The Meaning of the Land of Israel
The story seems straightforward. Two tribes approach Moses and ask to be settled outside the land of Israel, in the lands which the Jewish people conquered east of the Jordan river. At first Moses is furious and frightened at what he sees as a potential reenactment of the episode of the spies forty years earlier. He suspects that the request is motivated by a fear to enter the land and is a rejection of the land of Israel. Moses agrees to their request only when the two tribes promise to lead the rest of the Jewish people in battle for the conquest of Israel. If they keep their promise, Moses told them, they would be entitled to the land east of the Jordan.
A careful reading of the discussion between Moses and the two tribes reveals, perhaps, that Moses was not just negotiating a deal with the tribes, but rather he was emphasizing to them the true meaning and value of the settlement in the land of Israel.
The two tribes tell Moses that they have abundant cattle, and they describe the lands east of the Joradan as “a land of livestock”:
The land that the Lord struck down before the congregation of Israel is a land for livestock, and your servants have livestock." They said, "If it pleases you, let this land be given to your servants as a heritage; do not take us across the Jordan." (Numbers 32:4-5)
One of the major problems with their request is that it offers a glimpse into their perception of the land of Israel. If Israel is merely a place for the Jeiwsh people to settle and build a life for themselves, then indeed, there is no superior value to Israel over the lands east of the Jordan. On the contrary, for people who raise cattle, the lands east of the Jordan are better.
In his response to the two tribes Moses keeps repeating one phrase: “before the Lord”:
Moses said to them, "If you do this thing, if you arm yourselves for battle before the Lord, `and your armed force crosses the Jordan before the Lord until He has driven out His enemies before Him, (32:20-21)
Moses was telling them that the value of Israel is primarily in the fact that it is the Holy Land, the land where one senses the presence of G-d, the land where we are “before the Lord”.
Only once they understand and internalize the unique holiness of Israel does Moses allow them to embark on their spiritual purpose, which is also the purpose of each of us who live outside the borders of the land of Israel, namely, to spread the awareness of G-d that is native in Israel to the lands outside of Israel.