MatotBamidbar (numbers)

Vows and Oaths
Moses spoke to the princes, the heads of the tribes of the Israelites, as a unit, in the course of teaching the rest of the people, saying, “This is what GOD has commanded:

A minor’s vows are not legally binding. If an adult man, over 12 years old, makes a vow to GOD or makes an oath to prohibit himself from doing something otherwise permitted to him, he must not profane his word; rather, he must fulfill whatever he said. A vow is a declaration of intent with regard to a specific object, whereas an oath is a declaration of intent with regard to oneself. In either case, a person may not break his vows or oaths. However, if an expert sage or a tribunal of three non-experts deems it necessary, he or they can declare the vow to be retroactively void; this is called releasing the vow.

If a woman makes a vow to GOD or imposes a prohibition upon herself by means of an oath when she is under 11 years old, she is a minor and her vows are not legally binding. If she makes a vow or oath when she is over 121/2 years old and also unmarried, she is a free agent and her vows are legally binding the same as any other adult’s. However, if she is both in her father’s house, i.e., she is still unmarried and therefore under his sole jurisdiction, and she is also in her youth, that is, between the ages of 11 and 121/2, then the following special laws apply to her:

If her father heard her vow or her prohibition that she imposed upon herself by taking an oath, and yet her father remains silent and thus confirms her vow or oath, all her vows in such cases will be binding, and also any prohibition that she has imposed upon herself in such cases will be binding.

But if her father hinders her on the day he hears this vow or oath by annulling it, declaring it null and void, all her vows and her prohibitions that she has imposed upon herself and he has so annulled will not be binding. GOD will forgive her if, before becoming aware that her father annulled her vow or oath, she transgressed it, because her father already hindered her, preventing the vow or oath from taking force.

If, between the ages of 11 and 121/2, she becomes betrothed to a man while her vows are in force, or the oaths she made by an utterance of her lips and that she thereby imposed upon herself are in force, her father having neither annulled them nor confirmed them,

and her fiancé hears about them but remains silent on the day he hears about them, her vows will remain binding and her prohibition that she has imposed upon herself by taking an oath will remain binding. By remaining silent, her fiancé has confirmed them.

But if her fiancé, together with her father, hinders her on the day he hears about it, he thereby annuls the vow that she had taken upon herself and the utterance that she had imposed upon herself by taking an oath, and GOD will forgive her if she transgresses it unaware that it has been annulled.

Vows and Oaths of a Widow or Divorcée
If the engagement is broken off while the woman is still in this age range, she returns to the jurisdiction of her father, and the laws governing a single girl of this age apply to her. But as for the vow or oath of a woman who did marry her fiancé but became a widow or a divorcée while still in this age range, whatever she prohibited upon herself will remain binding upon her. Once she has been fully married, her father no longer has any jurisdiction over her, even if she subsequently becomes widowed or divorced.

If the woman married her fiancé and she took a vow in her husband’s house, that is, while under his jurisdiction, regardless of her age, or imposed a prohibition upon herself with an oath,

and her husband heard and remained silent, and did not hinder her, all her vows will be binding, and every prohibition she imposed upon herself will be binding. By remaining silent, he has implicitly confirmed her vow or oath.

If, on the other hand, her husband annuls them on the day he hears them, anything she says regarding her vows or self-imposed prohibitions will not be binding: her husband has annulled them, and GOD will forgive her if, unaware that he has annulled them, she transgresses them.

Her husband does not have control over all her vows and oaths; he can either uphold or annul only any vow or any binding oath of self-affliction that affects their relationship.

Regarding the period in which the husband may annul such vows or oaths: if her husband remains silent from the time he heard about them on one day until the beginning of the next day, that is, until nightfall after he heard about them, he has by virtue of remaining silent upheld all the vows and prohibitions she has assumed; he has upheld them since he remained silent on the day he heard it.

