Turning the Mind / Breaking and Making Vows​​​​​​​

How do the tribes of Reuven and Gad make the case that the land east of the Jordan river be given to them?

• In the full communal setting, like B'not Tzelophchad. This is public, not private. Oy.
• God also gave them this land, as evidence through their victory in the recent battles/wars.
• They have a lot of cattle and the land recently won is suitable for cattle.
• They are asking politely, not insisting.

What problems does this request raise?

• The request seems to mean that they are ALL going to settle down there, and send no one across the Jordan.
• This would ostensibly create a division between two tribes and the others, which would jeopardize the feeling of being a 12 tribe covenantal community, and could seriously negatively impact the mental state of the other tribes.
• The remaining ten tribes who would cross the Jordan would be left to fight against the Canaanites without 1/6 of their military forces.
• This is likely a ten person delegation. Since there are 70 elders, with five from each tribe, this would be a ten people group, which reminds us of the ten scouts (the "eidah"), who demoralized the people after their tour of the land.
  • This is part of what clearly sparked Moses' strong response.

Moses here is seeing strong connections between this moment and between the scouts from 38 years before, a moment which only those who are 40 or older lived through, and only older than that even remember.

• What does Moses assume is the meaning of the request from Reuven and Gad?
  • They are going to stay here.
  • This will demoralize the people.
  • This is a potential repeat of the sin of the scouts 38 years ago, which we just finished. That generation is now all gone, and we are here.
  • God swore to give us the land, but that generation did not trust in God. Then God swore that only their children would enter the land, namely: your generation.
  • We do not want to anger God all over again. We just finished that!
  • And now you are here basically repeating the same mistake as your ancestors! Have we learned nothing?
• What indeed is Moses' great fear if they were to all stay there?
• What exactly did happen back then 38 years earlier?
  • Ten scouts affirm that the land is good, but that Israel would be unable to conquer it. "We look like grasshoppers to them."
  • This idea spread like wildfire through the camp, demoralizing the entire people, who begin to plan a return to Egypt, yet again.
  • God sentences all adults 20 and over to live out their lives in the wilderness, with only the children under 20 and not yet born to be the one's to inherit the land.
  • This was the low point of the 40 years in the Wilderness, even worse than the Golden Calf.
  • And Moses fears we are about to see a redo of the same situation. Right back where they started, and where it almost all ended.
• How is this situation a possible repeat of the sin of the scouts? In other words, how might Reuven and Gad "turn the minds" of the rest of the tribes?
  • There was an oath God made with Abraham to give his descendants the land of Canaan.
  • When the time came for those descendants to fulfill their part of the oath, the ten scouts demoralized the people and undermined their trust in God.
  • Then God vowed to let the adults of this generation die and let their children enter the land, and that vow has been fulfilled as well.
  • Vows? Interesting...
• That phrase contains rare Hebrew verb. Let's take a look at it more closely.

What is this word getting at?

• Their decision to settle east of the Jordan will make everyone reconsider what is ahead of them: War.
• Not a return to Egypt, but a fear-based desire to just stay right there. Why cross over and make things worse?
• This would violate the oath between God and Israel about inheriting the land of Canaan. Again.
• These two tribes would be breaking the bonds and oaths that not only God and Israel together and that keep the Tribes of Israel together.
• If Moses is right, this is a selfish thing to ask for. If Moses is wrong that they don't want to simply stay put and avoid the fight, then it reinforces the idea that words matter. How we say things matters. Saying something without thinking it through can have unexpected and even disastrous results.
• This word also points back to earlier in the this week's Torah portion, and back to the sin of the scouts as well.

Here we have the verb [Nun-Vav-Aleph] from earlier in the Torah portion.

Context: Vows

If a man takes a vow, he must fulfill it. Breaking an oath is really bad.

If a woman takes a vow, and she is unmarried, the father can "undo" the vow.

If she gets married, the father cannot "undo" the vow, but her husband can.

The verb here is all about getting out of a vow, preventing a vow from being fulfilled, but not without consequences. God forgives the young woman, but the father preventing the vow is allowed, but problematic, because her words do matter. (She just does not have the autonomy we assume that all people have today.)

These two tribes will be like the father in that their actions are going to lead to the entire people's nullifying their vow (they are like the daughter). But in the earlier context, God forgives the nullifying or breaking of the vow, but here, God will not forgive the vow being broken or nullified. This is also Moses' concern.

For our context, it would be like these two tribes doing something for their own reasons (here, the father does not want to daughter to make the vow, and in our first setting, these two tribes want land east of the Jordan.)

Is this their original intent (with the first offer poorly phrased) or is this a counter offer to address Moses' concerns of demoralizing the people?

How does their offer address Moses' concerns?

• No fear.
• Commitment to their brothers and sisters.
• The delay of their own return until all others are settled.
• They will take no more land west of the Jordan River.