Verse structure: 4 words, 18 letters. Notable word values: "Hashem" (יְהֹוָ֖ה) = 26, the value of the divine name Hashem. The shortest word is "Hashem" (יְהֹוָ֖ה, 4 letters) and the longest is "and·he·spoke" (וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר, 5 letters). 4 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "Hashem" (root יהוה, 389x in Numbers); "saying" (root אמר, 246x in Numbers); "to·Moses" (root משה, 217x in Numbers). Full calculation: וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר [and·he·spoke] (222) + יְהֹוָ֖ה [Hashem] (26) + אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֥ה [to·Moses] (376) + לֵּאמֹֽר [saying] (271) = 895.
Onkelos
And Hashem spoke with Moses, saying:
Or HaChaim
וידבר ה׳…נקם נקמת בני ישראל G'd said:…"avenge the children of Israel, etc." If the purpose of the word לאמור in verse one was for Moses to tell these instructions to the people why did the Torah not write the plural form, i.e. נקמו נקמתכם instead of writing נקם נקמת? Yalkut Shimoni on our verse says that the word וידבר always refers to "tough talk." Moses began by appeasing G'd concerning his forthcoming death and G'd refused to be appeased in the matter. Moses said to G'd: "why should I die seeing I have witnessed so many miracles, etc.?" G'd was willing to meet Moses half-way saying: "if you want to live on for a number of years the Israelites will not live to see the defeat of their enemies during those years; neither will Midian be conquered by them. After Moses had allowed G'd to convince him that it was better he should die now, G'd in turn found it difficult to issue orders the fulfilment of which would be the cause of Moses' death. It is evident that the author of this Midrash appreciated the problem we have raised. According to his explanation the wording of our verse is justified. The word וידבר which expresses "tough talk," could refer to two kinds of harshness. 1) Moses and his forthcoming death; 2) G'd's feeling about the need to have Moses die and to have imposed this penalty upon him. The word לאמור is an allusion to the words of appeasement G'd had spoken to Moses when he wanted to convince him that his very death would be the greatest service he could render to his people at that time. Alternatively, the word לאמור may refer to everything Moses said to G'd trying to persuade Him not to let him die at this time. G'd's answer was: "avenge the children of Israel, etc." Searching for the plain meaning of these words yields the following result. The reason G'd said to Moses וידבר, i.e. He spoke harshly was to tell him to act with authority when recruiting the soldiers for the campaign. The commandment to punish the Midianites was to be treated with the same degree of seriousness as any of the 613 commandments which were given to the people for all times. The word לאמור, as usual, means to tell the Israelites. In this instance this instruction was especially necessary because seeing that G'd appeared to have given this task to Moses personally by saying נקם instead of נקמו Moses might have thought that this commandment was addressed exclusively to him. This is not as strange as it sounds as Moses was a great hero physically, especially with G'd on his side. If we examine deeds of valour performed by Yonathan son of King Saul and recorded in Samuel I chapter 14, it should not surprise us if G'd had indeed told Moses to avenge the Israelites single- handedly. The reason G'd used the singular although He meant for the Israelites to participate in the campaign is that Moses' approaching death depended on the completion of this campaign first i.e. אחר תאסף לעמך. In view of the fact that this campaign and its timing determined when Moses ...
"Avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites; afterward you shall be gathered to your people."
verse value 2904
Insights
Verse structure: 9 words, 38 letters. The shortest word is "avenge!" (נְקֹ֗ם, 3 letters) and the longest is "the·Midianites" (הַמִּדְיָנִ֑ים, 7 letters). Words sharing gematria 541: Israel, you·shall·be·gathered. 3 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "avenge!" (נְקֹ֗ם), "vengeance·of" (נִקְמַת֙), "the·Midianites" (הַמִּדְיָנִ֑ים). The root נקם appears 2 times in this verse. 8 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "children·of" (root בן, 499x in Numbers); "Israel" (root ישראל, 183x in Numbers); "to·your·kin" (root עם, 85x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'the·Midianites', dividing the verse into phrases of 6 and 3 words. Full calculation: נְקֹ֗ם [avenge!] (190) + נִקְמַת֙ [vengeance·of] (590) + בְּנֵ֣י [children·of] (62) + יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל [Israel] (541) + מֵאֵ֖ת [from] (441) + הַמִּדְיָנִ֑ים [the·Midianites] (159) + אַחַ֖ר [afterward] (209) + תֵּאָסֵ֥ף [you·shall·be·gathered] (541) + אֶל־עַמֶּֽיךָ [to·your·kin] (171) = 2904.
Onkelos
"Exact the vengeance of the children of Israel from the Midianites; afterward you will be gathered to your people."
Rashi
מאת המדינים [AVENGE THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL] OF THE MIDIANITES — but not of the Moabites, for the Moabites entered into the matter out of fear, because they feared that they might plunder them, since about them it was stated only, (Deuteronomy 2:9) “Do not contend with them in battle”; but the Midianites, however, had got excited (had interfered) in a quarrel that did not concern them. Another explanation of why God forbade them to wage war against the Moabites, and which explains at the same time why they had been forbidden to wage war against the Ammonites (cf. Deuteronomy 2:19): because, said He, of the two goodly doves (virtuous women) which I am to bring forth from them, — Ruth the Moabitess, and Naamah the Ammonitess [Solomon's wife] (Bava Kamma 38b).
Ramban
AVENGE THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL OF THE MIDIANITES; AFTERWARD SHALT THOU BE GATHERED UNTO THY PEOPLE. It was decreed upon our teacher Moses not to cross over the Jordan, but on the other [eastern] side of the Jordan he fulfilled all the commandments [that were necessary] for Israel. Thus he conquered the two great Amorite kings, and divided their land up as an inheritance [amongst the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half of the tribe of Menasheh], and it was he who was worthy of executing vengeance upon the enemies of the Eternal, leaving Joshua only the commandment of [conquering and dividing] the Land. Furthermore [this commandment was given to Moses because] the Holy One, blessed be He, gave him honor so that the righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance, this being the meaning of afterward shalt thou be gathered unto thy people. And Moses showed honor to Phinehas because he had begun the meritorious task [of punishing the Midianites, by killing Cozbi] and it was up to him to finish it, and therefore he appointed him the anointed priest for this war. It was not fitting that Eleazar should go [as the anointed priest of the war], because he was the High Priest [after the death of Aaron].
Or HaChaim
נקם נקמת, "avenge the Israelites, etc." The plain meaning of the verse is that G'd delegated Moses to carry out this task. How is it possible then that he did not even accompany the soldiers into battle? Although I have explained previously that the vengeance Moses took consisted of telling the people to launch this campaign, the plain meaning of the verse cannot be ignored. Who allowed Moses to send Pinchas instead when G'd had told him to take vengeance? Furthermore, why did the Torah make Moses' death depended on the completion of this punitive expedition? The command: "take vengeance" is capable of two interpretations. 1) Moses was to prepare the campaign logistically and make all the preparations to ensure it would be militarily successful; 2) the actual battle which is the act of revenge. Moses understood correctly that what G'd wanted him to do was to prepare the groundwork to insure that the campaign would be successful. Moses reasoned that since G'd had not said to him הלחם במדין, "go into battle against Midian" -which would have been an unmistakable command- that what G'd wanted him to do was to plan the strategy. Moses also realised that he had to proceed with great astuteness as after all, in their previous encounter with the women of Midian the Israelites had become embroiled in the sin of גלוי עריות, some of them actively others only in their fantasies. While it was true that G'd had killed a substantial number of the active participants in that sin by the plague whereas others had been miraculously saved by Pinchas' deed, the accuser would certainly be at hand when the Israelites who had been steeped in sin were going to attack these people claiming moral superiority as their justification to kill all the male Midianites. It stood to reason that the Israelites were going to suffer a great number of casualties in such a campaign. There is some comparison here to the sin of the golden calf which resulted in Aaron being forbidden to enter the Holy of Holies in gold-trimmed garments so as not to endanger himself through arousing Satan and the attribute of Justice by reminding G'd of that sin (compare Rosh Hashanah 27). According to Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer chapter 4, G'd also commanded the angels described in Isaiah's vision (Isaiah 6,2) to cover their feet with their wings in order that G'd should not be reminded of the sin of the golden calf as the feet of these angels were like those of calves. If this was so during normal times, in times of war the chances are even greater that the "accusers" will remind G'd of sins the Israelites had committed in order to cause their deaths in battle. Sotah 44 affords us an insight into the types of relatively minor sins that are capable of causing a soldier going to war to become a casualty. If someone was aware that he had engaged in conversation between putting on the phylacteries on the arm and the phylacteries on the head, he was sent home before the army joined the enemy in battle so that h...
Chizkuni
נקום נקמת, “wreak vengeance!” the plain text appears to charge Moses personally with having to wreak this vengeance. However, seeing that he had been raised in Midian and had been saved from Pharaoh’s vengeance during all his years there, it would not have been moral for him to do this himself, just as he did not strike the river Nile during the plagues, as that river, i.e. its banks, had helped to save his life when he was an infant. He sent delegates as we read in verse 6, where the Torah quotes Moses as dispatching the 12000 soldiers to conduct the punitive campaign. [all righteous men who had not been involved in the shameful episode at Shittim, Ed.]
Rabbeinu Bahya
נקום נקמת בני ישראל מאת המדינים, אחר תאסף לעמיך, “take vengeance for the Children of Israel from the Midianites; after that you will be gathered in to your people.” G’d told Moses that He did not reconsider His oath that Moses and Aaron would not lead the people into the Holy Land because they had failed to sanctify His name, etc. The above consideration is the reason why the Torah wrote this paragraph in conjunction with that describing that the privately made vows and oaths of individuals are subject to annulment. אחר תאסף, “after (that) you will be gathered in, etc.” Some commentators, such as Nachmanides, see in this a promise that Moses will live to see and enjoy the revenge on his enemies. Tanchuma Mattot 3 points out that whereas the Torah (G’d) speaks of a vengeance for Israel, Moses in turn speaks about a vengeance for G’d when he tells the Israelites the purpose of the punitive campaign against Midian in verse 3. Moses is quoted (by the Midrash) as saying to G’d: “O Lord if we had been uncircumcised, or even circumcised but worshipping idols, the Midianites would not have hated us. Why then do they hate us? Because of the Torah and the commandments which You have given to us. Therefore it is Your vengeance.” The concept behind all this is that anyone who attacks the Jewish people actually aims at the G’d of the Jewish people and uses the Jewish people as G’d’s alter-ego. מאת המדינים, “from the Midianites.” Why single out the Midianites? Did not the Moabites initiate the whole scheme of cursing the Jewish people and, when that failed, the seduction by their women as we know from Numbers 22,7 and 25,1? The fact is that whatever the Moabites did was prompted by a genuine fear of the Israelites as reported in the Torah in detail in Numbers 22,3. After all, although G’d had told the Jewish people not to harass and make war against the Moabites, this did not preclude them from robbing their belongings, etc. The Midianites, however, had gotten involved in an argument which did not concern them at all. The Jewish people had no designs on their country and posed no threat to them. Furthermore, [Moab is not specified] because King David is a descendant of theirs.
Kli Yakar
“Take vengeance for the children of Israel against the Midianites.” But Moses changed it and said to take vengeance of the Lord on Midian. And furthermore, Rashi explained that even though Moses heard that his death depended on this matter, he did it with joy and did not delay. How did Rashi know to say this? Perhaps Moses was grieved about his death, but would this prevent him from fulfilling God’s word? Who better than he fulfills God’s word without delay? And regarding what it says, and they were delivered, to make known the praise of the shepherds of Israel, etc., until they were delivered against their will — it is not explained in the text what necessity brought them to this. And the explanation of the matter is that the Midianites did two evil things. One against Heaven, for they caused Israel to sin through idolatry and sexual immorality, and one against Israel, for through their counsel they caused twenty-four thousand Israelites to fall. And the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses, Take vengeance for the children of Israel, because what they did to Me is forgiven and pardoned, for if man’s transgressions increase, what does it do to Him, blessed be He? The main vengeance is for what they did to Israel, for their evil was great. And when Moses heard that God said to him, Afterward you will be gathered to your people, and Moses already knew of Israel’s great affection for their leaders, he said in his heart, “If I tell Israel the exact words as they were told to me by the Almighty, since Israel knows that my death depends on this vengeance, then Israel might say, ‘Just as the Holy One, blessed be He, has forgiven His portion, so too we will forgive them for what they did to us, and we will not seek vengeance so quickly, for it is in our power to delay the time of vengeance as long as we wish.’” And Moses, because he was happy to fulfill God’s command without delay, changed the wording and said to execute the Lord’s vengeance on Midian, so that Israel would think that since the Holy One, blessed be He, seeks vengeance for His honor, then who would permit to delay the portion of the Most High? In this way they would be compelled to carry it out immediately. And regarding this compulsion it says and they were delivered, because after Moses told them to execute the Lord’s vengeance on Midian, they were necessarily forced to do it without delay. From here there is clear proof that he acted with joy and did not delay, for it was in his power to extend the time of vengeance if he had told them the words of God exactly as they were said. And regarding what is written first “from the Midianites” in plural form, and afterward it is said to execute the Lord’s vengeance upon Midian, this is because in relation to Israel they are many, as if many did to Israel what they did. But in relation to what they did to the Holy One, blessed be He, they are not considered except as one man, for all of them are considered as nothing and void before Him, may He be blessed. Some say “upon Midian” [means] upon the ministering angel of Midian above, in the same way that it is said and behold, Egypt was journeying (Exodus 14:10) which they interpreted (Deuteronomy Rabbah 1:22) as referring to the ministering angel of Egypt. This is why it says to execute the Lord’s vengeance, because the war above belongs to the Lord and not to man.
Tur HaArokh
נקום נקמת בני ישראל מאת המדינים, “Take vengeance for the Children of Israel against the Midianites.” Actually, it would have been appropriate for Moses to take this vengeance on this people who hated Hashem, but in view of Pinchas having been the one who commenced the reversal of the damage Midian had done to the Jewish people, Moses wanted him also to be the one who completed the mitzvah. (Compare verse 6)
And Moses spoke to the people, saying: "Arm men from among you for the war, that they may go against Midian, to execute Hashem's vengeance on Midian.
verse value 3941
Insights
Verse structure: 13 words, 63 letters. The shortest word is "Moses" (מֹשֶׁה֙, 3 letters) and the longest is "vengeance·of·Hashem" (נִקְמַת־יְהֹוָ֖ה, 8 letters). 3 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "let·be·picked·out" (הֵחָלְצ֧וּ), "from·among·you" (מֵאִתְּכֶ֛ם), "vengeance·of·Hashem" (נִקְמַת־יְהֹוָ֖ה). The root מדין appears 2 times in this verse. 12 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "vengeance·of·Hashem" (root יהוה, 389x in Numbers); "saying" (root אמר, 246x in Numbers); "Moses" (root משה, 217x in Numbers). First appearance of the root חלץ ("let·be·picked·out") in Numbers. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'for·the·campaign', dividing the verse into phrases of 8 and 5 words. Full calculation: וַיְדַבֵּ֤ר [and·he·spoke] (222) + מֹשֶׁה֙ [Moses] (345) + אֶל־הָעָ֣ם [to·the·people] (146) + לֵאמֹ֔ר [saying] (271) + הֵחָלְצ֧וּ [let·be·picked·out] (139) + מֵאִתְּכֶ֛ם [from·among·you] (501) + אֲנָשִׁ֖ים [men] (401) + לַצָּבָ֑א [for·the·campaign] (123) + וְיִהְיוּ֙ [and·let·them·be] (37) + עַל־מִדְיָ֔ן [upon·Midian] (204) + לָתֵ֥ת [to·give] (830) + נִקְמַת־יְהֹוָ֖ה [vengeance·of·Hashem] (616) + בְּמִדְיָֽן [on·Midian] (106) = 3941.
