Trusting in The Salvations of Hashem Especially In Time of War with Rabbi Aaron Dovid Poston

[Music] Shalom Alim everybody welcome back to the b m welcome home to Torah we're always using the I shouldn't say we're always we're almost always using the clear for the basis of our discussion and the Hebrew sheets are available The Source the original Source sheets are available on the web page and you'll find Down Below in the YouTube description box a link where you could follow along in the Hebrew which we highly recommend peric in chapter 32 of numbers we in Matos that there are two and a half tribes and we're we're discussing the um discussion of two of the tribes with Moshe where they want to choose to inherit what is called the Eastern side of the Jordan River they have a lot of livestock and this land is quite um plentiful when it comes to food for the livestock and they want they want to inherit it let's just say at that point there must be misunderstanding Moses is under the impression that perhaps they actually want to refrain from going to war with the rest of the tribes going into Israel they clarify it and they say no we're actually just want to inherit it and we'll go and we'll fight and we'll come back so just to get like a running start if you look in the verses in verse five for example where it says if we have found favor in your eyes let this land be given to your Serv as a Heritage therefore they want to um they want to have it as a as an inheritance do not bring us of course across the Jordan that could be understood as not going to go to war Moses responds in verse 6 and 7 Moses says to the children of Israel and the children of Ruan shall your brothers go out to battle while you settle here why do you dissuade the heart of the children of Israel from Crossing into the land that Hashem has given them and then Moses aren't you acting very similar to what the spies did and look in Rashi on that why do you why do you dissuade them why do you remove and hold back their heart from Crossing for they will be under the impression that you are afraid to cross because of the War uh because of the strength of the towns and the people um so this is a very important thing that there was a clarification however nevertheless we're going to deal with some of the nitty gritty nuts and bolts of their T of their a part of their claim and to help us understand why they even had a claim to begin with and so we're going to start in verse one of chapter 32 and what the clearart will point out let me just explain when we read this in English you will have no clue no clue whatsoever of what is bothering the clear until you see the Hebrew when you read the Hebrew it should be glaring it's like a neon light hopefully so let's read the English for starters in chapter 32:1 of numbers the descendants of Ruin and Gad had an abundance of livestock very numerous that is how the verse is in English and they saw this particular land the land of jazzer and the land of gillad and behold the place was a place for livestock it was very um green it had a lot of food growing now look at the look at the Hebrew okay when you look at the Hebrew you will understand what I mean that we'll call a description or an adjective is split between ruen and God and therefore when we examine it carefully you'll see that ruven had one thing on his mind or a particular reason why they wanted to stay on the Eastern side of the Jordan and God had his own reason well let's see it says in Hebrew and we'll just pause for a second that the livestock was a great amount another words numerous when it came to Ruan he considered what he had a lot whereas godum what's the difference between ra andum we're going to find out because atum can also mean plenty right it could mean numerous as well but there's a little bit of a Nuance that it actually is referring to strength and power okay we'll find out that's the going to be the very first words of the clear soon as we look on the S sheet where we quote the verse it says he comes to a conclusion which I read in a second he clearly says from the very fact that these two descriptions Rob and andum are not intertwined they're not connected they're not mixed together as one statement like it could have said in Hebrew it seems like that's what it says in English but if in the Hebrew it could have said the livestock was plentiful and strong but it doesn't it clearly says when it came to Ruan he considered what he had was RAV and when it came to bad what he considered the description of his livestock was wasum which we will translate for the time being as very powerful so the cleart concludes from the very fact that it's not mixed together that these descriptions are attributed to each one of these two tribes that each one it infers clearly that each one is a matter on its own each description is referring to that specific tribe when it came to the tribe of Ru meaning the children of Ru there were a lot at least in terms of quantity uh a great number I'm only reading the words but we're going to we're going to find out what that description is what does it mean according to God their description of what they have or the tor's description of what they had was that they were enormous in power okay maybe maybe not number but at least in power and the clear brings down as proof that you could have flock whether it was talk about goats or sheep just flock in general as which means enormous in power from a proof in job look at number three on the English English Source sheet Job chapter 1:10 describes the the suan wanting to test uh job and having a conversation with Hashem haven't you made a hedge some kind of a let's say uh offense or security around him his household and all that he has on all sides and what does he say you have blessed the work of his hands he obviously has a tremendous