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Parashat Matot

Matot  is a portion that completes the Book of Numbers. It begins with a list of regulations about oaths and vows. The most important feature is that a woman's vows depend on their acceptance by either her father (if she's living at home) or by her husband. On the day that her husband hears that she's made a vow, he may annul it.

Chapter 31 tells the long story of the Hebrews' annihilation of the Midianites at the command of God. After losing no soldiers in the battle, they bring back as spoils children, women, and animals. Moses orders that all male children and non-virgin women are to be slaughtered. The booty is appropriately divided.

The Reubenites and Gadites had a lot of cattle. They propose that they be permitted to remain on the eastern side of the Jordan River, where there are vast areas for grazing. Moses rebukes them, but they arrive at an agreement. So long as the men serve as shock troops in the taking of the Land of Canaan, once the land is conquered they may return to the cattle country on the eastern side of the Jordan.

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