Numbers 32:2

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

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 livestock owned by the Reubenites and the Gadites were unusually vast and numerous. They saw that the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead were exactly the place for livestock.

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

3 "Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and Beon is

4 the land that the LORD struck down before the Israelite community. It is a land for livestock, and your servants have livestock."

5 They said, "If you approve our request, give this land to your servants as property. Don't make us cross the Jordan."