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Parshios Matos & Masei
A Winning Strategy1
Avenge the Bnei Yisrael against the Midianites. Afterwards, you will be gathered unto your people.
Why are we told that Moshe’s death hinged on the military campaign
against Midian? More importantly, why was Moshe told this in advance?
A midrash[2] sees the battle against Midian as a kind of granting a
last wish to Moshe. It is a rare treat to witness – in this world –
Hashem evening the score against one of His enemies. Hashem wished to
give Moshe the pleasure of witnessing it.
We could explain differently. We might be looking at a principle that shows itself elsewhere.
As a consequence of Achan’s trespass, Yehoshua’s forces were
initially rebuffed at Ai. After dealing with this tragic defeat,
Yehoshua came to terms with HKBH, Who reassured him that victory was at
hand in the next attempt against Ai. Nonetheless, Hashem instructed
Yehoshua to set an ambush to the rear of the city.
With Hashem guaranteeing victory, why would an ambush be necessary?
G-d has no need for any of the tactics of conventional warfare. His Will
that the Bnei Yisrael prevail should have been the necessary and
sufficient condition for a resounding victory.
The point is that danger lurks in dangerous places – and any place
in which people commit a grave sin becomes a dangerous location. Because
the nation sinned at Ai, it would remain a place where individuals
might succumb to harm, even if the nation as a whole was assured
victory. The ambush was necessary to address that danger. The Bnei
Yisrael were instructed to wage their war with greater precautions and
with the greater concern for the ordinary rules of engagement. They
needed to pay just a bit more attention to what the world of teva
demands, reacting in ways that would not be necessary if they could rely
on Hashem’s miraculous intervention alone.
The impending war against Midian was precipitated by the failure of
the Jewish people with Ba’al Pe’or. That aveirah would continue to be a
thorn in their side, inviting retribution by Hashem’s attribute of
Judgment. This made the war a much riskier affair than other wars. Even a
Divine guarantee of victory would not eliminate the risk of death to
individual soldiers.
Something had to counter the elevated risk level. That element was
the personal merit of Moshe. This is the reason for linking the war with
Moshe’s death. Moshe was told that the war could not wait. It had to be
conducted in his lifetime, so that his davening and his merit would
counter the riskiness of the enterprise.
Moshe takes a cue from Hashem, and finds his own ways to
additionally link the upcoming battle with merits. He commands the
putting together of an armed force “against Midian to inflict Hashem’s
vengeance against Midian[3].” The repetition of the word “Midian” is
striking, but easy to account for. Moshe wished to underscore the
purpose of raising the army. He wanted every step on the road to war to
focus on Hashem’s plan, i.e., to make it more lishmah. By doing so, he
hoped to increase the zechus of the mitzvah.
Moshe continues: “A thousand from a shevet; a thousand from a
shevet[4].” Every shevet has its own character, its own contribution –
and its own zechus. By drawing soldiers from every shevet, Moshe hoped
to multiply the merit in his army.
Finally, “Moshe sent them – a thousand from each shevet[5].” Sending
them forth in his name made them all his agents. By associating himself
with their mission, by turning each soldier into a surrogate for
himself, he wished to send his own merits into the battle with them.
Who’s On Forth?6
These are the journeys of the Bnei Yisrael who went forth from the
land of Egypt according to their legions, at the hand of Moshe and
Aharon. Moshe wrote their goings forth according to their journeys, at
the instruction of Hashem. These where their journeys according to their
goings forth.
Journeys according to goings forth, and goings forth according to journeys. What is going on?
We can account for all the repetitions, and the inversions within
the repetitions, through one simple observation. The forty years they
spent in the wilderness can be divided into three distinct periods. Each
one is alluded to in these psukim.
From the time the Bnei Yisrael left Egypt until they the sending of
the spies from Kadesh Barnea, the single goal of their travel was to
approach the land of Israel. Having gone forth/escaped from Egypt, their
sole purpose in travelling was to draw closer to their destination. The
“going forth” was behind them; what now animated them was the
expectation of entering and taking possession of our holy land.
