This document provides commentary on the Torah portions of Mattot and Mas'ei. It first discusses the importance of honoring vows and oaths, especially for leaders, to maintain order and direction in the community. It then notes exceptions where vows could be annulled if they violate core values. Next, it examines the negotiation between the tribes of Gad and Reuben to settle east of the Jordan River. While this was largely constructive, Moses had lingering concerns about priorities and potential splintering. Finally, it analyzes the list of stops on Israel's journey from Egypt, noting how remembering history helps us appreciate God's guidance and prepare for future challenges. A pattern of addressing physical

1. Mattot and Mas’ei
Introduction
I. Read 30:1-3.
Note the instruction is for the heads of the tribes but relates to all, that one
must honor a vow made to God or an oath. Why is this delivered to the
heads (the mattot), and why does this mitzvah/commandment come first?
(A. We get a sense by virtue of the name of the potion, mattot, that we’re
delving into insights/directions that are crucial for the leaders to know and
master. This may be especially important as Moses prepares the next
group of leaders now that he knows his time as leader is limited.

2. Among the instructions he will give, perhaps nothing exceeds in
significance the value of people honoring the vows and oaths they make.
B. How can a community fare well if this core principle is not adhered to?
This is surely so for all its members, but perhaps none more so than the
leaders themselves. If heads can make vows and oaths at will and not be
required to fulfill them, whether due to political whim or change of heart or
as a grab for power, etc., then the community will be rudderless, without
clear direction, and likely not guided by the expectations of God (the One
we saw in the second blessing of Balaam as sure and immovable).
There will be exceptions, say, for vows/oaths made under duress, or for
forbiddenpurposes, or in another set of circumstances we’ll discuss in a
moment. But, generally, the fabric of a community will be weak or strong
based on the fidelity with which its leaders and members hold to
vows/oaths they make. One reason these words are delivered to the
leaders first may be that certain leaders will need to understand and be
able to distinguish when vows/oaths must be enforced and how, and when
they should not be.

3. C. And, finally, what are the components of vows? Words! Itwas through
speechthat the world was created. We’ve learned how words can give life
and how words can destroy. We must be as careful with words as anything.
They’re crucial and must be treated with utmost care and intention and
commitment.)
II. Read 4-7.
And, yet, first thing out of the box, we read of a vow that can be revoked.
Subsequent verses show how others can be annulled? How in the world
can this be?

4. (Vows/oaths are central, and living by them is a must for all the reasons we
discussed. But God wants us to be mindful of those infrequent
circumstances when deepercore values, such as justice and righteousness
and mercy, would be offendedby the required holding of one to a vow/oath.
Let’s put aside for now the difficult issues posed by this text about the
vows/oaths of women in certain circumstances. Let’s at least recognize
here that capacity (or incapacity) to make a vow due to age, etc. must be
an essential matter in determining whether a vow or oath has beenvalidly
made.
III.After the battle with the Midianites that corresponds to the episodeof
apostasy at Peorthat we discussed in the last two portions, we get to a
very intriguing episode involving a discussionand negotiation between the
Gadites and the Reubenites and Moses.Let’s get a sense of the story.
Read 32:1-7,16-24.
What’s happened here? What do you admire about this deal? What
concerns you?

5. (A. Moses rightly sees the comparisonwith the spies who split off and
discouraged the community some 39 years earlier. Splitting apart from the
people, failing to live out God’s covenant commitment, acting on one’s own
self-interest- all of these things counter the direction with which God is
directing Israel. So, Moses speaks up with deep concern!
The leaders of the two tribes respond constructively. They offerto fight for
the whole community as shock troops (i.e., vanguard, front line), to assure
victory in the land and its settlement before they come back to the
Transjordan. Moses sees and appreciates this gesture, particularly the
commitmentthat distinguishes it from the earlier episode.
Thus, a successful negotiation takes place in what at one level it’s a win-
win situation, one in which there seems to be a sort of Divine
acquiescence.
In fact, the way in which this issue is discussedand successfully negotiated
and resolved suggests huge progress and growth from several earlier
encounters. In the past, it was often fear or emotion or greed or weakness,
etc., driving unilateral action that was typically destructive of both
community and individual. Here there’s discussion, reference to both
immediate and broaderinterests, work toward reconciliation and
compromise, a recognitionof the interests of each and all. This time it’s

6. largely handled in a manner leading to peace and in the interest of
heaven.)
B. But why do we have lingering thoughts that this is not wholly good?
Note, for example, verse 16. Do you see something odd there?
(1. Moses does! Read verse 24. Would their talking about building the
sheepfolds before building towns for the families perhaps suggest wrong-
minded priorities, that their interest is more one of economics than the well
being of the community? Further, does separating from the other tribes
suggest a splintering inclination that is a sign of weakness for the whole,
one that endangers both these two over time and the remaining tribes in
the future? Some sages say yes, that these two, for instance, were most
vulnerable in the exile that one day comes.
2. Read 20-23.What word use do you note in Moses’comment here, and
what does it suggest?

7. (Moses mentions the words, “the Lord” six times in these short verses. This
can be read to suggest Moses’concernthat these folks may not be acting
with God principally in mind, and that they should!
Yet, what was Moses to do? The two did commit to do as Moses
requested. Did he follow the better of the alternatives? Don’t we face these
choices in life? Life isn’t perfect; we act the best way we can, knowing there
will be consequences either way. But we must choose and act, and Moses
did so in sync with the constructive negotiation that took place.)
3. Read verse 33. Notice anything? Why does Moses commit the land that
will go to Gad and Reubenalso to half the tribe of Manasseh?

