The 4th Aliyah of this week's parshah, Mas'ei, lists the 12 tribal heads who are to be in charge of dividing the land during the time of Yehoshua bin-Nun.
The first 3 tribes listed are Yehudah, Shimon, and Binyamin.
From the 4th onward, all of them have the word "Nasi" in front of their name.
The grouping is obvious: Those 3 tribes would, after the time of Shlomo, be the Kingdom of Yehudah, and those 9 would be the Kingdom of Yisrael.
I didn't see any peirushim on this in Mikraot Gedolot.
Does anyone have any drashot on this?
And while we're at it, does anyone have a drash as to why they are called the 10 Tribes (which is a title given by Hashem in Melachim 1 11:35) when it is only 9?
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There’s an interesting concept which I keep on coming across. (10=7/3)
ReplyDeleteG-D created this world with 10 mamaros yet in 7 days
Ten plagues in Egypt, yet 7 are in Parshat Vaera, 3 in BO
Of course the 7 corresponds to the 7 Midos (chesed, gevuro etc.) the 3 corresponds to 3 Mochin (chochma binah daas)
The first 3 things are above our understanding (Shamayim, light before the sun etc) the final 7 are down to earth stuff (grass, animals etc)
In mitrayim, the last 3 are above our concepts (darkness, bichorus, concept of time etc.) and the first 7 are down to earth.
10 lands of Israel are promised to Abraham in bris bein habisorim, yet we so far received only 7, the 3 (above) we still are in the process of overcoming, hence the concept of the 3 weeks of mourning (shlosha d’paranusa) & (sheva d’nichemta) In the final tikun era, we will also be in total control of Machshava, not only actual actions.
Also extremely interesting, the 10 spies came back with 10 reports each one was said by one, Calev interups them after 7 (meaning he was able to refute the first seven ) the final three we don’t totally have under complete control as of now (also the last three are higher ideas (ki chuzuk hu memenu etc.)
When bnei gad v’rueven come, and are accused of being spies, Moses gives them 10 verses of rebuke, the first 7 are very understandable, the final 3 at certainly repetitious, and more coded language
Now after this windy drasha, perhaps we can fit in this 3 tribes without Nasi, and the final 7 tribes.
I certainly enjoyed reading that, thanks. But its not 3 and 7, it's 3 and 9. :)
ReplyDeleteI was under the impression from your question that you focusing only from Bamidbar 34,16
ReplyDeleteI'm focusing on that whole parshah from 16 to the end of the perek.
ReplyDeletefrom 16 till the end of the perek (34) is only mentioned a total of 10,(3 names of the nasi without their titles, & 7 names with their titles)
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't include Gad and Reuven. I didn't notice until now. Yashar Koach.
ReplyDeleteExcellent. The 7 kings that died. I wonder if this is mentioned in the Zohar/Kitvei Ari.
ReplyDeleteThings to consider:
ReplyDeleteShimon being me'urav in Yehudah.
Levi being spread through all 10 tribes.
I wish I could find a more Kadosh source, but Wikipedia seems to be Margish the question, and counts East Menashe and West Menashe as 2 tribes. Then, it writes the following:
ReplyDeleteIt has sometimes been inappropriately claimed that the Tribe of Simeon was a part of the Northern Kingdom of Israel and was therefore part of the "Ten Lost Tribes." However, the Tribe of Simeon was never located in the Northern Kingdom (Joshua 19:1), Simeon's land was located entirely within the land of Judah. Apparently, Simeon's tribal distinctions were lost shortly after Canaan was settled by the Israelites when the Simeonites assimilated into and with the Tribe of Judah.
Thanks Yaak, for the idea, and the he'arah on the source :)
ReplyDelete