And unto half the tribe of Manasseh. As no mention has been previously made of this tribe in this connection, we are left to conjecture why it should, contrary to all analogy, have been divided at all, and why the one half should have received the remote regions of Northern Gilead and Bashan.
That the tribe was divided at all can only be explained by the pre-existence of some schism in its ranks, the probable origin and nature of which are discussed in the notes on verses 39, 41. The enormous increase in the tribal numbers during the wanderings (see on chapter 26:34) may have made the division more advisable, and the adventurous and independent character of the Machirites may have rendered it almost a necessity.
They had not apparently preferred any request to Moses, but since the trans-Jordanic territory was to be occupied, Moses probably prevented a grave difficulty by recognizing their claim to the conquests they had made.