Numbers 32:7, commentary and pictures

Moses' question is a rebuke to Gad and Reuben for wanting to settle east of the Jordan and sit still while their brethren go to war, since holding back from the conquest would discourage the heart of the rest of Israel from going over into the land the Lord had given them and facing its conflicts. Their request was feared to come from unbelief, sloth, or cowardice that would leave fellow Israelites to bear the struggle alone. It is a warning against seeking personal ease while others carry shared responsibilities.

Such holding back repeats the sin of their fathers when sent from Kadesh-barnea to see the land, who went up to the valley of Eshcol and discouraged Israel from entering it. That earlier discouragement kindled the Lord's anger so that none of the men who came up out of Egypt from twenty years old and upward would see the land sworn to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Only Caleb the Kenezite and Joshua the son of Nun were excepted, because they wholly followed the Lord, while Israel was made to wander forty years until the generation that had done evil was consumed. Moses warns that rising up in their fathers' stead as sinful men to turn away would augment the fierce anger of the Lord, leave Israel again in the wilderness, and destroy all the people.

To discourage Israel in this way is rebellion against a jealous God who yet bears long with the sins and transgressions of His people. The verse proves the Lord's promises are upon condition of obedience. If His people walked in His counsel, believed Him, were doers of His word, and kept His commandments, His work would advance and the messages of truth would be borne to all people that dwell on the face of the whole earth.

Like ancient Israel, present disobedience, unthankfulness, and unholiness hinders God's work and delays the sealing time. Its lesson reaches the present generation. Time is prolonged that all may hear the last message of mercy proclaimed with a loud voice. Many have not yet heard the truth, but the Lord will give them a chance to hear and be converted, and the great work of God will go forward.