Concerning the Ammonites, thus saith the LORD; Hath Israel no sons? hath he no heir? why [then] doth their king inherit Gad, and his people dwell in his cities?
Ver. 1. Concerning the Ammonites.] Who are taxed in Scripture for their pride, petulance, and contempt of God's Israel, whom they had always infested, and now grossly injured, by encroaching upon part of their country, which they had seized on, as if Israel had been heirless, and themselves next of kin, which was nothing so. See Zephaniah 2:8 .
Hath he no heir.] Yes, Judah and Benjamin, not yet captivated.
Why then doth their king inherit gad?] i.e., Gilead (Gad's portion beyond Jordan), because it lieth convenient to him. This they would have done long before - viz., in Jephtha's days: but then it would not be. Afterwards, Saul and David subdued them; but in Jehoshaphat's time they came again, together with the Moabites, and the men of Mount Seir, to make a disturbance; but were defeated. 2 Chronicles 20:1 ; 2Ch 20:22-24 Now, when those Israelites beyond Jordan were carried away, and their land desolated, first by the Syrians, 2Ki 10:32-33 and afterwards by the Assyrians, 2Ki 15:29 then in likelihood it was that the Ammonites thus invaded the country, and laid it to their own, cf. Amo 1:13 that they might dwell alone in that part of the earth.