success and his livestock has spread out in the land that's a very interesting way to describe job's success look in the Hebrew when it says obviously the the results the produce of his hand you have blessed parat means to Break Forth spread out but it's a very strong word something strong that's able to break through the land okay so basically I want to take you to the Ted B and Baba batra basically I'll read the words of the clear first he's quoting the gor that that job's own sheep or goats in this case the goats were actually killing the Predators that came I guess that came to try to attack them so let's look at number four in the English store sheet the more the gor continues with its explanation of these verses what does it mean in the verse we just quoted and his livestock is parat increased in the land or spread out in the land rosi says that the job's Liv stock breach the order of the world now I don't even know what that means but I think the next statement clarifies what does it mean it breached the order of the world it is the way of the world that wolves kill goats that's usually how it works but in the case of job's livestock it was the goats that killed the Wolves now so there is such a thing as atum you can have livestock that is usually timid and domestic and doile and yet be um as ferocious as job's were so we can understand it's possible for Gods as well and then he brings another gamoran Tinus k seek like it's quoted in Tinus he only gives us four words which are really the end of the gor la duu which means these these sheep came back with bears in their horns but let's look at the gamor it's number five in thei DOA had some goats now his neighbors may be right may be wrong but at least they spoke up and they suspected him of sending his goats onto their property and eating their their fields now that's forbidden right it's if you own goats you have to make sure they only go into heare property and they don't go and steal from your neighbors is one of the reasons why it's really not proper to have a um to be sheering in the land of Israel but anyway let's move on he said to them after they made this accusation that your goats are damaging our property he said to them like an interesting idea listen if I'm guilty my own goat should be destroyed by bears but if my goats are innocent meaning if I'm innocent this claim is not a claim then what we'll see as a result is my own goats will come back with bears between their horns and the gor concludes that's exactly what happened in the later that day that each one of these goats brought a bear impaled between its horns so what I I think the cleart is doing is building his argument that gad's sheep when it says atum it's not such a foreign idea that there is such a concept that these um domicile animals can certainly be vicious or and that's what the cleart continues to say not this is the conclusion the B God must have had very accomplished and Powerful animals now this is what the cleard going this is exactly the reason why they chose to be by what's thear SAR means the Border a Border Town or border border towns are usually very vulnerable to Marauders or the enemy but basically you're not in the center of civilization where you have protection of neighbors and whatnot you're really on the edge Frontier the frontier there you go now they chose this for reason and not only that then they would have no fear of their enemies so there's two things one is they didn't fear the enemy and they didn't fear that Marauders or Steelers or in this case Zim wild animals and wolves would try to steal or take their goats because their goats knew how to defend themselves so there were two reasons why they didn't mind being in the frontier not afraid of the enemy and not afraid of wild animals now I think this is very important because we're going to talk about who should you trust trust so they trusted or they relied upon the might of these particular animals now nothing wrong with that per se in other words we're asking why did they want to or desire we already said it's a very luscious area for the goats in fact that's where the goats came from that area but more than that um they trusted them to be on the front line so to speak and with this there is to learn a certain point of what we call to judging favorably see later on I mean later on meaning now we're going to start reading these verses where they actually said that what we're going to do is we're going to build a shelter for the animals and then we're going to build shelters or cities let's say safe houses for the children now this also is a place of reason for Moses to be upset and to give them rebuke because Jews know right I mean every human thinking human being should know this that your children are your priority and your uh your physical wealth which this was a it's like you know the matat it was not your your real estate wealth but it was your movable wealth the these that's why the word um for cattle and for let's just say livestock is MCU M because it's it's something you purchase it's movables so the problem is we have to find something to justify why they did it at the same time what they did was deserving of rebuke and let's go into verse 16 so you'll find this on the source sheet on number six what did they say they approached him so they approached Moses and they said as I mentioned first I mean that's what they said first which implied that that's what they're going to build first we will build um Corrals or shelters sheep folds for our livestock here and I'm just going to add the word secondly meaning at least in the order of their seeming seeming priorities they're going to build these cities or protection for their children so this is a bit of a a strange concept now let's just look at rash and you'll see I'm not making this up this is well