What happened to the Reubenites and Gadites? (Bamidbar) Part II

Gad – The Tribe of the Nouveau Riche (conclusion)

In contrast to Reuven, we have little information about Gad beyond their request for Transjordan, and thus will have to work harder at looking for clues regarding their characteristics and motivations. Fortunately, the Transjordan narrative gives us much insight into them. 

We begin by noting the one verse of narration preceding the actual conversation between Moshe and the tribal leaders: “The sons of Reuven had much livestock, and the sons of Gad had very much.” We can understand this verse to mean that although Reuven also had much livestock, Gad had an unusually great amount. 

How the tribe of Gad amassed their property is an interesting point of conjecture, but more to the point is the clear interest they must have had in the accumulation of such wealth. After all, it is reasonable to assume that this type of unusual wealth did not come about without serious effort, and it is difficult to imagine any group putting out the necessary effort without a conscious interest in creating this wealth. Perhaps the sons of Gad saw this as preparation for settlement of the land, when material wealth would come in handy. 

Still, one needs to ask why Gad seems to have been the only tribe with such an interest. It is possible that others were also interested but simply didn’t succeed, but nevertheless, putting Gad’s tremendous wealth together with various other indications brought the rabbis to the conclusion that this tribe had an atypically materialist streak. 

In fact, it may not be so difficult to uncover the motivation for Gad’s likely materialism. Wealth has traditionally been the great equalizer. It is what has allowed those lacking in pedigree (aristocracy) or in accomplishments (meritocracy) to attain power and influence. Given Gad’s unusual assignment as the rearguard of Degel Reuven, and considering that it was the only tribe that stemmed from one of the maidservants to be in a formation with tribes descended from either Rachel or Leah, we should not be surprised that they wanted to find a way to gain some prestige. 

We can only speculate about the relationship between the tribes of Reuven and Shimon and the tribe of Gad, but it is likely that Gad felt acute social disparity and discomfort – all the more so since Reuven and Shimon had other weaknesses which they would have been able to camouflage by virtue of their pedigree. Hence, they may have emphasized this disparity in their relationship with Gad, who would have likely been conscious of it even in the best of circumstances. 

It is hard to know what is the cause and what is the effect of Gad’s being placed with Reuven and Shimon; meaning whether Gad was put together with them because the tribe had sufficient ambition to deal with the situation, or whether Gad’s ambition was a result of the association. But what is clear is that, like Reuven, the tribe of Gad had a reason to be at least somewhat uncomfortable with the role that it had been given. But here the comparison ends, for if Reuven had chosen the path of decline and isolation, Gad would attempt to raise itself up. 

Yet, if wealth is the easiest road to establish parity with aristocrats, it is not necessarily the only one. Moshe’s eventual blessing to Gad indicates that the tribe could have also tapped into its courage and military prowess that it had shown when offering to go from rearguard to vanguard in the fight for the Land of Israel. (Again we are assuming that what we hear from Gad and Reuven is coming primarily from Gad.) 

Yet, even if Moshe’s blessing strengthened the nobler tendency he saw in Gad, it apparently did not completely replace their materialistic streak. As such, his blessing might have paradoxically made matters worse, since prowess alongside materialism is a dangerous combination: the same courage used to settle conflicts on the battlefield can also be used to settle the many internal conflicts generally endemic to a materialistic society. It should therefore come as no surprise that the Talmud mentions the unusually high level of manslaughter in Gad. 

Menashe – Odd Man Out 

Before we turn to what actually happened when Gad and Reuven petitioned Moshe to settle in Transjordan, there is an additional character – albeit very secondary – who needs to be mentioned. One of the strange features of this story is Moshe’s inclusion of a section of Menashe together with Gad and Reuven in the Transjordanian settlement. 

It is an unusual and unprecedented move for three reasons: first, we have no indication that Menashe requested to live there; second, Moshe sends only part of the tribe over the Jordan, creating an unprecedented intra-tribal division; and finally, we have no real indication that Menashe would have fit in with the somewhat negative picture we have of Reuven and Gad. 

But things are never as simple as they seem. While Jewish history would generally bear out our conceptual dissociation of Menashe from Gad and Reuven, in truth the picture is more complicated. If Menashe doesn’t fit in with Gad and Reuven, neither is it a perfect match with the tribes of its own degel – nor with any of the other tribes for that matter. 

But we will need to hold off on this until the next chapter, where we will discuss the turmoil Menashe experiences determining the fate of its inheritance. There also, we will try to get a better handle on that tribe’s unique character. It is only then that we can get to the bottom of Menashe’s association with the other Transjordanian tribes. 

