Midrash Tanchuma, Masei 13 | Jewish Mythology

(Numbers 35:11:) “You shall provide yourselves with places to serve you as cities of refuge.” And it is written (in Numbers 35:13-14), “six cities of refuge shall there be for you. The three cities.” The three in the Land of Israel were in the West; and the three that were across the Jordan in the East were in the Land of the Children of Reuben, in the Land of the Children of Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh, as stated (in Deut. 4:43), “Bezer, in the desert [...].” R. Johanan said, (Ibid.,) “’Bezer, in the desert [...],’ see, there were three in the East. And the three in the West were in Hevron of Judah, and Shechem of Ephraim, which is Napolin (Nablus), and Kadesh in the Galilee from the tribe of Naphtali.” Moshe only apportioned [land] for the Reubenites, the Gadites and for the half tribe of Manasseh, and he set aside three cities from them, as stated (in Deut. 4:41), “Then Moses set aside three cities.” But Joshua apportioned [land] to all of the tribes, and they took [it] according to their lots, and they gave forty-eight cities to the Levites; the priests took thirteen, and the rest went to the [other] Levites, and the three cities of refuge came into their lot. And the tribe of Levi did not take a portion in the land, as stated (Jos. 12:33), “But no [portion] was assigned by Moses to the tribe of Levi.” Why? [Because (as in Deut. 18:2),] “the Lord is his portion, as He spoke to him.” You find that Sennacherib exiled Israel in three exiles.43Numb. R. 23:14; cf. Lam. R. Proem 5. First, he exiled the Reubenites, the Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh. Second, [came] the tribe of Zebulon and the tribe of Naphtali, as stated (in Is. 8:23), “in the former time he abased the land of Zebulon and the land of Naphtali.” Third, he exiled the rest of the tribes, as stated (ibid., cont.), “and later he afflicted (hikhbid).”44Translations of this verse vary, but the translation given here fits the sense of the midrash. He swept (hikhbid) them as [with] a broom (makhbed). Nebuchadnezzar also carried out three exiles with the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. In the first he exiled Jehoiakim [and] in the second, Jehoiachin. What did he do? He bound him in his carriage45Lat.: carruca; Gk.: karrouchion. and [there] he became dear to him.46Buber suggests a translation such as, “and it was his favorite.” Thus it is stated, “Behold, I am sending you away like a queen mother.”47The text is not in Scripture, but cf. Jer. 29:2. Just as one honors the queen mother, so did Nebuzaradan act toward him. [Then] Nebuzaradan exiled Zedekiah, for a total of three exiles. From where do we know that Nebuchadnezzar was a world emperor? As he exiled these to here and those to there, and he exiled Israel to Babylon, and those in Babylon to the Land of Israel. The Holy One, blessed be He, said, “In this world Israel has gone into exile and spread among the gates of the world, because of iniquities, as stated (Jer. 15:7), “And I will scatter them with a winnowing fork to the gates of the world”; but in the future to come (according to Deut. 30:4), “If your banishment is to the end of the heavens, from there will the Lord your God gather you, even from there will He bring you back.” It also says (in Is. 11:12), “and he shall gather the dispersed of Judah […].” And it says (in Is. 31:11), “And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing. Everlasting joy shall be upon their heads, they shall obtain joy and gladness, while sorrow and sighing shall flee away.” And so may it be His will. Amen and Amen!

The end of the book of Numbers

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