Matoth-Massei: World order

וַיְדַבֵּ֤ר מֹשֶׁה֙ אֶל־רָאשֵׁ֣י הַמַּטּ֔וֹת לִבְנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל לֵאמֹ֑ר זֶ֣ה הַדָּבָ֔ר אֲשֶׁ֖ר צִוָּ֥ה יְ

Moses spoke to the heads of the Israelite tribes, saying: This is what Gd has commanded

This introduces the last reading in the narrative Torah. Moses now presents the law to an assembly, the heads of the tribes.  The implicit single nation  is now addressed as a federation of tribes. Each tribe has been allocated a territory in the, soon to be occupied, Promised land.  This is an ancient example of state's rights...a response to universal ideas. 

Division into clans has an evolutionary advantage. The selective forces that will appear in the future are unpredictable and the traits that allow for survival must exist prior to the application of the selective pressure. One of the most important human advantages is the ability to act collectively. The evolution of clans and tribes fosters collective action. Sometimes the collective action opposes other people. This hones the group's cohesive skills. The greatest threat to humans is other humans. 

The tribal nature of the  nation is hardly mentioned in Exodus. This is a volume of unification. In Hebrew, the book is called  Shemoth, Names. It begins by  naming the individual sons of Jacob. The events described  are those that unify this people: their common slave-bondage, their liberation by a combination of unified action and Divine intervention, acceptance of a common code of law, and  the construction of a  central shrine, funded by a universal tax. 

Bamidbar,  Numbers, the book we conclude this week, recounts the division of the nation into sections and tribes. The initial counting, that opens the book, is done by patriarchal houses and divided by tribe. Much of Matoth, the first of this week's chapters, deals with the agreement that allows the tribes of Reuben, Gad and half of Menashe to occupy the territory conquered from the Emorites ( Sichon and Og), while the other 9½ tribes remain homeless. This is the  divisive struggle between those who have claimed resources and those who need their help to acquire it. The conflict is solved by a compromise that unifies the army, and recognizes the claim  of the shepherding tribes to the pasture lands.  Everyone wins!?.?

The section about unintentional  killing and the (prison)  cities of refuge unifies the end of the Torah story to the earliest stories. When Cain killed Abel, no retributive lightning bolt killed him. Instead, Cain was punished with permanent exile ( life in prison). Now, in this world of many people and avenging brothers, murder will be avenged by the death of the killer. But the circumstances will determine the guilt of the manslaughterer and that level of culpability will be decided by human peers. 

וְשָֽׁפְטוּ֙ הָֽעֵדָ֔ה בֵּ֚ין הַמַּכֶּ֔ה וּבֵ֖ין גֹּאֵ֣ל הַדָּ֑ם עַ֥ל הַמִּשְׁפָּטִ֖ים הָאֵֽלֶּה׃ 

in such cases the assembly shall decide between the slayer and the blood-avenger. 

וְהִצִּ֨ילוּ הָעֵדָ֜ה אֶת־הָרֹצֵ֗חַ מִיַּד֮ גֹּאֵ֣ל הַדָּם֒

The assembly shall protect the killer from the blood-avenger,. 

A distinction is needed between the story of Cain and Abel, reinforced by the exile of Moses after he kills the cruel Egyptian taskmaster, and the normative law. Stories are not the bases for decisions. 

The chiasmus between the cities of refuge and  Genesis brings us back to the first instruction that Gd gave Adam and the consequence of its violation: exile.

  Adam's violation led to a profanation of his life, a יַחֵ֖ל, (yachail); life became ordinary. The parsha starts 

אִישׁ֩ כִּֽי־יִדֹּ֨ר נֶ֜דֶר לַֽ  י  אֽוֹ־הִשָּׁ֤בַע שְׁבֻעָה֙ לֶאְסֹ֤ר אִסָּר֙ עַל־נַפְשׁ֔וֹ לֹ֥א יַחֵ֖ל דְּבָר֑וֹ כְּכׇל־הַיֹּצֵ֥א מִפִּ֖יו יַעֲשֶֽׂה׃

 

If a man vow a vow to the Lord, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.

The oath, the solemn, Gd witnessed, statement, is the basis of law. 

Watching today's politics, you'd never know it.