Mattot (Tribes) Masa’ei (Stages) (B’Midbar) Numbers30:2-36:13
1.This week we have lots of instructions on vows. What is your definition of a vow?
The dictionary says a vow is a solemn promise or assertion, specifically: one by which a person is bound to an act, service, or condition. The verses in our Torah portions demand of us to watch all that we say because nothing is ever said in a void or without some sort of consequence.
We are living in a world where words are thrown about without contemplating their impact. Social media has opened up a whole new arena where words can be spoken without regard to the hurt they might cause. Words have power. The world was created with words. Relationships are built up with words. When a man speaks his vows to his bride in a wedding ceremony he is not just talking about marriage. His vows are creating something that was not before – he is “getting” married.
In Ecclesiastes 5:4 King Solomon wrote “ When you make a vow to G-d, do not delay to fulfill it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow. It is better not to make a vow than to make one and not fulfill it.”
Matt 5:33-37, “Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the L-rd the vows you have made.’ But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is G-d’s throne, or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.”
2.Our Torah portions this week take place just as the children of Israel are getting ready to enter the Promised Land. The beginning of the portion called Mattot says, “And Moses spoke to the chiefs of the tribes concerning the people of Israel saying, this is the thing which the L-rd has commanded. If a man vows a vow to the L-rd or swears an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.” Numbers 30:2-3 Nothing happens by accident in scripture. Of all the things G-d could have commanded at this time of entering the land, why do you think this was His commandment to them?
The act of promising, of which vows and oaths to G-d are a great example, is essential to the existence of an orderly healthy society. The success of settling this new land would depend upon people keeping their word to each other.
One instance of how this plays out in real life appears later in the parsha. Two of the tribes, Reuben and Gad, decide that they would rather live to the east of the Jordan where the land is more suitable for their livestock. After a tense conversation with Moses, who accused them of shirking their responsibilities to the rest of the people, they agree to be on the front lines of the army until the conquest of the land was complete. Everything depended on them keeping their word.
A healthy society or congregation depends on trust, and trust means honoring our promises, doing what we say we will do. When this breaks down, the everything else is at risk.
Jeremiah 9:1-6 is a good example of what can go wrong when people are not trust- worthy to keep their vows. “Oh, that my head were a spring of water and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night for the slain of my people. Oh, that I had in the deserta lodging place for travelers, so that I might leave my people and go away from them;
for they are all adulterers, a crowd of unfaithful people. “They make ready their tonguelike a bow, to shoot lies; it is not by truth that they triumph[b] in the land. They go from one sin to another; they do not acknowledge me,” declares the L-rd.“Beware of your friends;do not trust anyone in your clan. For every one of them is a deceiver, and every friend a slanderer.
Friend deceives friend, and no one speaks the truth. They have taught their tongues to lie; they weary themselves with sinning. You live in the midst of deception;in their deceit they refuse to acknowledge me,” declares the L-rd.
That is why, as the Israelites approached the Land they needed to be reminded of the sacred character of vows and oaths. The temptation to break your word when it is to your advantage to do so can sometimes be overwhelming. G-d holds us accountable to our words and our vows.
Are we living in a time where people take vows seriously?
3.Along that same thought, in Numbers 32:22 it says, “And the land be subdued before the L-rd: then afterward ye shall return, and be guiltless before the L-rd, and before Israel; and this land shall be your possession before the L-rd.” This literally means they would be innocent before G–d and Israel. Was it not enough to do what is right in the eyes of G-d? Why does it say before G-d AND Israel?
Reuben and Gad, saw that the land east of the Jordan was ideal as pasture for their cattle. They approached Moses and asked for permission to settle there rather than cross the Jordan. Moses misunderstood their intentions and was initially angry at their request. He said they would discourage the people as the spies had done in the past. Numbers 32:6-7 “Shall your fellow countrymen go to war while you sit here? And why do you discourage the heart of the people of Israel from going over to the land which the L-rd has given them?” Had they learned nothing from the sin of the spies?
The Reubenites and Gadites explained that they have no wish to exempt themselves from the struggles of their fellow Israelites. They were fully prepared to accompany them into the promised land and fight alongside them. Numbers 32:18, “We will not return to our homes until every Israelite has received his inheritance.” In verses 31-32 Moses made them take a public pledge or vow to this effect and granted their request on condition that they fulfill their word. Verse 22 “When the land is then conquered before G-d you may then return, free of any obligation before G–d and Israel and this land will be yours as your permanent property before G-d.”
This story shows us that we must always act in such a way as to be seen by others as doing the right thing. We must be clear in our actions and our conversations so there is no misunderstanding of who we are, what we believe and how we live out our faith.
Joshua 22:9-30 is another example of misunderstood actions.
Israel thought Reuben and Gad were building a rival place of sacrifice and worship that would compete with the Tabernacle and the misunderstanding almost caused a war.
The eastern tribes did what believers should do when they are misunderstood: put themselves in the place of the other person and try to see what they see. The eastern tribes heard the concerns of the western tribes and agreed with them in principle.
They agreed that if they were worshiping another god or rebelling against G-d and his commands (including the commands about how to worship), they deserved judgment. They explained their reason for building the altar. They wanted it to stand as a witness to future generations that the tribes on both sides of the Jordan worshipped the same G-d.
War was averted.
Proverbs 3:3-4 says, “Let love and faithfulnessnever leave you; bind them around your neck,
write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good namein the sight of G-d and man.
One must live a life above suspicion. Being innocent before G-d is one thing; being innocent before one’s fellow human beings is another, and far more difficult. Yet that is the challenge – not because we seek their approval but because we are called to be role models, living embodiments of Torah, and we are called on to be unifying not divisive.
4. G-d told Moses: “Take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have given you the land to possess” (Num. 33:53). Israel and the Jewish people are controversial topics today. What verses would you use to describe G-d’s relationship with Israel and the Jewish people? What sets them and the land apart from other nations?
Only in the Land and the people of Israel do we find a nation’s fortunes and misfortunes directly attributable to their relationship with G-d. Their ability to prosper and stay in the land depends on their obedience to G-d.
Even today they must rely on G-d for rain for their crops. Deut. 11:10-17 says, “The land you are entering to take over is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you planted your seed and irrigated it by foot as in a vegetable garden. But the land you are crossing the Jordan to take possession of is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks rain from heaven.
“It is a land the L-RD your G-d cares for; the eyes of the L-RD your G-d are continually on it from the beginning of the year to its end. So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today—to love the L-RD your G-d and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul— then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and olive oil. I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied. Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them. Then the L-RD’s anger will burn against you, and he will shut up the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce, and you will soon perish from the good land the L-RD is giving you.״
Psalms 132:13-14 For the L–RD has chosen Zion; he has desired it for his habitation. “This is my resting place forever, here I will dwell for I have desired it.”
Deut 14:2 “For you are a holy people to the L-rd your G-d, and the L-rd has chosen you to be a special people to himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth.”
Zech 8:3 Thus says the L-RD: I have returned to Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; and Jerusalem shall be called the city of Truth; and the mountain of the L-rd of hosts the Holy Mountain.”
Joel 4:17 “Then you will know that I am the L-rd your G-d, dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain; then shall Jerusalem be holy; and no strangers shall pass through her any more.
Hazak, Hazak, v’nit’chazek! Be strong, be strong, and let us be strengthened!