Deuteronomy 3:16

And unto the Reubenites, and unto the Gadites,.... The tribes of Reuben and Gad: I gave from Gilead even unto the river Arnon: see Deuteronomy 3:12 half the valley and the border; or rather half the

And unto the Reubenites and unto the Gadites I gave from Gilead even unto the river Arnon half the valley, and the border even unto the river Jabbok, which is the border of the children of Ammon;

Half the valley, or rather to the middle of the river; for the word rendered half signifies commonly middle; and the same Hebrew word signifying both a valley and a brook or river, it seems more reasonable to understand it of a river, as the same word is here rendered in the next foregoing clause of this verse, than of a valley, which was not mentioned before, especially seeing there is here an article added which seems to be emphatical, and to note that river, to wit, now mentioned. Add to this, that there was no such valley, much less any half valley, belonging both unto the Reubenites and Gadites. But according to the other translation the sense is plain and agreeable to the truth, that their land extended from Gilead unto Aroer, and, to speak exactly, to the middle of that river; for as that river was the border between them and others, so one half of it belonged to them, as the other half did to others. And that this is no subtle device, as some may think it, but the truth of the thing, and the real meaning of the place, will appear by comparing this place with two others: 1. With , where the same thing is expressed in the same words in the Hebrew which are here, though our translators render the selfsame words there from the middle of the river, which here they render half of the valley; and where the bounds of Sihon’ s kingdom, which was the same portion there mentioned as given to Reuben and Gad, are thus described, from Aroer, which is upon the bank of the river of Arnon, and from the middle of the river, and from half Gilead, even unto the river Jabbok, which is the border of the children of Ammon. 2. With , From Aroer, which is by the brink of the river of Arnon, and from the city that is by the river, or rather, as the Hebrew hath it, in the river, i.e. from Ar, which was the chief city of the Moabites, and therefore denied to the Israelites, as is here implied, and more fitly expressed, , which city was seated in an island in the middle of the river. So that here we have a just and full reason why the border of this land given to Reuben and Gad is so nicely and critically described there, even to the middle of a river, which although in truth and strictness it be the bound of those lands which are divided by a river, yet is not usually expressed in the description of borders, either in Scripture or other authors, because here was an eminent city of the Moabites in the middle of this river, which by this curious and exact description is excepted from their possession, as God would have it to be.

Deuteronomy 3:16 And unto the Reubenites and unto the Gadites I gave from Gilead even unto the river Arnon half the valley, and the border even unto the river Jabbok, [which is] the border of the children of Ammon;Ver. 16. Unto the river Jabbok.] Famous for Jacob’ s wrestling with God near unto it.

(13-17) Comp. Numbers 32:33-42, and Notes thereon,

16. And unto the Reubenites, etc.] Since this verse repeats what is already stated, it also is regarded as secondary. ‘The language of 16, however, is harmonious with that of Deu 2:36, and it is possible that this sequence represents the older form of the narrative, before the incorporation of the account of Og, for there seems no reason why an editorial expounder should thus imperfectly reproduce statements already made.’ (Oxf. Hex., ii. 252.) the middle of the valley for a border] That is, the exact border was not the edge, but the stream-bed of the wâdy.

The sense is that the Reubenites and Gadites were to possess the district from the Jabbok on the north to the Arnon on the south, including the middle part of the valley of the Arnon, and the

OF THE LAND THAT WAS , Deuteronomy 3:12-20.The territory taken on the east of the Jordan was given to the tribes of Reuben and Gad and to the half tribe of Manasseh.