The Rebbe now finishes off and answers the questions: Now we can understand why the division of Eretz Yisroel (the Land of Israel) had to be done specifically by lottery:
The Torah states that the Land of Israel is a land which, “The eyes of the L-rd your G-d are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year”. In other words, Eretz Yisroel is a land in which G-dliness shines and is revealed there without the concealments of this physical world.
Now, for there to be a place in this physical and coarse world where G-dliness is revealed and shines brightly this is surely not due to our achievements but as a gift from Above, as our Sages tell us, “Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai said, the Holy One Blessed is He gave three good gifts to the Jewish people, the Torah, the Land of Israel, and the world to come”. This being the case, the division of the Land of Israel also had to be done according to lottery which is higher than logic and is a gift from HaShem.
Also, just as we explained earlier that the level of gift and lottery in the Torah only comes after the work of the person, so too here, the lottery of the division of the Land of Israel only came after HaShem told them to work; “To the many you shall increase its inheritance and to the few shall you decrease its inheritance”.
Lekutei Sichos Vol. 13
Rashi (32:24) explains the back and forth between Moshe and Reuvein/Gad to include fighting at the front lines until the land on the west side of the Jordan is conquered, and waiting to return until after the land has been divided and the other Tribes knew which portions they are getting. Why was waiting for the land to be divided so important, and why is doing so described as being “for G-d?” This issue becomes even more puzzling when we take into account Rashi’s comments regarding the division of the land (Bamidbar 26:54, which parallel Rashbam’s comments on Bava Basra 122a, see also Ramban on 26:55 and Rashi on 33:54), describing the “lottery” which affirmed the division of the land made via the Urim v’Tumim. We would have expected only 10 Tribes to need the lottery to determine which land they would inherit, but instead there were slips with the names of all 12 Tribes and another 12 slips upon which the 12 areas were written. Since Reuvein and Gad already received their portions of land, why were their names/portions included in the lottery? Additionally, why, if only Reuvein and Gad had requested that their portion of the land be on the eastern side, did Moshe include, seemingly out of nowhere, half the Tribe of Menashe, and also give them their portion on the eastern side of the Jordan?
What would have happened had Reuvein and Gad not asked for the land on the eastern side? Would they have received a portion on the western side, with everybody else? What would have been done with the land on eastern side? (I have previously suggested that had the Eirav Rav survived, perhaps they would have received this land. Even if this were true, since they don’t seem to have survived, what would have been done with it had Reuvein and Gad not asked for it?) Would each Tribe get a portion of it? How would they deal with having some land on the east side, unconnected with their land on the west side? Would it become their vacation spots? Some understand the Ramban (Bamidbar 21:21) to mean that this land would remain desolate, but it is clear from the context that this would only be until the land on the western side of the Jordan was conquered. It is unclear what would have happened to the land of Sichon and Og had Reuvein and Gad not asked for it as their inheritance. I am going to suggest the possibility that even had they not asked, Reuvein and Gad would have received the exact same land. Even though only the land on the western side is considered the “land flowing with milk and honey” (as we shall discuss shortly), there are advantages to the land that was conquered by Moshe (not Yehoshua), where Moshe taught them Torah, and where the manna fell (see www.aishdas.org/ta/5766/sukkos.pdf). If the advantages of the land on the eastern side related better to Reuvein and Gad than those of the eastern side, it would not be as if they were being shortchanged by getting “Eiver HaYarden” (“the other side of the Jordan”), and the lottery would make it clear that their land was as appropriate for them as the other portions were for the other Tribes.
After being on the land that was going to be theirs, Reuvein and Gad could feel the connection between themselves and the land. Not just because it served their needs by being able to sustain their large amounts of cattle, but because this was really their land and they could sense that.
