page_title: Matot
section_title: Numbers chapter 32
hierarchical_section_title: Matot / In classical rabbinic interpretation / Numbers chapter 32
caption_attribution_description: JUDAEA. First Jewish War. 66-70 CE. AR Half Shekel (18mm, 6.69 gm). Dated year 2 (67/8 CE). "Half Shekel" in Hebrew, chalice with beaded rim, date above / “Holy Jerusalem” in Hebrew, sprig of three pomegranates. Meshorer 195; Hendin 660. Near EF.
context_page_description: Matot, Mattot, Mattoth, or Matos is the 42nd weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the ninth in the Book of Numbers. It constitutes Numbers 30:2–32:42. It discusses laws of vows, the destruction of Midianite towns, and negotiations of the Reubanites and Gadites to settle land outside of Israel.
  The parashah is made up of 5,652 Hebrew letters, 1,484 Hebrew words, 112 verses, and 190 lines in a Torah Scroll. Jews generally read it in July or early August. The lunisolar Hebrew calendar contains up to 55 weeks, the exact number varying between 50 in common years and 54 or 55 in leap years. In some leap years, parashah Matot is read separately. In most years, parashah Matot is combined with the next parashah, Masei, to help achieve the number of weekly readings needed.
context_section_description: A Midrash deduced from Numbers 32:1 that the Reubenites and Gadites were rich, possessing large amounts of cattle, but they loved their possessions so much that they separated themselves from their fellow Israelites and settled outside the Land of Israel. As a result, they became the first tribes to be taken away into exile, as 1 Chronicles 5:26 reports, "Tillegath-pilneser king of Assyria ... carried ... away ... the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh."
  The Tanna Devei Eliyahu taught that if you live by the commandment establishing the Sabbath (in Exodus 20:7 (20:8 in the NJPS) and Deuteronomy 5:11 (5:12 in the NJPS)), then (in the words of Isaiah 62:8) “The Lord has sworn by His right hand, and by the arm of His strength: ‘Surely I will no more give your corn to be food for your enemies.” If, however, you transgress the commandment, then it will be as in Numbers 32:10–11, when “the Lord’s anger was kindled in that day, and He swore, saying: ‘Surely none of the men . . . shall see the land.’”
  Similarly, a Midrash taught that the Reubenites and the Gadites cherished their property more than human life, putting their cattle before their children when they told Moses in Numbers 32:16, "We will build sheepfolds here for our cattle, and cities for our little ones." Moses told them that their priorities were wrong and that they should rather do the more important things first, when Moses told them in Numbers 32:24, "Build you cities for your little ones, and folds for your sheep." The Midrash saw in their different priorities application of the words of Ecclesiastes 10:2, "A wise man's understanding is at his right hand" — applying to Moses — and "A fool's understanding at his left" — applying to the Reubenites and the Gadites. God told the Reubenites and the Gadites that as they showed greater love for their cattle than for human souls, there would be no blessing in it for them. The Midrash thus saw in their fate application of the words of Proverbs 20:21, "An estate may be gotten hastily at the beginning; but the end thereof shall not be blessed," and the words of Proverbs 23:4, "Do not weary yourself to be rich; cease from your own wisdom."
  In the Mishnah, Rabbi Meir noted that Numbers 32:20 and 29 stated the same condition in both positive and negative formulations. Numbers 32:29 states the condition in the positive: "And Moses said to them, if the children of Gad and the children of Reuben will pass with you over the Jordan, . . . then you shall give them the land of Gilead for a possession." And Numbers 32:20 states the same condition in the negative: "But if they will not pass over with you armed, then they shall have possessions among you in the land of Canaan." Rabbi Meir deduced that every stipulation must be stated in both the negative and positive formulations, like the condition of the children of Gad and the children of Reuben in Numbers 32:20 and 29, or it is not a binding stipulation. Rabbi Hanina ben Gamaliel II maintained, however, that Moses stated the matter both ways because he needed to do so to be understood; otherwise one might have concluded that the Gadites and Reubenites would receive no inheritance even in the land of Canaan.
  The Mishnah taught that those who removed from the Temple coins collected in the shekel tax could not enter the chamber wearing a bordered cloak or shoes or sandals or tefillin or an amulet, lest if they became rich people might say that they became rich from money in the chamber. The Mishnah thus taught that it is one’s duty to appear to be free of blame before others as before God, as Numbers 32:22 says: “And you shall be guiltless before the Lord and before Israel.”
  Similarly, the Tosefta cited Numbers 32:22, “You shall be clear before the Lord, and before Israel,” to support the proposition that while out collecting charity, charity collectors were not permitted to separate their own money from that which they collected for charity by placing their own money in a separate purse, lest it appear that they were stealing for themselves some of the mone
caption: 67–68 CE half-shekel coin
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