Literary Devices – Bemidbar 32

• In verses 16-19, after Moshe's voiced his concerns over their desire to stay on the east, the tribes of Gad and Reuven revise their request and relay their willingness to fight with the rest of the nation. In verses 20-23 Moshe paraphrases their proposal but with some differences. Whereas the tribes first mention caring for their cattle and then for their wives and children, Moshe does the opposite.  While they begin the conversation by focusing on their family and belongings and only afterwards mention their willingness to fight, Moshe does the reverse.  While they speak of fighting "before the Children of Israel", Moshe speaks of fighting "before Hashem".

• In verses 25-26 the tribes' affirm their readiness to agree to Moshe's terms. They echo Moshe and adjust their original language to accord with his, prefacing children to animals and mentioning fighting "before Hashem".

• See N. Leibowitz, Iyyunim BeSefer Bemidbar (Jerusalem, 1996):356-359 who discusses the points of comparison between the tribes' wording of their request, Moshe's reply and the tribes' agreement.
• See Petition of the Two and a Half Tribes which notes that these differences might support Akeidat Yitzchak's reading of the story as being one in which the tribes err in initially not intending to join the campaign, but change their ways in light of Moshe's rebuke. They learn from him to be less materialistic, to think more of Hashem, and to put their needs second to those of the nation.

• See the Tanakh Lab that this word appears a full 18 times in the chapter, highlighting a central question of the unit. Was the tribes' request to settle the land east of the Jordan a rejection of the land promised by Hashem?

• Tanakh Lab demonstrates that the word “פָּנִים” (always in the various forms of "לִפְנֵי" or "מִפְּנֵי") is the second most frequently-used word in this chapter, appearing 12 times.  The members of Gad and Reuven initially declare that they will enter battle “לִפְנֵי בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל” (verse 17), focusing on the national significance of the conquest. Moshe changes this phraseology, instructing them four times that they will go to war “לִפְנֵי י״י” (verses 20-22), hinting to the religious import of the event. They apparently learn the lesson, for they then adopt his language in verse 27, stating that they will go to battle “לִפְנֵי י״י”.
• Articles – See N. Leibowitz, Iyyunim BeSefer Bemidbar (Jerusalem, 1996):356-359 who notes this point and discusses other points of comparison between the tribes' wording of their request and Moshe's reply.

The word מקנה appears six times in the chapter, four of which are clustered in the first four verses. Its placement as the opening word of the unit further points to its import. The term refers to cattle, but the choice to use this word with its connotation of possession, raises the question of whether it was pursuit of the material which lay at the heart of the tribes' request.

In many verses, one finds that the word "וַיֹּאמֶר" is mentioned twice despite there not being an an intervening response or explicit change in speaker in between. This might indicate resistance or opposition of some sort on the part of the other participants in the conversation.  In verse 2 and again in verse 5, the speech of the members of Gad and Reuven is introduced by “וַיֹּאמְרוּ” although no one else has spoken in the interim. This might imply Moshe’s resistance to their proposal.¹  

For discussion of the general phenomenon of the "doubled Vayomer" with many examples, see: Redundancy. For a comprehensive discussion, see מאיר שילוח, "ויאמר... ויאמר", ספר קורנגרין (תשכ"ד): 251-267.