Parsha discussion

Question:  6:14 what would be the attraction of turning to עבודה זרה when finding ready-to-use facilities? Approach: It could be that the thinking would be that these gods had given the previous owners their wealth, and hence would be worthwhile worshipping them.

Question:  Why the double mention of land being given to the ראובני and גדי (3:12-3:17)? Approach: Whilst not entirely clear, it appears that the first reference is משה talking to the entire nation, as the ending to the story of the conquest of the territories of סיחון & עוג. The second reference appears to be משה now talking more directly to the 2.5 tribes and stressing their role in the upcoming wars in כנען that they have taken upon themselves to be the leaders in. This is implied from 3:18.

Question : Why does משה interpret the initial request of בני ראובן ובני גד as refusing to conquer ארץ כנען? Approach : It would seem that משה took this interpretation, not necessarily out of certainty that this was the intention, but rather, as an attempt to deal with the issue of conquest directly with בני ראובן ובני גד. The strong language was perhaps based on the fact that they hadn't addressed the issue head on.

Question:  In the section of תמידין ומוספים, we sometimes find the detail of the נסכים ומנחות that accompanied the various קורבנות. Why is this necessary since these rules were already mentioned in פרשת שלח לך? Approach: It would seem that the section is שלח לך relates to personal קורבנות, and we're being told here that the same rules apply to public קורבנות. The question still remains as to why the details of the נסכים are mentioned only in relation to ראש חודש, and why the details of the מנחות are given in every case up to first day סוכות.