An Innovative Approach to the Apportionment to half the Tribe of Manesheh
Based on an article by Prof. Yoel Elitzur
The central part of Parashat Matos is dedicated to the long and difficult negotiations between Moses and the Gadites and Reubenites over their colonization in the recently captured Transjordan (chapter 32). Until each side was satisfied with the terms of the agreement.
The Torah refers to the Gadites and the Reubenites by name six times. When the back-and-forth deliberations finally conclude and the time comes for the territorial allotment, suddenly the half-tribe of Manasheh enters the scene!
At the end of the chapter, in the description of the conquests of the two and a half tribes, the Manashites figure prominently in the narrative:
The Gadites rebuilt... The Reubenites rebuilt... The descendants of Machir son of Manasheh went to Gilead and captured it... so Moses gave Gilead to Machir son of Manasheh... Jair son of Manasheh went... And Nobah went and captured Kenath and its dependencies, renaming it Nobah after himself. (32:34-42)
Why were the Manashites absent from the entire discussion and why were they suddenly and surprisingly included in the practical territorial allotment? These questions become much sharper when viewed in the context of the serious accusations that Moses levied toward the Reubenites and the Gadites:
Are your brothers to go to war while you stay here? Why will you turn the minds of the Israelites from crossing into the land that the Lord has given them? That is what your fathers did when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to survey the land... they turned the minds of the Israelites from invading the land that the Lord had given them... And now you, a breed of sinful men, have replaced your fathers, to add still further to the Lord’s wrath against Israel... you will bring calamity upon all this people. (32:6-15)
This whole furious screen does not include the Manashites. Why?
