Commentary פַּרְשָׁנוּת
Moav and Midyan are two nations that teamed up to curse Benei Yisrael back in Parashat Balak (Bemidbar 22:3-4).
Now, in our parashah, God tells Moshe that it’s time for one of them to be punished:
נְקֹם נִקְמַת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל מֵאֵת הַמִּדְיָנִים
Benei Yisrael should take vengeance on Midyan.
Just Midyan? Why aren’t Benei Yisrael also supposed to punish the people of Moav?
מֵאֵת הַמִּדְיָנִים—וְלֹא מֵאֵת הַמּוֹאָבִים, שֶׁהַמּוֹאָבִים נִכְנְסוּ לַדָּבָר מֵחֲמַת יִרְאָה, שֶׁהָיוּ יְרֵאִים מֵהֶם שֶׁיִּהְיוּ שׁוֹלְלִים אוֹתָם.
“On Midyan”—but not on Moav. Because Moav came to this situation out of fear; they were afraid that Benei Yisrael would steal all of their resources.
It’s true that both Moav and Midyan tried to hurt Benei Yisrael. But Rashi explains that there’s a difference between them. Moav was afraid and was trying to protect themselves. Maybe they didn’t have a good reason to be afraid, but we all know that we sometimes make bad decisions when we’re afraid, so perhaps their actions could be forgiven. But Midyan tried to hurt Benei Yisrael for no reason at all! They got themselves involved in a situation that had nothing to do with them just in order to cause pain. So they had to be punished.
- Is being afraid a good reason to hurt someone? Why?
- If we know that someone was afraid when they did something hurtful, can that help us forgive them? How? What is the Torah trying to teach us about how to relate to people who have done hurtful things?
- Have you ever made a mistake and then tried to explain why you did it? Or has anyone done something bad to you and then you felt differently after you understood why they did it? What was that like?
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