In the meantime, however, it might be helpful to follow Netziv’s approach – at least its general contours. Netziv speculates that Moshe sent Menashe to Transjordan in an educational and watchdog capacity, to try to raise the shaky spiritual state of the other two tribes. While Netziv’s reasons for finding Menashe capable of such a role may be speculative, his assertion that they were settled there for completely different reasons from Gad and Reuven is hard to contest. 

Thus, whatever insights about Menashe that we will discover in our next chapter, they will primarily be in contrast to the new partners Moshe gave the tribe. In the meantime, our study here will continue to focus only on Gad and Reuven. 

Now that we know more about our protagonists, we are in a better position to fully understand the near-debacle launched by Gad and Reuven’s request to settle in Transjordan. It is true that on some level the entire Reuven formation was a powder keg; a disaster waiting to happen. That means that the problem was not limited to Reuven and Gad but extended to Shimon as well. 

We will discuss the threat from Shimon and its mitigation later in the book. In the following sections, however, we will look more carefully at what happened with Reuven and Gad and how the federalist approach we discussed in Chapter One was already able to reap dividends for the Jewish nation at this crucial juncture in its history.

Israel and Jordan 

The symbol of Menachem Begin’s Irgun militia and other similar organizations includes a map of what is now Israel and Jordan. The map makes the point that the Jewish nation’s ancient homeland included both sides of the Jordan River. And yet, correct as this claim may be, this territory – named by its relationship to Israel (Transjordan = across the Jordan) – has always held a problematic place in Jewish history. 

The territory to the east of the Jordan River was not designated as part of the original Promised Land. It was neither where the forefathers sojourned nor inhabited by the seven Canaanite nations that G–d planned to expel. Rather, it became part of the Jewish homeland as a result of a rather unusual turn of events: the land’s inhabitants were vanquished after trying to attack the Jews. 

The default expectation, however, was that the Jews would continue their march on to their own homeland on the western side of the Jordan while other nations would eventually take the place of the vanquished peoples on the east. Instead, the tribes of Gad and Reuven requested to settle it, ostensibly to find ample grazing for their livestock. While initially taken aback, Moshe eventually grants it to them with the stipulation that they participate in the war of national conquest on the western side of the Jordan. 

Even from this thumbnail sketch we see that the hasty annexation of these lands lacks the pedigree evident in the settlement of the Land of Israel proper. When we focus on the details, however, we will truly appreciate the actual ambivalence of the Jewish tradition toward this territory. 

Moshe’s conversation with the leaders of Gad and Reuven is not an easy one. To say that he is initially upset with their request would be an understatement. Perhaps most significant is Moshe’s allegation that Gad and Reuven are a new version of the infamous spies whom we know from Chapter Two. 

The reader will recall that it is they who caused the Jews to remain another ­thirty-eight years in the wilderness, as well as almost the entire adult generation of the time to die during that period. As we discussed at that point, there is reason to describe this as the worst calamity suffered by the Jews in the desert, and perhaps in all of Jewish history. To compare Gad and Reuven with the spies, then, is to place the strongest of accusations at their doorstep. 

Upon reflection, it is difficult not to share Moshe’s surprise at the audacity of Gad and Reuven’s request. Especially in view of the incident of the spies, the centrality of the Land of Israel should have been so clear as to make their request only slightly short of heresy. Moreover, the wording of their request, “Do not bring us over the Jordan,” sounds as if they may well have been rejecting the Holy Land which the spies had rejected earlier. 

As mentioned earlier, the book of Bemidbar 

 is really made up of two separate strands, the second of which begins only with the Jews’ first complaint at the beginning of Chapter 11. Before that point, we see only the “ideal Bemidbar” of the Jews preparing to enter their land. From that nondescript complaint on, however, the “ideal Bemidbar” moves over to share the limelight with the “real Bemidbar,” which describes the obstacles and challenges that meet the children of Israel along their way to the Promised Land. When we look at the latter strand, we see that the narrative of the spies (Chapter 12ff.) and the narrative of Gad and Reuven (Chapter 32ff.) – the two challenges to the land’s desirability – serve as near bookends. More than this, they can be viewed as the first and last major events of the “real Bemidbar.” 

The symmetry of the two stories in question is buttressed by the converse ratios of tribes that are “pro-Israel” to those that are “anti-Israel.” In the episode of the spies, only two tribal leaders encouraged the march over the Jordan. In the episode of Gad and Reuven, however, this is turned on its head, as only two tribes voice resistance to the march forward.

