Parashat Matot-Masei פָּרָשַׁת מַּטּוֹת־מַסְעֵי

In this week’s parsha, we, B’Nai Yisrael, continue to steadily approach the Promised Land. And we begin with a long set of instructions from Moshe about vows and their importance. We then move to a war of vengeance against the Midianites—and notice that the Parsha mentions our friend Balaam as the reason to show no mercy to one’s enemies. And there is yet another census—of the spoils of war, of what our chumash translates as “booty.”

There is so much going on in Mattot that we might miss an exchange between Moshe and two of his tribal leaders,  Gan and Reuben.  Believe it or not, after all that the Israelites have been through to get to Eretz Israel, Gad and Reuben come to Moshe to request that he allow them to remain outside the Promised Land and to be able to raise their cattle there.  As they say, “it would be a favor to us if this land were given to your servants as a holding. Do not move us across the Jordan.” 

We have to imagine that Moshe got petitions of some sort or another all the time. Part of the job, no doubt. We just recently saw the five daughters who requested that they be allowed to inherit their father’s estate because they had no brothers. But, unlike in that case, Moshe does not consult God or consider Gad and Reuben’s petition. Instead, he just blows up at them.  As he says, “Are your brothers to go to war while you stay here?”  So in part Moshe sees Gad and Reuben as selfish; it seems to him that they are not willing to do their part in the upcoming war. But Gad and Reuben assure Moshe that they WILL do their part, and that they only want to be assured that they can stay “on the east side of the Jordan” once the war is successfully completed. They have no intention, in other words, of abandoning their brothers.

But Moshe has another worry. He tells them: “Why will you turn the minds of the Israelites from crossing into the land that the Lord has given them?” In other words, Moshe is concerned that the actions of Gad and Reuben---remember that they are tribal LEADERS, role models for others—Moshe is worried that their actions will lead others to think that they don’t have to cross into Israel either. 

Some commentators (including NACHMANIDES) think that Moshe was too harsh on Gad and Reuben, and that allowing them to stay in trans-Jordan would have actually INCREASED the amount of land that the Israelites would end up controlling. I’ll leave it to you to decide what you think about this exchange. But I can’t help but think as I read these passages how demanding a job Moshe had, and here we see him increasingly impatient.

He is tired.
He is spent.
He is frustrated.  

Perhaps he’s thinking “God won’t allow ME to be in the Promised Land, and yet YOU TWO INGRATES decide you want to VOLUNTARILY stay behind.”  I don’t know. But it seems clear that the challenges of leadership are becoming a real strain for Moshe.