“וּמִקְנֶה רַב
הָיָה לִבְנֵי רְאוּבֵן וְלִבְנֵי-גָד .../The children of
Reuven and the children of Gad had much livestock …” (Bamidbar 32:1) The Midrash[1] on this pasuk says that when
a person receives a gift such as wisdom, power or wealth, on the merit of his
Torah, it will last. It came from God. However, if a person grabs wisdom,
power or wealth, it will not last. It
did not come from God. Because of their
love for their wealth, the tribes of Reuven and Gad refused to enter the land
of Israel. Significantly, they were the first of the
tribes to be exiled.
The Midrash thus differentiates between a gift that comes
from God and a gift that one grabs for himself – a gift that does not come from
God. Does not everything come from God,
though? Is it possible to grab a gift
that God does not what me to have? What
does the Midrash mean when it refers to a gift that does not come from God?
Of course everything comes from God. However, God’s power is sometimes revealed
and sometimes hidden. Whether it is
revealed or hidden depends upon a person’s thoughts. The one who realizes that everything he owns
comes from God, will experience the Godly power inherent in everything he
owns. He will not lose his
possessions. The one who thinks that God
has little to do with what he owns, rather he believes that they are his due to
his own strength or wisdom will not experience the Godly power inherent in them. Left to the vagaries of chance, so to speak,
he may very well lose everything.
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