And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest
As the mouth of the deputation, and in their name:
said unto the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to
the children of Manasseh;
the representatives of them assembled together on this occasion:
this day we perceive that the Lord [is] among us;
his Shechinah, as the Targum; his powerful Presence in preserving their brethren from committing a trespass, as they feared; his gracious Presence smiling upon them; and as the God of peace and order, and not of confusion, uniting and cementing their hearts in love to one another:
because ye have not committed this trespass against the Lord;
which they were fearful and jealous of they had, but they found that the Lord had been good and gracious in preserving them from it:
now ye have delivered the children of Israel out of the hand of the
Lord;
into which they would have fallen, had that been the case, and would have felt the effects of the divine resentment, but now they were secure from them.