The sin of the meraglim changed all that, of course. From then until
almost the very end of the forty years, they would wander without
apparent purpose. We too easily suppose that this somehow was a
punishment that perfectly fit the crime. But upon further thought, is
hard to see it that way. The old generation was to be punished; a new
one needed to dissociate itself from the sins of their fathers. The
older generation of sinners could have been removed from the scene in
short order, allowing a younger generation to march into the land,
untainted by the sins of their predecessors. Why wait?
The reason this did not happen is not given in Chumash. Hashem did
not want to kick them when they were down by telling them the reason –
which had to do with even darker days on the distand horizon. Their
lives had become dark and somber through the Divine edict that turned
them into walking corpses. Still trying to deal with the enormity of
their crime, they were not yet ready to hear about tragedies in the
future. But it was those future tragedies that determined the course of
the next decades.
One way or another, full awareness of Hashem needs to permeate every
nook and cranny of the world. G-d’s goals for mankind can only be met
with that precursor in place. Had the Bnei Yisrael not spurned the Land
when they were poised at its threshold, they would have lived lives on
the cutting edge of human spiritual output. Divine Providence would have
accompanied them in an open and manifest manner. They would have been
dealt with immediately when they strayed, just as they were in the
Wilderness. Their example of the immediacy of Hashem’s presence in their
lives would have attracted the attention of other nations, and
eventually all of Mankind would have learned from that example. In that
way, they would have been the vehicles to bring knowledge of Hashem to
all inhabitants of the earth.
They missed that opportunity through the aveirah of the meraglim.
The goal, however, remained the same. Jews would still be the vehicle to
bring knowledge of Hashem to the world, although it would now be
through a circuitous and laborious process. Hashem would exile them to
the far corners of the earth, where they would survive against all odds.
Slowly, their core message about the absolute Oneness of G-d would take
hold of those with whom they had contact.
The forty years of wandering, seemingly aimlessly, prepared the
Jewish nation for its mission in history. In the post-meraglim world,
that mission had been transformed into a long galus of seemingly aimless
wandering with no end in sight. They did not understand the purpose of
their lives, but accepted their lot as the Will of G-d. They acquired in
those years the national composure and resolve to weather the long
storm ahead of their offspring.
In this period, the destination, the journey to somewhere, was not
important. The purpose of those decades was in surviving the
disruptions, the goings forth. The Torah tells
us that Moshe “Moshe wrote their goings … at the instruction of Hashem.”
This did not have to mentioned in regard to the first period, whose
journeys were certainly worthy of being recorded. Here, the point is
that Moshe wrote about them only at the instruction of Hashem, for
reasons no one understood at the time.
Finally, arriving in Edomite territory in the Tzin Wilderness, they
set their eyes once more upon their destination in Israel. Once again,
as had been the case at the beginning of the forty years, their focus
was the journey, which became more important than the going forth.
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1. Based on Ha’mek Davar Bamidbar 31:2-6
2. Bamidbar Rabbah 22:5
3. Bamidbar 31:3
4. Bamidbar 31:4
5. Bamidbar 31:6
6. Based on Haamek Davar, Bamidbar 33:1-2; 14:21,34
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Please Say Yes to Abba Yahweh and His Laws.
Please read the Mitzvoth go to: Positive Commandments and the Negative
Commandments), easy to read. It is very important
to know them. For, the understanding of the rest of The Scriptures.
Hab 2:3 For
the chazon (vision) is yet for a mo’ed (an appointed time); it speaks of HaKetz
(the End), and does not lie; though it tarry, wait for him
Moshiach— see: Sanhedrin 97b, ‘It
has been taught; R. Nathan said: This verse pierces and descends to the very
abyss:11 For the Vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end
it shall speak, and not lie: though he tarry, wait for him (Moshiach); because
it will surely come, it will not tarry.12];
because he (Moshiach) will surely come, and will not tarry.