known Rashi says when it says we will build these sheep folds for our livestock here Moses was upset they were more concerned about their possessions than about their sons and daughters now it could be an assumption and we will see that it is an assumption since they mention their livestock first before mentioning their children Moses does yes he does say to them we'll see how not so that's not how to do it you should treat the fundamental or what's primary what's most important as fundamental and primary and important whereas whatever is secondary importance should be secondary importance don't construe don't mix up the two rather what Moses does say to them we'll see in verse 24 is first build cities for your children and only afterwards you then build shelter for your sheep I mean I'm just look at number 24 now remember we just read 16 and 24 is Moses saying to them go ahead so build cities for your children and enclosures for your sheep now we will understand what it means at the end of this verse because it doesn't make sense and what has proceeded from your mouth shall you do what does that mean wait just hold hold your horses hold your horses here we go let's go back into the clear car and we just got done saying there is a reason to look positively at what Ruben and God the two you know the tribes of ruven and God were saying about building first these the shelter for the animals and only afterwards the cities or the shelters for the children because they said we already mentioned basically they were saying as close to the edge as close to the border that let us build first these shelter for these animals that are quite ferocious and then later within the land meaning within the area that we're going to occupy then let us build these shelters for our children then our think about it what were they saying that basically what benefit is there to build the Corrals first because then when we finally have the children they'll be in a safe place not like today what they call Safe places safe spaces but a truly safe space away from the enemy or even from the wild animals that they will dwell in let's just say sec Security in insurity or security we're now on page two that if the animals the wild animals I'm sorry the uh the the enemies that if the enemies would come what would we do we would send our First Response Team the K the right El um g g son so they the en here in the case of the enemy they would first attack the sheep that are in the in these Corrals that are by The Edge and what would it was like an alarm you'd hear the the chaos you'd hear the moaning and groing who knows animals make noise B in the meantime will be able to save the children and therefore by us leaving our animals coralled up by the edge of the camp or the edge of the border of the Border not far from the enemy we will'll have no fear we don't fear even the Z first we're not going to fear the enemy and we're certainly not going to fear the Wolves nevertheless even though we tried to find some reason to to judge them favorably Moses did give them rebuke he did so IM we said earlier on they were relying on their what on their strong sheep or numerous sheep or both to protect them and therefore they were not relying on the salvations of Hashem I'm just reading the words don't shoot the messenger but rather what did Moses the rebuke of Moses in verse 24 he he changes the he says no the first thing you should do is build these fortifications for your own children now he doesn't say fortifications I shouldn't say that because we're going to see later on there's a difference between what they said remember we brought up the idea Moses says should do according to your own word I'm kind of just giving you an advanced notice when they originally said we're going to build cities not fortified cities we're going to BU build cities and the following verse in 17 they said we're going to build fortified cities Moses is saying no go back to what you said originally okay about the nonfortified cities and that will show that you really trust in Hashem okay I'm sorry that I had to SP spoon feed you that but I kind of slipped when I said fortified cities in verse 24 because that's not what Moses says he says he just says build cities for your children that's with meaning start that close to the Border don't worry as if ready on the border that's where your children you're going to put your children on the border and inside the center of the towns you're going to put your animals you're going to build these Corrals for your animals and then what will happen as a result all your brothers your your your Jewish Brothers what are they going to see both they will actually see what great faith and belief in the salvations of God and through this it's almost like M neish it's sounds a little crazy but through this you will actually fortify and a certain amount of courage and um strength in the heart of your brothers that they will come to believe all of them in the salvation of God and then he said which threw us off because we have no idea what he was talking about and whatever came out of your mouth you should do because originally in verse 16 they did say just St cities just regular cities without walls theu and later on in verse 17 it sounds like they retracted or somehow they changed their mind from just regular unwell cities to I'm sorry the which means that our children will reside in fortified cities see the very fact of fortified and Moses saying no go back it's better to have these unfortified cities I just want you to know another idea when we when we spent when Moses sent the spies into the land of Israel he asked them a bunch of questions beforehand he wanted to know are these fortified cities or not and might wasn't a trick question but there was deep knowledge that if you're going to attack and they're very