Comentário sobre Números 32:1

ומקנה רב היה לבני ראובן, And the members of the tribe of Reuven had a great amount of cattle, etc. The Torah had to give us this information in order to justify their request to settle in the lands which used to belong to Sichon and Og. The Torah simply testifies that their claim was based on solid facts. The reason that these two tribes had so much more cattle than the other tribes was that the soldiers of these tribes were exceedingly brave and captured more loot than the soldiers of the other tribes.

ומקנה רב היה לבני ראובן ולבני גד, “and the tribes of Reuven and Gad possessed large amounts of livestock.” The tribe who was a descendant of Leah is mentioned first although the tribe of Gad was the instigator of this request (Ibn Ezra).

Kap. 32. V. 1. ומקנה רב. Der Akzentuation zufolge scheint das Prädikat עצום מאוד sich auf die בני גד zu beziehen, so dass deren Herdebesitz noch weit größer, als der der Reubeniten war. Ohnehin bemerkt schon Ramban, dass nur hier einleitend der Stamm Reuben als der ältere zuerst genannt wird, in der ganzen folgenden Versammlung stehen die Söhne Gad voran. Sie werden auch Dewarim 33, 20 u. 31 als die eigentlichen Anreger der Idee und zugleich in ihrer Tapferkeit geschildert, die ihnen die Ausführbarkeit dieser Idee, sich außer Zusammenhang mit dem Gros der Nation in besonderen Grenzen niederzulassen, ratsam erscheinen lassen durfte.

'ומקנה רב היה לבני ראובן וגו, “and The Reubenites possessed large quantities of livestock;” the tribes of Reuven and Gad, who possessed more wealth than the others grew to love their material possessions and this is what encouraged them to separate from their brethren, the other tribes to the extent that they wanted to make their residence on the east bank of the river Jordan. A look at history will show us that these tribes were the first to be exiled from their land. Both they and half of the tribe of Menashe who had also taken up residence on the east bank of that river (Compare Chronicles I 5,26.) [They were exiled in 740 B.C. about 20 years earlier than the tribes that had split from the Davidic dynasty on the west bank of the Jordan. Ed.] Psalms 75,7-8 refers to this event when the psalmist says: כי לא ממוצא וממערב ולא ממדבר הרים כי אלוקים שפט זה ישפיל וזה ירים, “for neither from his point of departure , motza, from birth, (the constellation governing that date) nor from the east or west, (geographical position) or from the wilderness or mountains (is man’s fate determined) for G–d is it who gives judgment. He lifts up or brings down.” In other words, man’s travails and planning are not what determines his success or failure in matters concerning material wealth. Rabbi Acha is on record as saying that every time the word הרים, “mountains” appears in the Bible it is to be understand literally, except in this verse in Psalms when the author uses it as a metaphor, for describing man’s status among his fellow man, i.e. his wealth. Man must not boast of his wealth as it may be here today and gone tomorrow. It is G–d Who has given him wealth, and it is He Who will deprive him of it when He sees fit to do so. What is the reason why in the Hebrew language physical possessions are referred to as נכסים, “chattels?” Because these “possessions,” have a way of moving from one “owner” to another “owner.” The same is true for the word זוז which describes coins in the Hebrew language, a word derived from the root which means: ”to move.” The same is true of the word ממון meaning “money,” i.e. something being constantly counted. It is also called מעות, reminding us that it is being used to deceive people, to falsify. Another quote on this subject is provided by Rabbi Abba, who draws our attention to the prayer of Channah in Samuel I 2,7: ה' מוריד ומעשיר, משפיל אף מרומם, “It is (only) the Lord Who makes poor and rich, He casts down and He also lifts high.” Even though He elevates a person, this does not have to be at the expense of casting down another person, as He can do it to the same person.” The Torah had described how each soldier enriched himself during the campaign against Midian. Although G–d brought disaster upon Midian, the Israelites were enriched. The same happened in Egypt when the plagues G–d had brought upon the Egyptians ended up by enriching the Jewish slaves. All this happened simultaneously. Our sages said that G–d gave mankind three gifts. They are: חכמה, גבורה , and עושר, “wisdom, physical strength and bravery, as well as material wealth. Whoever is endowed with either one of these gifts has actually been endowed with all three of them. How is this line to be understood? As long as these gifts are the result of studying the Torah and being G–d fearing. Unless these endowments are the product of the above, they are useless in the end. This is why the prophet Jeremiah has said in Jeremiah 9,22: אל יתהלל חכם בחכמתו ואל יתהלל הגבור בגבורתו, ואל יתהלל העשיר בעשרו כי אם בזאת יתהלל המתהלל השכל וידוע אותי כי אני ה' כל עושה חסד חסד משפט וצדקה בארץ, “let not the wise boast about his wisdom, let not the strong boast about his strength; let not the rich glory in his riches; but only in this should one glory (if at all) in his earnest devotion to Me. For I the Lord act with kindness, Justice, and equity in the world.” (Compare Bamidbar Rabbah on this portion) I have also heard an explanation on this verse along the lines of a statement in the Talmud, tractate Niddah folio 16: there is one angel by the name of laylah, who is in charge of everything connected with conception; he presents every drop of human semen to the Lord and asking Him whether the ovum this drop will fertilise shall be endowed with wisdom, or foolhardiness, with physical strength or weakness, with wealth or poverty. He does not ask if the human being that will be born from this drop of semen will be a wicked person or a righteous person, as this is something that G–d has abstained from interfering with. It is the basis of the whole freedom, i.e. “image of G–d,” G–d has given to man as opposed to the angels and the animals, not to mention inert parts of the universe. The three outstanding examples of the endowments called “wisdom, physical strength and material wealth,” i.e. the wealthy Korach and the wealthy Haman, were symbols of the latter, one Jewish one non Jewish, who came to a totally disastrous end, each after having boasted of enormous admiration amongst his supporters. They had both displayed what we call wisdom, and instead of this helping them, it led them to an early and ignoble death. They had not been endowed with their wealth from G–d, but had acquired it by immoral means. Solomon, in Kohelet 5,12, refers to this when he said that “riches hoarded by their owners lead to their misfortune.” (Compare Tanchuma 5 and Bamidbar rabbah 22,7 on our verse on this subject.