פָּרָשַׁת מַטּוֹת

Parshat Matot tells how Bnei Yisrael (the children of Israel), camped in Arvot Moav (the plains of Moav), complete the last tasks before they cross the Yarden (Jordan). It opens with Moshe speaking to the heads of the tribes about nedarim (vows) and shevuot (oaths). A man must keep every word that comes out of his mouth. A father may annul the vow of his young daughter living in his house, and a husband the vows of his wife, but only on the day he hears it. If he stays silent, the vow stands.

Then Hashem tells Moshe to take revenge on Midyan for Peor before he is gathered to his people. Twelve thousand men, a thousand from each tribe, go out with Pinchas, kill the five kings of Midyan and Bilam son of Beor, and bring back captives and spoil. Moshe is angry that they kept alive the women who caused Bnei Yisrael to sin at Peor. The soldiers purify themselves and their vessels, and the spoil is divided equally between the soldiers and the congregation, with a share for Elazar the kohen (priest) and a share for the Leviim (Levites). Not one soldier is lost, and the officers bring their gold as an offering to Hashem.

The tribes of Reuven and Gad, rich in cattle, ask to settle in the land of Gilad instead of crossing the Yarden. Moshe warns them not to repeat the sin of the meraglim (spies), which kept a whole generation wandering in the wilderness forty years. They promise to cross armed ahead of their brothers and not return home until the land is conquered, and Moshe gives them, with half the tribe of Menashe, the kingdoms of Sichon and Og. Throughout the parsha, a word given before Hashem is kept. In most years Parshat Matot is read together with Masei as a double parsha.