Context No. 3974 of 4322 · Numbers

Numbers 32:25-30: in context

25The children of Gad and the children of Reuben spoke to Moses, saying, “Your servants will do as my lord commands. 26Our little ones, our wives, our flocks, and all our livestock shall be there in the cities of Gilead; 27but your servants will pass over, every man who is armed for war, before the LORD to battle, as my lord says.” 28So Moses commanded concerning them to Eleazar the priest, and to Joshua the son of Nun, and to the heads of the fathers’ households of the tribes of the children of Israel. 29Moses said to them, “If the children of Gad and the children of Reuben will pass with you over the Jordan, every man who is armed to battle before the LORD, and the land is subdued before you, then you shall give them the land of Gilead for a possession; 30but if they will not pass over with you armed, they shall have possessions among you in the land of Canaan.”

The tribes of Gad and Reuben, who had asked to settle on the near side of the Jordan, make a commitment that answers Moses' earlier concern: your servants will do as our lord commands. They pledge that, though their families and flocks will remain in the settled land, their fighting men will cross over the Jordan armed and go into battle alongside the other tribes, and will not return to their own inheritance until their brothers have secured theirs.

It is a resolution of solidarity over selfishness. They had been given a good portion, but they would not simply settle down to enjoy it while their brothers still faced the fight. They committed to shoulder the common struggle first, and only afterward to rest in their own possession. There is a fine principle here. It would have been easy for Gad and Reuben, having secured their own land, to leave the hard fighting to others; instead they bound themselves to the good of the whole community before their own comfort. When God has blessed us with our own portion, the temptation is to settle into it and leave the ongoing struggles to others.

When God has blessed me with my own portion and security, do I settle into it and leave the common struggles to others, or do I keep shouldering the shared burden until my brothers and sisters are also provided for?

Sources

Numbers 32:27: "But your servants will pass over, every man who is armed for war, before the LORD to battle, as my lord says."
Numbers 32:25: "Your servants will do as my lord commands."
Galatians 6:2: "Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ."