When desire for goods keep us from the good

As the Israelites inch closer to the Promised Land, the tribes of Reuben and Gad approach Moses with a request. “‘If we have found favor in your eyes,’ they say, ‘let this land be given to your servants as a holding; do not make us cross the Jordan” (Numbers 32:5). Appalled by the request, Moses unleashes a torrent of anger, finally condemning the Reubenites and Gadites as “a brood of sinners” (32:14).

Why is Moses so angry?

A midrash asks: Given that the Transjordan had just been conquered by the whole people, how did Reuben and Gad end up with so much more cattle than the others? “This teaches,” the midrash answers, “that the two tribes were quick to despoil what had been conquered (Midrash HaGadol to Numbers 32:1).

In light of all this, the two tribes’ lack of desire to enter the Promised Land takes on powerful symbolic weight. If the Torah makes one core assumption about land, it is surely that the earth belongs to God alone (Leviticus 25:23). For the Torah, “divine ownership means that all property is ultimately received as a gift.” The Land of Israel is not a commodity but a covenantal gift (cf. Deut. 6:10-11 and 8:7-10). Reuben and Gad, so committed to acquiring (liknot) cattle (mikneh)—two versions of the same word—cannot allow themselves to live in a land that is so manifestly about receiving rather than grabbing.

Reading of the two tribes and their struggle with Moses, we are challenged to ask: Are we, too, Reuben and Gad? How often does our preoccupation with possessions (mikneh) lead us to forget God and other people? In our consumerist society, can we still reclaim the Torah’s message that what we have is ultimately a gift from God? If we receive rather than grab, we open the door to genuine kindness and generosity of spirit. We open the door, in other words, to genuine service of God.

In telling the story of Reuben and Gad in such detail, the Torah reminds us of the grave damage materialism can do to our relationship with God. In our consumerist society, it is a message we can ill afford to ignore