What Does Numbers 32:30 Mean in the King James?
But if they will not pass over with you armed, they shall have possessions among you in the land of Canaan.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
When the armed crossing does not happen, belonging is still expressed as a holding among the people in Canaan.
THE MEANING
Your place among a people can be named in two ways here: crossing with the armed company, or holding a possession among them in Canaan. The verse gives the alternative a concrete location within the community.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that taking a different part in the crossing means having no share among the people.
THE ROOT
וְנֹאחֲזוּ
ve-no'achazu
GROWS FROM
אחז
achaz
to grasp, take hold, seize, or possess
Beneath “possessions” sits a verb of taking hold. The verse makes the alternative to crossing a tangible share held within the community.
ALSO GROWS
achaz: to grasp, seize, or take hold
אָחַז
This verb gives the verse’s possession its sense of something firmly held.
achuzzah: a possession, property, or holding
אֲחֻזָּה
This noun names the concrete share that the verse describes among the people.
יַעַבְרוּ
ya'avru
GROWS FROM
עבר
avar
to cross over, pass through, or go beyond
“pass over” in this verse is ya'avru. The verb describes crossing from one side to another. Set beside אחז (achaz), it clarifies the verse’s two positions: crossing with the armed company, or holding a place among the people.
ALSO GROWS
avar: to cross, pass over, or pass through
עָבַר
This is the verb behind “pass over” in the verse.
ever: the other side, beyond, or across
עֵבֶר
This related form makes the boundary between one side and another explicit in the idea of crossing.
THE PATTERN
Belonging takes concrete form as a place or share within a common whole.
I am a stranger and a sojourner with you: give me a possession of a buryingplace with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;THE THREAD
And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land.Numbers uses יַעַבְרוּ (ya’avru), from עבר (avar), for passing over with the armed company; Genesis uses the same root when Abram passes through Canaan. The shared verb links crossing the land with the question of who holds a place within it.
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