6 And Moses said to the children of Gad, and to the children of Reuben, Shall your brethren go to war, and shall ye abide here? 7 And why do ye discourage the children of Israel from going over into the land that Jehovah has given them? 8 Thus did your fathers, when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to see the land: 9 they went up to the valley of Eshcol, and saw the land, and discouraged the children of Israel, that they should not go into the land that Jehovah had given them. 10 And Jehovah's anger was kindled the same time, and he swore, saying, 11 If the men that came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land that I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob! for they have not wholly followed me; 12 save Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite, and Joshua the son of Nun; for they have wholly followed Jehovah. 13 And Jehovah's anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until the whole generation was consumed that had done evil in the eyes of Jehovah. 14 And behold, ye are risen up in your fathers' stead, a progeny of sinful men, to augment yet the fierce anger of Jehovah toward Israel. 15 If ye turn away from after him, he will yet again leave them in the wilderness; and ye shall destroy all this people.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Numbers 32:6-15
Commentary on Numbers 32:6-15
(Read Numbers 32:6-15)
The proposal showed disregard to the land of Canaan, distrust of the Lord's promise, and unwillingness to encounter the difficulties and dangers of conquering and driving out the inhabitants of that land. Moses is wroth with them. It will becomes any of God's Israel to sit down unconcerned about the difficult and perilous concerns of their brethren, whether public or personal. He reminds them of the fatal consequences of the unbelief and faint-heartedness of their fathers, when they were, as themselves, just ready to enter Canaan. If men considered as they ought what would be the end of sin, they would be afraid of the beginning of it.