Matot-Masei: The Eternal Gift

The Employer's Guarantee

Ezra worked for many years in a distant country, earning money for his family. When he felt he had saved enough, he began the long journey home.

But during one of his overnight stays, Ezra didn’t keep a close enough eye on his possessions. By morning, his savings—every penny he had worked for, every bit of security he’d built for his family—was gone. Stolen.

This wasn’t just a mishap; it was a catastrophe. A disaster of the highest order. All those years of toil, gone in the blink of an eye. And to make matters worse, Ezra had no legal recourse. His employer, bless his heart, had paid him in full, and the money had been Ezra’s responsibility once it left his hands.

Yet, as Ezra sat there, hands in his hair, contemplating the gaping hole in his life’s work, he wasn’t entirely defeated. Over the years, he and his employer had built a bond. They had become very close. And before Ezra left, his employer, in his generosity, had said something that stayed with him:

“Ezra,” he had said, after handing over the full sum of money, “if something should happen to you on the way home, don’t worry. You’ve worked hard for this. If you lose it, just come back to me, and I’ll give it all back to you. I guarantee it.”

God's Unwavering Promise

As the Israelites near the end of their forty-year sojourn in the desert, God's promise to give the Land of Israel to the Jewish people takes on a practical tone. God detailed the borders of their inheritance: “This is the land that you will inherit…” (Num. 34:2).

The Midrash explains that when God told Moses, "This is the land I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants’” (Deut. 34:4), He revealed to Moses the entire course of history. Moses saw the generations to come, the leaders who would rise and fall, the trials and triumphs, and the reverses and recoveries.

Why was it necessary for Moses to witness this sweeping vision of the future? 

God’s promise to the Patriarchs was not only about the Land but about the covenant itself—a promise that, no matter what happened, God would never forsake them. Abraham had asked, “How will I know that my descendants will inherit it?” His fear was not that God might fail to keep His word, but that his descendants might fail to uphold their part of the covenant—and thus lose the Land.

God’s answer to Abraham was unequivocal: "I will not forsake you until I have done what I promised" (Gen. 28:15). Even if the people falter, even if they are exiled from the Land, God’s word will stand.

This is the heart of the covenant: the assurance that God will always be with His people, through every challenge. Like the generous employer in the parable, who vows never to abandon his beloved employee, so too does God promise to restore what was lost: "I will not forsake you until I have done what I promised." Even if they lose it, I will give them the Land once again.

(Adapted from Mishlei Yaakov, p. 377)