincere in the faith, sensible of the goodness of God, constrained by the love of Christ, sanctified by the power of the Holy Ghost, and yet be indifferent to the progress of religion, and the spiritual success of others, through love of ease, or fear of conflict. Let then your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The children of Machir - Machir, the son of Manasseh, was long since dead: even his sons had been brought up upon Joseph's knees Genesis 50:23. But the renown acquired by his descendants raised his family almost to the dignity of a tribe; and the Machirites are in the next verse styled Machir, just as the children of Judah or of Ephraim are often spoken of as Judah or Ephraim. So in Judges 5:14 Machir is coupled with Ephraim and Zebulun.

Went - i. e., "had gone:" the statement is preparatory to the ensuing record of the grant to them of the land they had won.

Gilead - More strictly part of north Gilead; which, though inhabited by the Amorites, had belonged to the kingdom of Og. Gilead was the district from which had sprung the ancestress of the Machirites (compare 1 Chronicles 7:14).

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

39. Gilead—now Jelud.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Took it, i.e. part of it; or Gilead is here taken more strictly. See Poole on "Numbers 32:29"; Genesis 31:21 Deu 3:12,13.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And the children of Machir the son of Manasseh went to Gilead, and took it,.... That part of it which Moses gave unto the half tribe of Manasseh, which till now was in the hand of the Amorites; for half Mount Gilead, and the cities thereof, were given to the Reubenites and Gadites, which is the land of Gilead they desired, and which was already conquered; for they call it the country which the Lord smote before Israel, Numbers 32:1,

and dispossessed the Amorite which was in it; for though they were driven out of one part of Gilead, yet not out of the whole.

Geneva Study Bible

And the children of Machir the son of Manasseh went to Gilead, and took it, and dispossessed the Amorite which was in it.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

39. The individual action of clans (here and in Numbers 32:41 f.) is similar to that described in Jdg 1:3; Jdg 1:22. See prelim. note.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 39. - The children of Machir. The relation of the Beni-Machir to the tribe of Manasseh is obscure, because all the Manassites were descended from Machir. In the absence of any direct information, we can only guess at the nature of the tie which united the Beni-Machir as a family, and kept them distinct from the other Manassite families. It is evident from their history that they formed a sub-tribe powerful enough to have a name of their own in Israel (cf. verse 40 and Judges 5:14, and see note on verse 41). Went to Gilead. This would seem to refer to the expedition briefly recorded in chapter Numbers 21:33. It is mentioned here out of place, in the simple historical style of the Pentateuch, because the gift of Gilead to Machir grew out of its conquest by Machir. The name Gilead is again used in a very vague sense, for the territory actually allotted to Machir was rather in Bashan than in Gilead proper. Numbers 32:39

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Moses gave the Manassites the land which was conquered by them; in fact, the whole of the kingdom of Bashan, including not only the province of Bashan, but the northern half of Gilead (see at Numbers 21:33-34). Of this the sons of Machir received Gilead, the modern Jebel Ajlun, between the Jabbok (Zerka) and the Mandhur (Hieromax, Jarmuk), because they had taken it and driven out the Amorites and destroyed them (see Deuteronomy 3:13). The imperfects in Numbers 32:39 are to be understood in the sense of pluperfects, the different parts being linked together by w consec. according to the simple style of the Semitic historical writings explained in the note on Genesis 2:19, and the leading thought being preceded by the clauses which explain it, instead of their being logically subordinated to it. "The sons of Machir went to Gilead and took it...and Moses gave," etc., instead of "Moses gave Gilead to the sons of Machir, who had gone thither and taken it..." The words בּהּ ויּשׁב, "Machir dwelt therein (in Gilead)," do not point to a later period than the time of Moses, but simply state that the Machirites took possession of Gilead. As soon as Moses had given them the conquered land for their possession, they no doubt brought their families, like the Gadites and Reubenites, and settled them in fortified towns, that they might dwell there in safety, whilst the fighting men helped the other tribes to conquer Canaan. ישׁב signifies not merely "to dwell," but literally to place oneself, or settle down (e.g., Genesis 36:8, etc.), and is even applied to the temporary sojourn of the Israelites in particular encampments (Numbers 20:1). - Machir (Numbers 32:40): for the sons of Machir, or Machirites (Numbers 26:29). But as Gilead does not mean the whole of the land with this name, but only the northern half, so the sons of Machir are not the whole of his posterity, but simply those who formed the family of Machirites which bore its father's name (Numbers 26:29), i.e., the seven fathers' houses or divisions of the family, the heads of which are named in 1 Chronicles 5:24. The other descendants of Machir through Gilead, who formed the six families of Gilead mentioned in Numbers 26:29-33, and Joshua 17:2, received their inheritance in Canaan proper (Joshua 17).