Onkelos
And Moses spoke to the people, saying: "Arm men from among you for the army, and let them go against Midian to exact the vengeance — the cause of the people of Hashem — in Midian."
Rashi
וידבר משה וגו׳ AND MOSES SPAKE etc. — Although he had heard (v. 2) that his death was associated with this matter, he did it gladly and did not delay (Sifrei Bamidbar 157:2). החלצו — Understand this as the Targum does in the sense of “equipped (חלוצי) for war”, armed. אנשים MEN — righteous men, and similar is, (Exodus 17:9) “Choose men for us”, and so, too, (Deuteronomy 1:13) “men wise and well-known” (Midrash Tanchuma, Matot 3). 'נקמת ה “THE VENGEANCE OF THE LORD” — [This is really equivalent to the expression God had employed (v.2), “the vengeance of the children of Israel”], because whoever attacks Israel is as though he attacks the Holy One blessed be He.
Ibn Ezra
"Arm yourselves" — gird your warriors. "Hashem's vengeance" — it is the vengeance of the Children of Israel, on account of idolatry.
Or HaChaim
וידבר משה…החלצו מאתכם, Moses said.. "mobilise from amongst you, etc." The word לאמור in this verse is puzzling. To whom were the people supposed to relay what Moses told them? Furthermore, why did Moses use the expression החלצו instead of the formulation Moses used in Exodus 17,9 when he said to Joshua: בחר לנו אנשים, "choose some men for us, etc.?" Why did he not order Pinchas to do what he had ordered Joshua to do at that time instead of addressing his command to the people at large? Another peculiarity in this verse are the words ויהיו על מדין "so that they will be against Midian." Moses should have said: "so that they will do battle against Midian." Moreover, why did Moses change G'd's instructions? G'd had told Moses נקם נקמת בני ישראל, "avenge the vengeance of the Israelites," whereas Moses told the people to exact "G'd's vengeance," i.e. לתת נקמת השם? Besides, why did Moses not send a large army but selected only 1.000 men per tribe? Who had given him authority to send such a small force of soldiers against a numerically far superior people [governed by 5 kings Ed.]? When you consider that 32.000 girls who were still virgins were left you can arrive at some idea how many there must have been originally. However, as we already mentioned in our introduction, this expedition was based on the attackers' moral superiority over its adversaries as evidenced by G'd's instruction to "avenge." Moses had to mobilise the kind of soldiers whose fantasies had not run wild at the time of the debacle in Shittim. How was he to know which one of the Israelites had indulged in sinful thoughts at the time? Moses therefore advised each man of military age to examine himself in this matter. This is the meaning of החלצו מאתכם, "separate yourselves from your own selves," i.e. examine your conscience if you are morally fit to take part in such a punitive expedition of the morally superior against the morally inferior. Only those who knew that they could qualify under this heading would be considered for the contingent of 1.000 per tribe. The word לאמור is a hint that these people should all "speak to their inner selves on this subject." Perhaps the very word לאמור was even an allusion to the sin of גלוי עריות as we find in Sanhedrin 56 "the word לאמור refers to illicit sex." According to Midrash Tanchuma on our verse these men were all righteous. Although we have explained elsewhere that one can only derive such a conclusion from the word אנשים when this word is superfluous in the text, in our instance there is independent support for the theory that the אנשים mentioned here had to be righteous men. Seeing this was so they had no reason to worry although they would be far outnumbered by the Midianites. Moreover, they were not only righteous but they qualified for the appellation חסידים, "pious," because they had been confronted with a powerful temptation and had conquered it. Zohar Chadash volume 3 page 195 states that this is the basis for someone being descri...
Chizkuni
לתת נקמת ה' במדין, “to execute the Lord’s vengeance against Midian. It is peculiar to read this, as G-d’s instructions had been to execute the Children of Israel’s vengeance against Midian. (verse 2) What made Moses change the venue?We must imagine that Moses, upon hearing the instructions, had said to G-d: “the vengeance is really Yours o Lord, as the only reason why the Canaanites, Midianites, etc hate us, is on account of You.” (B’chor shor). This is why the Israelites went to war against the Midianites, who were not part of the Moabites whose measure of guilt had not yet made them candidates for destruction by G-d. The Midianites had meddled in matters that did not concern them, and had no reason to fear the Israelites as their geographic location did not block Israel’s access to the Land of Canaan. The prophet Bileam had already stated that though he could foresee the complete collapse of Moav, he saw it as occurring in the distant future. [700 800 years later the Israelites were still involved in wars against Moav during the time of Elijah and Elisha. Ed.] At any rate, the Moabites had several reasons to fear the aggression of the Israelites so that they could be excused for acting in a hostile manner against them. One of their complaints was that the Israelites had actually conquered land that used to belong to Moav when they defeated King Sichon of the Canaanites, who conquered those lands previously from the Moabites. The Israelites had not returned it to Moav, but had settled it.
Rabbeinu Bahya
החלצו מאתכם, “mobilize from amongst yourselves, etc.” It is as if Moses had said: “gird your pioneers, your vanguard, (with their swords).” The words used here reflect an eagerness on the part of Moses to discharge his part in this commandment although G’d had told him that its fulfillment would bring about his death shortly thereafter. Tanchuma Mattot 4 points out the contrast between Moses and Joshua in this matter. When Joshua faced 31 Canaanite kings he said to himself: “if I slay them I will die shortly thereafter just as Moses died shortly after the Midianites were defeated.” What did Joshua do? He commenced with attacking one of the Canaanite kings and then delayed following up on his success as we know from Joshua 11,18: “Joshua was engaged for many years in battling all these kings.” When G’d observed this He told him: “because you did this in order to prolong your life I will deduct 10 years from the life span I had allocated to you originally. You should have lived to 120 years as did your teacher Moses. Now you will live to be only 110 years.” This is the meaning of Proverbs 19,21: “Many designs are in a man’s mind, but it is the Lord’s plan that is accomplished.“
Of every tribe a thousand, throughout all the tribes of Israel, shall you send to the war."
verse value 2333
Insights
Verse structure: 9 words, 35 letters. The shortest word is "a·thousand" (אֶ֚לֶף, 3 letters) and the longest is "Israel" (יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל, 5 letters). Words sharing gematria 111: a·thousand, a·thousand. The root מטה appears 3 times in this verse. 6 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "Israel" (root ישראל, 183x in Numbers); "for·the·tribe" (root מטה, 111x in Numbers); "a·thousand" (root אלף, 103x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'for·the·tribe', dividing the verse into phrases of 4 and 5 words. Full calculation: אֶ֚לֶף [a·thousand] (111) + לַמַּטֶּ֔ה [for·the·tribe] (84) + אֶ֖לֶף [a·thousand] (111) + לַמַּטֶּ֑ה [for·the·tribe] (84) + לְכֹל֙ [for·every·one·of] (80) + מַטּ֣וֹת [tribes·of] (455) + יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל [Israel] (541) + תִּשְׁלְח֖וּ [you·shall·dispatch] (744) + לַצָּבָֽא [on·the·campaign] (123) = 2333.
Onkelos
A thousand from each tribe, a thousand from each tribe — from all the tribes of Israel you shall send forth to the army.
Rashi
לכל מטות ישראל [A THOUSAND OF EVERY TRIBE] THROUGHOUT ALL THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL — including, therefore, the tribe of Levi (Sifrei Bamidbar 157:3).
Chizkuni
לכל מטות ישראל, “of each of the tribes of Israel.” This included even the tribe of Levi. (Compare both Sifri and Rashi) Seeing that the Midianites had had evil intentions also against the tribe of Levi, there was no reason why that tribe should not participate in this punitive campaign.
So there were delivered, out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand of every tribe, twelve thousand armed for war.
verse value 2537
Insights
Verse structure: 9 words, 41 letters. The shortest word is "a·thousand" (אֶ֖לֶף, 3 letters) and the longest is "twelve" (שְׁנֵים־עָשָׂ֥ר, 7 letters). Words sharing gematria 111: a·thousand, thousand. 3 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "and·were·assigned" (וַיִּמָּֽסְרוּ֙), "from·the·thousands·of" (מֵאַלְפֵ֣י), "picked·for" (חֲלוּצֵ֥י). The root אלף appears 3 times in this verse. 7 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "Israel" (root ישראל, 183x in Numbers); "for·the·tribe" (root מטה, 111x in Numbers); "from·the·thousands·of" (root אלף, 103x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'for·the·tribe', dividing the verse into phrases of 5 and 4 words. Full calculation: וַיִּמָּֽסְרוּ֙ [and·were·assigned] (322) + מֵאַלְפֵ֣י [from·the·thousands·of] (161) + יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל [Israel] (541) + אֶ֖לֶף [a·thousand] (111) + לַמַּטֶּ֑ה [for·the·tribe] (84) + שְׁנֵים־עָשָׂ֥ר [twelve] (970) + אֶ֖לֶף [thousand] (111) + חֲלוּצֵ֥י [picked·for] (144) + צָבָֽא [the·campaign] (93) = 2537.
Onkelos
And there were chosen from the thousands of Israel a thousand from each tribe — twelve thousand equipped for the army.
Rashi
וימסרו SO THERE WERE HANDED OVER … [A THOUSAND OF EVERY TRIBE] — This serves to tell you in what high esteem the shepherds of Israel were really held — how dear they were to Israel. Up until they had heard of his approaching death what does it state? That Moses felt constrained to exclaim about them, “They are almost ready to stone me”! (Exodus 17:14). But when they heard that Moses’ death was associated with the execution of vengeance upon Midian (cf. v. 2), they refused to go to war until they were “handed over” against their own will (Sifrei Bamidbar 157:3).
Ibn Ezra
"And they were delivered" — like "and they were given"; close to it is the phrase "to commit a trespass against Hashem."
Sforno
וימסרו, to Moses by the representatives of each tribe.
Chizkuni
וימסרו מאלפי ישראל, “there were ‘delivered’ from the thousands of Israelite men of military age, etc.” These men were not volunteers but conscripts as Rashi has explained. G-d had told Moses to select these conscripts by means of lots. (Bamidbar Rabbah 22,3.)
Rabbeinu Bahya
וימסרו מאלפי ישראל, “they were handed over from amongst the thousands of Israelites, etc.” Our sages in Sifri Mattot 157 comment on this that these men had not volunteered but had been drafted against their will due to their love of Moses; they knew that Moses’ death would result from their waging this war and they did not want to contribute to Moses’ death.
Rashbam
וימסרו, even under protest, something that could be due to Moses’ death having been linked to the conclusion of this campaign (verse 2). Israelites, in order to prolong Moses’ life might refuse to join this expedition. (compare Sifri 157)
And Moses sent them, a thousand of every tribe, to the war, them and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war, with the holy vessels and the trumpets for the alarm in his hand.
verse value 5060
Insights
Verse structure: 16 words, 73 letters. The shortest word is "them" (אֹתָ֥ם, 3 letters) and the longest is "and·Phinehas" (וְאֶת־פִּ֨ינְחָ֜ס, 8 letters). Words sharing gematria 441: them, them. 3 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "and·Phinehas" (וְאֶת־פִּ֨ינְחָ֜ס), "and·trumpets·of" (וַחֲצֹצְר֥וֹת), "the·blasts" (הַתְּרוּעָ֖ה). The root צבא appears 2 times in this verse. 14 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "son·of·Eleazar" (root בן, 499x in Numbers); "Moses" (root משה, 217x in Numbers); "for·the·tribe" (root מטה, 111x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'on·the·campaign', dividing the verse into phrases of 6 and 10 words.
Onkelos
And Moses sent them, a thousand from each tribe, to the army — them and Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest to the army — and the sacred vessels and the trumpets for sounding were in his hand.
Rashi
אתם ואת פינחס [MOSES SENT THEM … TO THE WAR], THEM AND PHINEAS — The repetition of the word אתם, “them”, in association with Phineas’ name tells us that Phineas was regarded as equal to all of them together. — But why did Phineas go and Eleazar did not go? The Holy One, blessed be He, said, “He who made a beginning with this meritorious work, in that he slew Kozbi the daughter of Zur (who was a Midianitess), let him complete it”. — Another explanation why Phineas and not Eleazar went is that he went to take vengeance for Joseph, his mother’s ancestor, as it is said, (Genesis 37:36) “And the Midianites sold him [unto Egypt]”. And from where do we know that Phineas’ mother was of the family of Joseph? Because it is said, (Exodus 6:25) that she was “one of the daughters of Putiel” (see Rashi on that verse) — which is explained to mean that she was of the seed of Jethro who used to fatten (פטם) calves for idolatrous worship, and of the seed of Joseph who overcame (שפטפט, who talked or argued with) his passions (cf. Sifrei Bamidbar 157:4; Sotah 43a). — Another explanation: Phineas went because he was the high priest anointed for war purposes (cf. Deuteronomy 20:2 and Rashi thereon) (Sotah 43a). וכלי הקדש AND THE VESSELS OF HOLINESS … [WERE WITH THEM] — these were the Ark and the Golden Plate (which are termed קדש, “holiness”, in Numbers 4:20 and Leviticus 8:9 respectively) (cf. Sifrei Bamidbar 157:4; Sotah 43a). — Because Balaam was with them (the Midianites) and through enchantment he made the kings of Midian float in the air and he himself floated with them, he (Phineas) showed them (held up to them) the Golden Plato upon which the Divine Name was engraved and they immediately fell to the ground. On this account it is said (v. 8) of the Kings of Midian that they were killed “upon those belonging to them who had been killed”, meaning that they fell from the air upon those who had already been killed; and similarly of Balaam it is written in the book of Joshua (13:22): “[And Balaam the son of Beor did the children of Israel slay] upon those who were slain by them” (Midrash Tanchuma, Matot 2; Talmud Yerushalmi Sanhedrin 10:2). בידו means IN HIS POSSESSION (not actually “in his hand”, for it was impossible for him to hold these sacred objects in his hand), similar to (21:26) “And he took all his land from his possession (מידו)” (Sifrei Bamidbar 157:4).
