Transjordan in the Bible

Transjordan (Hebrew: עבר הירדן, Ever HaYarden) is an area of land in the Southern Levant lying east of the Jordan River valley.

'beyond the Jordan towards the sunrise'[1] is translated to Ancient Greek: πέραν τοῦ Ιορδάνου,, romanized: translit.

[3] The prefix trans- is Latin and means "across" or beyond, so "Transjordan" refers to the land on the other side of the Jordan River.

The term "East", as in "towards the sunrise", is also used in Arabic: شرق الأردن, romanized: Sharq al ʾUrdun, lit.

Since Og's territory was not on the route to Canaan, it was "more naturally part of the Promised Land", and so the Manassites' status is less problematic than that of the Reubenites or Gadites.

This causes the "whole congregation of the Israelites" to prepare for war, but they first send a delegation to the Transjordanian tribes, accusing them of making God angry and suggesting that their land may be unclean.

[5] Per the settlement of the Israelite tribes east of the Jordan, Burton MacDonald notes; There are various traditions behind the Books of Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, and 1 Chronicles’ assignment of tribal territories and towns to Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.

"[12] According to the Hebrew Bible, Ammon and Moab were nations that occupied parts of Transjordan in ancient times.

Attacks by the Ammonites on Israelite communities east of the Jordan were the impetus behind the unification of the tribes under Saul (1 Samuel 11:1–15).

[15] King David spent time in the Transjordan after he had fled from the rebellion of his son Absalom (2 Samuel 17–19).