Deuteronomy 3:14

3:12-20 This country was settled on the Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh: see Nu 32. Moses repeats the condition of the grant to which they agreed. When at rest, we should desire to see our brethren at rest too, and should be ready to do what we can towards it; for we are not born for ourselves, but are members one of another.

Jair the son of Manasseh took all the country of Argob,.... Or Trachonitis; the small towns belonging to Gilead, as in Numbers 32:41 . unto the coasts of Geshuri and Maachathi; these were little kingdoms in Syria, on which the country of Argob bordered, and had kings over them in the time of David, and came not into the possession of the Israelites; see Joshua 13:13. and called them after his own name, Bashanhavothjair, unto this day; see Numbers 32:41.

(14) Jair took . . . unto this day. —The last words of this chapter seem to point to a later hand, as of Joshua, describing the completion of the conquest. The expression “unto this day” is characteristically common in Joshua, or in the editorial notes inserted throughout that book. (See Introduction to Joshua, “On the Style of the Book.”) Geshuri and Maachathi—i.e., the Geshurite and the Maachathite, the inhabitants of Geshur and Maachah. “The Maachathites, near the Jordan springs (comp. Abel-Beth-maachah, 2Samuel 20:14-15), and the Geshurites, rather farther east” (Conder, Bible Handbook, p. 254). Talmai, king of Geshur, was the grandfather of Absalom (2Samuel 3:3), who took refuge with him after he killed Ammon (2Samuel 13:37). “Argob, Trachonitis, or El-Lejja, has been an asylum for all malefactors and refugees ever since” (Giant Cities of Bashan, p. 92).

Verse 14. - Jair , a descendant of Manasseh by the mother's side (his father was of the tribe of Judah, 1 Chronicles 2:22 ), obtained the Argob region unto - i . e ., inclusive of (see Joshua 13:13 ) - the territory of the Geshuri and Maachathi. These were small Syrian tribes located to the east of Hermon. As Geshur signifies a bridge, it has been conjectured that the Geshurites were located near some well-known bridge across the Jordan, of which, perhaps, they were the keepers, and from this took their name. Maachah is called Aram (Syria) Maachah in 1 Chronicles 19:6 . According to the 'Ono-masticon,' it was "a city of the Amorites, by the Jordan, near Mount Hermon" ( s . v . Μαχαθί ). It had in later times a king, who allied himself with the Ammonites against David ( 1 Chronicles 19:7 ). These tribes were subdued, but not destroyed, by the Israelites; and at a later period seem to have regained their independence, and to have formed one kingdom (comp. 2 Samuel 3:3 ; 2 Samuel 10:6 ; 2 Samuel 13:37 ; 2 Samuel 15:8 ; 1 Chronicles 3:2 ). And called them after his own name, Bashan-havoth-jair . The word havoth (properly chavvoth , חַלֺוּת ) is the plural of a word meaning life, and Char-voth-Jair probably signifies Jair's livings, not Jair's villages, for these were apparently fortified cities (vers. 4, 5; Joshua 13:30 ; 1 Kings 4:13 ).

These were recaptured by the Geshurites, aided by the Arameans ( 1 Chronicles 2:23 , "And Geshur and Aram took Chavvoth-Jair from them," etc.); at what time is unknown. From Numbers 32:42 , it appears that Nobah, also a family descended from Machir, took certain towns, viz. "Kenath and her daughters" in this district; these, with the twenty-three Hay-voth-Jair, made up the sixty towns which "belonged to the sons of Machir the father of Gilead" ( 1 Chronicles 2:23 ). Nobah was probably in some way subordinate to Jair, and so in this rhetorical discourse, where it is not the purpose of the author to enter on minute details, the whole of these cities are included under the name Havvoth-Jair. Unto this day. "This does not necessarily imply a long time; and Moses himself may have used this expression, though only shortly after the event, in order to give prominence to the capture of the fortified cities of the giant' king Og, by the Manassites for the encouragement of the Israelites" (Herzheimer). Deuteronomy 3:14

Geshuri, or Geshurites, a people towards the north of Canaan, 2 Samuel 3:3 15:8 . See also Joshua 13:13 . Maachathi; of whom see 2 Samuel 3:3 10:6 . Unto this day: this must be put among those other passages which were not written by Moses, but added by those holy men who digested the books of Moses into this order, and inserted some very few passages to accommodate things to their own time and people.

These Geshurites held territory adjoining, if not included within, Bashan. They are not to be confounded with those mentioned in Joshua 13:2 , who were neighbors of the Philistines 1 Samuel 17:8 . The exact position of Maachah like that of Geshur cannot be ascertained; but it was no doubt among the fastnesses which lay between Bashan and the kingdom of Damascus, and on the skirts of Mount Hermon. Unto this day - This expression, like our "until now," does not, as used in the Bible, necessarily imply that the time spoken of as elapsed is long. It may here denote the duration to the time then present of that which had been already some months accomplished.

14. Jair the son of Manasseh took all the country of Argob—The original inhabitants of the province north of Bashan, comprising sixty cities (De 3:4), not having been extirpated along with Og, this people were afterwards brought into subjection by the energy of Jair. This chief, of the tribe of Manasseh, in accordance with the pastoral habits of his people, called these newly acquired towns by a name which signifies "Jair's Bedouin Villages of Tents." unto this day—This remark must evidently have been introduced by Ezra, or some of the pious men who arranged and collected the books of Moses.

14 . Archaeological Note. It begins with the last clause of Deuteronomy 3:13 ; see above. This reference of the conquest of Argob to Ya’îr contrasts with Deuteronomy 3:4-6 , which assign it to Israel under Moses, and differs from Numbers 32:41 , which places the Ḥawwôth-Ya’îr in Gilead; cp. 1 Kings 4:13 , and 1 Chronicles 2:22 , and as we have seen, on Deuteronomy 3:13 , Ya’îr is assigned by Jdg 10:3 ff. to the time of the Judges. The phrase unto this day also implies a date for this note later than that of Moses, which is assumed through the rest of the discourse. The opinion, therefore, is reasonable, that the note is a harmonising insertion altered from Numbers 32:41 . Note the awkward construction. The word them in called them Ḥawwôth Ya’îr , confirmed by Sam. and LXX., has no proper antecedent (it cannot of course be explained by the preceding border ), while in Numbers 32:41 it correctly refers to the preceding tent-villages . Note, too, the awkwardness of all Bashan as it stands. Moreover, the characteristic of Argob was not tent-villages but fenced cities ( Deuteronomy 3:4 ).—The Geshuri and Ma‘akathi are placed by Joshua 12:5 ; Joshua 13:11 between Gile‘ad and Ḥermon to the W. of Bashan; that is the mod. Jaulan (Gaulanitis), but the Ma‘akathi spread across Jordan N.W. to Abel-beth-Ma‘akah in Naphtali, 2 Samuel 20:14 f., etc.

These two were Aramean ( Genesis 22:24 ; 2 Samuel 15:8 ; 1 Chronicles 19:6 ); Israel failed to expel them ( Joshua 13:3 ); David fought the king of Ma‘akah ( 2 Samuel 10:6 , where the LXX Ἀμαλήκ is probably an error; the Geshur of 2 Samuel 3:3 ; 2 Samuel 13:37 f. may be another tribe of that name S. of Judah, Joshua 13:2 ; 1 Samuel 27:8 ); 1 Chronicles 2:33 , where Geshur is said to have taken the Ḥ. Ja’ir, and Deuteronomy 19:6 , are corrupt.— Ḥawwoth , cp. Ar. ḥiwa‘at “a collection of tents.”