Reuben and Gad Covenant That Their Warriors Will Go Forward With Israel (Numbers 32:16-19).
‘And they came near to him, and said, “We will build sheepfolds here for our cattle, and cities for our little ones, but we ourselves will be ready armed to go before the children of Israel, until we have brought them to their place: and our little ones shall dwell in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land.”
But the Reubenites and Gadites assured him that they were not trying to avoid entering the land which God had given them. They pointed out that they would establish their families where they were, erecting sheepfolds for their animals, and repairing the fortified cities for them to find protection in, because of the belligerence of the inhabitants of nearby lands, and then they would go forward with the children of Israel, ready armed for battle, until they had brought them into the place that God had for them.
“ We will not return to our houses, until the children of Israel have inherited every man his inheritance.”
Indeed they promised that they would not return to their houses until every man of the children of Israel had inherited his inheritance.
“ For we will not inherit with them on the other side of the Jordan, and forward, because our inheritance is fallen to us on this side of the Jordan eastward.”
But they themselves would not inherit in Canaan because they believed that God was showing them that their inheritance lay on this side of the Jordan.