Numbers 32:40

And Moses gave Gilead unto Machir the son of Manasseh; and he dwelt therein.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Numbers 32:40; Numbers 32:42. Moses gave Gilead unto Machir — Not to Machir himself, who doubtless was long since dead, but the family or posterity of Machir. Nobah — Who, though not elsewhere named, was doubtless an eminent person of the tribe of Manasseh. It is observable, that these tribes, as they were placed before the other tribes, so they were displaced before them. They were carried captive by the king of Assyria, some years before the other tribes. Such a proportion does Providence frequently observe in balancing prosperity and adversity.

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

Unto Machir, i.e. not to Machir himself, who doubtless was long since dead; see Genesis 1:23; but the family or posterity of Machir, which are called by their father’s name; as the names of Abraham, Acts 7:16; of Isaac, Amos 7:9; of Jacob or Israel frequently; of Judah and Simeon, Judges 1:3; of David, 1 Kings 12:16; are manifestly put for their posterity.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And Moses gave Gilead unto Machir the son of Manasseh,.... That is, to the children of Machir, who went and took it; though some say, as Aben Ezra observes, that Machir himself was now alive, and that it was given to him, but that is not probable; for, supposing him to be living when the children of Israel came out of Egypt, all that came from thence, who were twenty years old and upwards, died in the wilderness, excepting two, see Numbers 32:11,

and he dwelt therein; that is, the family of the Macharite; see Numbers 26:29.

Geneva Study Bible

And Moses gave Gilead unto Machir the son of Manasseh; and he dwelt therein.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

40. A later addition to the chapter. See prelim. note. In 1 Chronicles 2:21; 1 Chronicles 2:23 the possession of Gilead by Machir is expressed by saying that Machir was ‘the father of Gilead.’

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 40. - And he dwelt therein. This expression does not necessarily look beyond the lifetime of Moses, although it would be more naturally taken as doing so. In chapter Numbers 20:1 יֵֶּשב is used of the "abiding" of Israel at Kadesh. Numbers 32:40

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).