Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
Numbers 32:28-32
Moses Confirms To The Leadership Of The Tribes That The Soldiers of Reuben and Gad Will Go With The Other Tribes (Numbers 32:28).
‘ So Moses gave charge concerning them to Eleazar the priest, and to Joshua the son of Nun, and to the heads of the fathers' houses of the tribes of the children of Israel.'
On the condition of their promises Moses now gave a charge to Eleazar the Priest and to Joshua, and to the chieftains of the tribes.
‘And Moses said to them, “If the children of Gad and the children of Reuben will pass with you over the Jordan, every man who is armed for battle, before Yahweh, and the land shall be subdued before you; then you shall give them the land of Gilead for a possession, but if they will not pass over with you armed, they shall have possessions among you in the land of Canaan.”
And the charge was this. That if the fighting men of Gad and Reuben passed over Jordan with them and the land of Canaan was subdued before Israel, then they should be given the land of Gilead for a permanent possession rather than just a temporary one, But if they would not pass over armed then they would not be granted the land but would have their possessions in the land of Canaan (thus ensuring that they had to cross over).
‘And the children of Gad and the children of Reuben answered, saying, “As Yahweh has said to your servants, so will we do. We will pass over armed before Yahweh into the land of Canaan, and the possession of our inheritance shall remain with us beyond the Jordan.” '
The Gaddites and the Reubenites then publicly confirmed their position. They would do what Yahweh had said. Their fighting men would pass over the Jordan with the tribes of Israel armed ready for battle, and they would accept their inheritance as being in the land east of Jordan.
It will be noted that nowhere at this stage is there a hint of the Manassites being given land east of Jordan. Thus this agreement was clearly made prior to the full conquest of Bashan, which will in fact now be brought into account.
It would seem therefore that the information just recounted clearly came from a written account which ceased at this point, presumably a covenant treaty between the Gaddites and the Reubenites, and the rest of Israel. That does not mean that the information given below was given so very much later. The record of the Daughters of Zelophehad demonstrates that the settlement of Machir in Gilead was already being widely discussed. It was just not included in the treaty record made with Gad and Reuben.