Ramban
AND MOSES SENT THEM, A THOUSAND OF EVERY TRIBE. He did not send all the members of the army there, although the Midianites were a large people, and their cities were fortified, and very large. The reason for this is that those who had sinned with the Moabite women were many, and they were not fit to execute the vengeance of the Eternal; therefore they chose those men who were known amongst their tribes as righteous men. Now Moses did not command them what to do, but merely told them to execute the vengeance of the Eternal on Midian, and he thought that they would let none of them remain or escape, but [would execute the vengeance of the Eternal] like the vengeance [they were commanded] in connection with Amalek or the vengeance [they were commanded] in connection with the seven nations [of the land of Canaan]. And therefore when Moses saw that they had spared the women and children and the cattle, he was angry about [the fact that they had left alive] the women who had had sexual intercourse, because the officers of the army should have killed them as the very first thing, both as execution of the vengeance [which they were now commanded to do], and in performance of the general law of the Torah [that a living thing which causes a man to sin must be killed, as it is said], and ye shall slay the beast. And when he saw that the people wanted [to keep] the spoil, he remitted [and allowed them to keep] the female children and the spoil. It is also possible to explain that Moses was [only] commanded to Harass the Midianites, and Avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites, [but was not commanded to destroy them all like Amalek and the seven nations]. Therefore he sent only a small contingent [twelve thousand men] to strike at the unwalled towns and fell every good tree, and stop all fountains of water, and mar every good piece of land with stones as spoilers usually do, and he did not give them any specific commands except that they should execute whatever vengeance they were able to do — and G-d, blessed be He, Who controls [the course of all] battles, gave the Midianites and their [five] kings and cities into their hands. Therefore Moses was only angry about [their sparing] the women who had had sexual intercourse, and [he was] not angry about anything else, and his command [to kill] the male children was an [additional measure of] retributive punishment. Now Moses was wroth with the officers of the host but showed honor to Phinehas [by not criticizing him, too], because G-d had given unto him His covenant of peace. And in the Sifre we are taught: “Phinehas said to Moses: As you have commanded us, so have we done.” But I do not know what this statement means, since according to the Scriptural verses [here] Moses did not command them anything specific, for had he commanded them something which [as Phinehas said] they fulfilled, how could he [Moses] have been angry with them? [We cannot say that he was angry because they did not do everything t...
Ibn Ezra
"The sacred vessels" — this refers to the Ark.
Sforno
וישלח אותם משה אלף אלף למטה לצבא, he sent one thousand men of each tribe. אותם ואת פינחס, after the 12.000 men had all been assembled he sent Pinchas to accompany them. לצבא וכלי הקודש וחצוצרות התרועה בידו, he sent him to the army, as head, i.e. as the priest especially appointed in every war involving invasion of foreign territory. The various holy vessels, including the trumpets would be at his disposal during that period.
Or HaChaim
וישלח אותם ואת פנחס, Moses sent them…together with Pinchas, etc. The reason the Torah wrote the word וישלח, "he sent them," was to make the soldiers participating in this campaign into שלוחי מצוה, delegates charged with the performance of a sacred duty, a מצוה. We have the rule that delegates on a מצוה-mission are safe from harm while performing their task. The verse repeats the word אתם to tell us that the presence of Pinchas with these twelve thousand pious soldiers doubled their effectiveness; Pinchas was equivalent in piety to all the other 12.000 soldiers combined. The fact that Moses selected Pinchas instead of Joshua to be the leader of this expedition was also an astute move by Moses. Pinchas had already demonstrated jealousy on behalf of G'd. Who could have served as better inspiration for the task at hand than Pinchas? He radiated more destructive power against negative spiritual forces than did Joshua. It is also possible that Moses was afraid of the people who would assail these soldiers wanting to know that if they considered themselves as so pious why had they not protested the involvement of their brethren in the harlotry and thus helped prevent such sins from being perpetrated? To head off such criticism Moses sent along Pinchas who had risked his life in order to bring this harlotry to a stop. Perhaps this is what the Torah alluded to with the unusual construction אתם ואת פנחס, "they together with Pinchas." Moses hoped that by his presence Pinchas would supply the missing factor, i.e. the preparedness for self sacrifice in order to stop others from sinning, something which even the pious soldiers had not contributed at the time of the debacle at Shittim. It is possible that G'd already originally intended that only someone of the calibre of Pinchas could wipe out the shameful stain which would remain on Israel's character if the Midianites were allowed "to get away" with what they had done. G'd was grateful to Moses' choice of Pinchas as the leader of this expedition. G'd Himself had not wanted to direct Moses to appoint Pinchas in charge of this expedition fearing that such a directive might have made Moses think that he himself was not qualified to lead this punitive campaign. The result of G'd's astuteness was that His desire was carried out without Moses becoming embarassed in the process.
Rabbeinu Bahya
אותם ואת פינחס, “they together with Pinchas.” The wording suggests that Pinchas by himself was equal to all of the twelve thousand men in moral/spiritual stature. Why did Pinchas go instead of his father the High Priest Eleazar? G’d had said: “the one who commenced by assuaging My anger and slew the first Midianite (Cosbi) shall complete the task” (Tanchuma Mattot 3). Moses, who had spent many years in Midian which had served as his refuge from Pharaoh after he had slain the Egyptian did not join the campaign so as not to give people an opportunity to say that “he threw stones into the well from which he used to drink.” וכלי הקודש, “and the holy vessels, etc.” This is a reference to the Holy Ark and the golden headband of the High Priest (Sotah 43). Tanchuma Mattot 5 relates that the Midianites employed all kinds of charms in conjunction with Bileam and that the kings were riding in the air when they saw this war. Moses had told the soldiers that if they noticed that the kings of the Midianites would employ such means against them they should show the ציץ, and the Midianites would immediately fall to the ground. This is the reason that the Torah writes (in verse 8) ואת מלכי מדין הרגו על חלליהם, “and they killed the kings of the Midianites “on, above” with their slain ones.” The Torah means that these kings dropped out of the air on top of the slain Midianites whereupon the Israelites killed them. We find something similar in Joshua 13,22: “together with the others that they slew, the Israelites put Bileam son of Beor, the magician, to the sword.” וחצוצרות התרועה בידו, “and the trumpets for blowing teruah in his hand (Pinchas’s).” Whenever the Israelites journeyed they had the trumpets with them. The same applied when they made ready to enter somewhere or to go to war.
Kli Yakar
Them and Pinchas. Rashi explains that he went to avenge Joseph, his mother’s father, etc. (Sotah 43). The meaning is that Moses was confident that he [Pinchas] would not spare them and would not leave them root or branch, because Pinchas already hated them regardless, because of the sale when they sold Joseph to Egypt (Genesis 37:36), a place designated for immorality; and now the Midianites had taken their ancestors’ deeds into their hands to cause Israel to stumble into immorality. And what [Rashi] explains — “because he began the mitzvah, he should complete it” — means that he [Moses] gave him a sign: Just as you began to bring it down, since he had struck down Cozbi, the daughter of a king, so they will all fall before you. And without a doubt, he [Pinchas] had a more courageous heart against them than Eleazar would have had, since they had already fallen before him and were delivered into his hands. And because he had begun the mitzvah, it was for him to bring the matter to the completion of the mitzvah, for if a mitzvah leads to another mitzvah, how much more so should a part of it lead to the whole. And Moses did not want to go because he had been raised in Midian, and he was afraid that if the men of war were to be negligent in any matter, they would account the deficiency to Moses and say that he had spared the place where he was raised. And regarding what is written “a thousand of a tribe.” The commentators said, that 12,000 is one fiftieth of the 600,000, therefore they brought the spoils, one taken from 50, according to the measure of the standard average terumah [offering]. And from the fact that it says twice a thousand from each tribe, it is concluded in the Tanchuma (Matot 3) that he took 2,000 from each tribe, and the reason it doesn’t say “two thousand from each tribe” is because only 1,000 from each tribe went to war and 1,000 remained with the supplies. And in total there were 24,000 to avenge what they caused to fall — 24,000 from Israel. And regarding what is written “a thousand of a tribe” [elef lamateh] and not “a thousand from a tribe” [elef mimateh], this is because the merit of the tribe itself went with them to war, and the thousand was joined to the tribe itself because their merit assisted them. Therefore, they gave from the spoils also to the entire congregation.
Tur HaArokh
וישלח אותם משה אלף למטה, “Moses sent them on the way, one thousand men from each tribe.” Nachmanides writes that the reason why Moses did not send out the whole army of Israel, even though the Midianites were a numerous people, seeing that they had five kings governing them and they lived in well fortified cities, he could not do so, because too many of the people had become victims of the seduction and as such were hardly qualified to endanger themselves in war and become an easy target for Satan to attack. Moses therefore decided to select few men, but men whose integrity had stood the challenge of seduction, men who were truly righteous. These men were known as righteous people, each within his tribe. Strangely, Moses reversed what G’d had said to him, i.e. to avenge the wrong done to Israel, and he instructed the soldiers to avenge the wrong done to G’d’s image. He did not issue any specific instructions concerning how to avenge that wrong. He took it for granted that these soldiers would not allow any living creature to remain alive, just as Samuel later on commanded that the Amalekites all be killed men women and children as well as all their livestock. Or, at least, he thought, they would be treated like the 7 Canaanite nations of whom G’d had instructed not to allow a single soul to survive. When Moses found out that these soldiers had allowed the women and children to survive, and that they brought home an immense amount of booty, he became very angry, especially that women who had already lost their virginity had been allowed to survive, as these types of women were the ones who had seduced the Israelites. He was less upset about the children being allowed to survive, and he did not mind the booty the soldiers brought home. It is further possible to assume that Moses was commanded to harass the Midianites in order to take the vengeance of the Israelites, and he dispatched only relatively few men, intending to smite only the cities of the Perisite (one of the Canaanite tribes) planning to destroy every tree, to seal off all the wells, as was the custom by ordinary invaders. Seeing that it is Hashem Who, -in the last analysis, conducts the fortunes of war,- delivered the cities into their hands as well as their kings, Moses certainly could not be angry at any of this. The only thing he was angry at was that the very category of women who had been the seductresses had been kept alive to become slaves in Jewish homes. His demand for male “innocent” children to be killed was part of the element of “vengeance” which G’d had commanded to be taken.
Daat Zkenim
וישלח אותם משה, “Moses sent them forth;” (the 12000 men making up the punitive expedition against the Midianites) You, the reader, will recall that the Lord had instructed Moses personally to head this expedition. (Verse 2 in our chapter, where He also added that after having carried out this mission Moses would die.) Why did Moses delegate others to do what he had been commanded to do himself? The reason must have been that seeing that he had found refuge there from persecution by the Egyptian secret service and had even became the son-in-law of a prominent priest in Midian, he did not think that G–d had meant for him to lead this campaign, just as he had not been ordered to strike the Nile which had sheltered him but had delegated that task to his brother Aaron at the time. He acted according to the well known proverb: “do not bite the hand that fed you.” Another interpretation suggests that the Midian of which Cosbi had been a princess was not the same Midian as that which is described in the Book of Exodus. [The Midian which Moses fled to bordered the desert of Sinai, whereas the Midian which is featured in connection with Bileam and Balak is situated in the Arabian peninsula bordering the red sea. Ed.] The reason why Moses chose Pinchas to be the leader of this expedition was that seeing he had commenced with turning away G–d’s wrath from the people, he should be given a chance to complete this good deed by punishing the seducers of his people. (Compare Bamidbar Rabbah 23,4)
And they warred against Midian, as Hashem commanded Moses; and they slew every male.
verse value 2220 — יְהֹוָ֖ה = 26 (Hashem)
Insights
Verse structure: 8 words, 39 letters. Notable word values: "Hashem" (יְהֹוָ֖ה) = 26, the value of the divine name Hashem. The shortest word is "had·commanded" (צִוָּ֥ה, 3 letters) and the longest is "and·they·took·the·field" (וַֽיִּצְבְּאוּ֙, 6 letters). 2 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "and·they·took·the·field" (וַֽיִּצְבְּאוּ֙), "and·they·slew" (וַיַּֽהַרְג֖וּ). 8 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "Hashem" (root יהוה, 389x in Numbers); "as" (root אשר, 223x in Numbers); "Moses" (root משה, 217x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'Moses', dividing the verse into phrases of 6 and 2 words. Full calculation: וַֽיִּצְבְּאוּ֙ [and·they·took·the·field] (115) + עַל־מִדְיָ֔ן [upon·Midian] (204) + כַּאֲשֶׁ֛ר [as] (521) + צִוָּ֥ה [had·commanded] (101) + יְהֹוָ֖ה [Hashem] (26) + אֶת־מֹשֶׁ֑ה [Moses] (746) + וַיַּֽהַרְג֖וּ [and·they·slew] (230) + כׇּל־זָכָֽר [every·male] (277) = 2220.
Onkelos
And they waged war against Midian, as Hashem had commanded Moses, and they slew every male.
Ibn Ezra
"And they slew every male" — every adult male.
Rabbeinu Bahya
ויהרגו כל זכר, “they killed every male,” i.e. the adults. The male children were part of the loot as per verse 9.
Targum Yonatan
And they warred against Midian, circumventing them from three corners, as the Lord had instructed Mosheh, and they killed every male;.
And they slew the kings of Midian with the rest of their slain: Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian; Balaam also the son of Beor they slew with the sword.
verse value 6473
Insights
Verse structure: 16 words, 85 letters. The shortest word is "Midian" (מִדְיָ֜ן, 4 letters) and the longest is "along·with·their·victims" (עַל־חַלְלֵיהֶ֗ם, 8 letters). Words sharing gematria 214: they·slew, they·slew. 10 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "and·kings·of" (וְאֶת־מַלְכֵ֨י), "along·with·their·victims" (עַל־חַלְלֵיהֶ֗ם), "Evi" (אֶת־אֱוִ֤י). The root מלך appears 2 times in this verse. 13 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "five·of" (root חמש, 99x in Numbers); "and·Balaam" (root בלעם, 53x in Numbers); "and·kings·of" (root מלך, 21x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'Midian', dividing the verse into phrases of 12 and 4 words.
Onkelos
And the kings of Midian they slew, along with their slain: Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba — five kings of Midian. And Balaam son of Beor they slew by the sword.
Rashi
חמשת מלכי מדין THE FIVE KINGS OF MIDIAN — But can I not see that Scripture has enumerated five; why, then, does it feel compelled to say that there were five? But it is to tell you that even as they had all been alike in the plot, so, too, they were treated alike in the punishment that befell them (cf. Rashi on Genesis 25:22, where, as here, the total of the names mentioned is stated) (Sifrei Bamidbar 157:5). — Balaam had gone there to receive the reward for the 24,000 whom he had made to fall of Israel through his counsel and now also he left Midian to meet Israel and gave them bad advice: viz., he said to them, “If, when you were 600,000 you were unable to overcome them, now you come to war against them with 12,000?” They gave him his full reward and did not stint it (they slew him) (Sifrei Bamidbar 157:5). בחרב [BALAAM ALSO … THEY SLEW] WITH THE SWORD — He came against Israel exchanging his metier (the sword) for their metier (the mouth), for they conquer only through their mouth — through prayer and petition, and he came and availed himself of their craft to curse them with his mouth. They, therefore, also came against him and exchanged their craft for the craft of the heathen peoples who come with the sword, as it is said, (Genesis 27:40) “And by thy sword shalt thou live” (cf. Rashi on Numbers 22:23).
Ibn Ezra
"And Tzur" — he was the father of Kozbi. "Balaam son of Beor" — some say that after he had returned to his place, he came to Midian when he heard of the plague that had befallen Israel through his counsel, and he returned to take payment from the elders of Midian.
