Commentaire sur Les Nombres 32:29

[AND MOSES SAID UNTO THEM]: ‘IF THE CHILDREN OF GAD AND THE CHILDREN OF REUBEN WILL PASS WITH YOU etc. THEN YE [Joshua and the princes] SHALL GIVE THEM THE LAND OF GILEAD FOR A POSSESSION.’ The reason for this [command that then ye shall give them …] is that Moses did not give them now all the land of Sihon and Og, but only a few cities in the land of Gilead which was a place fit for cattle, namely Ataroth, and Dibon, etc.¹²³Verse 3 here. and those mentioned here,¹²⁴Further, Verses 34-38. in which they built fortifications to settle their children and cattle therein, but the rest of the land they left waste. Therefore [Moses] commanded Joshua and the princes: “If they will pass over [the Jordan] with you, you shall give them all the land as a perpetual inheritance. But if they will not want to pass over with you,¹²⁵Verse 30. you should take away from them all this land and drive out from it their wives and children, and give them an inheritance fitting for them in the land of Canaan, which they shall conquer for themselves when they cross over [the Jordan].” And Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra commented: “But if they will not pass over¹²⁵Verse 30. of their own free will, you shall take them with you against their will, and they shall take their possession there [in the land of Canaan] together with you.”

ויאמר משה…ונתתם להם, Moses said:…"and then you will give to them, etc." The reason Moses had to say: "and you will give to them," was that it should be perceived that it was the other tribes who had given these lands to the tribes of Gad and Reuven although we will be reading in verse 33 that "Moses gave to the tribes of Gad, Reuven and half the tribe of Menashe the kingdom of Sichon and the kingdom of Og, etc." What Moses handed over became an absolute possession only after the tribes involved had completed their undertaking. We need to examine why Moses said: ונתתם להם instead of: תתנו להם, the more acceptable form of the future tense. Perhaps Moses wanted to indicate by the use of a form involving the letter ו at the beginning that the very whole-hearted participation in the conquest by these two tribes was what would make the campaign successful so that the ten tribes themselves owed their inheritance to that participation of the tribes Gad and Reuven. Had Moses written תתנו להם, we would not have surmised his meaning from that word.

אם יעברו... ונתתם, “if they will cross, etc.,….then you will give.” Nachmanides sees in this verse a clear indication that at this time Moses did not give these two tribes all the land they had requested, except the cities that were required to accommodate their families during the period that their fighting men marched with the main body of the Jewish people. These were the towns that are mentioned here by name. The two tribes fortified those towns before moving with the balance of the people cross the Jordan. The rest of the land on the east bank they left as desolate land. This is why Joshua and the elders told them that if they would fulfill their undertaking to Moses they would also receive the areas not yet distributed (Joshua 1,12-16) Ibn Ezra explains on verse 30 that the implied meaning of the verse is that if these two tribes were not going to cross voluntarily with the main body, they would be compelled to do so against their will. As a result of such an eventuality they would receive their ancestral share on the west bank.