fortified that's a sign that they're actually weak I mean we would think right at first glance oh my God a fortified City there's no way we can conquer them because they're so fortified but it's the weak people that build the fences around themselves whereas the strong or courageous or maybe they're crazy uh will live in a city without any walls because they have belief in their own you know Krav magga if it ever came to it we can take care of it right they have a certain sense of strength or they you know could be misguided confidence but they have a certain confidence and and therefore a certain strength that they don't need these walls so if you have unwalled cities they're actually harder to fight and harder to penetrate than the wall cities so you get the idea here it's it's consistent with the idea here that Moses would have them rather feel the strength in the chuice of Hashem of the Salvation of God and not in the the salvations of the wall although look we're we're on the level we're on right it doesn't make sense to us correct it's it's very hard for us to grasp this but when you're living with miracles for all that the times they did even though they're coming to the land but there is a a tremendous amount of faith that one should have and Moses is teaching them one his last you know he's about to uh about to start theonomy so we know that uh there's not much time for his life he wants to teach teach us CU he's mosu as much Torah as much Faith about God as he possibly can and this is the after we read this verse 17 where it says build right we're going to we're going to live in these cities and build these fortified cities for for fortified cities for our children it's that they thought to build very strong exalted cities but unfortunately if they did that that would actually bring um a actual weakness that would actually bring a I'm not I don't know if cowardliness is the word but it's a weakness it's a breakdown of the morale that's the point that's why Moses gave them this rebuke and he said in verse 24 his words to them was go build those cities not fortified cities and what come what came out of your mouth you should do because you originally said in verse 16 we're going to build cities not fortified we're just going to build cities for our children okay so in in number 10 the M I just want to emphasize I'll read the whole thing but I want to say this is the main point point where it says about five lines up from the bottom you loved your money more than your souls by your souls there's no blessing in this now what does that mean it's based on Proverbs 20: 211 that an estate that is acquired in haste which the CLE car is telling us this is where I shouldn't say the CLE car the medis is telling us this is referring to the two tribes two and a half tribes that wanted to acquire quite quickly this um this inheritance an estate acquired in haste at its offset outset meaning at first which we'll see in the Hebrew will not be blessed in the end so we'll see in the Hebrew in number 11 if an acquisition right is acquired too hastily at the end at its end it will not be blessed listen it's very important let's start at the beginning of number 10 we said and there was Ro right there was a lot of cattle a lot of um livestock and this is what it means in Ecclesiastes a wise man's heart is to his right this is referring to mosha but a Fool's heart is to his left this is referring to the children of Ruben and God foolish what did they do exactly what we saw in rash they made what was essential or fundamental Tel or secondary and that which wasar or t right they switched them both why why would someone make such a mistake of what's important is secondary and what is secondary is important because they love their possessions more than themsel I'm sorry more than theirselves more than their selves and they said to Moses we saw in verse 16 we're going to build our our um shelter for the flocks first and afterwards meaning secondary that for the towns for our children Moses says no you're doing it all wrong don't do like this what you need to do we saw in verse 24 is first build your towns for your children and afterwards then you build a shelter for your flocks so we see from here we said originally in Ecclesiastes 10:2 that a wise man heart a wise man's heart is to his right this is Moshe but a Fool's heart is to his left this is the children of ruen and the children of God what was God saying now this is the verse I quoted this is this concept I quoted you loved your money more than your souls by your lives there's no blessing so we quoted the verse and the state acquired in haste at the outset will not be blessed in the end and there's also in Proverbs 23:4 do not toil to gain wealth you're trying to gain wealth don't run so fast but rather have the sense to desist slow down now who is wealthy we all know one who is happy with his lot okay and there's a stated in Psalms 1282 you shall eat the produce of your hands and you'll be happy in other words when you work for something it's not a an undeserved gift when you work for that money it it's more valuable okay and you will be blessed so don't be so Hasty now there's a very interesting Rashi on on Mish K alif 2021 where we just read about this idea of an inheritance may be acquired hly in the beginning but its end will not be blessed Rashi says when on this verse which one hasten to take herly like who we see that the sons of God and the sons of Ruan they wanted to quickly take their share on the other side of the Jordan and they spoke hastily they they spoke up in verse 16 right we want our our we want to build these um these shelters for the sheep and the cattle and will'll then build the cities for our children what they did is they made the main thing of secondary import for they placed their flocks before the children