Battling for the Sake of Heaven

So there were delivered, out the thousands, out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand of every tribe, twelve thousand armed for war.                             Numbers 31:5

          Rashi understands the choice of wording “they were delivered” to mean that they were forcibly delivered, being hesitant to go to this war, since they knew that Moses’ death would follow the campaign against Midian.

          Ba’al haTurim understands the verse to mean that the soldiers gave themselves to sanctify God’s name in defense of His nation.

          My father noted that Ba’al haTurim’s approach is consistent with Maimonides’ Halachic statement [Laws of Kings and Their Wars 7: 15]:

Once one enters the war, he must rely upon the Hope of Israel and its Savior in times of trouble, and know that he battles for the unity of His name, and he shall place his soul in his hands and not fear, nor think of his wife or his children, but remove their memory from his heart and turn from everything else to the battle.. for the blood of all Israel hangs on his neck, and if he did not battle with all his heart and all his soul, it is as if he shed the blood of all Israel. And one who battles with his entire heart and with no fear, and whose intention is for the sake of Heaven, is guaranteed that no harm will come to him.

          Indeed, in the battle against Midian, because all of Israel’s soldiers devoted themselves completely to the sanctity of His name and the defense of the nation, they merited the miracle of victory with “not one man missing.” [v.49]