Ye have not left your brethren these many days unto this day,.... For the space of fourteen years, which is the commonly received notion of the Jews ; seven years according to them the land was subduing, and seven more spent in dividing it, and then these tribes were sent for and dismissed; all this time they stayed close by their brethren, and assisted them in their wars, and never offered to return to their wives and children, until they had an order from their general:but have kept the charge of the commandment of the Lord your God; for what both Moses and Joshua commanded them was from the mouth of the Lord; so that, in obeying them, they obeyed him.
Seder Olam Rabba, c. 11. p.