In parashat Mattot, the tribes of Reuben, Gad and half of the tribe of Menasseh ask to remain in Transjordan. Moses expresses his dismay at the request, saying: “And now you, a breed of sinful men, have replaced your fathers, to add still further to the Lord's wrath against Israel. If you turn away from Him and He abandons them once more in the wilderness, you will bring calamity upon all this people” (Numbers 32:14-15). The three tribes respond: “And we will hasten as the vanguard of the Israelites until we have established them in their home, while our children stay in the fortified towns because of the inhabitants of the land. We will not return to our homes until every one of the Israelites is in possession of his portion. But we will not have a share with them in the territory beyond the Jordan, for we have received our share on the east side of the Jordan” (32:17-19).

The rest of this story is told at the end of the Book of Joshua. There we learn: “Then Joshua summoned the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, and said to them, ‘You have kept all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, and have obeyed my voice in all that I have commanded you; you have not forsaken your brethren these many days, down to this day, but have been careful to keep the charge of the Lord your God’” (Joshua 22:1-3). Having kept their promise, Joshua sends them back to Transjordan, saying: “Take good care to observe the commandment and the law which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, to love the Lord your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cleave to him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul” (22:5).

However, in the course of their return to Transjordan, we read: “And when they came to the region about the Jordan, that lies in the land of Canaan, the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh built there an altar by the Jordan, an altar of great size” (22:10). As a result: “And the people of Israel heard say, ‘Behold, the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built an altar at the frontier of the land of Canaan, in the region about the Jordan, on the side that belongs to the people of Israel’. And when the people of Israel heard of it, the whole assembly of the people of Israel gathered at Shiloh, to make war against them” (22:11-12).
In response to the actions of the members of the three Transjordanian tribes, the leaders of Israel make the following offer: “But now, if your land is unclean, pass over into the Lord’s land where the Lord’s tabernacle stands, and take for yourselves a possession among us; only do not rebel against the Lord, or make us as rebels by building yourselves an altar other than the altar of the Lord our God” (22:19).

1. What does Moses fear when the representatives of the three tribes approach him? Does their answer respond to his doubts?

2. What does Joshua’s fear? When Joshua says: “Take good care to observe the commandment and the law which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you,” is he offering a blessing or a warning?

3. What did the people of Israel fear when they heard that the three tribes had erected an altar? What is special about the offer the leaders of Israel make to their Transjordanian brethren in seeking to avoid conflict?

4. In parashat Mattot the members of the three tribes are asked to help defend the people of Israel as they cross the Jordan to enter the land of Israel, whereas in Joshua, the people of Israel seek to help the tribes of Transjordan as they return across the Jordan. What might we learn from these narratives in regard to the special relationship between the people of Israel and the land of Israel, and in regard to the nature of the relationship between those living in the land of Israel and those living outside the land of Israel? What do these stories have in common with modern approaches to the relationship between the State of Israel and the Diaspora?