Or HaChaim
ואת מלכי..חמשת מלכי מדין, "and the kings of Midian….-the five kings of Midian." The reason that the Torah spelled out their number (i.e. 5), something we had already counted ourselves, was to tell us that they were all killed next to one another so that all the soldiers could count the bodies of these five kings whom they had slain. The reason why the Torah repeats that they were kings may have been to tell us that they were killed by soldiers who knew full well that these five men were kings. They were not the victims of random killings. הרגו בחרב, they killed by the sword. The Torah had to write the word הרגו, "they killed" once more when describing the manner of Bileam's death though we gleaned his information already from the context (end of verse 7). The reason is best understood when we read Sifri where it is stated that Bileam had gone there to collect his fee for the diabolical advice he had given Balak with such stunning results. According to Sifri, at that moment Bileam was on the way to advise the Israelites not to make war against Midian saying to them that if they had been unable to overcome Midian when the were able to field 600.000 fighting men, now that they numbered fewer they would certainly not be able to do so. According to the Sifri that the Israelites killed Bileam as a response to his effrontery, he was killed before the battle against the Midianites had taken place. This was all part of G'd's clever plot. He wanted to demonstrate that Bileam did not die because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time, but that He, G'd, had arranged things so that the Israelites would have an excuse to single him out for killing. Had the Torah not repeated the word הרגו unnecessarily, we would not have been able to deduce this from the text. The emphasis on the word בחרב, "by the sword," is to show that all his sorcery did not help Bileam and instead of their "killing" only his alter ego they killed his body.
Chizkuni
על חלליהם, “with their other slain comrades;” the word על here means: “with,” as for instance in Leviticus 25,31. (Compare what our author explains on that verse). Compare also על עולות התמיד in Numbers 28,15, as well as Exodus 35,20 האנשים על הנשים, “the men with the women,” and numerous other examples. ואת בלעם, “and Bileam;” after Bileam had returned from Moav to Aram Naharayim, his home base, he traveled toMidian in order to collect a fee from the elders of Midian who had been in the first delegation Balak had sent to him to ask him to curse the Israelites. When he heard that a great plague had befallen the Israelites, he wanted to cash in on this, claiming that he had been the instrument that brought this about, by having suggested that the Moabite women seduce their males into promiscuity by sleeping with their women. (Ibn Ezra) An alternate interpretation explaining Bileam’s sudden presence amongst the Midianites: when he had explained to the Moabites that the reason that he was unable to curse these people effectively was because they had been so loyal to their G-d and His Torah, (Numbers 23,21) the Moabites took the hint and succeeded to lead them into sin. Having succeeded in this, they sent Bileam another invitation stressing that now he could curse them effectively. He followed their advice and was killed as a result.
Rabbeinu Bahya
ואת צור, “and Tzur;” the father of Cozbi חמשת מלכי מדין, “the five kings of Midian.” The reason the Torah wrote the word חמשת מלכי מדין as if mentioning their names did not already tell us that there five such kings, is to tell us that all five were of one mind concerning their hostility against Israel. The construct form חמשת reflected this. The reason that Bileam was there was that he had detoured on his way home, (a long way off from Aram) in order to collect his reward for having been the cause of the 24,000 men of Shimon killed by the plague, Bileam had mocked the Israelites saying: “if you could not go to war against Midian when there were 600,000 of you, how can you now expect to defeat them with only 12,000 men?” He had tried to undermine their self-confidence (compare Tanchuma Mattot 3). [The challenge by Bileam reported here is not found in Tanchuma. Ed.]
And the children of Israel took captive the women of Midian and their little ones; and all their cattle, and all their flocks, and all their goods, they took for a prey.
verse value 4531
Insights
Verse structure: 9 words, 61 letters. The shortest word is "Midian" (מִדְיָ֖ן, 4 letters) and the longest is "and·all·their·beasts" (וְאֵ֨ת כׇּל־בְּהֶמְתָּ֧ם, 10 letters). 5 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "women·of" (אֶת־נְשֵׁ֥י), "and·their·noncombatants" (וְאֶת־טַפָּ֑ם), "and·all·their·beasts" (וְאֵ֨ת כׇּל־בְּהֶמְתָּ֧ם). 9 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "children·of·Israel" (root בן, 499x in Numbers); "women·of" (root אשה, 57x in Numbers). First appearance of the root בזז ("they·seized·as·booty") in Numbers. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'and·their·noncombatants', dividing the verse into phrases of 5 and 4 words. Full calculation: וַיִּשְׁבּ֧וּ [and·they·took·captive] (324) + בְנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֛ל [children·of·Israel] (603) + אֶת־נְשֵׁ֥י [women·of] (761) + מִדְיָ֖ן [Midian] (104) + וְאֶת־טַפָּ֑ם [and·their·noncombatants] (536) + וְאֵ֨ת כׇּל־בְּהֶמְתָּ֧ם [and·all·their·beasts] (944) + וְאֶת־כׇּל־מִקְנֵהֶ֛ם [and·all·their·herds] (692) + וְאֶת־כׇּל־חֵילָ֖ם [and·all·their·wealth] (545) + בָּזָֽזוּ [they·seized·as·booty] (22) = 4531.
Onkelos
And the children of Israel took captive the women of Midian and their little ones, and all their cattle and all their flocks and all their possessions they plundered.
Ibn Ezra
"Their wealth" — a general term that encompasses gold, silver, copper, iron, and garments.
And all their cities in the places in which they dwelt, and all their encampments, they burnt with fire.
verse value 3577
Insights
Verse structure: 5 words, 34 letters. The shortest word is "by·fire" (בָּאֵֽשׁ, 3 letters) and the longest is "and·all·their·towns" (וְאֵ֤ת כׇּל־עָרֵיהֶם֙, 10 letters). 4 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "and·all·their·towns" (וְאֵ֤ת כׇּל־עָרֵיהֶם֙), "in·their·settlements" (בְּמ֣וֹשְׁבֹתָ֔ם), "and·all·their·encampments" (וְאֵ֖ת כׇּל־טִֽירֹתָ֑ם). 5 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "and·all·their·towns" (root עיר, 46x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'and·all·their·encampments', dividing the verse into phrases of 3 and 2 words. Full calculation: וְאֵ֤ת כׇּל־עָרֵיהֶם֙ [and·all·their·towns] (782) + בְּמ֣וֹשְׁבֹתָ֔ם [in·their·settlements] (790) + וְאֵ֖ת כׇּל־טִֽירֹתָ֑ם [and·all·their·encampments] (1116) + שָׂרְפ֖וּ [they·burned] (586) + בָּאֵֽשׁ [by·fire] (303) = 3577.
Onkelos
And all their cities in their settlements, and all their houses of idol worship, they burned with fire.
Rashi
טירתם means the place of their scribes (notarii) — a term which is denoting the dwelling-place of their priests, those well acquainted with their laws (cf. Siphre). Another explanation is that it means the place of their princes, just as “the lords of the Philistines” (I Samuel 6:4) is translated in the Targum by “the טורני of the Philistines” (Sifrei Bamidbar 157:5).
Ibn Ezra
"And all their towns in their settlements" — a general category followed by a specific one. "Their encampments" — the palaces of the kings.
Targum Yonatan
and all their towns, the houses, of their rulers, and the high places of their houses of worship, they burned with fire;.
And they took all the spoil, and all the prey, both of man and of beast.
verse value 1699
Insights
Verse structure: 5 words, 34 letters. The shortest word is "in·the·human" (בָּאָדָ֖ם, 4 letters) and the longest is "and·all·the·booty" (וְאֵ֖ת כׇּל־הַמַּלְק֑וֹחַ, 11 letters). 2 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "all·the·spoil" (אֶת־כׇּל־הַשָּׁלָ֔ל), "and·all·the·booty" (וְאֵ֖ת כׇּל־הַמַּלְק֑וֹחַ). 5 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "and·all·the·booty" (root כל, 98x in Numbers); "and·they·took" (root לקח, 72x in Numbers); "in·the·human" (root אדם, 25x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'and·all·the·booty', dividing the verse into phrases of 3 and 2 words. Full calculation: וַיִּקְחוּ֙ [and·they·took] (130) + אֶת־כׇּל־הַשָּׁלָ֔ל [all·the·spoil] (816) + וְאֵ֖ת כׇּל־הַמַּלְק֑וֹחַ [and·all·the·booty] (646) + בָּאָדָ֖ם [in·the·human] (47) + וּבַבְּהֵמָֽה [and·in·the·animal] (60) = 1699.
Onkelos
And they took all the spoil and all the captive-booty — of humans and of animals.
Rashi
ויקחו את כל השלל AND THEY TOOK ALL THE SPOIL…[AND THEY BROUGHT IT TO MOSES] — This tells us that they were pious and righteous men and were not suspected of robbery by stretching out their hand against the spoil without permission, for it is said, “they took all the spoil … [and brought it to Moses]” (Sifrei Bamidbar 157:5). About them it is expressed in the traditional literature (Songs 6:6): “They teeth are like a flock of ewes … [whereof all are perfect]’ — i.e., even thy soldiers are all righteous (see Rashi Songs 4:2) שלל are movables consisting of clothing and ornaments. בז is booty of movables that are not ornaments. מלקוח are men and cattle, but in any passage where שבי is written in association with מלקוח, the term שבי applies to men and מלקוח to cattle alone.
Ibn Ezra
"And they took all the plunder and all the booty" — a general term covering both humans and animals.
Rabbeinu Bahya
ואת כל המלקוח באדם ובבהמה, “and all the captives, humans and animals.” Whenever the Torah does not mention the words שבי and מלקוח separately, the former refers to human captives, the latter to animals captured. When only the expression מלקוח is used it includes both humans and animals. (Rashi and Ibn Ezra).
And they brought the captives, and the prey, and the spoil, to Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and to the congregation of the children of Israel, to the camp, to the plains of Moab, which are by the Jordan at Jericho.
verse value 6006
Insights
Verse structure: 15 words, 88 letters. Verse gematria: 6006 is divisible by 26, the value of the divine name Hashem. The shortest word is "that" (אֲשֶׁ֖ר, 3 letters) and the longest is "and·the·booty" (וְאֶת־הַמַּלְק֛וֹחַ, 9 letters). 5 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "and·to·community·of" (וְאֶל־עֲדַ֣ת), "the·captives" (אֶת־הַשְּׁבִ֧י), "and·the·booty" (וְאֶת־הַמַּלְק֛וֹחַ). 15 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "Israelites" (root בן, 499x in Numbers); "that" (root אשר, 223x in Numbers); "to·Moses" (root משה, 217x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'to·the·camp', dividing the verse into phrases of 10 and 5 words.
Onkelos
And they brought to Moses and to Eleazar the priest and to the assembly of the children of Israel the captives and the captive-booty and the spoil — to the camp, to the plains of Moab that are by the Jordan of Jericho.
Ibn Ezra
"The captives" — this specifies humans. "The plunder" — these are the garments.
Rabbeinu Bahya
ויביאו אל משה, “they brought them to Moses.” The Torah compliments the 12,000 men none of whom touched the loot without first having obtained permission to do so. This is what Solomon referred to in Song of Songs 6,6 when he said (concerning the Jewish people) ”your teeth are like a flock of young lambs.” He meant that even the soldiers, i.e. the teeth of the Jewish people are as disciplined as a flock of ewes. They are all righteous (Shir Hashirim Rabbah 4,5).
Rashbam
את השבי, human beings; ואת המלקוח, livestock; ואת השלל, inert portable objects.
And Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and all the princes of the congregation, went forth to meet them outside the camp.
verse value 2442
Insights
Verse structure: 9 words, 47 letters. The shortest word is "Moses" (מֹשֶׁ֨ה, 3 letters) and the longest is "and·all·chieftains·of" (וְכׇל־נְשִׂיאֵ֥י, 8 letters). 1 word in this verse appears nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "and·all·chieftains·of" (וְכׇל־נְשִׂיאֵ֥י). 9 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "Moses" (root משה, 217x in Numbers); "the·community" (root עדה, 79x in Numbers); "priest" (root כהן, 71x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'to·meet·them', dividing the verse into phrases of 7 and 2 words. Full calculation: וַיֵּ֨צְא֜וּ [and·they·came·out] (113) + מֹשֶׁ֨ה [Moses] (345) + וְאֶלְעָזָ֧ר [and·Eleazar] (314) + הַכֹּהֵ֛ן [priest] (80) + וְכׇל־נְשִׂיאֵ֥י [and·all·chieftains·of] (427) + הָעֵדָ֖ה [the·community] (84) + לִקְרָאתָ֑ם [to·meet·them] (771) + אֶל־מִח֖וּץ [to·outside·of] (175) + לַֽמַּחֲנֶֽה [the·camp] (133) = 2442.
Onkelos
And Moses and Eleazar the priest and all the leaders of the assembly went out to meet them, outside the camp.
Rashi
ויצאו משה ואלעזר הכהן AND MOSES AND ELEAZAR THE PRIEST WENT FORTH, because they saw the young men of Israel going out to snatch the spoil (Sifrei Bamidbar 157:5).
Chizkuni
ויצאו משה ואלעזר הכהן, “Moses and the High Priest Elazar went out to welcome back the soldiers (before they reached the camp);”they could not admit them to the camp because having killed human beings they had all become ritually impure and required seven days of purification.
Rashbam
אל מחוץ למחנה, so that the returning soldiers would not immediately enter the camp, seeing they had become contaminated through contact with dead Midianites.
And Moses was wroth with the officers of the host, the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, who came from the service of the war.
verse value 2947
Insights
Verse structure: 12 words, 52 letters. The shortest word is "upon" (עַ֖ל, 2 letters) and the longest is "the·thousands" (הָאֲלָפִים֙, 6 letters). 2 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "and·he·became·angry" (וַיִּקְצֹ֣ף), "the·army" (הֶחָ֑יִל). 12 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "Moses" (root משה, 217x in Numbers); "upon" (root על, 128x in Numbers); "commanders·of" (root פקד, 103x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'the·army', dividing the verse into phrases of 5 and 7 words. Full calculation: וַיִּקְצֹ֣ף [and·he·became·angry] (286) + מֹשֶׁ֔ה [Moses] (345) + עַ֖ל [upon] (100) + פְּקוּדֵ֣י [commanders·of] (200) + הֶחָ֑יִל [the·army] (53) + שָׂרֵ֤י [officers·of] (510) + הָאֲלָפִים֙ [the·thousands] (166) + וְשָׂרֵ֣י [and·officers·of] (516) + הַמֵּא֔וֹת [the·hundreds] (452) + הַבָּאִ֖ים [who·had·come·back] (58) + מִצְּבָ֥א [from·campaign·of] (133) + הַמִּלְחָמָֽה [the·war] (128) = 2947.
Onkelos
And Moses was angry with the commanders appointed over the army — the officers of thousands and the officers of hundreds — who had come from the campaign of battle.
Rashi
ויקצף משה על פקודי החיל AND MOSES WAS ANGRY WITH THE פקודי החיל — WITH THOSE APPOINTED OVER THE ARMY — This serves to teach you that every misdeed of a generation is attributed to the leaders since these have the power to protest (Sifrei Bamidbar 157:5).
Ibn Ezra
"Over the commanders of the force" — from the same root as "Hashem will appoint" (yifkod); it is like pekidei ha-ḥayil; and similarly the word keru'ei functions like keri'ei. "The commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds" — these numbered one hundred and thirty-two.
Rabbeinu Bahya
ויקצוף משה על פקודי החיל, “Moses became angry at the commanders of the troops.” The word פקודי is the same as in Isaiah 24,21 יפקוד ה', “G’d will punish,” as distinct from other meanings of this word, such as “counting.” שרי האלפים ושרי המאות, “the chiefs of thousands and the chiefs of hundreds.” A total of 132 men. The verse teaches that misconduct by the common people is always blamed on their leaders, the ones who have the authority and power to stop such misconduct by the people and who fail to do so (Sifri on our verse).
