And if we have not rather done it for fear of this thing, saying, In time to come your children might speak unto our children, saying, What have ye to do with the LORD God of Israel?
| Word | Hebrew | Strong’s | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| done | עָשִׂ֥ינוּ 'a.Si.nu | H6213 | to do or make · verb, qal perfect, 1st person common plural |
| fear | מִדְּאָגָה֙ mi.de.'a.Gah | H1674 | anxiety · preposition + noun, common feminine singular absolute |
| thing | מִדָּבָ֔ר mi.da.Var | H1697 | a word · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute |
| saying | לֵאמֹ֑ר le.Mor | H559 | to say (used with great latitude) · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct |
| come | מָחָ֗ר ma.Char | H4279 | properly · noun, common masculine singular absolute |
| children | בְנֵיכֶ֤ם ve.nei.Khem | H1121 | a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine plural |
| speak | יֹאמְר֨וּ yo.me.Ru | H559 | to say (used with great latitude) · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural |
| children | לְבָנֵ֙ינוּ֙ le.va.Nei.nu | H1121 | a son (as a builder of the family name) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix |
| saying | לֵאמֹ֔ר le.Mor | H559 | to say (used with great latitude) · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct |
| LORD | וְלַֽיהוָ֖ה ve.la.Yah.weh | H3068 | Jehovah · conjunction + preposition + proper noun, a title |
| God | אֱלֹהֵ֥י 'e.lo.Hei | H430 | gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural construct |
| Israel | יִשְׂרָאֵֽל Yis.ra.'El | H3478 | Jisrael · proper noun, a place name |
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Then the children of Reuben . . . answered--repudiating, in the strongest terms, the alleged crime, and deponing that so far from entertaining the intention imputed to them, their only object was to perpetuate the memory of their alliance with Israel [Jos 22:24-25], and their adherence to the worship of Israel's God [Jos 22:26-27].
For fear of this thing - The motive that actuated us was directly the reverse of that of which we have been suspected.
And if we have not rather done it for fear of this thing,.... So far they suggest were they from doing this, in order to turn from the pure worship of God, and introduce idolatrous worship, that it was to guard against everything of that kind for the future; and through fear of it, and anxiety and distress of mind, lest some time or another there should be any temptation to it in their posterity, had they built this altar: saying, in time to come your children might speak unto our children; or "tomorrow" (m), in a short time after your heads, and ours, are laid in the grave, your posterity will accost us: saying, what have you to do with the Lord God of Israel? you are aliens and strangers…
Read the whole note in the consoleJoshua 22:21-34 21. Then the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh answered, and said unto the heads of the thousands of Israel, 21. Responderunt autem filii Ruben, et filii Gad, et dimidia tribus Manasse, loquutique sunt cum principibus millium Israel. 22. The LORD God of gods, the LORD God of gods, he knoweth, and Israel he shall know; if it be in rebellion, or if in transgression against the LORD, (save us not this day,) 22. Deus deorum Jehova, Deus deorum Jehova ipse novit, et Israel cognoscet, si per rebellionem, et si per prevaricationem in Jehovam, ne serves nos die hac. 23. That we have built us an altar to turn from following the LORD, or if…
Read the whole note in the consoleIn utter amazement at the suspicion expressed by the delegates of the congregation, the two tribes and a half affirm with a solemn oath, that it never entered into their minds to build an altar as a place of sacrifice, to fall away from Jehovah. The combination of the three names of God-El, the strong one; Elohim, the Supreme Being to be feared; and Jehovah, the truly existing One, the covenant God (Jos 22:22), - serves to strengthen the invocation of God, as in Psa 50:1; and this is strengthened still further by the repetition of these three names. God knows, and let Israel also know, sc., what they intended, and what they have done. The אם which follows is the usual particle used in an oat…
Read the whole note in the consoleThe eastern tribes feared exclusion from Israel at a later time because the Jordan River divided them from the western tribes.
Our anxiety of this. Because of anxiety, and the fear of insulting words, have we done this, as is further explained in the Scripture: ‘Lest tomorrow your children will say,’ Lest they insult our children— when they go to bring sacrifices in the Mishkan at Shiloh— lest they say to them, ‘What have you to do with Adonoy?’ Did he not set a boundary between us and you, namely, the Jordan. This was our fear and thus we made it. Every word, דְּאָגָה, found in Scripture expresses fear, similar to, “I am concerned [fear] that the Jews etc.” [These were the words] of Tzidkiahu.3See Yirmiahu 38:19. King Tzidkiahu was concerned that the Jews that had been captured by the Kasdim would betray him and he…
Read the whole note in the consoleHenry, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown, Clarke, Gill, Calvin and Keil & Delitzsch are in the public domain; Tyndale Open Study Notes © Tyndale House Publishers, CC BY-SA 4.0 — all from the Free Use Bible API (bible.helloao.org). Rashi: the Rosenbaum & Silbermann Pentateuch (public domain) and the Judaica Press and Metsudah Tanakh (CC BY), via Sefaria. Spurgeon's Treasury of David: public domain (lyteword's markdown edition, CC0).
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
