At the end of last week's parsha we read that "va'yachel ha'am liznos b'bnos Moav," yet, it was not one of the Moabite girls that Zimri sinned with, but rather (25:6) with "haMidyanis," THE Midyanite girl. Note that every single time she is mentioned it is with the hey-hayidiah, THE Midyanite girl. How did the Midyanim get mixed up into the picture?
Ohr haChaim haKadosh, whose hilula is today, suggests that there was in fact no more than one Midyanite girl who went out to the Jewish camp, hence the hey-ha'yediah. Who was this one Midyanite girl? There answer can be found in a Midrash that identifies Tzur as Balak. Recall that Rashi in last week's parsha (22:4) told us that Balak was actually from Midyan. Balak assumed the throne of Moav when both nations made peace for the sake of working against Bnei Yisrael, their joint enemy. When his plot to have Bilam curse BN"Y failed, Balak returned home, "V'gam Balak halach l'darko." (24:25) Tzur was "rosh umos beis av b'Midyan" (25:15) -- not "l'Midyan," but literally "b'Midyan," as that is where he lived. Before departing, however, he heard the advice of Bilam that Klal Yisrael could be taken down with znus. Moav was willing to send their daughters out because Bilam had propheized and revealed to Moav "es asher ya'aseh ha'am ha'zeh [Yisrael] l'amcha [Moav] b'ACHARIS HA'YAMIM," that it would only be in the future that Moav would have to pay its dues for the trouble it caused, but not now. Midyan had no such guarantee. It was not worth it to them to risk the lives of their daughters. The one exception was Balak himself, who was so consumed by hatred, so passionately devoted to the cause of taking down Am Yisrael, that he sent his daughter joined the Moabites in their efforts.
Why does the Torah only reveal the names of Zimri and Kozbi in this week's parsha and not in last week's, when it records what happened? My thought was that from Pinchas' perspective, it did not matter who it was who was doing the sinning -- whether it was the head of a sheivet, a princess of Midyan, or a nobody. It was the crime that had to be stopped, irrespective of who the perpetrators were. Ohr haChaim writes that the Torah is not in the business of tattling. No matter how great the crime, the names of the perps don't belong on the front pages of the newspaper, or in this case, recorded in the Torah for posterity. There has to be some to'eles to our knowing for the name to be revealed. In our parsha, where the Torah wants to tell us just how great Pinchas' deed was, to tell us why he deserved the special bris of shalom, it now gives us the names and the identities of the perps as a rosh sheiveit and princess.
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-- Balak [Tzur] was "consumed by hatred...passionately devoted to the cause of taking down Am Yisrael"
ReplyDeletewhat began as a personal hatred of Moshe, was now directed at 'everything that man stands for'. in his youth, Tzur had led a band of shepherds to a well where were sheva banos of a local priest. he'd pushed the young women aside and helped his flock to the troughs they'd filled, until an unknown Mitzri compelled him to stand down...
on each of the seven altars he built for Bilam, on each of three occasions, Balak saw chained a daughter of Yisro...
the young Tzur had sworn to remember the Mitzri's 'noble' intervention when he and his gang had happened upon the sisters at the well. Balak remembered. he did not forget.
"It was not worth it to them [Midyan] to risk the lives of their daughters."
ReplyDeleteso they [apart from Balak/Tzur] only used their daughters as bait. the Israelite men were then given over to Moabite daughters for physical interaction.
but Moshe said 'whoooa there Midyan; that trick won't save your women. all those who [only] >could< have known a man, they too will be killed', 31:17.
{this entire bait-and-switch scheme only occurred to the Midyanites after Bilam, sighting with an open eye their initial objection, drooled out the delightful tale of Lavan switching Leah for Rachel 'right under the nose of the father of this people LOL!!'}