But if he then changes his mind and annuls them, after having heard them and confirmed them by remaining silent until the end of the day or by saying ‘I approve,’ this will not be a valid annulment; therefore, he will bear her iniquity if she transgresses her vow or oath, thinking he has annulled it.

These are the rules that GOD commanded Moses concerning a man and his wife and a father and his daughter, in her youth, while in her father’s house. The sage (or tribunal) can release the vow, while the father, husband, or fiancé can annul the vow, but not vice versa.”

The Attack on Midian
The Torah now returns to the historical narrative, continuing with the aftermath of the incident at Shitim and the preparations for Moses’ death. As was seen above,¹⁶Above, 25:16–18. God told Moses to distress the Midianites and that soon he would have to attack them directly. GOD now spoke to Moses, saying,

“Take revenge for the Israelites against the Midianites. Afterwards, you will die and be gathered to your people.”

Even though Moses understood that he would die soon after this battle, he nevertheless did not delay to do God’s bidding. Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Arm from among you righteous men for the army, that they can do battle against Midian to wreak GOD’s vengeance on Midian.” God had just described this battle as “revenge for the Israelites,” but since whoever is an enemy of the Jewish people is an enemy of God, the two concepts are equivalent.

Moses continued, “You must send a thousand of these men from each tribe from all the tribes of Israel – including the tribe of Levi, which normally is exempt from military service – into the army.”

From the thousands of Israelites, a thousand men were given over for each tribe against their will, because they understood that fighting this battle would hasten Moses’ death. Even though the Jews harassed Moses continually since the Exodus, they really valued him and tried to forestall losing him. Nonetheless, they reluctantly submitted to God’s will, and there were thus 12,000 armed for battle.

Moses sent them – the thousand from each tribe – to the army. Because the excessive plunder from the battles with Sichon and Og had left the Israelites morally lax and susceptible to Balaam’s plot, Moses told them not to take any booty from this battle. In order to increase their spiritual merits, he sent them to the army along with Pinechas son of Eleazar the priest, for his merit equaled that of the rest of the army. Pinechas went out with the sacred utensils – the ark that always accompanied the Israelites into battle and the high priest’s Forehead-plate, which could resist the power of magic – and the trumpets for sounding during battle in his possession.

They mounted an attack against Midian, as GOD had commanded Moses, and they killed every adult male.

The Fate of Balaam and the Midianite Kings
As it happened, Balaam was in Midian at the time, for he had come to collect his fee for having caused the death of thousands of Israelites by advising Moab and Midian to entice them into the sins of idolatry and lechery. When he saw the Israelites approaching Midian, he went out to them and attempted to dissuade them from attacking. “If,” he argued, “you could not overcome the Midianites when you possessed the collective merit of 600,000 of you, what makes you think you can do so now with only the collective merit of 12,000 of you?” When the Israelites nonetheless attacked, Balaam used his magical powers to make himself and the five kings of the Midianite confederation fly in the air, but Pinechas held up the high priest’s Forehead-plate to them, and the Divine Name engraved on it nullified the power of Balaam’s magic. In this way, they killed the Midianite kings, making them fall from the air upon their own slain. Evi, Rekem, Tzur, Chur, and Reva were the five kings of Midian. They were all equally guilty of scheming against the Israelites, and therefore all died the same way. The Israelites also slew Balaam son of Be’or by the sword. This was poetic justice: Balaam had tried to usurp the Jews’ weapon, their power of prayer, by battling them with his curses; the Jews in turn killed him by usurping the non-Jewish weapon, the sword.

The Midianite Captives
The Israelites took the Midianite women and their small children captive, and they plundered all their beasts, livestock, and all their possessions.

They set fire to all their residential cities and also to their castles, in which their political and religious leaders lived.

They took all the movable booty and all the living plunder of man and beast

and brought it all – the captives, the plundered animals, and the movable booty – to Moses and to Eleazar the priest and to the entire community of Israel in the camp, in the plains of Moab by the Jordan River, opposite Jericho. They did not appropriate any of it for themselves, just as Moses had instructed them.

