מטות

Moses gathered the heads of the tribes and said, “This is what God has commanded.” He explained that when a person makes a vow or an oath, they must do what they promised.

Moses also taught how vows worked inside a family. If a young woman in her father’s house made a vow and her father heard it and did not object, the vow stood. But if he stopped it on the day he heard, the vow did not stand, and God forgave her. Moses said it was similar for a wife: if her husband heard and stayed silent, her vow stood; if he annulled it that same day, it did not stand, and God forgave her. Moses added that the vow of a widow or divorced woman was binding.

Then God told Moses, “Avenge the Israelites on Midian.” Moses chose troops for a campaign.

A thousand soldiers from each tribe went out, twelve thousand in all. Phinehas, son of Eleazar the priest, went with them carrying sacred utensils and trumpets. They fought Midian as God commanded. The five Midianite kings, Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, were killed, and Balaam son of Beor was also killed. The Israelites captured the women and other noncombatants, took animals and wealth as booty, and burned the towns and camps.

When they returned to the camp near the Jordan by Jericho, Moses was angry that the women had been spared, reminding the commanders that these were the ones who had led Israel into wrongdoing at Peor. He gave instructions about who could be spared, and the troops stayed outside the camp seven days for cleansing.

Eleazar taught how to purify metal and other items. Then God commanded an inventory and an equal division of the booty, with a levy set aside for God and portions given to the Levites. The officers also brought gold jewelry as an offering, because none of their soldiers were missing.

The tribes of Reuben and Gad had very large herds. Seeing that Jazer and Gilead were good cattle land, they came to Moses, Eleazar, and the leaders and asked to receive that land as their holding, without crossing the Jordan.

Moses challenged them: “Are your brothers to go to war while you stay here?” He reminded them how earlier scouts had discouraged Israel, and how God made the people wander forty years.

Reuben and Gad answered with a promise. They would build sheepfolds and fortified towns for their children, but their fighters would go first, in the vanguard. They used the Hebrew word chalutzim, meaning “armed pioneers,” because they would march ahead until the land was subdued.

Moses agreed on the condition that they truly cross over and fight. If they did, Gilead would be theirs; if not, they would receive land in Canaan. Moses also assigned them, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, the lands of Sihon and Og. They rebuilt and renamed towns, and families of Manasseh captured and settled more places in Gilead and beyond.