Tur HaArokh
ויקצוף על פקודי החיל, “He was angry at the commanders of the troops.” He did not display anger at Pinchas seeing that Hashem Himself had granted him the covenant of peace.
And Moses said to them: "Have you saved all the women alive?
verse value 1368 — אֲלֵיהֶ֖ם = 86 (Elohim)
Insights
Verse structure: 5 words, 25 letters. Notable word values: "to·them" (אֲלֵיהֶ֖ם) = 86, equal to Elohim. Verse gematria: 1368 is divisible by 18, the value of chai ('life'). The shortest word is "Moses" (מֹשֶׁ֑ה, 3 letters) and the longest is "have·you·spared" (הַֽחִיִּיתֶ֖ם, 6 letters). 2 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "have·you·spared" (הַֽחִיִּיתֶ֖ם), "every·female" (כׇּל־נְקֵבָֽה). 5 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "and·he·said" (root אמר, 246x in Numbers); "Moses" (root משה, 217x in Numbers); "to·them" (root אל, 85x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'Moses', dividing the verse into phrases of 3 and 2 words. Full calculation: וַיֹּ֥אמֶר [and·he·said] (257) + אֲלֵיהֶ֖ם [to·them] (86) + מֹשֶׁ֑ה [Moses] (345) + הַֽחִיִּיתֶ֖ם [have·you·spared] (473) + כׇּל־נְקֵבָֽה [every·female] (207) = 1368.
Onkelos
And Moses said to them: "Have you kept all the females alive?"
Ibn Ezra
"Have you let every female live?" — the meaning is even one; similarly, "there is no" implies totality. Yet it is also possible to take it at face value, meaning they let every female live, and many indeed did so.
Sforno
?!החיים כל נקבה. Although it was a rule that in all wars not involving the seven Canaanite nations women, children, and livestock would be spared as we know from Deuteronomy 20,14, these soldiers should have at least killed the women whom they personally knew, seeing it had been the women who had caused the death of 24.000 Israelites by seducing them. [we have no evidence that any Midianite women seduced the Israelites with the exception of Cosbi, a Midianite princess. Numbers 25,1 reports only about sexual misconduct with the Moabite women. Ed.]
Chizkuni
כל נקבה, “any female;”(among the prisoners taken); this is not the only time when the word כל, does not mean: “each” or “all;” we have other examples such as in Exodus 20,10: לא תעשה כל מלאכה, ”do not perform any menial work;” or Exodus 22,21: כל אלמנה ויתום, “any widow or orphan.” There are quite a few more examples that could be cited.
Kli Yakar
“You have kept alive all the females, etc.” It appears that this error came to them [the soldiers] because they already knew the commandment An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter [the congregation of the Lord], where [the Talmud explains] “an Ammonite but not an Ammonitess” (Yevamot 69a), because it is not the way of women to greet with bread and water. And it is known that the main reason for their distancing [from the congregation and not being allowed to convert] was because they caused Israel to sin through promiscuity, yet the Torah attributed it to their not greeting [Israel] with bread and water, because one thing depends on the other — they did not greet them with bread and water so that they would be hungry and thirsty from the hardship of the journey, and they would be forced to eat from their idol sacrifices and drink wine from their flasks in order to habituate them to immorality, as is concluded in Sanhedrin (106a). And even though the women were the main actors in the promiscuity, nevertheless the women were not distanced [from the congregation] because this entire action was done by the men who prostituted their daughters and forced them into promiscuity, as whatever they did was by the command of their husbands or fathers. From here came their error in saying that just as the women of Ammon and Moab were not distanced from entering the congregation of the Lord even though they were the agents of promiscuity, so too in the war against Midian, they were not commanded to kill the women because they were forced in everything they did. And Moses said to them, Behold, these are the ones, etc. Granted, the commandment regarding Ammon and Moab for generations is justly not to penalize the women for the reason that was explained, but regarding Midian, where you were commanded to kill them, it is all the more logical that the women are included, in the same way that it is stated And you shall kill the animal (Leviticus 20:15). The reason is because a stumbling block came to a person through it. Similarly with these women, for they themselves were a stumbling stone and obstacle for the children of Israel, and you should have learned from the law regarding the animal to apply it to the law regarding these women. And above in Parashat Pinchas (25:17) we explained why [God] did not command to destroy Moab, because the Children of Israel initiated the corruption and went to the daughters of Moab to seduce them, as it is written (Leviticus 25:1), And the people began to commit harlotry with the daughters of Moab. But the daughters of Midian are enemies to you, for they came to you, as we have proven all this with evidence. And it is possible that regarding this, Moses said, to negate their error, Behold, these women were [the cause] for the Children of Israel, for they went to the Children of Israel to seduce them, and they are not similar to the daughters of Moab. Therefore, the [Moabite] women were not prohibited from entering the congregation of the Lord, because they were not the initiators. But the daughters of Midian — behold, these women were [the cause] for the Children of Israel — they were the initiators of the corruption, as stated.
Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to act treacherously — to commit a trespass against Hashem — in the matter of Peor, and so the plague was among the congregation of Hashem.
verse value 3335 — יְהֹוָֽה = 26 (Hashem)
Insights
Verse structure: 14 words, 63 letters. Notable word values: "Hashem" (יְהֹוָֽה) = 26, the value of the divine name Hashem. The shortest word is "behold" (הֵ֣ן, 2 letters) and the longest is "in·the·matter·of·Peor" (עַל־דְּבַר־פְּע֑וֹר, 9 letters). 2 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "to·induce·trespass" (לִמְסׇר־מַ֥עַל), "in·the·community·of" (בַּעֲדַ֥ת). The root הן appears 2 times in this verse. 11 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "for·sons·of" (root בן, 499x in Numbers); "against·Hashem" (root יהוה, 389x in Numbers); "Israelites" (root ישראל, 183x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'in·the·matter·of·Peor', dividing the verse into phrases of 10 and 4 words. Full calculation: הֵ֣ן [behold] (55) + הֵ֜נָּה [they] (60) + הָי֨וּ [they·were] (21) + לִבְנֵ֤י [for·sons·of] (92) + יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ [Israelites] (541) + בִּדְבַ֣ר [at·the·bidding·of] (208) + בִּלְעָ֔ם [Balaam] (142) + לִמְסׇר־מַ֥עַל [to·induce·trespass] (470) + בַּיהֹוָ֖ה [against·Hashem] (28) + עַל־דְּבַר־פְּע֑וֹר [in·the·matter·of·Peor] (662) + וַתְּהִ֥י [and·it·was] (421) + הַמַּגֵּפָ֖ה [the·plague] (133) + בַּעֲדַ֥ת [in·the·community·of] (476) + יְהֹוָֽה [Hashem] (26) = 3335.
Onkelos
"Behold, it was they who, by the counsel of Balaam, caused the children of Israel to act treacherously — a betrayal before Hashem — regarding the matter of Peor, so that there was a plague in the assembly of Hashem."
Rashi
הן הנה BEHOLD, THESE [WERE AN ENTICEMENT TO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL] — These: this word tells us that they recognised them, saying, ‘This is the woman through whom so-and-so fell into sin” (Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 785). בדבר בלעם [THESE WERE AN ENTICEMENT] THROUGH THE WORD OF BALAAM — He had said to them: Even if you bring together all the hosts that are in the world you cannot overcome them. Are you perhaps more numerous than the Egyptians who had six hundred chosen chariots? Come and I will give you counsel: Their God has a hatred of immorality, etc., as it is related in the chapter חלק (Sanhedrin 106a) and in Sifrei Bamidbar 157:6.
Or HaChaim
הן הנה….בדבר בלעם, "these are the very ones…in the affair with Bileam, etc." We must try and understand what Moses meant when he referred to "these are the very ones, etc." Besides, why was Moses so long-winded in his reference to Bileam and (subsequently) to פעור. The matter will become clear once we understand why both Pinchas and the pious people who had gone with him committed such an error. Pinchas and his colleagues reasoned that the women who had played temptresses at the time had acted under duress, only carrying out their husbands' orders. Unmarried girls were similarly under duress having been ordered by their fathers to do whatever they had done to seduce the Israelites. Accordingly, Pinchas did not think that these women were guilty of death. Moses appreciated the considerations which had prompted Pinchas and his soldiers. This is why he pointed out that Pinchas and his colleagues would have been correct if the only thing these women had been guilty of was to cause the Israelites to indulge in illicit sex. However, in addition to their carrying out their husbands' and their fathers' orders respectively, they had committed another sin, one which they committed out of their own free will, namely that of Peor, i.e. getting the Israelites to worship that deity. According to Bamidbar Rabbah 20,23 these women prevailed on the Israelites to perform acts of obeisance to the image of Peor before letting them indulge their carnal desires. For this sin they were guilty of death, and this is what Moses referred to when he said הן הנה, i.e. they themselves (without outside pressure) initiated this part of the seduction. בדבר בלעם, at the instigation of Bileam, i.e. through the advice of Bileam to have the women offer themselves as sexual partners to the Israelites. If you examine the writings of our sages on the subject you will find that they attribute to Bileam only the advice that the Israelites be seduced sexually. Bileam never said that these women were to seduce the Israelites to worship or appear to worship any idols. By refusing to sleep with the Israelites unless the latter had first performed an act of idolatry, these women were guilty of the מעל בשם, the trespass against the Eternal G'd which our verse speaks about.
Chizkuni
בדבר בלעם למסור מעל, “to break faith (with G-d) through Bileam’s counsel;” he had taught these women how to lead the Israelites into grievous sin. (see verse 18 for details)
Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that has known man by lying with him.
verse value 3053
Insights
Verse structure: 10 words, 41 letters. The shortest word is "among·the·noncombatants" (בַּטָּ֑ף, 3 letters) and the longest is "and·every·woman" (וְכׇל־אִשָּׁ֗ה, 6 letters). Words sharing gematria 214: slay!, slay!. 3 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "among·the·noncombatants" (בַּטָּ֑ף), "and·every·woman" (וְכׇל־אִשָּׁ֗ה), "carnally" (לְמִשְׁכַּ֥ב). The root הרג appears 2 times in this verse. 8 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "man" (root איש, 130x in Numbers); "and·every·woman" (root אשה, 57x in Numbers); "every·male" (root זכר, 23x in Numbers). First appearance of the root משכב ("carnally") in Numbers. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'among·the·noncombatants', dividing the verse into phrases of 4 and 6 words. Full calculation: וְעַתָּ֕ה [and·now] (481) + הִרְג֥וּ [slay!] (214) + כׇל־זָכָ֖ר [every·male] (277) + בַּטָּ֑ף [among·the·noncombatants] (91) + וְכׇל־אִשָּׁ֗ה [and·every·woman] (362) + יֹדַ֥עַת [knowing] (484) + אִ֛ישׁ [man] (311) + לְמִשְׁכַּ֥ב [carnally] (392) + זָכָ֖ר [male] (227) + הֲרֹֽגוּ [slay!] (214) = 3053.
Onkelos
"And now, kill every male among the little ones, and every woman who has known a man by lying with a male, kill."
Rashi
וכל אשה ידעת איש AND EVERY WOMAN WHO KNOWS MAN — i.e., who is fitted for cohabitation, even though she has never experienced it (Sifrei Bamidbar 157:6). As a test they made them (the women) pass in front of the Golden Plate, and if anyone was fitted for cohabitation her face turned green (Yevamot 60b). הרגו [AND EVERY WOMAN THAT MAY KNOW MAN] … KILL — Why does it say this word again after having used it in the first half of the sentence? It is to show where the pause comes in the paragraph. So is the opinion of R. Ishmael (Sifrei Bamidbar 157:6). For if I read (omitting the word הֲרֹגוּ), הרגו כל זכר בטף וכל אשה ידעת איש ... וכל הטף בנשים וגו׳ “Now therefore kill every male among the little ones … and every woman … and all the little ones among the women … keep alive”, I would not know whether they were to kill “every woman” together with the “males among the little ones” or were to keep them alive together with the “little ones among the women’. On this account הרגו is stated (added) at the end of the verse.
Ibn Ezra
"Children" — a general term for any young child, male or female.
Or HaChaim
ועתה הרגו….הרוגו. "and now kill!…..kill." Why did the Torah have to repeat the command to kill separately for young male Midianites and for females who were no longer virgins? Sifri quotes Rabbi Yishmael as saying that the second הרוגו was necessary to separate this verse from the following verse. Had the Torah not written this word in between I would have understood the words וכל אשה in our verse as capable of referring either to what is written in verse 18 or to what is written in our verse. This seems problematical. If Rabbi Yishmael were correct, why did the Torah not interpose a statement such as החיו לכם, "keep alive for yourselves," as it did at the end of verse 18? If the Torah had done this there would have been no need to write the word הרוגו twice! Perhaps the Torah was afraid to write החיו לכם at this juncture as it would have appeared then that Moses commanded the Israelites to keep these Midianite virgins alive. Actually, Moses only gave permission to keep them alive. This is why the words וכל הטף introduced verse 18 to inform the Israelites of the status of these survivors, not to order them to keep these people alive. We also need to understand the word הרגו at the beginning of verse 17. Why did the Torah not content itself with the word הרוגו at the end of this verse? Perhaps the Torah wanted to write the words ועתה הרגו together to teach the people that the rehabilitation of the nation which had been the objective of the whole campaign could not be achieved until the people mentioned in our verse had been killed. The sooner this would be accomplished, i.e. ועתה, "now," the sooner would the Israelites be completely rehabilitated concerning the sin at Shittim. Alternatively, the Torah may have wanted to write together the words הרגו לטף on the one hand and הרוגו לאשה, to indicate that we are dealing with two separate commandments. Or, the words simply allude to the fact that these people should be executed forthwith, i.e. ועתה.
Chizkuni
!וכל אשה יודעת איש למשכב זכר הרוגו, “and kill any woman that has known a man by having carnal relations with him!”Rashi questions why the Torah had to repeat the command: “kill” in this verse. He bases himself on Sifri, item 157, where it is explained that without this repetition we might have misunderstood due to the Torah also having stated that certain categories of females were allowed to live. [In other words, we would not have known if to understand the word: כל as “each” or as “any.”] The repetition makes it clear that the meaning is: “any.”An alternate explanation for why the word: הרוגו, “Kill!” had to be repeated at the end of this verse. If any woman old enough had to be killed even though she was still a virgin, surely a woman who had already experienced carnal relations would have had to be killed also! We have a rule that logic is not sufficient to allow us to apply a penalty to someone guilty of such. Therefore the Torah had to spell out that such women had to be killed, and we could not simply use our logic to act upon in such a case. If you were to reason that the Torah could have avoided using this word at the beginning of the verse and written as follows: 'ועתה כל זכר וכל אשה יודעת איש וגו, “and therefore now, every male and every woman who has had carnal knowledge of a man, etc.,” the problem we would have had if the Torah had written this would be that we might have thought that as long as a minor male, not yet capable of indulging his libido, would not become liable to death until he had done so. We would have to deliberately present him with this opportunity in order to justify executing him and his partner. Considering all this, the Torah wrote: ועתה הרגו כל זכר בטף, “therefore kill now every male amongst the children,” i.e. immediately, without waiting, and kill every female if examination proves that she is no longer a virgin, seeing that this is proof that she had carnal knowledge of a male.
