Parashat Mattot presents us with considerable challenges. Much of it is very technical in nature, and seems to contain three distinct, seemingly disconnected chapters: Chapter 30 discusses laws of vows, chapter 31 deals with the war against the Midianites and the spoils from the war, and chapter 32 narrates the request and plan for the tribes of Reuven, Gad, and Menashe to act as shock-troops and then settle land on the eastern side of the Jordan.
Our focus here is the equal division of the spoils of war, which ultimately connect the three chapters of this parasha. Why does Judaism devote so much energy to this topic? Why do we need organized legal arrangements about the spoils of vanquished enemies?
We explore ethical, tactical, and theological approaches to this question.
An ethical army differs significantly from a band of thieves, whose goal is to gain property. The purpose of a war may be to strengthen the land, people, and values, but most certainly not to amass wealth.
A tactical and practical reason for equal division is to allow the army to function properly: if everyone were to seize spoils for themselves, the battle would be over – there would be a lack of focus and organization and little motivation to continue to focus on the military objective at hand.
A theological explanation for handing spoils to a quartermaster to be distributed evenly later is that the spoils ultimately belong to God. Whose victory is it, really? A successful battle comes from God, and is not to be attributed solely to human might. As the war was God’s fight, the spoils do not really belong to any individual, or group.
The vows at the beginning of the parasha, the war with Midian, and the dialogue between Moshe and the two and a half tribes relate to these ideas, too. Individuals or individual tribes are part of a larger group and cause, and their successes come from God.
Various elements come together out of this study: the emphasis on the unity of the people, the message that when we are in distress and make vows, we need to keep our word, and the idea of that our battles really belong to God.
Abridged and adapted by HaTanakh.com Staff. For more, listen to the full audio shiur.