נַ֭חֲלָה מבחלת [מְבֹהֶ֣לֶת] בָּרִאשֹׁנָ֑ה וְ֝אַחֲרִיתָ֗הּ לֹ֣א תְבֹרָֽךְ׃
אַ נחלה װאָס קומט אָן גיך אין אָנהײב, װעט איר סָוף זײַן ניט געבענטשט.
Kli Yakar
And our Sages (Tanchuma Matot 7) interpreted about them the verse, An inheritance acquired hastily at the beginning, and its end will not be blessed (Proverbs 20:21). Because they took their inheritance first, therefore their end was not blessed, as they went at the head of all exiles, as it is said And he exiled the Reubenites and the Gadites (1 Chronicles 5:26). And in order to explain the vav [the letter that means “and”] in and its end, it seems that this is its interpretation: According to our Sages, they prioritized their livestock over their children, and about this it says An inheritance acquired hastily at the beginning, for they prioritized their inheritance, namely the livestock, to mention it first; therefore also their end, namely the children whom they delayed [in importance], will not be blessed. For both their bodies and their inheritance all vanished like smoke — the main along with the secondary, all of them went captive before the pursuer.
Rabbeinu Bahya
A Midrashic approach based on Tanchuma Mattot 5: when material wealth is received from heaven it is liable to endure; if its source is not heavenly it is unlikely to endure. There were two truly wealthy people in the world, one was an Israelite, i.e. Korach, the other was Haman. Both of them not only lost their wealth but they perished ignominiously seeing that their material wealth had not been a gift from heaven. They had acquired it by tearing it away from others.
You will also find that the wealth possessed by the members of the tribes Gad and Reuven caused them to become inordinately fond of it. As a result they lived (loosely speaking) in what we call חוצה לארץ, outside the essential part of Eretz Yisrael. They separated from the main body of the people on account of their possessions and wound up being the first to be exiled because of their sins (compare Chronicles I 5,26).
When we read in Psalms 75,7: “for what lifts a man comes not from the east or the west or the wilderness הרים, for it is G’d Who gives judgment, He brings down one man, He lifts up another.” The psalmist referred to the fate of the two and a half tribes Reuven, Gad, and half of Menashe (compare Tanchuma Mattot 6). The words ולא ממדבר הרים, normally translated as “and not from a wilderness of mountains,” are somewhat misleading. Whereas it is true that everywhere else in the Holy Bible the word הרים means “mountains,” in this instance it means “elevation.” (socially, financially). When G’d wanted to enrich the members of these tribes He gave them what had belonged to the Midianites. Thereby He fulfilled what is written in Psalms 75,7.
Why are material possesions called נכסים ? Because it is in the nature of such belongings to be hidden (disappear) from one owner and become revealed to the other owner. Chanah alluded to this when she said in Samuel I 2,7: ה' מוריש ומעשיר, משפיל אף מרומם, “the Lord makes poor and makes rich; He casts down, He also lifts high.” When G’d displays His anger (אף) at one people, another is liable to benefit from that. This is the reason our chapter is introduced most unusually with the conjunctive letter ו. Instead of the words ומקנה רב היה, וגו', I would have expected something like לבני ראובן וגד היה מקנה רב. The letter ו as the introduction to the whole chapter draws our attention to the fact that the reason these tribes had so many possessions was only because they had captured them from the Midianites, i.e. that G’d had deprived the Midianites of their possessions.
When Kohelet 10,2 speaks of “the heart of the wise being on the right whereas the heart of the foolish is on the left,” he had in mind people like the members of the tribes of Gad and Reuven who made things of secondary significance such as the livestock their primary concern, i.e. they confused that which is essential with that which is merely auxiliary. They demonstrated this when they mentioned their livestock before referring to their children (verse 16). G’d told them that people who considered their personal wealth as more important than their children would find that their wealth was not blessed. This is what Solomon taught us in Proverbs 20,21: “An inheritance gained hastily (sudden riches) at the outset will not be blessed in the end.” This is also the meaning of Proverbs 23,4: “Do not tire yourself out trying to become rich; desist out of a feeling of insight.” The truly wealthy individual is he who is content with what G’d has seen fit to provide for him as we know from Psalms 128,2: “when you consume the fruit of the labors of your hands you will be happy and feel content.”
