Contemporary Lessons

And the Lord spoke to Moses. “Execute vengeance for the Israelites against the Midianites.  After that you will be gathered to your people.” And Moses spoke to the people, “Arm men from among you for military service, to execute God’s vengeance upon Midian. Send a thousand men from each of the tribes of Israel to war.”  Out of the thousands (or divisions) of Israel, one thousand per tribe were recruited, twelve thousand men armed for war. And Moses sent them to war, one thousand per tribe, along with Phinehas, son of Eleazar the priest, and the holy vessels and the trumpets for giving signals.                                                                                                                                                 Numbers 31:1-6

            Thus the Torah presents the order of the day for Israel’s last battle fought under the leadership of Moses.

            The details of the order convey contemporary lessons.

            The order “Arm men from among you” is interpreted by Yalkut Shimoni as referring to righteous men, as is the case with the first century CE Aramaic transition of Yonatan ben Uziel. In the first battle fought by the Children of Israel, against Amalek, the Master of all Prophets instructed his disciple Joshua to “choose men for us,” [Exodus 17:9] which Rabbi Yehoshua understood to mean “valiant men who are God-fearing.” [Midrash Lekaḥ Tov] Based upon these Midrashic comments, in times of Israel’s wars, the place of the righteous is not sequestered in their houses of study, but at the front lines of the battles.

             Ba’al haTurim points out that verse four commences and concludes with the letter aleph (whose numeric equivalent is one), and suggest that this hints that all the soldiers were  a single heart focused on their Father in Heaven. [Based upon the Babylonian Talmud, Yevamot 61a] Indeed, one of the most consistent lessons of Jewish history is that unity is the secret of Israel’s success. It is likely that this unity brought about the amazing success of the campaign against Midian, that “no man among us is missing.” [Numbers 31:49]

             Ba’al haTurim also notes that the words “twelve thousand men were recruited for war” (which literally translated is: “were given”) can be understood to mean that the recruits willingly gave themselves to sanctify God’s name to save Israel. This parallels Maimonides’ definition of a mandatory war as “saving Israel from its enemy who has come upon them.” [Laws of Kings and Their Wars 5:1] Maimonides describes what is required of a soldier who enters battle:

Once he enters battle, he must rely on the Hope of Israel and its Savior in times of distress, and he must know that he wages war for the unity of God’s name, and therefore he should place his soul in his hand and not be fearful, and he must not think of his wife or children, but totally remove them from his heart and free himself from all matters to focus on the battle. One who begins to think and reflect (on extraneous matters) during battle and frightens himself violates a negative commandment, as the verse states:  Do not be fainthearted, etc.  [Deuteronomy 20:3] Furthermore, the blood of all Israel hangs upon his neck, and if he did not enter battle with all his heart and soul, it is as if he shed the blood of all Israel, as the verse states “Lest he cause the heart of his brothers to melt.” [Deuteronomy ibid. 8]

                           Laws of Kings and Their Wars 7:15

            This truly is most demanding, but it can be achieved.

            While the simple meaning (p’shat) of the verse is that the army number twelve thousand warriors, in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Akiva, nonetheless Rabbi Yishmael’s opinion is that each tribe recruited two thousand men, and the expeditionary force numbered twenty-four thousand [Midrash Sifrei 157]. Verse five, which states that the fighting force numbered twelve thousand apparently explicitly contradicts Rabbi Yishmael’s understanding. However, Malbim explains that Rabbi Yishmaels’ opinion was that each tribe dispatched two thousand soldiers, one thousand as combat troops, the remaining thousand as support troops. It is to be noted that later, at God’s instruction, Moses divided the spoils of the war against Midian equally between the combat soldiers and their support comrades. [31:27] Malbim opines that this was the precedent for David’s decision that “the share of those who went to battle and that of those who stayed with the supplies shall be equal.” [I Samuel 30:24]  

            Surprisingly, there is a third opinion, that the force numbered thirty-six thousand men: “one third combatants, one third support troops and one third to pray.” [Midrash Aggada on v. 31:6] Israel’s army cannot rely on its strength alone, but must raise its eyes in prayer to the Master of the World. Conversely, prayer alone is insufficient to bring victory to God’s nation.