what happened at the end drum please what happened at the end I mean this is like a sad ending they were not blessed who were the first of the 12 tribes to go out into Exile so that's why we're going to quote 1 Chronicles 5:26 uh but before we get there it says like this for they were exiled many years before the rest of the tribes as is expressed in sedam chapter 22 as well as the mid of rabi tanuma um in the second year of akaz the Lord aroused the desire of the king of Assyria the rod of Hashem and took out those two and a half tribes but the rest of the tribes were only exiled in the sixth year of Hezekiah which is in the ninth year of hosiah the son of Ella okay as clear as day look at 1 Chronicles 5:26 it says and the Lord inspired P the king of Assyria and tath pessar the king of Assyria and they exiled the reubenites and the gadites and half the tribe of manasha okay so they were the first to go so back to that Concept in Mishay was it in Proverbs that an estate acquired in haste in the beginning which is what happened in the in the end will not be blessed and that's not a blessing to be exiled so let's go back into the clear and continue this thought where all we read was the verse in Mish so two lines down in that paragraph since they took their inheritance first therefore whatever comes later their end was not blessed go go they were the first to be exiled as we just read in Chronicles 5: 26 now it's interesting when you look at the verse right and then there's a the English we said but your end will not be blessed either way what do mean end either way what is the end what is the V doing there so he tried to explain it now in order to explain or Justify or resolve any issue with that one letter V which seems out of place near that this is what it means according to the word the rabbis we already said they put their their um livestock before the children regarding this that's what this verse is referring to again what is your inheritance meaning the Acquisitions which we call the Flock these are the movables as they did mention first therefore and as is mentioned first as well therefore you're going to lose also the end you're going to end up losing your children who come after you there will not be a blessing on them that even their bodies right especially or even their bodies also is considered your inheritance all of it everything is basically we call total loss going up in smoke that both what you consider the eer as well as the tough whatever was fundamental and whatever was secondary all of it is going to be lost all of them are going to be captured by the pursuer unfortunately well there's a lot of lessons we should be learning from this about how we view wealth so now we're going to read only the next paragraph we're not going to continue but I will give you a summary at the end of what the CLE car will be discussing after this so now we're actually in verse two and verse two you'll find on number 13 now I don't know if you understand it from the English but certainly the way the CLE car will explain it it will become obvious it says the descendants of God and the descendants of ruing came and they approached Moses and to elazar and to the uh leaders of the community saying okay that's whatever it is that we discussed already that they wanted to inherit this part of the land why is ready why is nobody knows what I'm about to say why is god mentioned first god mentioned first he's not the firstborn Ruan is the older and you would have expected you would have expected that you're confronting mosha or you're asking for an inheritance especially right that ruen should have come forward first I mean we don't know what happened other than the narration tells us first it's mentions Gad and then it mentions Ruan for a reason we don't know the reason but we have to ask wouldn't have made more sense that ruane would have been mentioned first cuz he's the first born the so the kar wants us to know now there are other commentators that say a little bit different than what the klear said so far for this point we don't know who these before shimar they're not quoted other than there are opinions that benad actually had much more in number uh of cattle and sheep and whatnot of livestock than Ben ruen did we said earlier that it was a which meant qu quality not quantity that Ruan had a greater quantity and Gad had greater quality however their armor for say actually Gad had even more than Ru did hu because of the statement and what kind of Liv livestock did B God have they had a very powerful Mass okay meaning to say according to the cleard the way he understood these other maim that the that the uh y Ru that they had many more numerous than ruen Didu God and that's according to these other why the bad spoke first before the children of Ruan who should have been first and now according to them this is all the clear explaining these other who want to say that it was because B had more Al therefore right the more wealth you have the more pain you have if you don't get what you want and therefore the pain of God was greater CU they needed these lands to pass their flock and therefore they spoke up first now this is all according to the way the clear is under understanding the other opinion however you know that he doesn't agree necessarily with their opinion but he's going to disagree even within their opinion in other words not only do I hold that they were atum in strength but your opinion that they felt greater pain I don't agree with there's a different reason why Gad spoke up first and then he's going to discuss this I'm going to tell you why God spoke up first why the God spoke up [Music] first not because of any pain that a wealthy person here in this case may feel it's because of arrogance a character trait that is not good okay the word room Hess and arrogance