Deuteronomy 3:15

Machir received Gilead (see Num 32:40). - In Deu 3:16 and Deu 3:17 the possession of the tribes of Reuben and Gad is described more fully according to its boundaries. They received the land of Gilead (to the south of the Jabbok) as far as the brook Arnon, the middle of the valley and its territory. הנּחל תּוך is a more precise definition of ארנן נחל, expressive of the fact that the territory of these tribes was not to reach merely to the northern edge of the Arnon valley, but into the middle of it, viz., to the river Arnon, which flowed through the middle of the valley; and וּגבוּל (and the border) is an explanatory apposition to what goes before, as in Num 34:6, signifying, "viz., the border of the Arnon valley as far as the river." On the east, "even unto Jabbok the brook, the (western) border of the Ammonites" (i.e., as far as the upper Jabbok, the Nahr Ammn: see at Num 21:24); and on the west "The Arabah (the Ghor: see Deu 1:1) and the Jordan with territory" (i.e., with its eastern bank), "from Chinnereth" (i.e., the town from which the Sea of Galilee received the name of Sea of Chinnereth: Num 34:11; see at Jos 19:35) "to the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea under the slopes of Pisgah (see at Num 21:15 and Num 27:12) eastward" (i.e., merely the eastern side of the Arabah and Jordan). - In Deu 3:18-20 Moses reminds them of the conditions upon which he had given the two tribes and a half the land referred to for their inheritance (cf. Num 32:20-32).

Moses, in this chapter, relates, I. The conquest of Og, king of Bashan, and the seizing of his country (Deu 3:1-11). II. The distribution of these new conquests to the two tribes and a half (Deu 3:12-17). Under certain provisos and limitations (Deu 3:18-20). III. The encouragement given to Joshua to carry on the war which was so gloriously begun (Deu 3:21, Deu 3:22). IV. Moses's request to go over into Canaan (Deu 3:23-25), with the denial of that request, but the grant of an equivalent (Deu 3:26, etc.).

3:15 Makir was a clan in the tribe of Manasseh (Num 26:29) to which Jair was related (1 Chr 2:21-23). The clan of Makir settled south of Bashan in the northern part of Gilead (see Deut 3:13).