Commentaire sur Les Nombres 32:33

V’LACHATZI (AND UNTO A PART OF THE) TRIBE OF MENASHEH THE SON OF JOSEPH. At the beginning the tribe of Menasheh did not come to Moses [to ask for their inheritance to be on the east side of the Jordan], but when Moses apportioned the land to the two tribes [of Gad and Reuben], he saw that the land was larger than they required, and therefore he asked for people who were prepared to take their inheritance with them. And there were people of the tribe of Menasheh who wanted that land — perhaps they were [also] owners of cattle — and therefore he gave them their portion [in that land].
Now the meaning of v’lachatzi [literally “and unto the half”] is “unto one part” of them [as will be explained]. Similarly, Then were the people of Israel divided “lacheitzi’ (into two parts): ‘chatzi’ (part of) the people followed Tibni the son of Ginath, to make him king, ‘v’hachatzi’ (and the other part)followed Omri.¹²⁸I Kings 16:21. And the explanation [here is as follows]: The children of Menasheh consisted of eight paternal families as is written in the section dealing with the census,¹²⁹Above, 26:29-32. and [only] the families of the Machirites and of the Gileadites took their inheritance in this land [on the east of the Jordan], because they were men of valor and they conquered it for themselves, and Moses gave them a large part of it. The [other] six families, however, crossed over the Jordan [to take their inheritance in Canaan proper], as it is written in [the Book of] Joshua, And the lot was for the rest of the children of Menasheh according to their families; for the children of Abiezer, and for the children of Helek, and for the children of Asriel, and for the children of Shechem, and for the children of Hepher, and for the children of Shemida.¹³⁰Joshua 17:2. And this is the meaning of what is written there, And there fell ten parts to Menasheh, beside the land of Gilead and Bashan, which is beyond the Jordan,¹³¹Ibid., Verse 5. the interpretation thereof being as follows: They divided the [whole] Land into nine equal parts¹³²As Ramban explained at length above, 26:54. for the nine tribes, but they could not give to the remaining [part of the] tribe of Menasheh a whole portion [because two of their families had settled on the east side of the Jordan], nor could they give them [only] half a portion, because most of them had remained [in the land of Canaan]. Therefore they divided the whole tribe into parts and they found that only a tenth¹³³Ramban is thus saying that in calculating their population they found that the two families on the east of the Jordan constituted one-eleventh of the total population of Menasheh, and the remainder consisted of ten-elevenths. The one-eleventh part of the whole is expressed as “one tenth,” because after separating it from the whole, it is one-tenth of the remainder. Thus out of the total inheritance given to the whole tribe of Menasheh, ten-elevenths were allotted to the families that settled in the Land of Israel proper — they are the ten parts referred to in Joshua 17:5 — while the remaining eleventh part was assigned to the families of Menasheh on the east side of the Jordan. of [the total population of] the tribe took their inheritance in the land of Bashan [on the east side of the Jordan] and ten parts remained [and settled in the Land of Israel]. These were then given ten parts¹³¹Ibid., Verse 5. [of the amount] given to a whole tribe,¹³³Ramban is thus saying that in calculating their population they found that the two families on the east of the Jordan constituted one-eleventh of the total population of Menasheh, and the remainder consisted of ten-elevenths. The one-eleventh part of the whole is expressed as “one tenth,” because after separating it from the whole, it is one-tenth of the remainder. Thus out of the total inheritance given to the whole tribe of Menasheh, ten-elevenths were allotted to the families that settled in the Land of Israel proper — they are the ten parts referred to in Joshua 17:5 — while the remaining eleventh part was assigned to the families of Menasheh on the east side of the Jordan. while one part remained [on the east side of the Jordan for the families of the Machirites and the Gileadites]. Perhaps it was because these two families — the Machirites and the Gileadites — were the smallest of their tribe [and would therefore have received only a small portion of the land allotted to their tribe] that they wanted to separate themselves from their tribe, in order that they should have a greater inheritance [proportionally] than the rest of them, for they could conquer it by their sword, as it is said, because he [Machir] was a man of war, therefore he had Gilead and Bashan.¹³⁴Joshua 17:1. This is why Scripture mentioned ‘parts’ with reference to this tribe [of Menasheh, saying, And there fell ten ‘parts’ to Menasheh,¹³¹Ibid., Verse 5. a term] which it does not use in connection with any of the other tribes. This appears to me to be the explanation of this verse [And there fell ten parts …] according to the simple meaning of Scripture.
Now Moses did not mention in the Torah that he [Joshua] was to apportion this land amongst them [the tribes of Gad and Reuben], giving each one of these two tribes his own portion, but instead Scripture says [in Verse 33] that he [Moses] promised them and the part of the tribe of Menasheh the kingdoms of these two kings [Sihon and Og]; and in the Book of Deuteronomy he explained that he gave the part of the tribe of Menasheh a portion for itself, all the region of Argob, and all the Bashan.¹³⁵Deuteronomy 3:13. Likewise we can deduce [although it is not stated so clearly] that Moses assigned the rest of the land of Sihon and Og between the tribes of Reuben and Gad. Thus the Torah dealt briefly [with this matter], because He did not want to mention therein the [details of the] allocation of the land between these two [tribes], just as the allocation amongst the other tribes is also not mentioned. But in the Book of Joshua it is clearly stated that Moses gave them their [specific] portions, as it is written, And Moses gave unto the tribe of the children of Reuben according to their families. And their border was etc.,¹³⁶Joshua 13:15-16. and it is further written, And Moses gave unto the tribe of Gad, according to their families. And their border was etc.,¹³⁷Ibid., Verses 24-25. and again it says, And Moses gave inheritance unto part of the tribe of Menasheh; and it was for the part-tribe of the children of Menasheh according to their families. And their border was etc.¹³⁸Ibid., Verses 29-30.

