Biblical Parallels Index – Bemidbar 32/0

Biblical Parallels Index – Bemidbar 32

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Overview

This index is meant to help the reader explore Biblical parallels, be they two accounts of the same event, stories with similar motifs and themes, or units of text which are linguistically similar and perhaps alluding one to the other. The page includes links to tools that aid in comparison, primary sources that touch upon the parallels, and summaries of and links to articles which analyze them in depth.

The Request of Reuven, Gad, and Menashe

The request of Reuven and Gad to stay on the other side of the Jordan echoes elements of other narratives in which members of the nation distanced themselves from the community. Moshe explicitly compares the actions of the tribes to the sin of the spies.  The narrative also recalls the later episode involving the two and half tribes discussed in Yehoshua 22 where their building of an altar on the Jordan is initially similarly viewed as a rebellion and attempt to disassociate from the rest of Israel.

Tools

• Use the Tanakh Lab to compare Bemidbar 32 and Yehoshua 22.  There is not a significant amount of linguistic overlap, but the themes of the two stories are very similar.

Articles

• See "Shall your Brothers Go Into Battle While You Remain Here?": An Analysis of Numbers 32, by Rabbi Nathaniel Helfgot, which explores the story of Reuven, Gad, and Menashe in the context of the Torah’s previous narratives of acceptance and rejection.  He notes that each of Reuven, Gad, and Menashe lost out on their first born status to others and questions whether their request to stay on the eastern side of the Jordan should be compared to Lot and Esav who, in their desire for the riches of cattle, choose to distance themselves from Jewish destiny.
• See Petition of the Two and a Half Tribes for analysis of whether the tribe's request was appropriate and how commentators have viewed it throughout the ages.  The topic also speaks of the later episode in Yehoshua to see how each story might shed light on the other. According to some commentators, in both stories it is the leaders who misjudge the people who had no ill intentions; According to others, the tribes really were problematic, but Moshe's outburst leads them to change their ways, and in Yehoshua they prove that they have learned their lesson.