(11) Just as the bottom of an abyss
cannot be reached, so is it impossible to grasp the full purport of this verse
(Rashi).
(12) Hab. II, 3.
Believe…..
Hab 2:4 Hinei
(behold), his nashamah (soul) which is puffed up is not upright in him; but the
tzaddik (righteous) shall live by his emunah (believe).
Through Moshiach, Yeshuah from Yahweh who give you emunah (believe)…..
Gen 15:6 And he believed in Yahweh;
and He credited emunah (faith)] to him as tzedakah (righteousness).
Please read the whole book of HaNavi Habakuk?
The Koran teaches us that you have to die…….
But, please Yudah (Jews) and Ephraim
(most Christians) Listen to His Voice:
Hab 1:12 Art thou not mikedem
(‘everlasting’
also said of Moshiach, indicating Moshiach’s eternal divine nature: Dan 7:14 And there was given Him (Moshiach) dominion,
and honor, and sovereignty, that all people, Goyim, tongues, should pey-lammed-chet.
[1] (worship as deity) (see Dan 3:12, serve, reverence as deity Him (Moshiach).
His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His
(Messianic) Kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.] see Michah
5:1[2];)
Yahweh
Elohai (my Elohim) Kedoshi (my Holy One)? We shall not die. Yahweh, Thou hast
appointed them (these Chaldean) for mishpat (ordinance); O Tzur, Thou hast
ordained them (these Chaldean) for reproof.
Please take it serious what Abba Yahweh is telling us in:
Deu 18:15 Yahweh Eloheicha (your Elohim) will raise up unto thee a Navi
(prophet) from among thee, of thy achim (bretheren), kamoni (like me.....
Exo 32:30 The next
day Moshe said to the people, "You have committed a terrible sin. Now I
will go up to Yahweh; maybe I will be able to atone for your sin."); unto
him ye must listen;
Deu 18:16 According to all that thou
desired of Yahweh Eloheicha (your Elohimin) Chorev (to be burnt dried up,
ruined, wasted) in the Yom HaKahal (day of the congregation), saying, Let me
not hear again the voice of Yahweh Elohav (your Elohim), neither let me see
this eish hagedolah (‘great fire’) any more, that I die not.
Deu 18:17 And Yahweh said unto me, They
have well-spoken that which they have spoken.
Deu 18:18 I will raise them up a Navi
(prophet) from among their achim (brethren), like unto thee, and will put My
words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.
Joh
10:18
No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have samchut
(authority) to lay it down, and I have samchut to receive it again. This
mitzvah I received from HaAv (the Father).
Deu 18:19 And it shall come to pass,
that whosoever will not listen unto My words which he shall speak Bishmi (in My
Name), I will require it of him.
Joh 8:28 Therefore, Rebbe,
Melech HaMoshiach said to them, When you perform the hagbah (lifting
up) of the Ben HaAdam, you will have da'as (knowledge) that Ani Hu
[YESHAYAH 41:4; SHEMOT 3:14-16], and from myself I do nothing, but as HaAv (the
Father) of me taught me, these things I speak.
Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiah Yeshuah – is Yeshuah Yahweh. Like it is said in:
Gen_49:18 I have waited for Thy Yeshuah (Salvation), Yahweh.
Exo_15:2 Yahweh is my oz and zimrah (song of praise), and He is become to me Yeshuah (salvation); He
is Eli (my Elohim), and I will praise Him; Elohei Avi (the Elohim of my
Father), and I will exalt Him.
And not a half-god, or another mighty-one who came between HaShem and
us! (Not, ‘It Suph’!) I believe many of us (Jews and Ephraimites!) have to
learn that!
[1]
Dictionary of the Talmud. M. Jastrow p. 1178 פלח
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