Rabbeinu Bahya
וכל אשה יודעת איש למשכב זכר הרגו, “and every woman fit to know a man by lying with a male, you shall kill.” After Moses had started by saying: “kill every male minor, he now added separately: “kill the women, etc.” There is a reason that he had to use the word: “kill” twice. If the Torah had only written: “kill every male minor,” I would have thought that the second half of the verse i.e. “all the female minors who have not slept with a man you may let live,” included even females who were old enough to sleep with men but had not done so. In order to avoid such misunderstanding the Torah inserted the word הרגו at the end of verse 17 to separate these two categories of female minors. On the other hand, if the Torah had only written verse 18, the meaning of the instruction would have been: ועתה כל זכר בטף וכל אשה יודעת איש למשכב זכר וגו', “and now every male minor and every female minor old enough to lie with a male, etc.” would have meant that males above the age of nine years (when they are perceived as capable of intercourse) had to be killed. This is why these instructions had to be worded the way they were to avoid misunderstanding. Male children, even if infants, had to be killed (Sifri). You may well ask how the Israelites could determine which child fitted which criterion? We are told in Yevamot 60 that each child walked past the High Priest wearing his golden headband whereupon the faces of the girls who had had sexual experience turned green. This is the reason we were taught that a disease called דרקון is an indication that the afflicted person was an idolater. According to some, examination by walking by the ציץ was effective only for Gentiles, whereas Jewish girls would be seated on a wine casket if one wanted to determine their virginity. If a certain odour would be emitted this was considered proof that the girl in question was not a virgin. Rav Kahane derived the inadmissibility of the ציץ test for Jewish girls from Exodus 28,38 where the Torah describes the function of the golden headband as “it shall be on his forehead (High Priest) always, to bring them favour before Hashem.” The function of the ציץ did not include incriminating Jewish girls. Rav Ashi added that the word להם in that verse extends the beneficial function of said golden headband to Israelites only.
Kli Yakar
And now kill every male among the children. What is the relevance of the children here, since Moses’ anger was only about the women? Additionally, why the repetition of kill [in the Hebrew]? It appears that Moses said to them: “You have kept all the females alive — both those fit for marriage and those who are not. Why didn’t you realize on your own that you would be suspected of sparing the women either because you had already committed fornication with them or because you intended to do so in the future? And now, even if I tell you to kill the females, you will still not escape this suspicion, for people will say: ‘Had he not commanded you a second time, you would not have killed them.’Therefore, I tell you to kill every male among the children first, and afterward the females. Then people will say that you came to consult about both — what should be done with the children and the women. Since with the children there is no reason to suspect you, people will certainly say that the reason you didn’t kill the children [initially] was because you were uncertain about them and came to consult Moses. They will say the same about the women, and in this way you will escape suspicion.”This is why he said kill and kill [twice, using two different forms], because one case is not like the other — for the children and the women each have their own separate reason [for being killed]. The women are killed justifiably because they are the ones who, etc., while the children are killed in order to remove you from suspicion. This is why they said at the end: Not one man among us is missing [due to sin], for they said: “We are innocent of this suspicion.” And some say that he said: “And now, immediately and forthwith, kill every male among the young children.” For this matter does not require deliberation (Berakhot 40) and delay, but every woman who has known a man — kill them, but not immediately, rather after it becomes known to you through the tzitz [the High Priest’s golden headplate] which ones are fit for a husband. And from here there is proof for what we wrote above in Parshat Tetzaveh (28:36) that the tzitz atoned for promiscuity, as it is said, You had the forehead of a promiscuous woman (Jeremiah 3:3), and on it [the tzitz] was written “Holy to the Lord,” for in every place where there is a fence around sexuality, there you will find holiness. And for this reason they passed them before the tzitz, the place of holiness, which caused the face of every woman fit for intercourse to turned green, and this is a precious reason.
But all the women children, that have not known man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.
verse value 1882
Insights
Verse structure: 9 words, 34 letters. The shortest word is "and·every" (וְכֹל֙, 3 letters) and the longest is "not·have·known" (לֹא־יָדְע֖וּ, 6 letters). 3 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "the·noncombatants" (הַטַּ֣ף), "among·the·women" (בַּנָּשִׁ֔ים), "spare!" (הַחֲי֖וּ). 9 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "that" (root אשר, 223x in Numbers); "and·every" (root כל, 98x in Numbers); "for·you" (root לכם, 88x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'male', dividing the verse into phrases of 7 and 2 words. Full calculation: וְכֹל֙ [and·every] (56) + הַטַּ֣ף [the·noncombatants] (94) + בַּנָּשִׁ֔ים [among·the·women] (402) + אֲשֶׁ֥ר [that] (501) + לֹא־יָדְע֖וּ [not·have·known] (121) + מִשְׁכַּ֣ב [carnal·relations] (362) + זָכָ֑ר [male] (227) + הַחֲי֖וּ [spare!] (29) + לָכֶֽם [for·you] (90) = 1882.
Onkelos
"But all the young girls among the women who have not known lying with a male, keep alive for yourselves."
Or HaChaim
החיו לכם, "keep alive for yourselves." The meaning is that those who were allowed to live should convert to Judaism and only when they were Jewish would they qualify for the description חיים, "to be alive," as then they would be allowed to get married and to remain "alive" by means of the children they would bear.
Chizkuni
וכל הטף בנשים אשר לא ידעו איש וגו, “but any children among the women who have not had carnal knowledge, etc.” you shall let live for your benefit. This formulation prompted Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai to state that a female convert who has not attained the age of three years and a day, is fit to marry a priest. [as she could not have been contaminated through carnal intercourse] (Sifri on this verse)
Targum Yonatan
but every female child you shall stand before the Crown of Holiness, (the priest's tiara,) and look upon her: she who is not a virgin will be pallid in the face, but she who is a virgin child will blush in the face, like fire; them you shall spare.
And encamp outside the camp seven days; whoever has killed any person, and whoever has touched any slain, purify yourselves on the third day and on the seventh day, you and your captives.
verse value 5414
Insights
Verse structure: 19 words, 78 letters. The shortest word is "every·one" (כֹּל֩, 2 letters) and the longest is "shall·cleanse·yourselves" (תִּֽתְחַטְּא֞וּ, 6 letters). Words sharing gematria 64: stay!, and·on·the·day. 3 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "stay!" (חֲנ֛וּ), "touching" (נֹגֵ֣עַ), "and·your·captives" (וּשְׁבִיכֶֽם). The root יום appears 3 times in this verse. 16 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "days" (root יום, 122x in Numbers); "every·one" (root כל, 98x in Numbers); "seven" (root שבע, 85x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'days', dividing the verse into phrases of 6 and 13 words.
Onkelos
"And you, encamp outside the camp for seven days; whoever has slain a person, and whoever has touched a slain body — you shall purify yourselves on the third day and on the seventh day, you and your captives."
Rashi
מחוץ למחנה [AND ABIDE YE] OUTSIDE THE CAMP — This means that they should not enter the forecourt of the Sanctuary (the מחנה שכינה cf. Rashi on 5:2). כל הרג נפש WHOSOEVER HATH KILLED A PERSON — Rabbi Meir said: Scripture is speaking of one who killed a person with a weapon receptive of uncleanness, and Scripture teaches you that “a vessel“ (any object) makes a man unclean through the connection thus formed with the corpse just as though he were actually in contact with the corpse itself. Or perhaps one might think that even though he had shot an arrow and killed him (in which case he was not “connected” by means of the arrow with the man he killed) he was to remain outside the camp as being unclean. It, however, says immediately afterwards “and whosoever hath touched anyone slain”; it compares the person who kills to one who touches a slain person. How is it in the case of one who touches a corpse? He becomes unclean in consequence of the connection with it! So, too, one who kills becomes unclean only through some connection with it (the corpse) (Sifrei Bamidbar 127:1 on Numbers 19:16). תתחטאו PURIFY YOURSELVES by means of the waters of sprinkling, as is the law in the case of other people who have become unclean by reason of a corpse. For even according to the opinion of those who say that the graves of heathens do not render Israelites unclean if they are under the same tent (roof) with them (i.e. the graves), because it is said, (Ezekiel 34:31) “And ye, My sheep, the sheep of My pasture, are men”, which is explained to mean: You alone come under the term “men” (Yevamot 61a) — even such will admit that the corpses of heathens render an Israelite unclean through contact with and through carrying them, because the term אדם, man, is only used in reference to uncleanness caused by a “tent”, since it states, (Numbers 19:14) “If a man (אדם) die in a tent". אתם ושביכם [PURIFY] BOTH YOURSELVES AND YOUR CAPTIVES — Not that heathens are receptive of uncleanness and therefore require sprinkling, but such captives are intended as are of the same category as yourselves. What is the case with you yourselves? You are people in covenant with God! So, too, your captives when they come into the covenant with God, if they become unclean they require sprinkling (Sifrei Bamidbar 157:7).
Ramban
WHOSOEVER HATH KILLED ANY PERSON, AND WHOSOEVER HATH TOUCHED ANY SLAIN, [PURIFY YOURSELVES ON THE THIRD DAY AND ON THE SEVENTH DAY]. “Rabbi Meir says: Scripture is speaking about someone who killed with an object which is susceptible of impurity, and the verse [here] teaches you that the object [i.e., the weapon] renders the person impure through [indirect] contact with the corpse as if he had touched the corpse itself. I might think that even if he shot an arrow at him and killed him [the same law applies]; Scripture therefore says, and whosoever hath killed any person [and whosoever hath touched any slain]. Thus it compares a person who kills to a person who touches. Just as he who touches [is rendered impure] by virtue of that contact [with the corpse], so is the person who kills [rendered impure] by virtue of his contact [with the corpse, effected through the weapon he holds in his hand, which contact is non-existent when he shoots an arrow and kills him].” Thus far is the language of Rashi. But his words are not clear to me. For if he killed with an object which is susceptible to impurity but can be [made pure] by immersion, then the person touching it does not contract the seven-day period of impurity, nor does he require the sprinkling [of the waters of purification], since the object [with which he killed] becomes “a father of impurity,” and the person who becomes impure through it, becomes a “first degree of impurity” [who is only required to immerse himself in a ritual pool and he becomes pure the evening of that same day; and since the verse here requires a seven-day period of impurity, it cannot be referring to such a case]. And if [he killed him] with a metal instrument, we have already been taught that a sword [or any metal object with which a person is killed] is exactly the same degree of impurity as the dead person himself, and therefore conveys a seven-days’ impurity [to anyone who touches it, so there is no need for our verse to repeat this principle]. And if the Rabbi [Rashi] is of the opinion that since he [the killer] touched the instrument whilst it was itself still in contact with the corpse [then even if it was not a metal object] it renders him impure for a seven-day period just as [if he had touched] the corpse itself — such [conveyance of a stricter degree of] impurity through [indirect] contact is only a law of the Rabbis when the contact is that of objects with a corpse, as is explained in Tractate Neziruth, Chapter Shloshah Minim. But the language of the Rabbis in the Sifre is as follows: “Rabbi Meir says: Scripture is speaking about someone who killed with an object which is susceptible to impurity, and [teaches us that] it conveys impurity by moving [the corpse, as will be explained further on]. Or I might think that even if he shot an arrow at him and killed him [the same law applies]; Scripture therefore says etc.” And the meaning of [this Sifre] is that Rabbi Meir came to deduce from here [the principle] tha...
Ibn Ezra
"You and your captives" — on account of the glory that dwells among them.
Chizkuni
ואתם חנו חוץ למחנה, “as for you, meanwhile make camp outside the camp of the Israelites;” even though someone contaminated through contact with a corpse is not even permitted to stay within the camp of the ordinary Israelites but even in the area allocated to the Levites, these soldiers did not want to avail themselves of this rule. They were afraid that through physical contact they might cause other people to become ritually impure. There were so many people in the camp that they were unable to not inadvertently touch some of them. As their ritual status was the one called av hatumah, primary source of ritual impurity, this meant that people or vessels touching them would immediately contract a secondary level of impurity at least. תתחטאו, “become purified” Rashi explains that the means of purification was the same as if they had become contaminated by contact with a Jewish corpse, although there are opinions that a gentile corpse does not confer ritual impurity on a Jew. This opinion refers only to impurity conferred by being in the same covered airspace with the corpse. All authorities agree that physical contact with the corpse of a gentile does confer ritual impurity on that Jew. The disagreement revolves around the word אדם, whether it could be applied to gentiles. (Compare Ezekiel 34,31) The situations in which this type of ritual impurity occurs are spelled out in Numbers 19,16 as being: “physical contact with someone slain by the sword, death by natural causes, or contact with a grave or human bone,” as requiring a purification period of seven consecutive days. Seeing that this verse does not mention being in the same tent as the dead body or limb, as did verse 14 there, the fact that separate verses are used, supports the opinion that verse 16 applies also to gentile corpses. ביום השלישי וביום השביעי “on the third day and the seventh day;” The Torah here stresses the ritual to be performed while purifying themselves when unclean due to having killed Midianites, although it did not do so when the Israelite soldiers killed the members of the Canaanite nations during the war of conquest under the leadership of Joshua. The reason is that only 12000 soldiers were involved in the campaign against the Midianites, whereas the entire male population was involved in the war of conquest, and we know from the Talmud that when the majority of the people are in a state of ritual uncleanness due to contact with corpses, the restrictions applying to people in such a condition are waived. [During wartime even the most repugnant gentile foods etc., are permitted to be eaten by the soldiers when this ensures that they have sufficient nourishment.] The same was true even for the civilian population immediately after the conquest of the land of Canaan, as the Torah refers to the people having been given “houses fully stocked with the necessities of life,” i.e. unless they were allowed to use them, why would the Torah describe them as a “gift” from G-d? (Talmud, tractate Chulin, folio 17, based on Deuteronomy 6,11.) In contrast to the wars of conquest in Canaan, the 12000 soldiers conducting the punitive expedition against Midian, campaign which was primarily a religious war, were not allowed to take advantage of what would be permitted during the wars of conquest for the whole nation. They remained bound by all the laws governing personal purity, and this is why they had to undergo the purification rites on the third and seventh day as indicated here. The fact that they did not sustain a single casualty during that campaign is evidence of the different nature of that campaign. Moreover, the cause of the campaign had been the fact that meant thousands of Israelites had contaminated themselves spiritually, by worshipping the Baal Peor. (Numbers 25,3). The soldiers from the punitive campaign undergoing a purification ritual therefore also had a symbolic significance, seeing that not every soldier may have been involved in killing a Midianite. Therefore, even if there was only a doubt about their having touched a Midianite corpse, the Torah decreed the purification process.
Rabbeinu Bahya
ואתם חנו מחוץ למחנה, “as for you, encamp outside the camp, etc.” The returning soldiers were forbidden to enter the courtyard of the Tabernacle in their present condition out of regard for the Shechinah which was present there. כל הורג נפש, “anyone who had killed a person, etc.” it was presumed that he had touched the slain person with his weapon, seeing that the sword confers the same degree of ritual impurity as the corpse itself. The verse therefore excludes people who had killed by shooting arrows and had not subsequently touched the corpse (Sifri Chukat 127). תתחטאו, “purify yourselves!” By means of the ash of the red cow mixed with the water designated for the procedure. Although Gentiles (their corpses) do not confer ritual impurity on a Jew when both are in the same covered airspace at the same time, contact with the corpse of a Gentile does transfer such impurity. אתם ושביכם, “you and your captives.” When the captives would become proselytes and they become ritually impure they require purification rites including being sprinkled with the ash of the red cow.