 In the same way as the rabbis noted the strength represented by the number ten in the case of the spies, one could equally point to the force of the ten tribes that register no interest in the words of Gad and Reuven here. Given this artful setup, it appears that the Torah wants us to note the contrast between these two bookends and appreciate how the contrast came about. 

We can now understand that when Moshe calls Gad and Reuven the descendants of the spies – a phrase he repeats for emphasis – he is tracing the history of a critical sociopolitical movement which defines much of the “real Bemidbar.” Moreover, the very denouement of the entire book of Bemidbar and the Jews’ final readiness to enter the land is largely related to the withering of the movement the spies first set into motion. 

It is important to realize that the bottom line of the anti-Israel movement is resistance to G–d’s plan for the Jewish people. Its adherents are looking for a way to exclude themselves from a Divine trajectory for which they do not feel prepared. Being that the aim of the spies was to counter G–d’s plan, we understand why He had wanted to wipe out the Jewish people when they followed the spies’ lead.

 In response to Moshe’s plea, however, G–d settles for the destruction of that generation only and not their children. For his part, Moshe likely realized at that point that his new and central challenge was to educate the children to think differently from their parents regarding the Divine plan. 

In the ensuing years, Moshe is largely successful in his educational strategy. Still, thirty-eight years later, when the story of Gad and Reuven takes place, Moshe learns that he had been only partially successful with the new generation. Although most of the tribes adapted to the desired new mentality, two tribes had maintained the lineage of the “tarbut anashim chata’im,” the culture of sinful people. 

Following this line of thinking, Moshe’s accession to Gad and Reuven’s request – with certain conditions – is not based on approval or even agreement but rather upon resignation. He comes to terms with the fact that he can’t totally subdue resistance to G–d’s plan in his lifetime. Instead, he holds up Gad and Reuven only to a standard of basic decency, which had been his first claim against them when he said, “How could it be that you will desert your brothers in their fight over the Jordan after they helped conquer your new land on this side?” 

Yet Moshe’s resignation actually reveals the near-complete success of his educational project. He has experienced only partial failure in the face of overwhelming success. At the end of the day, he was able to quarantine the danger, limiting it to just two tribes and putting them on the defensive as well. And he could have done so only if the rest of the camp was basically on board with him. 

Thus, even assuming that Gad and Reuven’s petition was a threat equal to that of the spies, it wouldn’t compromise the nation’s mission. And now that the threat had been defanged, Moshe (and G–d) could afford to be more indulgent. 

If Moshe is more forbearing with Gad and Reuven, still it doesn’t mean they got off scot-free. One could argue that Moshe was telling them: “It’s only appropriate that you get what you asked for – an inheritance outside the Holy Land. Indeed, just as your spiritual fathers, the spies, were not allowed to inherit the land, you will suffer the same fate. But whereas they received this decree as a Divine punishment, you will be getting it at your own request!” 

It is truly interesting to contrast the punishment of the spies with the punishment/reward of Gad and Reuven. We know from the book of Bereshit that there are two ways to get rid of troublemakers: death and banishment. Whereas the spies get the former, Gad and Reuven get the latter. As in Bereshit, and indeed in general, the decision between banishment and death is often made according to the relative threat of the opponent in question. 

In the case of Bemidbar’s bookend narratives, the spies actively tried to convince the rest of the nation, whereas Gad and Reuven did not. Although the Jewish people were likely to be more convincible at the time of the spies and Moshe was less prepared for their threat, their campaign to win over the rest of the people remains the bottom line there. Exerting influence is a double-edged sword. For those who do it for a good purpose there is almost no limit to their reward, but for those who misuse it, as Korach and the spies did, the opposite is equally true. 

Knowing, however, what we know about Gad and Reuven, we can surmise that their lack of a campaign to convince the other tribes was based not only on lack of opportunity. As opposed to the spies who were from the leaders of all the tribes and presumably influential men, the tribes of Gad and Reuven did not carry much weight and, given this reality, were more focused on themselves. (To some extent and as we will soon note, all the tribes were now more focused on themselves than they had been earlier in the journey.) Thus, when they asked for Transjordan, they were not looking to persuade others. They were really in it only for themselves. 

Yet, even if Gad and Reuven did not have the same interest as the spies in winning over others to their cause, it doesn’t take away from the importance of the common ideology at play between the two groups. Even if it was Moshe that associated the two renegade tribes with the sin of the spies, it could be that the spy incident was even more intensely on the minds of Gad and Reuven than on his. 

As discussed above, these tribes were coming with a great ambivalence to the role in which they felt they had been placed. Reuven was a fallen leader who simply wanted to dissociate itself from the rest of the nation, and Gad had expended most of its energies into building its wealth and status, which would not carry much weight in the context of the Jews’ ultimately spiritual mission. 

