For there fell down many slain, because the war was of God. And they dwelt in their steads until the captivity.
They dwelt in their steads until the captivity. It appears that these acquisitions by conquest, which were made by the Reubenites, Gadites, and half tribe of Manasseh, reached to the banks of the Euphrates and the shores of the Persian Gulf, and were retained from the time of Saul until the period of the Assyrian captivity - i:e., for about 300 years. This is an occurrence which, from its being incidentally recorded in a dry catalogue of genealogical names, is apt to be overlooked; but its important character, and the contiguity of the extended possessions of the trans-Jordanic tribes to the Euphrates, must have had great influence on their the extended possessions of the trans-Jordanic tribes to the Euphrates, must have had great influence on their relations with Babylon.