8. (He may have understood that the land was large enough to accommodate
more. He also likely wanted to create a tie between the occupants of this
land and Israel, so having half of one family in that land and half in Israel
was a sensible way to do that. Further, Manasseh is associated with Torah
and the faith, which was likely to be a good influence for tribes outside.)
IV. As we enter the portion of Mas’ei, we notice something very unusual.
Let’s read a few verses, and I’ll ask you about it. Read 33:1-7.
What do you see? It goes on through verse 49. This is an account of all the
stops on the way from Egypt to here. This is pretty dry stuff to the casual
reader. Yet, what’s meaningful to us in it?
(Does it reflect different chapters, or even a longer trajectory, in our own
lives?

9. A. Certainly, in the text, God wants us to rememberthe journey and its key
milestones. God wants us to keep in mind and recall forevera variety of
things, including the miracles and saving hand of God in our long journey
from slavery to the land of promise. Further, we must recall where and why
we strayed, how God rescued us, how we were strengthened. There were
moments forward, backward, and sideways - moments where we almost
didn’t make it, and many didn’t. We tend to forget the fear and anxiety and
panic and loss that we’ve come through. We also tend to forget the
miracles and the salvation. We can’t afford to forget any of this as we go
forward.
B. Don’t we look back on mileposts in our lives and find great meaning to
them?
A journey from narrowness to readiness for promise with all the stops in-
between, with its mistakes as well as its growth. Maybe this is like growing
up. Raising a child. Navigating a career or major events of life. The
preparation phase before a new enterprise. A spiritual journey. Maybe
something we look back on near the end of life.

10. Some keep scrapbooks. Some rely on memories. Recording and keeping
for reference the specific narrative of our journeys is something that is
really rather important for mostof us. We want to remember where we’ve
been; it is important in and of itself, but it also helps us prepare for the
challenges ahead and to move forward.)
V. I want us to sample different readings from the last verses in this last
portion of the book to see if we can see a pattern that makes up a sort of
core instruction at the end. Read 34:1-2,13;35:1-2,6. Separately, let’s look
at 16, 22-25,30-34;36:6.
A. Now, what in the world do all those topics have to do with each other?
What rhyme or reason, what pattern, do you think is intended by these
matters that are discussedin this sort of order at the end of the book?
(1. First, there’s an attention to the physical geography of the promised
land, with the notion of order and a fair division. We live in physical space.
There are dimensions and boundaries, and we are to be mindful of them,
respectful of them, and live true to them.

11. 2. Yet, we also go straight to the ethical and spiritual dimensions, for it is
under the surface of the physical that the Torah wants to be sure we go
ultimately.
We must divide up in a fair manner. We must respect what is ours and
what is for others and the community’s. We must be clear on the rules and
how we are governed.
We get a taste of some of the major issues within the ethical geography:
that there be space dedicated forthe Levites, those who facilitate our
encounter with God;that there be a clear distinction between the treatment
of the man slayer and the murderer; that we understand the process (and
how demanding it is) for convicting and punishing a personaccused of
murder; and that the solution for the daughters as to inheritance be
conditioned on their staying within their tribes.)
B. But we must go deepernow that we have these topics before us. Why
are they here? What do they convey, separately and together? Why do we
make such a huge distinction between the man slayer and the murderer?
Why is there such a severe punishment for the murderer yet there are such

12. clear and demanding rules that make it so terribly hard to convict the
murderer?
(God abhors murder. Manslaughter is a distinctly different offense, and
other forms of killing might actually be either justifiable or excusable. So,
working at understanding what happens in each of these cases and
insisting on the right consequences foreach are essential.
As to murder, it is so severe it “pollutes the land” in God’s eyes and must
not be tolerated. Yet, killing a personwrongfully accused of murder is really
murder, too. So, we have rules limiting a person who might be an avenger
of the killing (a real change in the ancient world) as well as strict
procedures fordeciding on a verdict in court.
This is a powerful illustration of the ethical (and judicial) process that is
required of us in the land, and, since it’s so significant per se, it serves as a
strong case study to introduce the people to the broad expectations of God
as to ethical living in the land. In other words, there’s a fundamental idea
that the land and the people (and how they behave) are linked - that the
land is a promise to the people, and that the people’sliving in God’s way is
essential to the well-being of the land and indeed living in it.

13. As to the various explicit as well as metaphorical meanings of “the land,”
that’s for another day.)
C. Finally, let’s get to the issues involved in resolving the property rights for
the daughters?
(This was a superb illustration of the required balance between the fairness
due individuals and the requirements for preserving a strong community.
Plus, it’s a matter that must be resolved immediately since it relates to the
dispositionof land, which is top of the agenda when they enter. The
broader task, that of achieving a fair resolution in justice and righteousness
of the claims of individuals as against the needs of others and the
community, will be a basic one in the land of promise.)
Conclusion

14. We’ve journeyed all the way in the wilderness to the boundary of the land
of promise.The action of Torah is largely completed. We will soon move to
Moses’remarkable oration, his valedictory, which will take up the space of
Deuteronomy. But before we go there, and we will next week, let’s relish
this movement and the growth that has occurred as the people have
traveled with God from slavery through all the trials and tribulations as well
as the nearness and instruction and inspiration and leadership they’ve
experienced along the way.
We’ve journeyed from the narrow places to the place of life as promised by
God - how we are to live in the space of our lives in ways that are pleasing
to God,ways in which we live out love of God and love of neighbor. It’s
complex.It takes effort.It takes fidelity to God’s word. As we wrestle with
such matters on our path to the promised land,we have learned to
understand and appreciate the meaning and challenge of being in covenant
with God.