Numbers 32.
THE property of the children of Reuben and of Gad divided their thoughts with the I promised land, so that they were content, and not only content, but anxious, to have their homes on this side of the river of death, the Jordan. The things of this life (2 Timothy 2: 4) are a danger to every true Christian. For him the true course is shown in Matthew 6:3333But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. (Matthew 6:33),
“Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”
There is rest here, in the knowledge of the forgiveness of sins, with many other blessings, but as the eighth chapter of Romans illustrates, there is besides, and beyond these blessings, a hope for which the believer is to wait with patience; it is the coming of the Lord to take His loved people to glory.
It would have been better for the Reubenites and the Gadites, and the children of Manasseh to have patiently waited until they had gone over Jordan, and Moses warned them of their danger. Notice in verse 20 that not God, but Moses, tells them they may have their choice of present blessing, rather than patient hope of something better beyond the river. “From Jordan eastward, all the land of Gilead, the Gadites, and Reubenites, and the Manassites” was the first of the land of Israel to be taken by a foreign king (2 Kings 10: 32, 33).
ML 07/06/1924