Numbers 32:42

And Nobah went and took Kenath, and the villages thereof, and called it Nobah, after his own name.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

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

Kenath - Now Kenawat, an important site near the southern extremity of the tract el-Lejah, and on the western slopes of the mountains of the Hauran. The name given to it by its conqueror, as in other cases, fell ere long into disuse, and the old name has held its ground to this day.

The notices, both Scriptural and traditional, of the conquest of northeastern Gilead and Bashan by the Machirites, plainly intimate that it was effected by a few chiefs of great military prowess, who overran rapidly a far larger district than they could colonize. The father of Jair, however, Segub, was of the tribe of Judah (compare Numbers 27:1, and note; 1 Chronicles 2:21-22), and it is likely that the Manassite leaders induced many of the more adventurous of this tribe, and some possibly of other tribes, to join them in their enterprise against Bashan (see Joshua 19:34).

The Machirites did not exterminate the whole population of this district (see Joshua 13:15, etc.). The conquest of the district east of Jordan seems never to have been so effectually accomplished as that on the other side.

During the troublous times of the Judges the eastern Manassites rendered good service to the nation; compare Judges 5:14. Gideon, and probably Jephthah, were of this tribe, and reflect in a later generation the warlike and adventurous spirit which Jair and Nobah exhibited in the days of Moses.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

42. Nobah—also a distinguished person connected with the eastern branch of the tribe of Manasseh.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Nobah, who though not elsewhere named, was doubtless an eminent person of the tribe of Manasseh.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And Nobah went and took Kenath, and the villages thereof,.... Who this Nobah was is not certain, very probably a descendant of Manasseh; it is said (u) he was among those that were born in Egypt, and died after the death of Moses, and was buried beyond Jordan, as it is said, also did Machir and Jair, so that there were none left but Caleb, and Joshua:

and called it Nobah, after his name; but it seems that in later times its ancient name was restored to it; for Jerom (w), says there was a village in Arabia, called Cannatha, which is supposed to be this place; though he also tells us (x), that eight miles from Heshbon; to the south, is shown a desert place called Naba. Pliny (y) places Cannatha in the Decapolis.

(u) Seder Olam Rabba, c. 9. p. 27. (w) Ut supra. (De loc. Heb. fol. 89. M.) (x) De loc. Heb. fol. 93. H. (y) Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 18.

Geneva Study Bible

And Nobah went and took Kenath, and the villages thereof, and called it Nobah, after his own name.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

42. And Nobah went and took Kenath] The clan Nobah appears to have given its name to a place, which is mentioned with Jogbehah (see Numbers 32:35) in Jdg 8:11. Kenath is identified by Euseb. and Jerome as Kanatha, the modern Ḳanawât, which lay on the western slope of Jebel Ḥaurân. This was far to the north, and would make the present passage imply that the Nobah clan left the district where Nobah lay and migrated. But 1 Chronicles 2:23 places Kenath in close proximity with Ḥavvôth-Jair; and Jdg 8:11 can be most easily explained if Kenath and Jogbehah lay near one another.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 42. - Nobah. As this chieftain is nowhere else named, we may probably conclude that he was one of the companions of Jair, holding a position more or less subordinate to him. Kenath. The modern Kenawat, on the western slope of the Jebel Hauran, the most easterly point ever occupied by the Israelites. It is apparently the Nobah mentioned in Judges 8:11, but it has reverted (like so many others) to its old name. In spite of the uncertainties which hang over the conquest of this north-eastern territory, there is something very characteristic in the part played by the Machirite leaders. That they acted with an independent vigour bordering on audacity, that they showed great personal prowess, and had great personal authority with the humbler members of their family, and held something like the position of feudal superiors among them, is evident from the way in which they are spoken cf. And this is quite in keeping with the character of the Manassites in after times. The "governors" who came at the call of Barak, Gideon, the greatest of the warrior-judges, and probably Jephthah also ("the Gileadite"), as well as the younger Jail maintained the warlike and impetuous character of their race. If "Elijah the Tishbite" was really from this region (although this is extremely doubtful), we should find in him the characteristic daring and self-reliance of Machir transmuted into their spiritual equivalents.



Numbers 32:42

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Nobah, whose family is never referred to, but who probably belonged, like Jair, to one of the families of Machirites, took the town of Kenath and its daughters, i.e., the smaller towns dependent upon it (see Numbers 21:25), and gave it his own name Nobah. The name has not been preserved, and is not to be sought, as Kurtz supposes, in the village of Nowa (Newe), in Jotan, which is mentioned by Burckhardt (p. 443), and was once a town of half an hour's journey in circumference. For Kenath, which is only mentioned again in 1 Chronicles 2:23 as having been taken from the Israelites by Gesur and Aram, is Κάναθα, which Josephus (de bell. Jud. i. 19, 2), and Ptolemy speak of as belonging to Coelesyria, and Pliny (h. n. 5, 16) to Decapolis, and which was situated, according to Jerome, "in the region of Trachonitis, near to Bostra." The ruins are very extensive even now, being no less than 2 1/2 or 3 miles in circumference, and containing magnificent remains of palaces from the times of Trajan and Hadrian. It is on the western slope of Jebel Hauran, and is only inhabited by a few families of Druses. The present name is Kanuat. (For description, see Seetzen, i. pp. 78ff.; Burckhardt, pp. 157ff.; cf. Ritter, Erdk.)