Although the soldiers’ behavior was impeccable, some of the young people started looting the booty when the army returned. To stop them, Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the princes of the community went out to meet them, outside the camp.

When he saw the Midianite women, Moses became angry with the officers of the army – the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds – who had returned from the campaign of war.

Moses said to them, “Did you let all the females live?

We can recognize the guilty ones individually: they are the same ones who were involved with the Israelites on Balaam’s advice to betray GOD in the incident of Pe’or, resulting in a plague among the community of GOD.

So now kill every male child, and you must also kill every woman who is old enough to have carnal relations with a man, even if she is still a virgin.

But you may keep alive all the young girls who are not old enough to have carnal relations with a man, for yourselves. We will determine which ones are in which category by having all the women pass in front of the high priest’s Forehead-plate; the faces of those mature enough for carnal relations will turn green.

Ritual Defilement
And those of you who have become defiled through contact with a corpse during the war or will kill the captives now must encamp outside the camp, that is, not enter the Courtyard of the Tabernacle for at least seven days; specifically, whoever either came in contact with a corpse indirectly through having killed a person with a sword or some other instrument that transmits defilement or who touched a corpse directly must purify himself on the third and seventh day after he begins counting, with the solution made of the ashes of the red cow. This applies to both you and to any of your captives who have converted.

Similarly, all garments, leather articles, any article made out of goats, including those made of its hair, horns, hooves, and bones, and every wooden and metal article that came in contact with a corpse must undergo the same purification rites.”

Purging Vessels of Forbidden Food
In his anger at the army officers over their having left the Midianite women alive, Moses mistakenly assumed that ridding the plundered eating utensils of the ritual defilement they contracted by having come in contact with a corpse would also purge these same utensils of the forbidden food they had absorbed and ready them for Jewish ownership.³⁰Likutei Sichot , vol. 8, pp. 182–184. So Moses’ nephew, Eleazar the priest, said to the soldiers returning from battle, “This – the laws of ridding articles from ritual defilement contracted through contact with a corpse, which Moses just reviewed for you – is the rule of the Torah that GOD commanded Moses, and you must do as he said.

But even after you have rid the captured utensils from defilement caused by contact with a corpse, you must also purge these utensils from the forbidden food they absorbed, as follows: Any metal vessel, whether made of gold, silver, copper, iron, tin, lead,

or any other metal, that is used in fire, you must pass through fire the same way it is used, and then it will be purged. But do not think that this purging process exempts these vessels from being rid of ritual defilement. Before you purge a metal vessel from the forbidden food it has absorbed, it must be purified with dashing water, that is, the solution made with the ashes of the red cow, in order to rid it of the defilement caused by contact with a corpse. Furthermore, even if the vessel is brand new, it must be immersed in the water of a mikveh, in the ocean, or in a flowing river or stream in order to ready it for Jewish ownership. Any metal vessel not used in fire does not absorb forbidden food; therefore, after ridding it of corpse-defilement, you need only immerse it in purifying water, as just mentioned, in order to ready it for Jewish ownership.

In order to complete the process of ridding yourselves of corpse-defilement, you must immerse yourselves and your garments in purifying water on the seventh day after you began counting, and thus become ritually pure; only afterwards, you and your garments may enter the camp, that is, the Courtyard of the Tabernacle.”

Dividing the Spoils of War
GOD spoke to Moses, saying,

“Take a count of the plunder of the captive people and animals, you, together with Eleazar the priest and the heads of the paternal houses of the community.

And you must divide this plunder equally between the warriors who went out to battle and the rest of the entire community – i.e., half to the army and half to the people. The soldiers may keep whatever movable property they captured, however, all for themselves.

And you must levy a tax for GOD on the half you gave to the soldiers who went out to battle: 1/500 of the people, the cattle, the donkeys, and the flock.

