The Blasphemer - It's Complicated

I considered writing another post about the blasphemer, a subject near and dear to my heart (because it's an unsolved mystery!), but then I discovered to my shock that my last post on the subject was actually still in draft mode, never published..! So, though I'm still super busy, here's a ready-made post from last year, touched up and completed:

The blasphemer is a subject that has been on and off of my mind for a couple of years now. The blasphemer was the son of Shlomit bat Divri, a woman of the Tribe of Dan, and an Egyptian man, who lived during the time of the Exodus. He had an argument with a purely-Israelite man and ended up cursing God, hence his title as "the blasphemer". He was put to death.

The midrash (Sifra 14:1) attempts to explain this story thus:

"("And the son of an Israelite woman went out; and he was the son of an Egyptian man in the midst of the children of Israel. And they strove within the camp, the son of the Israelite woman and the Israelite man.") "And the son of an Israelite woman went out": Whence did he go out From the court of Moses. For he came to pitch his tent in the midst of the camp of Dan — whereupon they said to him: "Who are you that you would pitch your tent in the midst of the camp of Dan?" He: "My mother was of the tribe of Dan." They: "Scripture states (Bamidbar 2:2) 'The Israelites shall encamp; each with his standard by signs according to their fathers' house shall the children of Israel encamp'" — at which he entered the court of Moses, emerged unvindicated, arose, and blasphemed."

This, in my opinion, is a very problematic interpretation of the story because it flies in the face of p'shat Tanach:

In Bamidbar 32:41 we hear for the first time about a man named Yair ben Menashe who captured part of the territory of Menashe on the eastern side of the Jordan and settled it. This Yair ben Menashe was not a pure descendant of Menashe. According to Chronicles 1:2:21-23, Yair was a descendant of Chetzron of the Tribe of Yehudah on the male side and of Menashe on the female side. We see that Yair was allowed to join his mother's tribe and was even given a very respectable plot of land.

Yet this sort of treatment is not given to the blasphemer. He is shunned by his mother's tribe! And Moshe judged that the Danites were correct in this - and that is what angered him and led him to curse God. So what gives? Why is the blasphemer different than Yair ben Menashe?

A sort-of answer can be found in two interesting commentaries on Tanach, though it is not without its problems:

The commentary of the Student of Rasag and Rabbi Yehudah Hachassid on the Torah both wrote similar things about Yair:

Student of Rasag (Chronicles 1:2:22):

"And Machir, his mother's father, was the head and chief of Gilad, and Yair conquered the Gilad after him, therefore he was named after his mother's father and after the name of the territory that they conquered during the reign of Yosef whow as king over all of the land. And when Yosef and his brothers died, the nations grew stronger and Geshur and Aram who were nations took Chavot Yair etc - and for this the sons of Machir desired to dwell in the land of Gilad, and per the conquests of their forefather, Moshe gave it to them...and know that those things...of Machir and Yair and Novach are ancient tales, because Machir and Yair and Novach did not capture anything [during their time] in the desert..."

And Rabbi Yehudah Hachassid on the Torah (Shemot 1:7) wrote:

"My father would prove from Chronicles, that in the duration of Yisrael's settlement in Egypt, they would sometimes go to the land of Yisrael, the ground [owned by] our forefather Yaakov, and would build there cities. And I believe, that specifically the descendants of Yosef would do this, and they had permission from Pharaoh, because out of the respect he had for Yosef, Pharaoh honored them by letting them repair and strengthen their inheritance, and they would settle there tenants and would collect from them taxes...therefore, that She'erah who lived well for six generations prior to [Yehoshua]...must be that it was during the time they were in Egypt."

In other words, according to Rabbi Yehudah Hachassid, all Menashite generations prior to Yehoshua were people who lived long before the Exodus and left Egypt to build settlements in the Gilead until they were kicked out. These generations included, it seems, Novach and Yair ben Menashe. 

So according to both commentators the stories in the Torah are brought there in Bamidbar and Devarim to explain why Menashe was naturally allowed to settle in Ever Hayarden without any protests on the part of Moshe was because their forefathers had already settled there long before the Exodus. So the sort-of answer would be that tribal affiliations pre-Exodus were more fluid than post-Exodus. The question remains: Do you accept the opinions of the Student of Rasag and Rabbi Yehudah Hachassid? I'm not so sure. And is the fluidity explanation true, and is it legitimate?

Another possibility is that only a pure Israelite could change tribal affiliation. The blasphemer was half-Egyptian, so no dice.

I'm not too excited about either of these explanations. I would love to hear a better one.