Numbers 32:2

2 So they came to Moses and Eleazar the priest and to the leaders of the community, and said,

Numbers 32:2 in Other Translations

2 The children of Gad and the children of Reuben came and spake unto Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and unto the princes of the congregation, saying,

2 So the people of Gad and the people of Reuben came and said to Moses and to Eleazar the priest and to the chiefs of the congregation,

2 they came to Moses, Eleazar the priest, and the other leaders of the community. They said,

2 And so they came, the families of Gad and of Reuben, and spoke to Moses and Eleazar the priest and the leaders of the congregation, saying,

2 So the Gadites and Reubenites came to Moses, Eleazar the priest, and the leaders of the community and said:

Numbers 32:2 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 32:2

The children of Gad and the children of Reuben came and spake
unto Moses
The children of Gad are mentioned first, though Reuben was the firstborn, and had a standard under which Gad pitched: it may be, as Aben Ezra thinks, the Gadites were the first authors of this counsel, the contrivers of this scheme; who first moved it to the Reubenites, which they had an opportunity of doing, lying encamped by them; or however, they might be the most busy and active in this affair, or the best spokesmen; for it could be only some, in the name of the whole, that addressed Moses on this account, and spoke to him about it:

and to Eleazar the priest, and unto the princes of the congregation;
who perhaps were the seventy elders, and with Moses the chief ruler, and Eleazar the high priest, made up the grand sanhedrim, or great council of the nation, and were undoubtedly the most proper persons to apply unto:

saying:
as follows.

Numbers 32:2 In-Context

1 The Reubenites and Gadites, who had very large herds and flocks, saw that the lands of Jazer and Gilead were suitable for livestock.

2 So they came to Moses and Eleazar the priest and to the leaders of the community, and said,

3 “Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo and Beon—

4 the land the LORD subdued before the people of Israel—are suitable for livestock, and your servants have livestock.

5 If we have found favor in your eyes,” they said, “let this land be given to your servants as our possession. Do not make us cross the Jordan.”

Cross References

• 1. Leviticus 4:22; Numbers 27:2