Take this tax from their half and give it to Eleazar the priest as a gift to GOD.

From the half belonging to the rest of the Israelites, you must take 1/50 of the people, the cattle, the donkeys, the flock, and all animals as a tax, and you must give them to the Levites, the keepers of the charge of the community, as their representatives, in the Tabernacle of GOD.”

Moses and Eleazar the priest did as GOD had commanded Moses.

The plunder, which was in addition to the movable spoils that the army had pillaged, consisted of 675,000 sheep and goats,

72,000 cattle,

and 61,000 donkeys.

As for the people, that is, the women who were not old enough to have carnal relations with a man, they were 32,000. Miraculously, the tallies were all such that their halves were divisible by 50 and by 500, so God’s instructions could be carried out precisely and so the tax could be actually levied from the entire tally. This would not have been possible if the total had not been divisible by these numbers.³³Likutei Sichot , vol. 13, pp. 110–113.

Regarding the half that was the portion of those who went out to battle: the number of sheep and goats was 337,500

and the tax to GOD from the sheep and goats – 1/500 – was 675;

there were 36,000 cattle, of which the tax to GOD was 72;

there were 30,500 donkeys, of which the tax to GOD was 61;

and there were 16,000 people, of which the tax to GOD was 32 people.

Moses gave the tax, which was a gift to GOD, to Eleazar the priest, as GOD had commanded Moses.

As he was commanded, Moses then took a tax from the half allotted to the Israelites, which Moses had apportioned for them from the total spoils brought back by the men who had gone into the army.

Although it had taken time to divide all the plunder in half and levy the tax from the soldiers’ half, miraculously, none of the captives or animals died nor were any new ones born in the interim.³⁴Ibid. Thus, the community’s half also totaled the same as the soldiers’: 337,500 sheep and goats,

36,000 cattle,

and 30,500 donkeys,

and 16,000 people. Thus, the two halves of the spoils were exactly equal, and the proportions levied from them were precise.

Moses took 1/50 of the Israelites’ half, the people and the animals, and gave them as a tax to the Levites, the keepers of the charge of the community, as their representatives, in the Tabernacle of GOD, as GOD had commanded Moses.

No Casualties
After this, the officers appointed over the army’s thousands, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, approached Moses.

They said to Moses, “Your servants counted the soldiers who were in our charge, and not one man is missing from us.

We therefore wish to bring an offering for GOD – any man who found a gold article of women’s jewelry, be it an anklet, a bracelet, a ring, an earring, or a chastity belt – to atone for our souls before GOD for any lustful thoughts we may have had toward the Midianite women.”

Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from them – all the articles of jewelry that had been used by the Midianite women.

The total of the contribution that they contributed to GOD amounted to 16,750 shekels; this was from the commanders of the thousands and the commanders of the hundreds,

while, as mentioned previously, the soldiers had seized movable spoils for themselves and kept them.

Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from the commanders of the thousands and hundreds and brought it to the Tent of Meeting, as a remembrance for the Israelites before GOD.

The Request of Reuben and Gad
The Israelites had camped in Sichon’s territory, southern Gilead, ever since conquering it in Elul 2487. They had also conquered the Ya’zeir district, in Sichon’s territory, and Og’s territory, even further north. Of all the tribes, the descendants of Reuben and Gad had most appreciated the unique spiritual benefits of the manna, and were careful to eat it as much as possible. Since, for this reason, they had slaughtered very little of their cattle for food, they had an abundance of livestock, very numerous, and they saw the land of Ya’zeir and the land of southern Gilead, and behold, the place was a place uniquely suitable for livestock.

