Shabbat Parashat Maatot-Maasei - 5785

Shabbat Parashat Maatot-Maasei - 5785

Rabbi Hal Miller

  The children of Reuven and the children of Gad had abundant livestock, very great. They saw the land of

  Yazeir and the land of Gilead and behold, the place was a place for livestock. [Bamidbar 32:1]

  The children of Gad and the children of Reuven came and said to Moshe, to Elazar

  the Kohen, and to the leaders of the assembly saying... [Bamidbar 32:2]

The tribes of Reuven and Gad asked Moshe to allot to them the lands of Sichon and Og, whom the nation under Moshe had just conquered. Moshe launched into a tirade against the two tribes, eventually negotiating with them to a satisfactory conclusion. The episode leaves us with many questions.

The order in which these two tribes are mentioned changes in the verses. In the first verse, Reuven is mentioned before Gad, but in the second verse and in the rest of the episode, Gad is mentioned before Reuven. In Devarim [3:12] Moshe switches the order back to Reuvenite then Gadite. By the time of the Book of Yehoshua, both in 1:12 and through chapter 22, he refers to them as "the children of the Reuvenite and the children of the Gadite". The Torah must have reasons for the switchings of the order.

Ramban follows Ibn Ezra who says that our first verse mentions Reuven first because he was the firstborn and due the honor. The rest of our episode, Gad is mentioned first because Gad was, at that time, the more significant tribe. Ibn Ezra indicates that Menashe is not mentioned here because it was only half the tribe, so Menashe appears only where necessary in the text, meaning that he believes the half tribe was involved from the beginning, but not important. Rav Hirsch disagrees, writing "The reason which led to the participation of half the tribe of Menashe is not given. Ramban assumes that when it came to the division, the extent of the lands (of Sichon and Og) proved too large for the two tribes and this brought about the addition of Menashe." Others say that Moshe chose half of Menashe to provide a link across the Jordan through relationships in Menashe in hopes of keeping Reuven and Gad connected to the rest of the nation. Since both of these reasons imply that the choice of Menashe only occurred later, there was no reason to include that tribe in the discussion at this point.

What was the purpose of each of the mentionings of these two tribes? Ramban gives us our first answer, "Scripture places the children of Reuven first in the initial verse as is appropriate since he was the firstborn and son of a main wife." So why would Gad then be mentioned first during the rest of this episode, and then Reuven first again later when Moshe refers back to this point? Ramban answers as to the referring first to Gad, "throughout this passage it places the children of Gad first because they raised this idea and they are the ones who spoke first to Moshe concerning this inheritance". Certainly this seems implied by our second verse that Gad led Reuven to Moshe to make the request for land. Rav Hirsch takes it a step further from Devarim [33:21] that Gad "came at the head of the nation, carrying out God's justice and His ordinances".

If Reuven was listed first in the first verse to honor his firstborn status, and Gad was listed first throughout the rest of the episode because that tribe was primary in the situation, why does the Torah then revert to Reuven first, both in Bamidbar 34, Devarim, and in Yehoshua? It appears that once the negotiations were complete with Moshe, Gad's leadership purpose was completed and they no longer had to be primary for anything, so the regular order of the tribes could be restored. Reuven took his inheritance from Yehoshua prior to Gad because he was firstborn and a son of a primary wife.

Nechama Leibowitz teaches that our parsha is about the dichotomy between career and personal advancement versus mission accomplishment. Gad chose this particular land because it was good for their parnossa, their personal advancement. Reuven went along, but both before this and later Reuven was mission oriented. We see this with the story of the sale of Yosef where Reuven wished to rescue his younger brother, and we see it in the division of the land where Reuven came first among the tribes. Inheritance of the land was the mission, feeding herds and flocks was personal parnossa. Thus Gad came first in the middle of our parsha, but Reuven was first in other discussions.