And the people of Gad and the people of Reuben answered, “What the LORD has said to your servants, we will do. We will pass over armed before the LORD into the land of Canaan, and the possession of our inheritance shall remain with us beyond the Jordan.”
Numbers 32:31-32
There was one victory Moses led Israel to experience on the east shore of the Jordan river. God told the nation to muster warriors and defeat the Midianites that a generation earlier had led Israel into idolatry. And God brought victory as Moses mobilized the army and they took battle plans against Midian into action. They wiped out the Midianite threat, captured their cities, took the surrender of the Midianite leaders, walked alway with rich spoils of war, and occupied the land of Gilead.
This land looked particularly habitable to the tribes of Gad, Reuben, and Manasseh. They petitioned Moses to let them settle there in the land of Israel’s first possession. Moses took the matter to God, and the Lord decreed that if the tribes would also continue to be part of Israel’s army as the nation crossed the Jordan to take the rest of Canaan, they could indeed claim their inheritance of the east side of the Jordan.
The eastern tribes were quick to sincerely and bravely agree with God (and Moses) to do these things. And in so doing, the first one-third of the nation came to know the blessing of the Promised Land. God kept His promise to deliver His people, bring them to their Promised home, place Abraham’s offspring in the land He gave to them, and to be their God. This promise was claimed by faith, by obedience, and by sacrifice in battle. All were necessary for God’s Word to be true. And even after the gift of the promise was followed by the path of blessing, the people still needed to believe and trust God. God’s promise never stops. Our obedience to Him never stops either! And the blessing He brings lasts forever.
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