The descendants of Gad, who took the lead in this matter,⁴⁰Likutei Sichot , vol. 9, p. 1. and the descendants of Reuben, who followed them, came and spoke to Moses and to Eleazar the priest and to the princes of the community when they were all studying together,⁴¹See Rashi on 27:2, above; Likutei Sichot , vol. 23, p. 182, note 7. saying,

“The area comprising the cities of Atarot, Divon, Ya’zeir, Nimrah, Cheshbon, El’aleih, Sevam, Nebo, and Be’on, and their surrounding areas,

in the land that GOD struck down before the community of Israel, is a land uniquely suitable for livestock, and your servants possess much livestock.”

They said to Moses, “If it pleases you, let this land be given to your servants as an estate; do not take us across the Jordan River. Even though the whole nation conquered this land, and it is therefore the property of all the tribes, we ask that it be given to us in exchange for the land we would have taken on the west side of the Jordan River.”⁴²Likutei Sichot , vol. 23, p. 182, note 7.

Moses’ Hesitation
Because of their lofty intentions, Moses agreed to their idea in principle, but he had one major misgiving: Moses said to the descendants of Gad and the descendants of Reuben, “Should your brethren go to war while you stay here?

Why do you discourage the Israelites from crossing over to the land that GOD has given them? They will think you are afraid of fighting the inhabitants of the land, and will become afraid, also.

This is what your fathers did when I sent them from Ritmah, near Kadeish Barnei’a, to explore the land.⁴⁴Above, chapter 13.

They went up to the Valley of Eshkol and saw the land, and they discouraged the Israelites from entering the land that GOD has given them.

GOD became angry that day, and He swore, saying,

‘None of the men 20 years old and over who came out of Egypt will see the land that I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, for they did not follow Me wholeheartedly,

except for Caleb son of Yefuneh, the Kenizite – Caleb’s father, Yefuneh, had died, and his mother married Kenaz, so Caleb was Kenaz’s stepson⁴⁹See Joshua 15:17. – and Joshua son of Nun, for they followed GOD wholeheartedly.’

GOD became angry with Israel, and He made them wander in the desert for 40 years, until the entire generation who had done evil in the eyes of GOD had died out.

And behold, you have now risen in place of your fathers as a society of sinful people, to add to the wrathful anger of GOD against Israel.

If you turn away from following Him, He will leave Israel in the desert again, and you will destroy this entire people.”

The Promise of Reuben and Gad
They approached him and said, “We will build sheepfolds and similar enclosures for our livestock here and cities for our wives and children.” They mentioned animal pens before cities because they were more concerned for their livestock than they were for their families.

“We will then arm ourselves quickly and serve as the front lines of each of the Israelite troops,⁵⁰Likutei Sichot , vol. 9, pp. 1–10. for we are valiant, and we also rely on Jacob’s promise that the descendants of Gad will be successful warriors.⁵¹Genesis 49:19. We will not leave them until we have brought them safely to their place. In the meantime, our wives and children will reside in the fortified cities we will now build, on account of the inhabitants of the land.

Not only will we help our brethren conquer the land, we will not return to our homes until each of the Israelites has taken possession of his inheritance.” In fact, it took them seven years to conquer it and another seven to divide it up, and the warriors of Reuben and Gad did not return to the eastern side of the Jordan River until the end of these 14 years.⁵²See Joshua, chapter 22.

“For we will not inherit with them in the territory extending from the far side of the Jordan River and beyond, because our inheritance has come to us here, east of this side of the Jordan River.”

Moses Agrees
Moses said to them, “If you do this thing, if you arm yourselves for battle and go before your brothers, GOD’s people,

and all your armed men cross the Jordan River to do battle before your brothers, GOD’s people,⁵³See Likutei Sichot , vol. 9, p. 7, note 36. until He has driven out His enemies before Him,

and the land will be conquered before GOD, then, as far as I am concerned, this is enough, and afterwards you may return, and you will be freed of your obligation to GOD and to Israel, and this land will become your estate before GOD. You then do not have to stay any longer.

But, if you do not do so, behold, you will have sinned against GOD, and be aware that there is a punishment for your sin, which will catch up with you.

