before the LORD

So Moses said to them, “If you will do this, if you will take up arms to go before the Lord for the war, and every armed man of you will pass over the Jordan before the Lord, until he has driven out his enemies from before him and the land is subdued before the Lord; then after that you shall return and be free of obligation to the Lord and to Israel, and this land shall be your possession before the Lord. But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the Lord, and be sure your sin will find you out.”

Numbers 32:20-23

Moses instructed the leaders of Gad and Reuben on their responsibility to God in the conquest of Canaan. Early on, Israel defeated Midian east of the Jordan, and the tribes of Gad and Reuben desired to make that territory their homeland. Moses is willing to do what they desire, but there is still God’s mandate for them to continue to fulfill. Four times in this passage Moses reminds them that God has purposed to use them in the continued conquest. They are still warriors. The repeated reminder is found in the phrase “before the LORD.”

Gad and Reuben must take up weapons “before the LORD.” They must cross the Jordana with their fellow Israelite soldiers “before the LORD.” The land will be subdued “before the LORD.“ Then they can take possession of their east-Jordan homeland “before the LORD.”

They were obligated “to the LORD and to Israel.” Moses also points out that failure to do this would be sin “against the LORD.” All the hard work, and the fight ahead to win the Promised Land was an act of obedience. Life lived “before the LORD” obeys Him out of worship with a desire for God’s will to be accomplished with and through us.