1) And Israel resided at Shittim and defiled itself in whoring with Moabite women. 2) And the women called the people to the zevachim of their gods, and the people consumed them and bowed to their gods. 3) And Israel attached itself to Baal Peor, and Hashem’s rage was kindled against Israel.
Questions:
-What is the group or subset that defiles itself?
-Given how we use zevach in Vayikra, what is the connotation here?
-What does verse 3a add that we didn't learn in verse 2? How is it not repetitive?
-What specifically makes Hashem angry?
4) Then Hashem said to Moses, “Take all the heads of the people and ה–ק–ע them for Hashem in daylight, so that Hashem’s rage will recede from Israel.”
5) Then Moses said to the judges of Israel, “each person, kill his men who attached themselves to Baal-Peor”.
(א) קח את כל ראשי העם. לִשְׁפֹּט אֶת הָעוֹבְדִים לִפְעוֹר: (ב) והוקע אותם. אֶת הָעוֹבְדִים: (ג) והוקע. הִיא תְלִיָּה, כְּמוֹ שֶׁמָּצִינוּ בִּבְנֵי שָׁאוּל "וְהוֹקַעֲנוּם לַה'" (שמואל ב כ״א:ו׳) וְשָׁם תְּלִיָּה מְפֹרֶשֶׁת (סנהדרין ל"ד);
(1) קח את כל ראשי העם TAKE ALL THE HEADS OF THE PEOPLE, to judge those who worshipped Peor (Sanhedrin 35a), (2) והוקע אותם AND HANG THEM — those who worshipped it (not the heads of the people). (3) והוקע — This is “hanging”, just as we find in the case of Saul’s sons, (II Samuel XXL 6) “And we will kill them by הוקעה unto the Lord”, and there (II Samuel vv. 12—13)
Questions:
-What are the textual difficulties that these mefarshim are actually trying to resolve?
-What does the peshat suggest is the difference between Hashem's instructions to Moshe and Moshe's implementation of them?
-Even if the mefarshim are correct, why is it odd for Hashem to command that the idolators be hanged?
-What is the significance of hanging them in public? Is there such a thing as hanging not in public?
Timothy Ashley, New International Commentary on the Old Testament: Numbers, 515-517
Yahweh commands Moses to execute all the leaders of Israel. The Samaritan Pentateuch attempted to escape this text by paraphrasing that only the guilty were to be slain… but it also assumes that the guilty parties of v. 5 are the same as the “leaders of the people” in v. 4, which is very unlikely. Even if one sees vv. 4-5 as doublets due to a conflation of sources, one must still decide what the meaning of the redacted text is. In v. 4 Yahweh commanded Moses to execute all the leaders of the people; in v. 5 Moses commands judges to slay those who had bound themselves to Baal-Peor. The two commands are different. The best solution seems to be that Moses here, perhaps under the pressure of practicality, saw no way to accomplish Yahweh’s command and so decided that only the guilty would be slain.
Other Readings
Syriac Peshitta: "and expose them in public"
Septuagint: "and make an example of them in public"
(17) So the Babylonians came to [Samaria] for lovemaking and defiled her with their whoring; and she defiled herself with them, and then her being was alienated from them.
(8) Accept rebuke, O Jerusalem / Lest my being become alienated from you / Lest I make you a desolation / An uninhabited land.