So build yourselves cities for your wives and children and pens for your animals that need to be enclosed, but not in the order you mentioned them – pens and then cities – for your families are more important than your livestock. And, since you have vowed to remain on the western side of the Jordan River until your brethren inherit their land, you must do as you have promised.”

The descendants of Gad and the descendants of Reuben spoke to Moses as one man, unanimously, saying, “Your servants will do as you, our master, command.

Our children, our wives, our livestock, and all our cattle will remain there, in the cities of Gilead.

But your servants will cross over, all who are armed for combat before GOD, for the battle, as you, our master, have spoken.”

Since he knew he would not live to supervise the arrangement with these tribes himself, Moses commanded Eleazar the priest and Joshua son of Nun and the paternal heads of the tribes of the Israelites concerning them.

Moses said to Eleazar and Joshua, “If the descendants of Gad and Reuben cross the Jordan River with you – all who are armed for combat before GOD – and the land is conquered before you, you may give them Gilead as an estate.

But if they do not cross over with you armed for battle, they will receive a possession among you in Canaan.”

The descendants of Gad and the descendants of Reuben answered, saying, “We will do as GOD has spoken to your servants.

We will cross over as an armed force before GOD to Canaan, and then the estate of our inheritance on this side of the Jordan River will be ours.”

So Moses gave the land on the east side of the Jordan to the descendants of Gad and the descendants of Reuben and half, that is, part of the tribe of Manasseh son of Joseph. Specifically, Moses gave the former kingdom of Sichon king of the Amorites to the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the former kingdom of Og king of Bashan to two of the eight clans of the tribe of Manasseh.⁵⁵Deuteronomy 3:12–13; see Joshua 17:1–2, where six of the eight clans of Manasseh (as given above, 26:29–32) are stated to have inherited on the west side of the Jordan. The clan of Machir is recorded explicitly as inheriting to the east of the Jordan (below, v. 39; Deuteronomy 3:15). The clan of Gilead is not mentioned explicitly, but it is not included in the list (in Joshua 17:2) of the six that inherited on the west side, and it is logical to assume that it inherited in the area that was eventually named after it. Moses gave these two-and-a-half tribes all the land mentioned, together with the cities within its borders and the cities of the surrounding territory.

The descendants of Gad built up Divon, Atarot, Aro’eir,

Atrot Shofan, Ya’zeir, Yogbehah,

Beit Nimrah, and Beit Haran, making them into fortified cities and sheepfolds.

The descendants of Reuben built up Cheshbon, El’alei, Kiryatayim,

Nebo, Ba’al Me’on – the names of the latter two having been changed by the tribe of Reuben since they were originally named after idols – and Sivmah, which is the same as Sevam, mentioned above,⁵⁶V. 3. for they changed the names of the cities they built up in order to emphasize the fact that they had now come into Jewish possession.⁵⁷Sefer HaSichot 5750 , vol. 2, p. 546, note 68.

Additional Conquests
Inspired by the idea of expanding the borders of the Land of Israel in anticipation of the future, the descendants of Machir son of Manasseh⁵⁸Above, 26:29. went to the northern part of Gilead, that was beyond Og’s territory, and conquered it, driving out the Amorites who were there.

Moses gave this part of Gilead to Machir son of Manasseh, and he settled in it.

Ya’ir, the great-grandson of Manasseh, also went and conquered some of the Amorites’ territory in northern Gilead, which included cities and villages. He named the villages surrounding the cities “the villages of Ya’ir” after himself to perpetuate his name, since he was childless. But he only named the villages after himself and not the cities, because villages are like the “offspring” of the cities.

Similarly, another descendant of Manasseh,⁷⁰Chizkuni . Novach, went and conquered the city of Kenat, and its surrounding villages, but he named the city itself – not just the villages – Novach, after his name. But this name did not persist.⁷¹As can be seen from 1 Chronicles 2:23.