Moshe displayed anger to the commanders of the army….Moshe said to them, “Have you let every female live?”[2]
Moshe’s frustration was understandable. The job of taking vengeance on those who were responsible for the deaths of so many Jews was obviously not complete. The soldiers had inexplicably spared the women, even though it had been the women who lured the men into both moral failing and idolatry. What were they thinking?
The enigma was even more weighty than that. The Torah records[3] that Moshe sent Pinchas to lead the charge against the enemy. Of all people, how could Pinchas the zealot not have realized that the job was hopelessly incomplete? Had he fallen for some sort of woke liberal argument against eliminating the women captives? That would be so out of character for him! Moreover, Sifrei reports Pinchas’ response to Moshe: “Just as you commanded, so we have done.” How could Pinchas affirm that to Moshe when they clearly had not fully followed Moshe’s instructions?
A key event in Pinchas’ life story provides a clue to his puzzling behavior. Before Pinchas killed Zimri – an act of zealotry that saved thousands of lives, but could have cost Pinchas his own – he approached Moshe. “Did you not teach us, when you returned from the Sinai summit, that a person guilty of Zimri’s behavior may be killed by a zealot?”[4] Moshe essentially told him that if he was the one to be enraged by Zimri’s actions, then he, Pinchas, should be the one to take action!
Why, though, did Pinchas ask the question in the first place? It is difficult to assume that he simply did not know – or had forgotten – the law. He was one of the most significant students of Moshe Rabbenu. Rather, Pinchas always subjugated himself to his great rebbi, Moshe, the teacher of all of Israel. He knew the halacha; he understood its application. Still, he sought the approval of his rebbi. Pinchas asked even when he didn’t have to.
It was this sense of appreciation and awe for Moshe that led Pinchas to initially spare the women. Pinchas did not want to take all the credit for fulfilling the goals of the mission. Hashem had in fact commanded Moshe[5] to take revenge upon the Midianites. Moshe selected Pinchas to implement the command. This did not sit well with Pinchas. He was not comfortable with eclipsing his rebbi in this war. He therefore accepted the expected wrath of Moshe upon himself for not finishing the job, in order that it would be Moshe who wrapped things up, by sealing the fate of the Midianite women.
Pinchas did not simply stop short of completing the mission by sparing the women. He could defend his position with sound reasoning. Moshe had commanded the soldiers to seek vengeance for Hashem.[6] The women, it could be argued, had not been guilty of any offense against G-d. As the Zohar teaches, the women were forced into their role on pain of death. They would have lost their lives if they refused; they were therefore acting under overwhelming compulsion, and not considered responsible for their actions. Bearing no guilt for their actions, avenging G-d’s honor would not require meting out any punishment to them.
Moshe, however, saw things differently. He spoke of avenging the honor of the Jewish people, not of Hashem. Had the Midianite women participants remained alive – regardless of their legal innocence -they would be constant reminders of the downfall of thousands of Jewish men.
Moshe overruled Pinchas. And we have to imagine him as delighted that Moshe did so, and therefore could take the credit for the success of the campaign. That is what Pinchas wanted.
- Adapted from Be’er Moshe, by the Ozherover Rebbe zt”l ↑
- Bamidbar 31:14-15 ↑
- Bamidbar 31:6 ↑
- Sanhedrin 82a ↑
- Bamidbar 31:2 ↑
- Bamidbar 31:3 ↑