Numbers 32

I'm an English major, so allow me to indulge in a little pedantry for just a moment. When an author writes a story or an account, they can choose to use first person (I), second person (you), or third person (they, he, she) narration. You don't see whole tomes written in second person a whole lot except for those "Choose Your Own Adventure" books with multiple endings. ("You are sucked into a black hole and are never heard from again. THE END.")

Third person is not only the most common, but it also branches into other sub-modes. For the purposes of this post, I'm going to simplify them into third person subjective and third person objective. In the subjective mode, the narrator tells us the inner thoughts and musings of the characters. Call this the "mind reader" approach. Conversely, the objective mode is purely external, describing observable actions and dialogue only. Call this the "movie script" approach.

For the most part, the Bible takes the "movie script" approach, not delving much into what the characters are thinking. This sometimes makes me wonder about the intentions of certain characters. For example, Numbers 32 tells about the Reubenites and Gadites wanting to settle in a region across the Jordan River from the Promised Land. In response, Moses gives a 10-verse speech (verses 6-15) chastising them for dragging their feet and once again preventing the Israelites from fulfilling God's will and settling in Canaan. The Reubenites and Gadites respond by saying that they'll help the rest of the Israelites conquer the Promised Land before settling across the river.

I wonder what the Reubenites's and Gadites's initial intention was. Were they really wary about entering the Promised Land, with its supposed Brobdingnagians, thus requiring Moses's censure? Or did they really have noble intentions all along? I guess all that matters is that they agreed to do their part in conquering Canaan. As for Moses, I think that he did the sensible thing (not that he would have needed my approval) by being suspicious of their intentions. Better safe than sorry, especially knowing how dim-witted the Israelites have acted in the past. After all, I'm sure he didn't want the Israelites to screw up the same way they had 40 years earlier, which likely would have earned them another glorious 40 years of wandering in the desert they probably now knew all too well.