You will also find that the wealth possessed by the members of the tribes Gad and Reuven caused them to become inordinately fond of it. As a result they lived (loosely speaking) in what we call חוצה לארץ, outside the essential part of Eretz Yisrael. They separated from the main body of the people on account of their possessions and wound up being the first to be exiled because of their sins (compare Chronicles I 5,26).
When we read in Psalms 75,7: “for what lifts a man comes not from the east or the west or the wilderness הרים, for it is G’d Who gives judgment, He brings down one man, He lifts up another.” The psalmist referred to the fate of the two and a half tribes Reuven, Gad, and half of Menashe (compare Tanchuma Mattot 6). The words ולא ממדבר הרים, normally translated as “and not from a wilderness of mountains,” are somewhat misleading. Whereas it is true that everywhere else in the Holy Bible the word הרים means “mountains,” in this instance it means “elevation.” (socially, financially). When G’d wanted to enrich the members of these tribes He gave them what had belonged to the Midianites. Thereby He fulfilled what is written in Psalms 75,7.
Why are material possesions called נכסים ? Because it is in the nature of such belongings to be hidden (disappear) from one owner and become revealed to the other owner. Chanah alluded to this when she said in Samuel I 2,7: ה' מוריש ומעשיר, משפיל אף מרומם, “the Lord makes poor and makes rich; He casts down, He also lifts high.” When G’d displays His anger (אף) at one people, another is liable to benefit from that. This is the reason our chapter is introduced most unusually with the conjunctive letter ו. Instead of the words ומקנה רב היה, וגו', I would have expected something like לבני ראובן וגד היה מקנה רב. The letter ו as the introduction to the whole chapter draws our attention to the fact that the reason these tribes had so many possessions was only because they had captured them from the Midianites, i.e. that G’d had deprived the Midianites of their possessions.
When Kohelet 10,2 speaks of “the heart of the wise being on the right whereas the heart of the foolish is on the left,” he had in mind people like the members of the tribes of Gad and Reuven who made things of secondary significance such as the livestock their primary concern, i.e. they confused that which is essential with that which is merely auxiliary. They demonstrated this when they mentioned their livestock before referring to their children (verse 16). G’d told them that people who considered their personal wealth as more important than their children would find that their wealth was not blessed. This is what Solomon taught us in Proverbs 20,21: “An inheritance gained hastily (sudden riches) at the outset will not be blessed in the end.” This is also the meaning of Proverbs 23,4: “Do not tire yourself out trying to become rich; desist out of a feeling of insight.” The truly wealthy individual is he who is content with what G’d has seen fit to provide for him as we know from Psalms 128,2: “when you consume the fruit of the labors of your hands you will be happy and feel content.”
Radak
ואלה המלכים, the kings of the nation Edom are mentioned at length in the Torah before any kings of the Jewish nation. According to what we read here eight kings and eleven Alufim ruled in Edom before the first Jewish king was crowned. The kings that ruled over Edom were not hereditary dynasties, i.e. father bequeathing his throne to his son, but the Edomites appointed outsiders as their kings. This was the basic difference between the power structure in Edom and that in the Jewish state afterwards. Even though the Edomites were politically organised, had experience in being ruled centrally by a king, this did not help them once the Jewish people began to be organised under the rule of kings. Already the very first of the Jewish kings, Sha-ul, fought a war against the Edomites, and the Edomites could not defeat him. King David, a few years later, totally subdued the Edomites, resulting in that nation being enslaved to Israel. This situation continued until the reign of Yehoram son of Yehoshaphat, (about 150 years later ) According to Bereshit Rabbah 83,1 this is the meaning of Proverbs 20,21 נחלה מבוהלת בראשונה ואחריתה לא תבורך, “an inheritance gained hastily at the outset, will not be blessed in the end.” The Midrash there also states that both the Edomites and the Israelites appointed eight Kings. The eight Edomite Kings were: Bela, Yovav, Chusham, Haddad, Simla, Sha-ul, Baal Chanan, and Hadar. The Jewish Kings were Sha-ul, Ish Boshet, David, Solomon, Rechavam, Aviah, Assa, Yehoshaphat, and during the reign of his son Yehoram the Edomites rebelled.