Parshas Matos-Masei has Bnei Yisrael
right on the border of Eretz Yisrael, making final preparations to enter the
land. However, two of the tribes were seemingly not as eager to enter Eretz
Yisrael.
The tribes of Reuven and Gad came to
Moshe with a request. The pasuk reads, “הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר
הִכָּה יְהוָה לִפְנֵי עֲדַת יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶרֶץ מִקְנֶה הִוא וְלַעֲבָדֶיךָ מִקְנֶה. וַיֹּאמְרוּ אִם מָצָאנוּ חֵן בְּעֵינֶיךָ יֻתַּן אֶת
הָאָרֶץ “הַזֹּאת לַעֲבָדֶיךָ לַאֲחֻזָּה... “The land that Hashem struck down before the
congregation of Yisrael is a land for livestock, and your servants have
livestock.’ They said, ‘If it pleases you, let this land be given to your
servants as a heritage” (Bamidbar 32:5-6). As the pasuk explains, these two
tribes had a larger amount of animals than the rest of the tribes, so they
wanted to remain on the other side of the Jordan River in order to raise their
flocks in the superior grazing areas found there.
Moshe, however, is not
happy with this request. He gets upset at them, and tells them how the last
time someone didn’t want to go into Eretz Yisrael, the entire nation wandered
in the desert for forty years! They come back to him to further explain their
request.
“וַיֹּאמְרוּ גִּדְרֹת צֹאן נִבְנֶה לְמִקְנֵנוּ פֹּה וְעָרִים לְטַפֵּנוּ. וַאֲנַחְנוּ נֵחָלֵץ חֻשִׁים לִפְנֵי בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל עַד
אֲשֶׁר אִם הֲבִיאֹנֻם אֶל מְקוֹמָם וְיָשַׁב טַפֵּנוּ בְּעָרֵי הַמִּבְצָר
מִפְּנֵי יֹשְׁבֵי הָאָרֶץ. לֹא נָשׁוּב
אֶל בָּתֵּינוּ עַד הִתְנַחֵל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אִישׁ נַחֲלָתוֹ.”
“…And they said, ‘We will build sheepfolds for our livestock here and cities
for our children. We will then arm ourselves quickly before the children of
Yisrael until we have brought them to their place. Our children will reside in
the fortified cities in account of the inhabitants of the land. We shall not
return to out homes until each of the children of Israel has taken possession
of his inheritance.” (32:16-18). It’s not that they didn’t want to go into
Eretz Yisrael or that they were afraid of participating in the war, they were simply
being practical. They knew they would need extra space for their considerable
flocks, so they asked to be able to set up a place for them before the conquering
of the land, and they would stay there even after.
Even with this
explanation, Moshe still was not happy. He made them swear that they would take
place in the war equally with the rest of the nation, wait until everyone else
was settled in their portions, and only then return home. Why the seeming
animosity from Moshe? Once he understands that Reuven and Gad were not afraid
to enter Eretz Yisrael, why didn’t he trust them to fulfill their promise?
Based on an
explanation from the Kli Yakar, we can contrive an answer to this question.
When the pasuk
explains the amount of animals the two tribes had, it uses an unusual language.
“וּמִקְנֶה | רַב הָיָה לִבְנֵי רְאוּבֵן וְלִבְנֵי גָד עָצוּם
מְאֹד” “The descendants of Reuven and Gad had an abundance of livestock,
very numerous” (32:1). While it doesn’t appear strange in English
translation, in the original Hebrew, there are two terms used to describe the
amount of livestock, “רַב”, “many”, and “עָצוּם מְאֹד”, “very strong”. Additionally, these terms
are listed in different parts of the pasuk. If these two phrases mean basically
the same thing, why do we need both and why are they not written next to each
other?
The Kli Yakar explains
that each term is supposed to be used separately. The term “many” is used to
describe the flocks of Reuven; they were the ones with the massive amount of animals.
Gad’s flocks are referred to as “very strong”, because they were particularly
fierce. In fact, the gemarah says that they did not need outside protection
from wolves because they could defend themselves.
When the tribes came
to Moshe with their second proposal, they told him that they would build places
for their animals and only then would they build cities for their children (See
pasuk16); Moshe told them they should do it the opposite way, building the
places for their families and then their animals. Based on this explanation of
the Kli Yakar, we can understand their thought process. Because of the ferocity
of their animals, the tribes believed it would be better to set them up as “watchsheep”
for their families. Therefore, it was necessary to set up places for them
before they set up anything permanent for the women and children.
However, Moshe was
still not happy since this was the wrong way to handle this. These two tribes
needed to believe that Hashem was going to take care of them no matter what. More
than that, since Reuven and Gad had seemingly found their place of comfort and
were ready to settle down with no other issues, the other tribes were looking
at these two to see what they would do. Therefore, Moshe told them to first
build cities for their children; that they should show the other tribes that
they trusted in Hashem to keep their families safe from harm, even when they
already had a good guard system available. This attitude then trickled down to
the rest of the people. With this attitude in place, the nation was ready to
enter Eretz Yisrael.
Chazak Chazak V’Nischazek!
Shabbat Shalom!
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