Or HaChaim on Numbers 10:29/אור החיים על במדבר י׳:כ״ט

1 נסעים אנחנו, "we are about to commence our journey, etc." Why did Moses use this introduction? Yitro knew that the Israelites were about to journey towards the land of Canaan! The Sifri on our verse, apparently aware of this question, says that Moses meant to emphasise that a single journey would suffice to bring the Israelites to their ultimate destination. We may see confirmation of this in Moses using the word אותו, "it," when referring to the place the journey would lead to. This word was quite unnecessary. Moses clearly referred only to to the land of Canaan seeing that G'd had never promised the patriarchs that the Israelites would inherit the lands of Sichon and Og. He meant to stress that there would be only that one journey. Another meaning of what Moses might have referred to was that the words אתן לכם referred to the lands of Sichon and Og which G'd would give to the Israelites of the present generation without having already allocated it to the patriarchs (compare what we wrote on Numbers 7,42). Seeing that at that time the Israelites were on the way to Canaan via the lands of Sichon and Og, Moses did not mention the land of Canaan by name but spoke vaguely about the land that G'd said He would give to the Israelites although he had not promised this to their forefathers. He had prophetic knowledge of this although G'd had not yet mentioned any of this to the people. This in spite of Sifri 2,289 describing those lands as having been appropriated by the Israelites themselves. The fact is that G'd approved of that conquest as a land the Israelites settled in after the event.

2Still another thought that Moses may have had in mind when he said the words אותו אתן לכם is that they were a hint that Moses personally would capture those lands and allow the two and a half tribes to inherit them. The singular אותו was an allusion to the fact that Moses would not conquer the land of Canaan on the West bank of the Jordan, but that G'd would give it to Joshua.

3לכה אתנו והטבנו לך. "come with us and we will treat you well." According to Sifri 1,132 Moses indicated that the land of Canaan would only be shared out amongst the ancestral tribes, excluding proselytes. A a result he could not promise his father-in-law a share in that distribution except as a gift rather than as an ancestral possession for all times. This is the reason Moses phrased his promise carefully, saying והטבנו לך, "we will do good for you." The implication was that the Israelites would donate some of their land to Yitro. Moses was afraid that there were five kinds of objections Yitro could raise, all of which would cause him to decline Moses' offer. As a result of Moses' concern for his father-in-law's sensitivities he tried to anticipate them when he made his offer. The five considerations Yitro could have were the following: 1) A recipient of a gift feels embarassed vis-a-vis the donor as we know from the Jerusalem Talmud Orlah 1,3 where this principle is applied to people eating food which is not their own. 2) The recipient feels that if he were to accept the gift his image would henceforth be reduced in the eyes of the donor. 3) Seeing that people of stature feel they demean themselves by accepting relatively small gifts, Yitro might prefer to do without the gift rather than to lose "face" by accepting something not commensurate with his image of himself as an important personage. The remaining 2 reservations Yitro might have had to do with the nature of the promise. Moses might reconsider his promise at some future date prior to it having been fulfilled. This could be due either to 4) Moses changing his mind due to envy or due to miserliness or because the fondness he entertained for Yitro at this time might undergo a change. 5) A time would come when Moses would simply not be able to make good on his promise. Considering all these reservations Yitro might entertain Moses addressed all of them in the way he phrased his offer.

4When Moses invited Yitro to journey with the Israelites as a prelude to his receiving the gift of part of the land of Canaan, he wanted to make him feel that as a result of his travelling with the Israelites he would have some kind of claim on being compensated. He did not need to look at the gift as something undeserved. There was no call for him to feel in the least embarassed about accepting a piece of land in the land of Canaan. He would also not have to feel that he would lose face in the eyes of the donor as he would receive only what he deserved. Neither would he have to worry about the promise being reneged on seeing that he was not abandoning his country and travelling with the Jewish people except on condition that they would keep their promise to him. When Moses chose the expression והטבנו לך, he stressed that the size of the gift would be commensurate with a personage of his eminence and accepting it would in no way demean him or his children. In fact the piece of land Moses had in mind to grant to Yitro and his family would be qualitatively superior to that of the tribes. Our sages say that the Israelites gave Yitro and family the most fertile land around Jericho (compare Sifri on our verse).

5When Moses added: "for G'd has spoken good concerning Israel," he addressed the two remaining concerns Yitro might have entertained. He implied that since the promise was made with the consent of G'd, Yitro did not have to fear that G'd would be unable to keep His promise. Moreover, he did not have to fear that the value of the gift would be such that the recipient's dignity would suffer for having accepted a gift not worthy of his stature. Seeing that G'd was not in the habit of reneging on a promise, he did not have to worry on that score either. In the few instances where G'd is reported as having changed His mind (Exodus 32,14), He only reconsidered something evil He had considered doing to people. He never went back on a promise to do good for people.