פרשת מטות תשכ"ה - ההתנחלות בעבר הירדן המזרחי

And Moses said unto the children of Gad and to the children of Reuben: ‘Shall your brethren go to the war, and shall ye sit here?

?האחיכם יבאו למלחמה; Did you really think that your brethren are going to war in order to make conquests

?ואתם תשבו פה, while you are settled here on land that we have already conquered? Surely you did not think for a moment that you could get away with such an arrangement! Your suggestion therefore can only have the effect of undermining the morale of your brethren!

And the children of Gad and the children of Reuben answered, saying: ‘As the LORD hath said unto thy servants, so will we do.

כי באה נחלתנו FOR OUR INHERITANCE HAS COME [TO US] — This means: by that time we shall have already received it on the eastern side.

Our inheritance came to us. Rashi wrote: We have already received it, on the eastern bank. [However, this is difficult because] it was not proper for them to say to Moshe that they have already received it. This was not something dependent on them. Rather, it depended on Moshe’s will, and they would not receive it until Moshe gave it to them. Instead, this is what they meant: But we do not want to take possession with them — this excludes their inheritance in the good land, for, our inheritance came to us — the inheritance that is appropriate for us, which is land for livestock, and we have more livestock than the other tribes. Thus, they were speaking as a request and not antagonistically (as in Rashi’s explanation). Alternatively, the explanation of, but we do not want to take possession with them, is: Even if you do not want to give us this land now, and we and all our possessions will cross over with the rest of the tribes, we will not take possession with them. Rather, we will return to this land, which is the appropriate inheritance for us, and what we want. None of the other tribes want it at all.

ולמה תניאון means AND WHY WILL YE TURN ASIDE AND WITHHOLD their heart from passing over? — because they will think that you are afraid to pass over on account of the prospect of war and the strength of the cities and the peoples.

וישב טפנו AND OUR LITTLE ONES SHALL STAY, so long as we are with our brethren waging war,

והיצא מפיכם תעשו AND DO THAT WHICH HATH GONE OUT FROM YOUR MOUTH, as a vow to the Most High God (cf. Numbers 30:3), because you have taken it upon yourselves to pass over for war until the end of the subjugation and division of the land; — for Moses asked of them only, (v. 22): “Let [the land] be subdued and afterwards ye may return”, but they undertook, (v. 18): “[we will not return to our houses] until [the children of Israel] have inherited”, so you see that they made an additional promise, to stay on the western side the seven years during which they were dividing the land. And so, indeed, they did (cf. Joshua XXII.).

. ויצו להם AND HE GAVE CHARGE — This is the same as, and he gave charge concerning them. The words imply: and to watch over the fulfilment of the agreement they had made he appointed Eleazar and Joshua. The use of the ל in להם here is the same as in (Exodus 14:14): “The Lord will fight לכם for you."

עטרות ודיבון, "Attarot and Divon, etc." Why did they have to spell out all the names of the cities they claimed for themselves as an inheritance? Why did they not simply say: "the land which G'd smote, etc.?" Or, they could have detailed districts as described in 32,1 i.e. ארץ יעזר ואת ארץ גלעד? Furthermore, What need was there for them to say הארץ אשר הכה השם? Were there then any other lands which G'd had smitten? Who would not have known which lands the tribes of Reuven and Gad referred to?