Tur HaArokh
ואתם חנו מחוץ למחנה...אתם ושביכם, ”as for you, encamp outside the camp, etc., you and your captives.” Also the captives were required to purify their garments that might have been in contact with the people slain during that campaign [after they were dead, of course. Ed.] All the clothing or vessels made of cloth or hide that were in their possession was subject to the same halachic restrictions as if they had belonged to Israelites in the first place. This was in order that these possessions in turn should not be capable of contaminating things belonging to the Israelites. This verse enables us to answer the question raised by everybody, why, after the wars against Sichon and Og when an immense amount of loot was captured, did Moses not already command these procedures of purification that the loot had to undergo. Granted that seeing those nations had been part of the seven Canaanite nations, concerning which in the wars against them even pig’s meat had become permitted, there was no need to purify their pots if even the contents of these pots had been permitted. (Compare ואכלת את שלל אויביך, “you may eat the loot captured from your enemies” Deut. 20,14). The Midianites not being Canaanites, the relaxation of these rules of ritual contamination did not apply to them. Yet another answer to the question raised above, technical in nature, is that when such captured vessels have not been used for over 24 hours, any residue of food remaining in them is presumed to have become repulsive and certainly would not enhance the taste of anything cooked or baked in them now. Therefore, anyone eating from such vessels would not derive any benefit from the forbidden ingredients, the principal reason why these are forbidden. In this instance, the survivors who had been taken prisoners, had still been using their vessels on the way to where the Israelites were encamped, so that the fact that the remnants of food therein had already made the vessels repulsive did not apply. This is also why the Torah did not have to warn that anyone touching a dead body had become ritually contaminated and required seven days of remaining outside the camp of the Levites while undergoing purification rites. This law was well known, but seeing that this legislation was applied for the first time to gentiles, (captives) the Torah reiterated the laws [so that the gentiles would not feel discriminated against? Ed.] Seeing that only 2% of the people had been involved in the campaign it was important to issue the warning that they must not come into contact with their families until after they had completed the purification rites. The reason why these restrictions were not announced in the wars against Sichon and Og, was that when most or all the people have become ritually contaminated many laws of ritual contamination do not apply. [How can you exile most of the population from their homes for a week? Ed.] Seeing that in this instance only 2% of the arms-bearing men took part, things were different.
And as to every garment, and all that is made of skin, and all work of goats' hair, and all things made of wood, you shall purify."
verse value 2155
Insights
Verse structure: 6 words, 40 letters. The shortest word is "goats" (עִזִּ֖ים, 4 letters) and the longest is "and·every·article·of·skin" (וְכׇל־כְּלִי־ע֛וֹר, 9 letters). 4 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "and·every·cloth" (וְכׇל־בֶּ֧גֶד), "and·every·article·of·skin" (וְכׇל־כְּלִי־ע֛וֹר), "and·everything·made·of" (וְכׇל־מַעֲשֵׂ֥ה). The root כלי appears 2 times in this verse. 5 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "and·every·cloth" (root כל, 98x in Numbers); "and·every·article·of·skin" (root כלי, 31x in Numbers); "you·shall·cleanse·yourselves" (root חטא, 28x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'and·every·object·of·wood', dividing the verse into phrases of 5 and 1 words. Full calculation: וְכׇל־בֶּ֧גֶד [and·every·cloth] (65) + וְכׇל־כְּלִי־ע֛וֹר [and·every·article·of·skin] (392) + וְכׇל־מַעֲשֵׂ֥ה [and·everything·made·of] (471) + עִזִּ֖ים [goats] (127) + וְכׇל־כְּלִי־עֵ֑ץ [and·every·object·of·wood] (276) + תִּתְחַטָּֽאוּ [you·shall·cleanse·yourselves] (824) = 2155.
Onkelos
"And every garment and every vessel made of hide, and every article made of goat's hair, and every wooden vessel — you shall purify."
Rashi
וכל מעשה עזים AND EVERYTHING MADE FROM GOATS — everything: this serves to include objects made from the horns, claws and bones (Chullin 25b).
Ibn Ezra
"And every article of goat's hair" — as I have explained. Now a garment that has touched a corpse is ritually impure; the meaning therefore is that every garment among you remains so until you purify yourselves. Or else the word "you shall purify yourselves" (titḥata'u) is used transitively — just as "and you shall mark off for yourselves" where the boundary is the object acted upon.
Chizkuni
וכל בגד, “and any garment;” as that garment might have touched a Midianite corpse.
Rabbeinu Bahya
וכל מעשה עזים, “and everything made of goat’s hair.” This also includes all vessels made from the hooves or the horns or the bones of the animals. All had to stay outside the camp until they had become purified.
And Eleazar the priest said to the men of war that went to the battle: "This is the statute of the Torah which Hashem has commanded Moses:
verse value 4252 — יְהֹוָ֖ה = 26 (Hashem)
Insights
Verse structure: 13 words, 61 letters. Notable word values: "Hashem" (יְהֹוָ֖ה) = 26, the value of the divine name Hashem. The shortest word is "this" (זֹ֚את, 3 letters) and the longest is "to·troops·of" (אֶל־אַנְשֵׁ֣י, 6 letters). 1 word in this verse appears nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "to·troops·of" (אֶל־אַנְשֵׁ֣י). 13 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "Hashem" (root יהוה, 389x in Numbers); "and·he·said" (root אמר, 246x in Numbers); "Moses" (root משה, 217x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'to·the·fighting', dividing the verse into phrases of 7 and 6 words. Full calculation: וַיֹּ֨אמֶר [and·he·said] (257) + אֶלְעָזָ֤ר [Eleazar] (308) + הַכֹּהֵן֙ [the·priest] (80) + אֶל־אַנְשֵׁ֣י [to·troops·of] (392) + הַצָּבָ֔א [the·army] (98) + הַבָּאִ֖ים [who·had·taken·part] (58) + לַמִּלְחָמָ֑ה [to·the·fighting] (153) + זֹ֚את [this] (408) + חֻקַּ֣ת [ritual·law·of] (508) + הַתּוֹרָ֔ה [the·Torah] (616) + אֲשֶׁר־צִוָּ֥ה [that·has·enjoined] (602) + יְהֹוָ֖ה [Hashem] (26) + אֶת־מֹשֶֽׁה [Moses] (746) = 4252.
Onkelos
And Eleazar the priest said to the men of the army who had gone to battle: "This is the statute of the Torah that Hashem commanded Moses:
Rashi
ויאמר אלעזר הכהן וגו׳ AND ELEAZAR THE PRIEST SAID etc. — Because Moses fell into anger (Numbers 31:14) he fell into error: there escaped him the laws concerning the removal of uncleanness absorbed by vessels which have contained the food of heathens. This, too, do you find was the case on the eighth day of the installing of the priests, as it is said, (Leviticus 10:16) “And Moses was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar”, — he fell into anger, he fell into error (cf. 10:16 that he made an error regarding the שעיר החטאת which Aaron refused to eat). Similarly, also, when he said, (Numbers 20:10, Numbers 20:11) “Hear, now, ye rebels”, … “he smote the rock”; it was through his anger that he made the mistake (Sifrei Bamidbar 157:9; cf. Pesachim 66b). אשר צוה ה׳ וגו׳ [AND ELEAZAR SAID … THIS IS THE ORDINANCE OF THE LAW] WHICH THE LORD HATH COMMANDED [MOSES] — he associated the decision with his teacher (cf. Sifrei Bamidbar 157:9).
Ibn Ezra
"And Eleazar the priest said" — because the statute of the red heifer was entrusted to Eleazar. Moses had told them in general terms to purify themselves, and Eleazar came and explained the details to them.
Sforno
זאת חקת התורה, the instructions you have received from Moses concerning your own purification rites, including being sprinkled with water containing ash from the red heifer, is a decree by the Torah. The institution known as פרה אדומה has as its purpose the purification of people afflicted with ritual impurity due to direct or indirect contact with the dead.
Chizkuni
ויאמר אלעזר הכהן, “the High Priest Elazar said:” the reason that it was Elazar who issued the instructions following concerning how to purify the loot, was that it had been he who had prepared the first red heifer whose ashes would be the instrument that made the purification process possible. (Numbers 19,3) Although Moses had instructed him in these procedures, of course, and Elazar had quoted him, he was punished for preempting Moses in revealing what the procedures were to be taken now. The punishment was that we do not find that Joshua again required the services of the High Priest Elazar, although when he had been appointed the Torah had written that “he will stand before Elazar the High Priest,” (Numbers 26,21) suggesting that the latter outranked Joshua. (Talmud tractate Eyruvin, folio 63) זאת חקת התורה, “this is the statute of the Torah;” he referred to what Moses had told him in verse 19, that anyone who had killed someone had to undergo the purification rites. The details had all been spelled out in Numbers chapter 19 commencing with verse 13 when the details of the red heifer are discussed.
Tur HaArokh
ויאמר אלעזר הכהן אל אנשי הצבא, “Eleazar the High Priest said to the soldiers, etc.“ Moses, personally, conveyed the previous paragraph to the respective commanders concerning the ritual contamination of the people involved. Eleazar addressed the entire people who were all directly involved seeing that all received their respective shares of the loot and had to know how to purify the various vessels or garments. The only loot the commanders of 1000 troops each had taken for themselves were costly garments.
Howbeit the gold, and the silver, the brass, the iron, the tin, and the lead,
verse value 4436
Insights
Verse structure: 7 words, 44 letters. The shortest word is "only" (אַ֥ךְ, 2 letters) and the longest is "and·the·lead" (וְאֶת־הָעֹפָֽרֶת, 8 letters). 5 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "and·the·silver" (וְאֶת־הַכָּ֑סֶף), "the·bronze" (אֶֽת־הַנְּחֹ֙שֶׁת֙), "the·iron" (אֶת־הַבַּרְזֶ֔ל). 7 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "and·the·silver" (root כסף, 24x in Numbers); "the·gold" (root זהב, 23x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'and·the·silver', dividing the verse into phrases of 3 and 4 words. 5 of the verse's 7 words begin with the letter א. Full calculation: אַ֥ךְ [only] (21) + אֶת־הַזָּהָ֖ב [the·gold] (420) + וְאֶת־הַכָּ֑סֶף [and·the·silver] (572) + אֶֽת־הַנְּחֹ֙שֶׁת֙ [the·bronze] (1164) + אֶת־הַבַּרְזֶ֔ל [the·iron] (645) + אֶֽת־הַבְּדִ֖יל [the·tin] (452) + וְאֶת־הָעֹפָֽרֶת [and·the·lead] (1162) = 4436.
Onkelos
However, the gold and the silver, the copper, the iron, the tin, and the lead —
Rashi
אך את הזהב וגו׳ ONLY THE GOLD etc. — Eleazar said: Although Moses has only admonished you concerning the laws of uncleanness caused by contact with a corpse, you must further be admonished concerning the laws of removing anything unclean that has been absorbed by vessels. The word אך is a restrictive term — it is as much as to say, “You are restricted from using vessels even after they have been cleansed from uncleanness caused by reason of a corpse until they shall have been cleansed also from what they have absorbed of that flesh which is forbidden as being that of an animal not killed in the proper manner.” And our Rabbis said that the words אך את הזהב are intended to intimate that it is necessary to remove its rust before he does the rite of removing the forbidden food that has been absorbed. This, they say, is the purpose of the term אך, — that there should be no rust there: Only (אך) the metal — it shall be as it should be (the metal without anything else, such as rust) (Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 785; Rabbenu Asher on Pesachim 30b states that this is to be found in Siphre, but it is missing in our editions of the work).
Ibn Ezra
"Tin" — this is well known.
Sforno
אך את הזהב, however, metal objects require an additional procedure before they are ritually clean, namely immersion in a ritual bath, (or rinsing in boiling water, or even making it red-hot, depending on how these utensils had been used.)
Rabbeinu Bahya
אך את הזהב, “However, the gold, etc.” Although these vessels had in the meantime undergone purification from the ritual impurity contracted through contact with a corpse or derivative of a corpse, they had to undergo another purification by reason of having been owned by idolaters which confers a different type of impurity upon them. They had to undergo immersion in a ritual bath or more. These vessels had absorbed residue from foods forbidden to Jews, i.e. animals which had not died by ritual slaughter or had not been fit to eat for Jews even if slaughtered ritually. Rashi explains that the word אך at the beginning of the verse teaches that these vessels had to be thoroughly cleaned prior to immersion in a ritual bath so as to remove rust over the areas in which forbidden foods might have penetrated.
every thing that may abide the fire, you shall make to go through the fire, and it shall be clean; nevertheless it shall be purified with the water of purification; and all that abides not the fire you shall make to go through the water.
verse value 4528
Insights
Verse structure: 16 words, 64 letters. The shortest word is "except·that" (אַ֕ךְ, 2 letters) and the longest is "that·can·withstand" (אֲשֶׁר־יָבֹ֣א, 6 letters). Words sharing gematria 688: you·shall·pass·through, you·must·pass·through. 3 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "any·article" (כׇּל־דָּבָ֞ר), "that·can·withstand" (אֲשֶׁר־יָבֹ֣א), "cannot·withstand" (לֹֽא־יָבֹ֛א). The root אש appears 3 times in this verse. 11 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "that" (root אשר, 223x in Numbers); "any·article" (root דבר, 149x in Numbers); "and·anything" (root כל, 98x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'it·must·be·cleansed', dividing the verse into phrases of 10 and 6 words.
Onkelos
every article that can endure fire you shall pass through fire, and it shall be pure; but with the water of sprinkling it shall be purified. And everything that cannot endure fire you shall pass through water.
Rashi
כל דבר אשר יבא באש ANYTHING THAT COMES ON THE FIRE, to boil something in it, תעבירו באש YE SHALL PASS THROUGH THE FIRE — according to the manner in which it is used so is the manner in which it is cleansed from what has been absorbed: that vessel the use of which is by means of hot water he shall cleanse with hot water, and that which is used for roasted meat, as for instance, a spit and a grill, he shall make it white hot in the flame (Avodah Zarah 75b). אך מי נדה יתחטא NEVERTHELESS IT SHALL BE PURIFIED WITH THE WATERS OF SPRINKLING — According to its plain sense this purification is to cleanse it from the uncleanness caused by a corpse. He said to them: the vessels require גיעול (the ceremony by which whatever has been absorbed will be given up) to cleanse them from the effect of having contained forbidden food, and also purification to cleanse them from the uncleanness caused by a corpse. But our Rabbis derived from here the law that in order to make them fit for use (to cleanse them entirely) from being forbidden, it (Scripture) made immersion in a ritual bath a requirement for metal vessels, and they explained the words מי נדה which are written here as denoting “waters that are proper for a נדה to immerse herself in”. And how much is that? Forty Seahs (Avodah Zarah 75b). וכל אשר לא יבא באש AND ALL THAT DOTH NOT COME IN THE FIRE — i.e., everything which is not used on fire, as for instance, cups and flasks which are used with cold articles, and which, therefore, absorb no forbidden food, תעבירו במים YE SHALL PASS THROUGH WATER — He immerses them and that is sufficient. This refers only to metal utensils (Avodah Zarah 75b).
