Shall your Brothers go to war without you?

(6) Moses replied to the Gadites and the Reubenites, “Are your brothers to go to war while you stay here?(7)Why will you turn the minds [alt dishearten, discourage] of the Israelites from crossing into the land that ה׳ has given them?


(8) That is what your fathers did when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to survey the land. (9) After going up to the wadi Eshcol and surveying the land, they turned the minds of the Israelites from invading the land that ה׳ had given them.


(10) Thereupon ה׳ was incensed and swore, (11) ‘None of the men from twenty years up who came out of Egypt shall see the land that I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, for they did not remain loyal to Me— (12) none except Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua son of Nun, for they remained loyal to ה׳.’ (13)ה׳, incensed at Israel, made them wander in the wilderness for forty years, until the whole generation that had provoked ה׳’s displeasure was gone.


(14) And now you, a breed of sinful fellows, have replaced your fathers, to add still further to ה׳’s wrath against Israel. (15) If you turn away from [God], who then abandons them once more in the wilderness, you will bring calamity upon all this people.”


(16) Then they stepped up to him and said, “We will build here sheepfolds for our flocks and towns for our children. (17) And we will hasten as shock-troops in the van of the Israelites until we have established them in their home, while our children stay in the fortified towns because of the inhabitants of the land. (18) We will not return to our homes until the Israelites—every one of them—are in possession of their portion. (19) But we will not have a share with them in the territory beyond the Jordan, for we have received our share on the east side of the Jordan.” (20) Moses said to them, “If you do this, if you go to battle as shock-troops, at the instance of ה׳, (21) and every shock-fighter among you crosses the Jordan, at the instance of ה׳, until [God] has personally dispossessed the enemies, (22) and the land has been subdued, at the instance of ה׳, and then you return—you shall be clear before ה׳ and before Israel; and this land shall be your holding under ה׳. (23) But if you do not do so, you will have sinned against ה׳; and know that your sin will overtake you. (24) Build towns for your children and sheepfolds for your flocks, but do what you have promised.”

?ואתם תשבו פה, while you are settled here on land that we have already conquered? Surely you did not think for a moment that you could get away with such an arrangement! Your suggestion therefore can only have the effect of undermining the morale of your brethren!

Usually, the text uses the language "went to war," while "came to war" is a rare expression... One who "went to war" goes to battle quickly, voluntarily; he is eager for battle and goes to fight even outside his borders. In contrast, someone who "comes to war"... - takes upon himself the dangers of battle after getting involved in war. The war comes without provocation on his part and he enters the danger against his will. That is why Moses asks: "Your brothers will go to war" - and in contrast to that: "And you will sit here"! Like you, your brothers would also like to come to rest and to the inheritance, but war is a necessity, it has come to us, and your brothers are forced to enter the fray - and you will shirk your duty?! (P. Matot 1995)


...
Author: Asher Wassertheil
Composed: Jerusalem, Israel, c.1960 – c.2010 CE
A Israeli educator who was one of the builders of the relgious Zionist school system. He played an important role in the development of contemporary Israeli religious literature.

והיצא מפיכם תעשו AND DO THAT WHICH HATH GONE OUT FROM YOUR MOUTH, as a vow to the Most High God (cf. Numbers 30:3), because you have taken it upon yourselves to pass over for war until the end of the subjugation and division of the land; — for Moses asked of them only, (v. 22): “Let [the land] be subdued and afterwards ye may return”, but they undertook, (v. 18): “[we will not return to our houses] until [the children of Israel] have inherited”, so you see that they made an additional promise, to stay on the western side the seven years during which they were dividing the land. And so, indeed, they did (cf. Joshua XXII.).

Then Moses answered them, "Your brothers will come to war. I do not fear for my honor. But for the sake of the many. ... And you have learned the ways of your spies. And you have learned from the spies of the people, and from the people of Israel, who separated themselves from the congregation. And these sins were called in their souls. And so you are a culture of sinful people. You want to separate yourselves from the congregation of Israel. In the way that you have sealed to all this people. And you despise the Lord and detest the Holy Land.

The WICKED SON what does he say? “What is this service to you?” “To you,” he says, not to him.

When he sets himself apart from the community,
he denies the very core of our beliefs.