ויתן להם משה, only because he did not want to get involved in a serious quarrel with these two tribes.

ולחצי שבט מנשה, ”and for half the tribe of Menashe;” Nachmanides writes that originally, the members of that tribe had not requested that any of their ancestral share should be on the east bank. When the tribe saw that this whole huge chunk of land had been allocated to only two tribes, and that it was far more than these two tribes could expect to populate adequately so that a call went out for anyone interested to join them in settling that part of the land, some people of the tribe of Menashe expressed their willingness to do so. Possibly, these members of the tribe of Menashe were also herdsmen and owned substantial amounts of sheep and cattle. The meaning of the words ולחצי שבט מנשה therefore is not to be taken literally, as only two of the families of the tribe of Menashe are reported as living in that area, [eight families are mentioned including Tzelofchod. Ed.] The two families that were interested were that of Machir and that of Gilead. Between them they accounted for far fewer than half the tribe of 52000 fighting men at last count. The land and who it was shared out to, is mentioned only in summary form here, whereas in the Book of Joshua, chapter 13, more details are provided.

V. 33. ויתן להם משה וגו׳. Es sind die Motive und Veranlassungen nicht mitgeteilt, welche zu diesem Anschluss des halben Stammes Menasse an die transjordanische Niederlassung geführt. רמב ן vermutet, dass sich bei der Einweisung in den Besitz das Landesgebiet zu groß für die beiden Stämme ergeben und dies diesen Anschluss des halben Stammes Menasse veranlasst habe. הארץ לעריה בגבלת, er wies ihnen das Land zu und teilte es unter die Stämme nach den Städten in abgegrenzten Gebieten, es wurde bereits bestimmt, welche Städte zu Reuben, welche zu Gad und welche zu dem Gebiete des halben Stammes Menasse gehören sollen. ערי הארץ סביב alle Städte wurden nach Gebieten abgegrenzt, selbst diejenigen, welche die gegenwärtige Bevölkerung noch nicht in Wohnbesitz nehmen konnte.

And half of the tribe of Menashe etc - they did not request, as explained in the Yerushalmi Bikkurim, first chapter. Rather, Moshe is the one that requested that they have the land as it is clear from Deuteronomy 3:16.

ולחצי שבט מנשה, “and as far has half of the tribe Menashe is concerned, etc.” they had not requested to be given their ancestral heritage in the lands previously owned by Sichon and Og; but seeing it was their founding father, Joseph’s first born son who had searched the sacks of Joseph who had caused them to tear up their garments when he accused one of the brothers as having stolen his father’s goblet, they were given as compensation two sections of land on the east bank of the Jordan. (B’reshit Rabbah 84,20)

The cities within their borders. Moshe apportioned the borders according to the cities, and the fields were automatically attributed to their cities. He was not as careful that the portioning of land should be equal, in the way they were in Eretz Yisrael. He was careful, however, that the cities would be divided equally. This was because the land was very expansive for two and a half tribes.