Scripture Daily

Context No. 2496 of 4322 · Numbers

Context · Reflection

Numbers 32:1-5: in context

1Now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great multitude of livestock. They saw the land of Jazer, and the land of Gilead. Behold, the place was a place for livestock. 2Then the children of Gad and the children of Reuben came and spoke to Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and to the princes of the congregation, saying, 3“Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and Beon, 4the land which the LORD struck before the congregation of Israel, is a land for livestock; and your servants have livestock.” 5They said, “If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants for a possession. Don’t bring us over the Jordan.”

The tribes of Reuben and Gad have large herds, and when they see the rich grazing land east of the Jordan, in Jazer and Gilead, they make a request to Moses: this is good land for livestock, and we have livestock. If we have found favor, give us this land, and do not bring us across the Jordan. They would rather settle here, short of the promised land, because the near country suits their cattle.

The request is understandable and also revealing. The land God had promised lay across the river, but the ground on this side was good enough, and their assets fit it well, so they ask to stop short. It is the pull of the near and the convenient over the promised and the full. Nothing about the eastern pasture was sinful, but the instinct to settle before the crossing, because the present ground serves my interests, is worth examining. God's fuller purpose often lies on the far side of a river we would rather not cross when the land here is comfortable.

Where am I asking to settle short of God's fuller call, simply because the near ground is comfortable and suits what I already have?

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