Neither tribe would likely be motivated by the prospect of new adventures that would no doubt mark the settlement of the Promised Land – all the more so if its conquest required both spiritual discipline and physical sacrifice. They knew that the Land of Israel was supposed to be different; its purpose was to enhance their connection to G–d. 

Gad and Reuven likely felt that they would not have much success with this focus, just as the children of Israel felt they would not meet with success in the Holy Land after the spies brought back their report. To Gad and Reuven, the spies might have been seen in a quasi-heroic light, as men who tried to derail a spiritual adventure, the pursuit of which did not interest them. 

If we are correct in our understanding of Reuven and Gad’s mindset, Moshe’s campaign to educate the rest of the new generation to reject the scouts’ ideology must have only alienated the two renegade tribes even further. 

The result of Moshe’s efforts was that they had no one to turn to for sympathy. Such an atmosphere drew them into their own shell, which they could now manifest physically by remaining across the river, away from the other tribes. The separation turned out to be so great that it fostered a complete lack of trust between the tribes on one side of the Jordan and those on the other. This is painfully apparent only one generation later when Reuven, Gad, and the Transjordanian section of Menashe are wrongly accused of worshiping idols and threatening the entire Jewish people with Divine retribution. Even more disturbing, the accusation is immediately accompanied by an undisguised threat to go to war against them. 

In response, the Transjordanian tribes explain that the monument they built, and which was the source of the suspicions, was created so that the other tribes would not forget that these tribes, too, are part of the Jewish nation. More serious than the negative impression the Transjordanian tribes had clearly made on the others, they clearly anticipated a time when they would not even be viewed as Israelites! 

Getting back to our story, when Reuven and Gad came to Moshe they were unsure of his reaction, but they must have known that they could not expect sympathy for a cause he himself had fought so strongly against. Their hope must have been to get Moshe to allow them to chart their own course, to create a mini-state with values slightly different from the rest of the children of Israel. 

With the threat that these two tribes might infect the others already moot as their lack of influence showed, perhaps Moshe would allow for such a project. In the end, and with certain caveats, Moshe did just that. But what they didn’t realize was that by doing so Moshe was really expressing his complete opposition to their ideology. By letting them split off, he was allowing them to choose the poison that they had so badly wanted . . . far from the main populace. 

Given what we have seen, we should not be surprised that the rabbis are highly critical of Gad and Reuven, and point out that their “rush to inherit land is connected to their being the first to be disinherited.” Though property and livestock is a blessing that G–d wants to bestow on His people, there is a time and place for everything. Rushing toward material wealth in the desert represents a lack of proper focus. 

This is presumably what allowed the two tribes to acquire more livestock than the others, who were likely preparing for entry into the Land of Israel in more rarified ways. To draw a contemporary analogy, to check one’s investment portfolio on Yom Kippur can only reveal a gross lack of perspective. 

Putting too much emphasis on wealth is likely to lead to other mistakes as well. Certainly it is a great mistake to trade G–d’s land for another, no matter how good the latter; even the early, secular-dominated Zionist Congress was not prepared to take the British offer of Uganda as a more practical substitute for their ancestral land. For Reuven and Gad – and indeed, for any Jew living in the Diaspora – there would be at least one major practical disadvantage: living in Transjordan and away from the large Jewish settlement bloc would mean being in closer contact with foreign nations and their negative influences. And it is precisely these types of influences that would prove to be the Jews’ greatest nemesis in trying to hold on to G–d’s favor, and consequently, to their political independence. 

Given that G–d allowed Reuven and Gad to live on the other side of the Jordan for many generations, the picture is not as bleak as we may have painted it. Though we have focused on the negative, these two tribes certainly carried many of the good traits of the rest of the Jews and certainly even unique, positive traits of their own. 

Still, the worrisome materialistic streak coupled with their self-doubts regarding their place within the Jewish people – along with living constantly among the other nations – would lead their descendants to sin more quickly than their brothers. And as noted above, that is why they would be the first that G–d would send into exile.

[…]

Though the impact of Reuven and Gad’s decline was limited by the federal structure of Shivtei Yisrael, the tribes of Israel, their secession still represents a tragedy of major proportions. If we are left with ten tribes in good standing, this is far from the ideal. A group functions at maximum capacity only if all of its members are accomplishing their tasks. Hence, Reuven and Gad’s settlement on the east bank of the Jordan River was not just a tragedy for them; it was a tragedy for the entire Jewish people.