1 Chronicles 5:18

“The sons of Reuben, and the Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh, etc.] These all joined together, living together on the one side of Jordan: of valiant men, men able to bear buckler and sword, and to shoot with bow, and skilful in war; strong able bodied men; and not only able to bear and carry arms, sword in one hand, and shield in another; but were men of valour and courage, and had military skill, and knew how to handle their arms to advantage: [were] four and forty thousand seven hundred and threescore, that went out to the war: that used to go out when there was occasion, and did at this time.”

“Hagarites--or, "Hagarenes," originally synonymous with "Ishmaelites," but afterwards applied to a particular tribe of the Arabs (compare Psa 83:6). Jetur--His descendants were called Itureans, and the country Auranitis, from Hauran, its chief city. These, who were skilled in archery, were invaded in the time of Joshua by a confederate army of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half Manasseh, who, probably incensed by the frequent raids of those marauding neighbors, took reprisals in men and cattle, dispossessed almost all of the original inhabitants, and colonized the district themselves. Divine Providence favoured, in a remarkable manner, the Hebrew army in this just war.”

“5:18-22 The account of the war against the Hagrites develops the elements introduced in 5:10. It was a struggle among shepherds over grazing territory. All three tribes were participants; the Chronicler details their prowess, military qualifications, and numbers. With God . . . fighting against the enemy, the victory resulted in enormous spoils and total possession of the territory.”

“Reuben: Ch1 12:37; Gen 29:32; Kg2 10:33 Gadites: Deu 3:12 Manasseh: Gen 41:51 valiant men: Heb. sons of valour, Sa1 18:17 \*marg. Sa2 2:7 \*marg. to shoot: Ch1 8:40; Ch2 14:8; Psa 7:13 four and forty: Jos 4:12, Jos 4:13 that went: Num 1:3 1 Chronicles 5:19”

“War of the trans-Jordanic tribes of Israel with Arabic tribes. - As the half-tribe of Manasseh also took part in this war, we should have expected the account of it after Ch1 5:24. Bertheau regards its position here as a result of striving after a symmetrical distribution of the historical information. "In the case of Reuben," he says, "the historical information is in Ch1 5:10; in the case of the half-tribe of Manasseh, in Ch1 5:25, Ch1 5:26; as to Gad, we have our record in Ch1 5:18-22, which, together with the account in Ch1 5:25, Ch1 5:26, refers to all the trans-Jordanic Israelites." But it is much more likely that the reason of it will be found in the character of the authorities which…”