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“Hashem spoke to Moshe, saying: Harass the Midianim and smite them because they attacked you; for they harassed you through their conspiracy that they conspired against you in the matter of peor, and in the matter of Cozbi daughter of a leader of Midian, their sister who was slain on the day of the plague, in the matter of peor” (Bamidbar 25:16-18).
The lesson the Ralbag learns from Hashem’s speech to Moshe is, “One who knows for a fact that someone else wants to annihilate him, the proper thing to do is to annihilate that person (or people) first in order save their life. For this reason Hashem commanded [Moshe] to attack the Midianim because of their known hatred towards the Jews and their interest in doing bad to them, especially since now they had even more hatred for murdering Kozbi the daughter of Tzur.” (Click here for Hebrew text.)
The Midianim were like distant cousins of the Jews (in fact half-brothers, as they came from the same ancestral father Avraham, just like the Arabs, who descend from Yishmael, who came from the same father as us, Avraham). One would think that negotiating a peace settlement might be a more proper way to do things, especially with those that are kindred.
This is aside from the fact that peace is one of the most important attributes of Hashem, as we find in the first Medrish Rabba in this week’s Torah portion of Pinchas: ” Great is peace that is why it was given to Pinchas, for the world only runs on peace and the Torah is completely peaceful as it says in Mishley (3:17) ‘It’s ways are ways of pleasantness, and all its pathways are peace.’ And if a person comes from traveling then one should greet him with peace. Also, in the morning one should greet a person with peace. As well as at night one should too. The paragraph after Shema at maariv ends with peace. The last bracha of shemone esrai beseeches peace. The Birkas Kohanim concludes speaking of peace. Rebbe Shimon ben Chalafta says that no vessel holds blessing besides peace as it says in Tehillim (29:11) ‘Hashem will give might to His nation, Hashem will bless His nation with peace.'” (Click here for Hebrew text.)One of Hashem’s names is even Shalom. We see how great and important peace is from this very parsha; so why does Hashem command us to wipe out the Midianim and not try to negotiate a peace deal with them?
It must be that the right thing to do when truth is staring you in the face and it is evident and clear as day that your enemy hates you and wants to wipe you off the face of the earth, that it is pointless to consider peace. Especially if you have already assassinated a leader of theirs, as Pinchas had done when he killed the Midianite princess Cozbi bas Tzur for good reason; they were then even more heated up. The proper thing to do then became to defend oneself with a preemptive strike, completely decimating them before they can do any more harm, or even any harm at all.
Easy fast of the 17th of Tammuz & Good Shabbos,
Rabbi Dovid Shmuel Milder
P.S. For what it’s worth, the Pesiksa Rabasi diRav Kahana (end of perek 37) says in the name of Rebbe Yitzchak, “the year that the King Moshiach will reveal himself all the nations of the world will be fighting with each other. The Persian king will be fighting against the Arabian King. The King Of Arabia will go to Edom to seek advice from them. The King Of Persia will turn around and destroy the entire world. All the nations of the world will be screaming, going crazy, and falling on their faces and they will be going through pain like the pain of childbirth. The Jews will also be screaming and going crazy and they will say, ‘Where are we going to go and where will we be coming from. He (Hashem) will say to them, ‘My son don’t be afraid. The time of your redemption has come and not like the first redemption is the final redemption because by the first redemption you still had suffering and were at the mercy of other kingdoms but the final redemption there is no suffering and you won’t be living under any other kingdom. Others Rabbis taught that at the time that the King Moshiach will reveal himself he will come and stand on the roof of the Beis Hamikdash and he will call out to the Jewish People and say to them, ‘Humble ones the time of your redemption has come and if you don’t believe it then see His light that shines upon you!'”
בשעה שמלך המשיח נגלה בא ועומד על גג של בית המקדש והיה משמיע להם לישראל ואומר להם, ענוים הגיע זמן גאולתכם ואם אין אתם מאמינים ראו באורו שזרח עליכם.
It also says at the end of Medrish Vayosha, “When the days of Moshiach will be upon us, Gog and Magog will go up to the Land of Israel because he will hear that Israel is without a king and are living securely. He will immediately take 71 nations with him and go up to Yerushalayim. He will say, ‘Pharaoh was a fool because he decreed to wipe out the males and leave the females. Balak was stupid because he wanted to curse them and he didn’t know that their G-D wanted to bless them. Haman was crazy because he wanted to kill them and didn’t know that their G-D wanted to save them. But I won’t do that rather I will go up and make war against their G-D first and then I will kill them…’ Hashem will say back to him, ‘Wicked person, My nation you want to wage war with, I swear by your life that I will do away with you.’ Immediately He will rain down brimstone (like meteors) which is hidden in the celestial skies and they will be struck with a great plague (a deadly sickness)… After that a brazen king will rise up and wage war against the Jews for three months. His name is Armolis and these are the signs of him: (1) He will be bald, (2) one of his eyes will be small and the other large. (3) His right arm will be a tefach (3.78 inches according to Chazon Ish) and his other arm will be two and a half amos (56.75 inches according to the Chazon Ish.)
(4) He will have leprosy on his forehead.
(5) His right ear will be closed and the other one open. When a person will speak to him good he will lean his closed ear towards him. When a person wants to speak bad about him he will lean his open ear towards him. He will go up to Yerushalayim and he will kill the Moshiach Ben Yosef… afterwards Moshiach Ben Dovid will come in a cloud… and will kill the evil Armolis… After that Hashem will gather together the scattered Jews from here and from there… There will be 72 gemstones hanging over Yerushalayim lighting up the world from one end of the earth to the other. The nations of the world will walk towards the light… Hashem will then bring down the Beis Hamikdash from Heaven… The Jews would then live there (in Israel) for two thousand years eating the Leviathan. At the end of 2000 years Hashem will sit on His throne in judgment in the Valley of Yehoshafat. Immediately the heaven and earth will switch, the sun and the moon will be embarrassed… Hashem will bring all the nations and languages to judgement and say to them, ‘To whom have you worshipped in this world, and to whom have you prostrated yourself.’ They will say, ‘To silver gods and golden gods.’ G-D will say to them, ‘You and your gods will pass through fire and if they can save you they will save you. They will then be passed through and be burned… Afterwards the Jews will come and Hashem will say to them, ‘Who did you serve?’ Immediately they will answer, ‘Our Father, our Redeemer forever will be Your Name!’ Immediately Hashem will save them from the judgement of Gehinnom and they will sit in Gan Eden and delight in their fruits… After that Hashem will renew for them the Heaven and the Earth… Hashem will, in the future renew it and bring forth trees and all sorts of delights and all of it will live forever. Who that did miracles and wonders in those days He will do miracles and wonders with us in these days at this time and will gather us from the four corners of the earth and bring us to Yerushalayim, rebuilt, and established speedily in our days, amen.” המבין יבין…