The division of Eretz Yisroel (from Wikipedia)
If south is downwards then east is to our right, west to our left. We see that Yehuda is in the southeast, with Chevron in his portion. Shimon is to his left, to the west, with Be'er Sheva in his portion. Moving north towards the center of the land, Binyomin is to the right with Yerushalayim in his portion, where his border with Yehuda is, and opposite his portion, along the coastal plain is Dan. Continuing north, Menasheh is on the left, in Shomron, and Efraim is on the right in the Sharon. Ascending further northwards brings us to Zevulun's portion along the coast and Yissochor's in Emek Yizrael. Moving further north we find Asher along the coast at Sidon and Naftali in the Galil. For the last four tribes listed, the portions on the west precede those on the east, for when going further north than the center of the land, if one remains facing the center, west is on the right and east on the left. Looked at in this way, the order of the pesukim is the order of the portions that they received.
Here we see another example of a parsha that was only understood much later, after the lots had been selected and the portions were known. Upon opening the sefer Torah, these pesukim suddenly became clear. This is how Nach should be learned! It should be used to trace it's own source in the Torah!
The Conflict and Its Resolution
Now that we understand the essential nature of Nevi'im and Kesuvim, we can go on to discuss some of the problems involved in their study. When we learn Nevi'im, especially Nevi'im Rishonim, we encounter the world as it appeared three thousand years ago. It was a world where people rode about on donkeys and waged war with swords and arrows. We, who live in the age of the jet plane and the atomic bomb, regard this difference in circumstances superficially and feel that in our times, we have progressed. We feel that they were primitive forest dwellers while we are civilized.
Of course, we are aware that one of the cultured nations of our own times produced soap from human fat and set up concentration camps to which millions of victims were transported. However, this awareness has not helped us to rid ourselves entirely of this error. We still find it difficult to fully assimilate Chazal's teaching that, "If the earlier generations are compared to mal'ochim, then we are like humans; if they are like humans, we are like donkeys." It is hard for us to admit that they, who rode on donkeys are really mal'ochim while we, who can launch spacecraft, are donkeys.
Our whole outlook on Nach is thus distorted. As a result, everything we learn therein is subject to a conflict between the assumptions which remain our first nature and the messages that are transmitted to us but which refuse to be absorbed.
There are two possible ways to resolve this problem. The easier way is to learn everything simply and superficially. However, this is not Chazal's way. Neither is it the way of the truth!
When Chazal provide the background to an episode in Novi, their words are not to be taken as simple homiletics or to be seen as bearing only a tenuous connection to the pesukim. Chazal are bringing the pesukim to life for us. They are telling us what actually happened.
Let us examine one parsha as an example. Avner, who commanded Shaul Hamelech's army, came to make a pact with Dovid Hamelech. Yoav, Dovid Hamelech's general, was opposed to this pact as he suspected Avner of coming to spy, in order to discover what was going on in their camp. Yoav met Avner and took him over to the gateway unknowingly — with cunning — to speak to him. He smote him in his side and Avner died. Thus, Yoav avenged the blood of Asohel, his brother, whom Avner had killed (Shmuel II 3:20-27.)
What was the topic of the two generals' conversation by the gateway?
"Yoav said to Avner, `How can an armless yevomoh perform chalitza?' [since she has no hands with which to remove the yovom's shoe]
He replied, "Is it written, `and she shall remove his shoe with her hand'? It is written, `and she shall remove his shoe,' even with her teeth.' He bent over to demonstrate how shoelaces could be untied with the teeth and Yoav hurried to smite him in the side."
Just imagine two generals meeting and discussing divrei Torah, as though there was no more natural thing in the world than to debate the halacha of an armless yevomoh!
Chazal understood what the necessary qualifications are for the general of a Jewish army. A man who is entrusted with the lives of tens of thousands of Jews must be someone who has risen above the petty concerns of life. He must be a man of responsibility. In other words, he must be a godol beTorah.
What's more let us put ourselves in Avner's place, imagining ourselves to be a general engaged in a campaign. We are suddenly approached by another general, who commands a hitherto hostile army, whose brother we killed and whose avenger he is. He asks a strange question, the demonstration of whose answer involves us bending over. He is armed with a sword. Wouldn't our suspicions be aroused? Isn't the first rule that a general has to remember that one must be aware of all possibilities? But no, the first rule guiding generals of the armies of Dovid and Shaul is that of constant Torah study. When presented with an halachic question, they forgot about everything else.
If this is intended to be a mere homily, using the text simply as a vehicle to stress an important lesson, it would certainly be a surprising one. The object of homiletics is to answer questions by bringing things closer to our realm of understanding, not to raise difficulties by making cryptic comments. We are forced to the conclusion that this is not just a discourse but it is what actually happened. This is how a Jewish general looks, how a Jewish king looks and how the Jewish nation looks.
Avishai was one of Dovid Hamelech's warriors. When he died, the plague which Hashem had brought upon Klal Yisroel after Dovid Hamelech had counted them, ceased. Avishai's worth was equal to that of a majority of the Sanhedrin (Shmuel II 24:16, Brochos 62). Yoav, Dovid Hamelech's general was one of the greatest sages of his generation, as Chazal comment on the posuk, "And the king said, `What is there between us, sons of Tzeruya?' " (Shmuel II 16:10)
Benoyohu ben Yehoyodo was another of Dovid Hamelech's warriors (Shmuel II 23:20-23,) whom Chazal say was unequaled throughout the days of both batei Mikdash and who carried out many activities for the sake of the Torah (Brochos 18.) He was only fourth in rank in Dovid Hamelech's entourage. We have not even touched upon the greatness of Dovid Hamelech himself.
Perhaps all this will crystallize for us the idea of the earlier generations being like angels.
Rabbenu HaKodosh said that the difference between himself and Rabbi Yossi, who lived just one generation before him, was like that between the holiest level of holiness and the most mundane level of ordinariness. Speaking of the difference between three different generations, Rabbi Eliezer said, "Although I learned much Torah from my teachers, I only took from them what a dog can lick from the sea. Although I have taught much Torah, my disciples have only taken from me what a brush can remove from a vessel."
What then shall we say about a gap of tens of generations? We had better learn in awe and fear, trembling and perspiring!
