Komentarz do Liczb 32:20

ויאמר להם משה אם תעשו, Moses said to them: "if you will do, etc." Why did Moses have to say "if you will do" before saying "if you will arm yourselves, etc.?" In fact all Moses would have had to do was to give Joshua the instructions recorded in verses 27-30. Furthermore, why did Moses emphasise the word הזה? What did Moses have in mind when he said לפני השם, in the presence of the Lord?"

Presumably Moses realised that what the tribes of Reuven and Gad had undertaken was only in order to secure for themselves the lands which they had requested. Their motivation was not to help their brethren because of a feeling of mutual responsibility, but it was purely functional. This is not a good moral basis for insuring success in war. The motivation of the troops should be that when going to war they went to war against the enemies of the Lord, to kill these enemies of the Lord so that the war qualified as a מלחמת מצוה, "a holy war." In Hilchot Melachim chapter 7 Maimonides describes this war in these words: "anyone who fights with all his heart…intending to sanctify the holy name of G'd thereby can feel confident that he will not come to harm and that he will have earned his share in the hereafter."

There was reason to fear then that these two tribes would suffer casualties in their encounter with the Canaanites unless their whole motivation would undergo a change. This is what Moses alluded to when he said אם תעשון before speaking about the fighting men of these two tribes arming themselves. The words הדבר הזה and לפני השם assume a new dimension when we consider that these two tribes had to dedicate themselves to G'd's purpose for the forthcoming war. When Moses concluded his speech by saying עד הורישו את איביו מפניו, "until He has driven out His enemies before Him," he referred to G'd's enemies. We must not translate this verse as speaking about the enemies of Israel. Moses had never mentioned the word Israel once during these negotiations. Clearly, what was at stake was to avenge the behaviour of the Canaanites against G'd. In view of the repeated use of the conjunctive letter ו throughout the verses 21-24 it was difficult to establish which condition Moses considered paramount. Now we have become aware that the critical words are the words לפני השם.

Another point which Moses had in mind when he said אם תחלצו לפני השם, was to correct these two tribes who had said נחלץ חשים לפני בני ישראל, "we will be ready, armed, before the children of Israel." This had implied that the other tribes were in need of physical support, support in order to conquer the land of The Canaanites by natural means. Moses corrected them saying that their success depended on increasing their spiritual merit. The combined merits of 100 people are noticeably less than the combined merit of 101 people.