Numbers 32:20

And Moses said unto them, If ye will do this thing, if ye will go armed before the LORD to war,

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(20) if ye will go armed before the Lord . . . —The same verb and the same preposition are here used which are used in Numbers 32:17. It may be inferred from this expression that the army of the Israelites was regarded as the army of the Lord; and it seems probable that there is a reference to the ark of the Lord as being carried on certain occasions into the war. If the order of march prescribed in the second chapter of this Book was still observed, there may be a reference to the fact that the tribes of Reuben and Gad, which encamped on the south side of the Tabernacle, immediately preceded the ark (see Numbers 10:18-22), just as those of Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh immediately followed it (Psalm 80:2). At the time of the passage of the Jordan, the priests who bare the ark stood still in the river until the whole of the people had passed over “before the ark of the Lord” (Joshua 4:5; Joshua 4:11); but at the siege of Jericho it appears that the ark was carried in the midst of the host, some of the armed men going before it, and some following after it (Joshua 6:9). If this is the true meaning of the word “before the Lord,” it was natural that the Reubenites, or their spokesman, should first use the words “before the children of Israel” in Numbers 32:17, and should not adopt the expression “before the Lord,” as in Numbers 32:32, until it had been previously employed by Moses.

Benson Commentary

Numbers 32:20. Before the Lord — Before the ark, which was the token of God’s presence. He alludes either to the order of the tribes in their march, whereby Reuben and Gad marched immediately before the ark, or to the manner of their passage over Jordan, wherein the ark went first into Jordan, and stood there while all the tribes marched over Jordan by and before it, and these among the rest, as is expressly noted in these very words, that they passed over before the Lord, Joshua 4:13.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

32:16-27 Here is the good effect of plain dealing. Moses, by showing their sin, and the danger of it, brought them to their duty, without murmuring or disputing. All men ought to consider the interests of others as well as their own; the law of love requires us to labour, venture, or suffer for each other as there may be occasion. They propose that their men of war should go ready armed before the children of Israel into the land of Canaan, and that they should not return till the conquest of Canaan was ended. Moses grants their request, but he warns them of the danger of breaking their word. If you fail, you sin against the Lord, and not against your brethren only; God will certainly reckon with you for it. Be sure your sin will find you out. Sin will surely find out the sinner sooner or later. It concerns us now to find our sins out, that we may repent of them, and forsake them, lest they find us out to our ruin.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The Kenezite - Kenaz Genesis 36:11 was the name of one of the "dukes of Edom:" but Israel and Edom were of kindred origin, and the use of similar names by the two peoples is not surprising.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

20-33. Moses said unto them, If ye will do this thing—with sincerity and zeal.

go before the Lord to war—The phrase was used in allusion to the order of march in which the tribes of Reuben and Gad immediately preceded the ark (see on [96]Nu 2:10-31), or to the passage over the Jordan, in which the ark stood in mid-channel, while all the tribes marched by in succession (Jos 3:4), of course including those of Reuben and Gad, so that, literally, they passed over before the Lord and before the rest of Israel (Jos 4:13). Perhaps, however, the phrase is used merely in a general sense to denote their marching on an expedition, the purpose of which was blessed with the presence, and destined to promote the glory, of God. The displeasure which Moses had felt on the first mention of their proposal had disappeared on the strength of their solemn assurances. But a lurking suspicion of their motives seems still to have been lingering in his mind—he continued to speak to them in an admonitory strain; and he concluded by warning them that in case of their failing to redeem their pledge, the judgments of an offended God would assuredly fall upon them. This emphatic caution against such an eventuality throws a strong doubt on the honesty of their first intentions; and yet, whether through the opposing attitude or the strong invectives of Moses they had been brought to a better state of mind, their final reply showed that now all was right.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Before the Lord; either,

1. Sincerely and heartily, as in God’s presence. Or rather,

2. Before the ark, which was the token of God’s presence. He alludes either to the order of the tribes in their march, whereby Reuben and Gad marched next and immediately before the ark, as appears from Numbers 2:10,14,16,17; or to the manner of their passage over Jordan, wherein the ark went first into Jordan, and stood there whilst all the tribes marched over Jordan by and before it, Jos 3 Jos 5, and these amongst the rest, as is expressly noted in these very words, that they passed over before the Lord, Joshua 4:13.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And Moses said unto them,.... Being better disposed towards them, and more satisfied with the reasonableness of their request, it being explained unto him:

if ye will do this thing; which they had promised:

if ye will go armed before the Lord to war; they had said they would go ready armed before the children of Israel, but Moses expresses it "before the Lord"; which is more agreeable to their encampment and order in marching, for not the standard of Reuben but that of Judah went foremost, yet the standard of Reuben marched directly before the sanctuary bore by the Kohathites, Numbers 10:18, and so might be properly said to go before the Lord, who dwelt there.

Geneva Study Bible

And Moses said unto them, If ye will do this thing, if ye will go {f} armed before the LORD to war,

(f) Before the Ark of the Lord.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 20. - Before the Lord. Perhaps in a quasi-local sense, as the vanguard of the host before the sacred symbols of the Lord's presence (see on chapter Numbers 10:21, and Joshua 6:9). But since the same expression (לִפְנֵי יְהוָה) is twice used in a much vaguer sense in verse 22, it is more probable that it only means "in the Lord's service, or "beneath his eye." Numbers 32:20

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Upon this declaration Moses absolves them from all guilt, and promises them the desired land for a possession, on condition that they fulfil their promise; but he reminds them again of the sin that they will commit, and will have to atone for, if their promise is not fulfilled, and closes with the admonition to build towns for their families and pens for their flocks, and to do what they have promised. Upon this they promise again (Numbers 32:25-27), through their spokesman (as the singular ויּאמר in Numbers 32:25, and the suffix in אדני in Numbers 32:27, clearly show), that they will fulfil his command. The use of the expression "before Jehovah," in the words, "go armed before Jehovah to war," in Numbers 32:20 and Numbers 32:21, may be explained from the fact, that in the war which they waged at the command of their God, the Israelites were the army of Jehovah, with Jehovah in the midst. Hence the ark of the covenant was taken into the war, as the vehicle and substratum of the presence of Jehovah; whereas it remained behind in the camp, when the people wanted to press forward into Canaan of their own accord (Numbers 14:44). But if this is the meaning of the expression "before Jehovah," we may easily understand why the Reubenites and Gadites do not make use of it in Numbers 32:17, namely, because they only promise to go equipped "before the children of Israel," i.e., to help their brethren to conquer Canaan. In Numbers 32:32 they also adopt the expression, after hearing it from the mouth of Moses (Numbers 32:20).

(Note: This completely sets aside the supposed discrepancy which Knobel adduces in support of his fragmentary hypothesis, viz., that the Elohist writes "before Israel" in Numbers 32:17 and Numbers 32:29, when the Jehovist would write "before Jehovah," - a statement which is not even correct; since we find "before Jehovah" in Numbers 32:29, which Knobel is obliged to erase from the text in order to establish his assertion.)

נקיּים, innocent, "free from guilt before Jehovah and before Israel." By drawing back from participation in the war against the Canaanites, they would not only sin against Jehovah, who had promised Canaan to all Israel, and commanded them to take it, but also against Israel itself, i.e., against the rest of the tribes, as is more fully stated in Numbers 32:7-15. In Numbers 32:22, "before Jehovah" signifies according to the judgment of Jehovah, with divine approval. חטּאתכם וּדעוּ, "ye will know your sin," which will overtake (מצא) or smite you, i.e., ye will have to make atonement for them.