וַיַּרְא רֵאשִׁית לוֹ כִּי שָׁם חֶלְקַת מְחֹקֵק סָפוּן וַיֵּתֵא רָאשֵׁי עָם צִדְקַת ה’ עָשָׂה וּמִשְׁפָּטָיו עִם יִשְׂרָאֵל
(דברים לג:כא)
(Concerning Shevet Gad) “ … He chose the first portion for himself, for that is where the lawgiver’s plot is hidden. He came at the head of the nation, carrying out Hashem’s justice and His ordinances with Yisroel,” (Devarim 33: 21).
Rashi explains: “He chose the first portion for himself”—He took the land of Sichon and Og which were the first lands Bnei Yisroel conquered. “For that is where the lawgiver’s plot”—because he knew that in the portion of land he had inherited, is the burial place of the lawgiver, Moshe Rabbeinu. “Hidden”—that plot of land is concealed and hidden from every creature in the world, as it is written: “And no man knows his burial place.”
Zera Shimshon asks that Rashi’s explanation that shevet Gad chose their inheritance to be on the east side of the Yarden River because that was where Moshe Rabbeinu was buried, seems to contradict the reason implied in sefer Bamidbar at the time they actually chose it.
It is written there: “The tribe of Reuven and the tribe of Gad owned cattle in very great numbers. Noting the lands of Yaazer and Gilead were a region suitable for cattle, the tribe of Gad and the tribe of Reuven came to Moshe, Elazar the Kohein and the heads of the community and said, ‘Ataross, Divon, Yaazer, Nimrah, Cheshbon, Elealeh, Sevam, Nevo and Beon—the land Hashem has conquered for the community of Israel is cattle country and your servants have cattle. It would be a favor to us if this land were given to your servants as a holding; do not move us across the Yarden.’” These pesukim imply that the reason Reuven and Gad wanted their portion to be on the east side of the Yarden was because it was very good land to raise cattle and not because this is the place that Moshe is buried.
Zera Shimshon answers in light of an interesting observation of the Ramban (Bamidbar 32:2). In the first pasuk of the parsha—that describes how the tribe of Reuven and tribe of Gad came before Moshe to ask that their portion be outside of Eretz Yisroel—Reuven is mentioned before Gad; since the tribe of Reuven and the tribe of Gad owned cattle in very great numbers.
This—explains the Ramban—is understandable since he was the firstborn and he was also the son of Yaakov’s wife, Leah; while Gad was merely a descendant of Leah’s maidservant, Zilpah. The Ramban asks: Why is Gad mentioned before Reuven in the rest of the parsha? It is not derech eretz for the younger brother, with an inferior lineage, to speak before an older brother with a better lineage. The Ramban explains that it was Gad’s idea to take their inheritance on the east side of the Yarden and not Reuven’s and, therefore, it was the tribe of Gad who spoke to Moshe and not Reuven.
Since both Reuven and Gad had lots of cattle and it was Gad’s idea to approach Moshe and not Reuven’s, it must be—reasons Zera Shimshon—the fact that these tribes had very big flocks was not a strong enough argument not to live in Eretz Yisroel. True, the land there was ideal for raising cattle; but in Eretz Yisroel, there is also good pasturing land, so why should they not enter Eretz Yisroel and be like all the other tribes?
The real reason that Gad did not want to cross over the Yarden was because he wanted to live in the place where Moshe would be buried. However, they didn’t mention this when they spoke to Moshe, because it isn’t derech eretz to mention to Moshe that he is going to die. In addition to this, this was only a reason for him but not a reason for Reuven. Gad, therefore, only mentioned an inferior and weak argument—that it is great pasturing land and hoped that that would be enough to convince Moshe that they could stay on the other side of the Yarden!
