Matoth-Massei: Boundaries

There are two subjects in these two parshaioth: oaths and boundaries. They are related concepts. An oath is a boundary: it defines a class of situations that constitute compliance ("inside") and a class of situations (every other state) that are out of compliance (outside).  All land boundaries  constitute a threat to prosecute (one way or another) any violator; it rests on a promise, an oath. The parsha also contains the principles of contracts, complex mutual oaths. A contract, by Talmudic standards, must explicitly state the consequences of compliance and the consequences of non-compliance for all parties to the contract. The validity of an oath or a boundary or a contract depended on the credibility of the enforcer. Can the statement be backed up with action.

The boundaries of the Promised Land are stated in this week's reading. These are lines established by conquest, deadly force. Israel will settle this land, and the current inhabitants will either leave or be killed. Of course, the current inhabitants defend their homes with all their means, including their lives.  This is the most extreme enforcement of statement: war. 

The second chapter that we read, Masei, starts by enumerating the stations of travel through the wilderness. Most of the 42 journeys taken by the Israelites after the Exodus from Egypt are relatively uneventful. The first few involve moves that entrap the Egyptian army in the Sea of Reeds. Toward the end, there are confrontations with larger nations, culminating in the conquest of Sichon and Og and the acquisition of this previously Moabite land that had been annexed by these Amorite kings. The bland travels, place names without events, reflect a peaceful, but unsustainable time, in the wilderness. The people needed the land for ongoing sustenance.  Gd needed to give them the land to fulfill the oath made to Abraham; and Gd would show that the necessary force was available. That people, Israel, would eventually survive for millennia  without a land of their own. In my lifetime, we are learning how to integrate the return to that land and dealing with the powers that enforce and threaten the dream of resettlement.

Talmudic contract law is based upon a story in this week's reading. That story begins by telling us that the Reubenites (the replaced first born)  and the Gadites were exceedingly wealthy. They owned a great deal of portable capital, cattle. 

וּמִקְנֶ֣ה ׀ רַ֗ב הָיָ֞ה לִבְנֵ֧י רְאוּבֵ֛ן וְלִבְנֵי־גָ֖ד עָצ֣וּם מְאֹ֑ד וַיִּרְא֞וּ אֶת־אֶ֤רֶץ יַעְזֵר֙ וְאֶת־אֶ֣רֶץ גִּלְעָ֔ד וְהִנֵּ֥ה הַמָּק֖וֹם מְק֥וֹם מִקְנֶֽה׃ 

The Reubenites and the Gadites owned cattle in very great numbers. Noting that the lands of Jazer and Gilead were a region suitable for cattle. 

They offered to take this land as their portion of the Promised Land. But the land was to be divided according to a lottery, so how could they claim this land? One possible answer: this was their lottery assigned land. A second possibility is that these lands, conquered from Og and Sichon, were not part of the Promise, they were extra, open  to be used at the discretion of Moses and the people. A third possibility: the tribes of Reuben and Gad were going to take this land, whether it came by lot or they would trade with other tribes to get it because it was the best resource for their cattle... and their wealth would enforce their decision. 

Regardless, these tribes made an offer to settle this land, which was most suitable for their cattle and probably less desirable for other tribes. Moses observes that this would diminish the army; if they did not fight for the land with the other Israelites, they were re-enacting the sin of the spies which relegated the Israelites to the 40 years of exile that were now ending. They made a contract: If they stayed with the Israelite army until the conquest was complete, they could get the land they desired. If they failed in this condition, they would lose this land and receive some lottery assigned land. This becomes the model contract: Reward, conditions for compliance,  consequence of non compliance. In this case Gd is  the agent of enforcement. 

Near the end of chapter Masei there is a discussion of the cities of refuge. These (originally six) Levite (tribeless) cities rescued the unintentional murderer from being (legally)  killed  by the Avenger of Blood (goayl hadam), a relative of the murdered person pursuing the killer. I can imagine this process in the context of the land-based economy of the time. 

The first exiled murder was Cain. He killed his brother Abel. Unpunished, that act would have made Cain the master of all the earth. Instead, the earth was made refractory.  He was banished and so he founded a city, he became urban, the city was his refuge

וַיֵּ֤דַע קַ֙יִן֙ אֶת־אִשְׁתּ֔וֹ וַתַּ֖הַר וַתֵּ֣לֶד אֶת־חֲנ֑וֹךְ וַֽיְהִי֙ בֹּ֣נֶה עִ֔יר וַיִּקְרָא֙ שֵׁ֣ם הָעִ֔יר כְּשֵׁ֖ם בְּנ֥וֹ חֲנֽוֹךְ׃ 

Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. And he then founded a city, and named the city after his son Enoch.

The section of cities of refuge is full of details of killings that qualify for refuge and those that do not. What motivated those killings? Enforcement of land possession? The desire to possess additional land? Probably, sometimes.

The redeemer (goayl) is mentioned in the book of Ruth. The context of redemption in Ruth is not murder, but the Levirate marriage (marrying the childless widow of a close relative).  Boaz, who ultimately rescues the situation, must eliminate a closer relative who has the right of redemption 

 יֹּ֣אמֶר בֹּ֔עַז בְּיוֹם־קְנוֹתְךָ֥ הַשָּׂדֶ֖ה מִיַּ֣ד נׇעֳמִ֑י וּ֠מֵאֵ֠ת ר֣וּת הַמּוֹאֲבִיָּ֤ה אֵֽשֶׁת־הַמֵּת֙ (קניתי) [קָנִ֔יתָ] לְהָקִ֥ים שֵׁם־הַמֵּ֖ת עַל־נַחֲלָתֽוֹ׃ 

Boaz continued, “When you acquire the property from Naomi and from Ruth the Moabite, you must also acquire the wife of the deceased, so as to perpetuate the name of the deceased upon his estate.”

Redeemer (goayl) status includes a claim to property. I think this can be extrapolated to the goayl hadam, the Blood redeemer. This suggests an underlying economic motive for this system , now mollified by the Cities of Refuge.  The city of refuge has the state intervening in this process; becoming the enforcer of boundaries and, eventually, contracts. 

Many principles that govern the modern world evolved from the laws and stories in these chapters of the Torah. That process continues to evolve  through both compliance and rebellion.