that's why they jumped before the heads of who was the first [Music] born so none of us understand this because none of us are that wealthy we haven't been tested but apparently it's a big test right Bring it on Bring on the right and that's what he says that it's the nature of the wealth or perhaps right this nature of having this wealth that could allow or establish such a a character trait as haughtiness to the one who owns all this wealth now anedot means someone who's probably not working on their character a regular wealthy guy he's kit the he jumps to the front you know how often have you been where you've seen I don't know you know where it's at the bank whatever maybe at a a Gala the wealthy they just walk straight in right they jump to the front of the line right they think they have they think they're God's gifts to the world and why wouldn't they God gifted them with such wealth right so this is where the arrogance seems to seems to stem from listen to the words he says the was such bold and brazenness he doesn't bow down for anybody he doesn't sit for anybody he doesn't respect anybody and therefore he would not give the respect that should be coming to the firstborn which is not the way someone who's really worked on their character would do that they consider that it's because of the wealth it's through the wealth I'm obviously very gifted I I mean I'm at the top of the you know the pyramid I'm the 1% right I'm the top of the food chain whatever it is now the CLE car honestly the cleard goes on for at least two full pages and goes through some really deep things but what I want to kind of do is sum up at least certain points I'm not doing it any justice but if you look on page five there's this whole idea of number 16 for example actually I might as well deal with verse 7 it's 757 in Psalms in number 15 this is for it's not from the East nor from the West nor from the desert does elevation come the truth is this is like a hint to the idea not from the east side of the Jordan not from the west side of the Jordan and obviously certainly not from the desert you know where the elevation is going to come from don't look to this world don't look look to be the greatest businessman that's not where your wealth is going to come right you I know plenty of people they put in the work in the business and they're not as rich as some of these people who don't put any work in right it's just it's mindboggling how the world actually works but this verse is saying don't rely on your physical necessarily efforts whether it's from the east or from the West um but rather as the following verse says but it comes from God basically God judges he humbles this one and elevates that one just keep this in mind for one second that where did they get this great amount of wealth Torah actually tells us they got it from the midianites why does the Torah even have to tell us that if God so desires he wants to make someone Rich why does he have to take it away from one and give it to another let him just snap his fingers blink his eyes go huff and puff and bang the guy's wealthy it seems like he's taking it from one and giving it to another and there's a reason for this there's a reason for this go into Rashi on 758 where it says he humbles this one and elevates that one he the elevated one he lowers and the lower lowly he elevates it's up to him okay and then in verse Isaiah 40:4 every Valley should be raised the valley is that low place and it's going to be raised and every Mountain which is the high place and every Hill shall be lowered again Hashem is not just making wealth out of the blue but he's I think they say in today's society there's a transfer of wealth right so the transfer of wealth what does it prove that there's a judge that there's a God in the sense that one should behave properly not perversely in other words it's supposed to set a a certain fear or awe or sense of reality in in that rich person I just got rich but that guy was rich and look at him now he's dirt poor that could be me tomorrow or the next day I mean it sets a certain sense of reality cuz that's ultimately God wants you to be responsible for your behavior and not act like you're God's gift to the world I got this and I don't care and I'll step on whoever I want that's not the way um there even when we talked about chapter 75 in Psalms even verse 5 and six I said to the perverse do not behave perversely and to the wicked do not raise your horn this is the idea do not raise your horn on high do not speak with your fat neck the cleard goes on for two and a half pages describing how we need to deal with wealth how we need to deal with our character and not be arrogant okay and this was his premise or his thesis for for the reason that Gad stuck his neck out so to speak and spoke up because of arrogance so hopefully I mean we know that you're not allowed of p in in from your rebi there's certain things I mean we have to work on our character and give honor and credit to those it's due um I will say go to if you're interested I gave a Shear on the 48 ways not just a Shear 50 episodes or 51 episodes okay I'll put the link down below as well you want to chir to it's all about D it's about working on your character and Gad unfortunately seems to have made a I say Gat himself bad right has seem to made a grave Mistake by stepping forward it was a sense of arrogance and hopefully we can all learn to trust in hem and work on our character and learn some very very valuable lessons at some point in the future I will try to give a Shear on those two and a half pages because it's definitely at least an hour's worth of material minimally um so that would be a sheer on on its own anyway so I want to wish everyone a sh Shalom we should see some real consolation this coming month and shabbat shalom have a great life [Music] oh