Ramban
EVERY THING THAT MAY COME INTO THE FIRE YE SHALL PASS THROUGH THE FIRE AND IT SHALL BE CLEAN. A vessel which touched a human corpse or dead animal does not become purified by fire, since the immersion mentioned in the Torah is always in water. Therefore our Rabbis had to explain that this purification [mentioned here by Scripture] refers to remove from them [the traces of] the forbidden foods which they had absorbed whilst they were in the possession of the non-Jews. This is the true [explanation] without any doubt. AND ALL THAT COMETH NOT INTO THE FIRE — “anything which is not [normally] used on fire, such as cups, flasks, and pitchers which are used [to contain] cold substances, and [therefore] have not absorbed [any of the traces of forbidden foods] ye shall pass through the water, meaning that it is sufficient to immerse them.” This is Rashi’s language. But it does not appear to me to be correct, for the term ta’aviru (ye shall pass through) does not refer to immersion; for [had this been the case], it would have said “tavi’u (ye shall put it) into water,” which is the expression used in connection with immersion, just as it says, it ‘yuva’ (must be put into) water, and it shall be unclean until the even, and then it shall be clean. Furthermore, even those vessels, which are only used for cold things [of forbidden foods] need purification from [the traces of] their forbidden foods in addition to this immersion [which Rashi mentioned], and how can it be that Scripture [here] does not mention the [method] of purification [for such vessels] as it did with reference to those vessels that come into the fire? And when the Sages deduced [the necessity for] this immersion they did not mention that the source for it was this [part of the] verse [quoted here by Rashi], but interpreted it [on the basis of that part of the verse which says]: “Nevertheless it shall be purified with the waters of ‘niddah’ — waters which are fit for a niddah (a menstruant woman) to immerse herself in.”But the meaning of ye shall pass through the water is that you should wash them and rub them thoroughly in water until you remove the deposit of forbidden foods which has formed on the vessels by being used for such foods, and this [process] constitutes their purification from the forbidden foods. Scripture is thus saying that [in order to purify a vessel from the forbidden food which it has absorbed] you must put into fire those [vessels] which are used on the fire, in exactly the same way that they were used for [cooking] the forbidden foods. Hence if it was used on the flame itself — such as [a vessel of] iron or copper, and also silver or gold — he must make it white-hot in a flame, and if it was used to contain hot substances, such as [a vessel made of] tin or lead, he cleanses it with boiling-hot water; and if it was not used on fire [or for hot substances] but only for cold foodstuffs, he scours it with water until it is properly cleansed, and then it becomes pure. A...
Ibn Ezra
"But it shall be purified with the water of lustration" — it seemed to us that this refers to the water of the red heifer's ashes, as in "the water of lustration was not sprinkled upon him"; but the Sages said its meaning is the measure of water in which a menstruant woman bathes. Their understanding is broader than ours.
Sforno
וטהר, it will have become decontaminated from the negative vibes attached to it as residue of idolaters. אך במי נדה יתחטא, even making it red hot does not automatically remove its impurity, even if it looks as if new. It requires the waters and ash of the red heifer, i.e. מי נדה
Chizkuni
,וטהר, אך במי נדה יתחטא. “it will become pure, but must still be purified further with the water of sprinkling, called: mey niddah. Rabba bar Avuhi in the Talmud tractate Avodah Zarah folio 75, states that the language of the Torah does not only refer to used utensils, if they had not been used for 12 months, but even for new vessels not produced by Jews if these are meant to be used in the consumption of food or preparation of food. The manner of purifying same is less demanding than the purification of human beings who had been in contact with dead bodies or body parts. When Rabbi Yirmiyah heard of the statement of Rabbi Rabbah, he added that his rule applies only to vessels that have been acquired (purchased or looted) and had been handled by Israelites. If they had only been borrowed temporarily they do not require such purification. Vessels that are made of earthenware cannot be purified unless first broken up when they can be reconstituted by having the shards put in a kiln after treatment by the artisan. Mar bar rav Ashi, is on record as telling people that his father was in the habit of using vessels made from silver that he had received from gentiles as security of loans extended to them. He drank from these vessels (after immersing them in a ritual bath only without submitting them to further purification first). His son was not sure if he did so because he considered them as a loan to him. Or, these vessels were not used to contain matters which had been heated first, such as soup, etc, in which case they would have required a higher degree of purification. (boiling water being poured over them, or if they were small enough, immersing them in boiling water). According to Rashi, Mar bar Rav Ashi’s father was convinced that the borrower who had left this silver vessel with him as security would never demand it back and repay the loan, so that he considered it as his, else he would not have been allowed it as it was given to him for safekeeping. In effect, he had bought it and his payment had been the money he “loaned” to the previous owner.
Rabbeinu Bahya
כל דבר אשר יבא באש תעבירו באש, “any item which is normally used on (in) the fire you shall make pass through the fire.” The purification process must match the manner in which it is normally used. Iron spits used for roasting meat for instance, would have to be made red hot in fire in order to be ritually purified. אך במי נדה יתחטא, “but also it has to be purified by the water of the sprinkling.” In this instance all these captured items, regardless of the manner of their use had to undergo this procedure of being sprinkled with water and ash from the red cow as the Torah writes in Numbers 19,13 that if this water and ash had not been sprinkled on such person or item they remain impure. From the combination of these verses we derive the requirement that even new utensils, unless manufactured by Jews, have to undergo ritual immersion before being fit to use as food or in connection with food (Avodah Zarah 75). The extra word וטהר in our verse is the allusion to this requirement. וכל אשר לא יבא באש תעבירו במים, “Any utensil not used in or on the fire, you must pass through the water.” This refers to metal utensils which did not absorb any forbidden materials in their normal use, i.e. they are used cold. It suffices to pass them through water to make them fit for use by Jews. Our sages (Avodah Zarah 67) added that the utensils of the Midianites forbidden for immediate use were only those which had been in use during the previous 24 hours by their owners. The reason is that during that period the residue contained in the walls of such pots enhances whatever you cook in them. Once they have been out of use for over 24 hours the contribution made to whatever the Jew cooks in them at that time will be detrimental to the taste of the dish, so that the Jew derives no benefit from what is forbidden. The entire prohibition of such residue inside the walls of the pots is based on the word כל, “all, any,” in Deut. 14,21 לא תאכלו כל נבלה, “you must not eat anything which pertains to a carcass (which was not ritually slaughtered before death).” This teaches that not only the substance is forbidden by Biblical decree but also the taste of it is equally forbidden. However, if one ate something in which the forbidden part consisted of insubstantial taste the person doing so is not liable to the penalty of 39 lashes. If the utensil previously owned by the Gentile had not been used for 24 hours, it is permissible by Biblical law to be used as is, although there is rabbinic prohibition. We know that it is permitted by the Torah as the Torah itself writes that such carcasses described as נבלה may be given to resident strangers to eat (Deut. 14,21). From this we derive the principle that a נבלה permitted for a resident stranger (one who accepted the 7 Noachide laws) to eat is still called נבלה by the Torah, whereas one that is not suitable for his consumption is not described as such. When the forbidden material is still identifiable, substantive, but is the residue of something cooked more than 24 hours previously, it is also not forbidden by Biblical injunction as it is foul-tasting. The rabbinic prohibition however, extends indefinitely, the reason being that if the Rabbis had not “fenced in Torah law,” people would eat from such utensils even before the 24 hours had elapsed since they were last used by a Gentile for his ritually forbidden food. The Rabbis based their approach on the assumption that when a Jew gets hold of such vessels owned previously by Gentiles they are most unlikely to have been used for ritually forbidden food during the 24 hour preceding this. Seeing that this is so the only vessels subject to the legislation in our chapter were the ones which had definitely still been in use during the previous 24 hours. This brings us to the problem of why the Torah had held back with telling us of this legislation until now and had not revealed it after the wars against Sichon and Og (Numbers chapters 21-22) when the Israelites had also collected a great deal of loot which surely included cooking utensils (compare Deut. 2,35). The reason is that the war fought against Sichon and Og was fought on soil which G’d had designated as land of the Jewish people. Seeing this was so they were permitted to make full use of all the loot including matters totally forbidden under normal Torah law. The Torah itself recalls that the Jewish people would inherit in the land of Canaan, “houses full of everything that is good, i.e. desirable,” (Deut. 6,11). Our sages elaborated on this in Chulin 17 saying that even dried pork was allowed for the warriors at that time to be eaten as booty. Midian was not, however, a territory allocated to the Jewish people, and therefore the rules which applied to lands that were conquered at G’d’s command did not apply. This is why in the case of the Midianites the Torah even forbade the victors to make use of the vessels of their adversaries until after they had been purified. This is also why in this instance the Torah stresses the fact that the warriors had (practically) all become ritually impure through contact with their (now) dead enemies, whereas not a word of this had been mentioned after the Israelites had killed the Emorites under Sichon and Og and taken over their lands. When Jews become involved in a situation which on an individual basis results in each one of them becoming ritually defiled, this law is set aside when the occasion which necessitated this impurity was one of conquering their own land at the behest of G’d. You will also observe that the spoils of war which were salvaged from the punitive expedition against Midian were also shared out to the Levites and the priests although the priests and the Levites have been described as being “G’d’s share” and not inheriting any part of the land of the Canaanites, etc., (Numbers 18,20). Seeing that the loot from the campaign against the Midianites had nothing to do with a war of conquest fought against the Canaanites, the Levites and priests were not excluded from sharing. The loot was the proceeds of a war avenging G’d’s vengeance, something everybody was equally involved in. When it came to the war against the Canaanites, not only were the priests and Levites not allowed to capture any, their brethren from the other tribes were even prohibited from giving them some of that loot voluntarily (compare Numbers 18,20).
Tur HaArokh
תעבירו באש וטהר, “you shall pass through the fire and it will become ritually pure.” Nachmanides writes that no vessel that had been in direct contact with a dead body, or an animal’s carcass, would become purified simply by passing through fire, as the Torah recognizes only immersion in a ritual bath as the way in which such vessels can become purified. As a result, we must understand what is written here concerning making the vessel red hot, i.e. “passing through fire” as referring only to purification from the type of impurity caused by the pores of the vessels in question having absorbed some of the forbidden food that had been cooked or fried in it. וכל אשר לא יבא באש תעבירו במים, “and everything that during its normal use would not directly be exposed to fire, you shall pass through water.” Rashi writes that this refers to immersion in a ritual bath. The reason that this is sufficient is that the forbidden particles of food that concern us had not been absorbed at all by the walls of the vessel in question. Nachmanides questions this point, as in his opinion the term מעביר, “making something pass through,” is not associated with a ritual bath at all. When the Torah speaks about a ritual bath, the term used is ובא במים וטהר, “when it is immersed in water it will be purified.” Furthermore, even vessels that are used only cold require to be purified from their contamination by something in addition to a ritual bath. Besides, the requirement of immersing oneself in a ritual bath, is derived by our sages from a different verse, אך במי נדה יתחטא, “however, it must be purified with the water of sprinkling.” We must therefore understand the words תעבירו במים to mean that the vessels under discussion must be thoroughly cleaned in water, rubbed, scrubbed, etc., to remove residual forbidden particles. This is the appropriate process of cleansing, parallel to making vessels used on the fire red-hot, so that the residual forbidden particles are destroyed. This is parallel to the manner in which we clean different categories of utensils before Passover to ensure that no vestige of chametz still is attached to them. Those that are normally used on the fire have to undergo a cleansing process at least equal to their normal usage, whereas those that are not used on the fire have to undergo brief immersion in boiling water or if they are too big must have boiling water poured over them. Once the vessels that had served idolaters have undergone the preparatory steps described, they are all equal in that they still require immersion in a ritual bath.
Rashbam
אך במי נדה, a reference to the waters containing the ash of the red heifer that would be used to cleanse them from their ritual impurity. It would also be used to purify other items, such as remnants of forbidden foods absorbed by the walls of the captured pots and pans.
Daat Zkenim
כל דבר אשר יבא באש, “any vessel that can withstand fire, etc.;” it seems strange that the Israelites had not yet been commanded concerning the need to ritually cleanse vessels that were part of a war’s booty already after they had conquered the land of Sichon and Og, lands which they had taken physical possession of, and which was considered as part of the Holy Land, its soil having been promised to the descendants of Avraham in chapter 15 of Genesis? Perhaps the reason is that those campaigns were fought in open fields, and the soldiers at the time of killing their adversaries did not need to enter the homes of their victims and come into physical contact with all their victims’ personal belongings. Now they had to be taught that such belongings of idolaters had to be treated as out of bounds until their idolatrous character had been removed from them.
And you shall wash your clothes on the seventh day, and you shall be clean, and afterward you may come into the camp."
verse value 2485
Insights
Verse structure: 8 words, 43 letters. The shortest word is "on·the·day" (בַּיּ֥וֹם, 4 letters) and the longest is "the·camp" (אֶל־הַֽמַּחֲנֶֽה, 7 letters). 3 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "and·you·shall·wash" (וְכִבַּסְתֶּ֧ם), "your·clothes" (בִּגְדֵיכֶ֛ם), "and·you·shall·be·pure" (וּטְהַרְתֶּ֑ם). 8 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "on·the·day" (root יום, 122x in Numbers); "you·may·enter" (root בוא, 89x in Numbers); "the·camp" (root מחנה, 49x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'and·you·shall·be·pure', dividing the verse into phrases of 5 and 3 words. Full calculation: וְכִבַּסְתֶּ֧ם [and·you·shall·wash] (528) + בִּגְדֵיכֶ֛ם [your·clothes] (79) + בַּיּ֥וֹם [on·the·day] (58) + הַשְּׁבִיעִ֖י [the·seventh] (397) + וּטְהַרְתֶּ֑ם [and·you·shall·be·pure] (660) + וְאַחַ֖ר [and·after·that] (215) + תָּבֹ֥אוּ [you·may·enter] (409) + אֶל־הַֽמַּחֲנֶֽה [the·camp] (139) = 2485.
Onkelos
And you shall wash your garments on the seventh day, and you shall be pure; and afterward you may enter the camp."
Rashi
אל המחנה [YE SHALL BE CLEAN, AND AFTERWARDS] YE MAY COME INTO THE CAMP — into the camp where is the Divine Presence (מחנה שכינה), because a person unclean by reason of a corpse does not require expulsion from the camp of the Levites and the camp of the Israelites, (but only from the camp of the Shechina, and consequently the permission to come into the camp after purification must mean into the מחנה שכינה; Pesachim 67a; cf. Rashi on 5:2).
Chizkuni
וכבסתם בגדיכם, “and you have to wash your garments.” It goes without saying that you also have to wash your bodies. We have another example of a similar construction in Exodus 19,10 when the Jewish people are instructed by Moses in the name of the Lord to wash their garments, וכבסו שמלותם, as part of sanctifying themselves in advance of the revelation at Mount Sinai. Another example of this is found in Numbers 19,10, where the man handling the procedure involving the red heifer is required to wash his garments. [“Washing” in all of these instances is not what we call “laundering,” but is a reference for immersion in a ritual bath. Ed.]
Rabbeinu Bahya
ואחר תבאו אל המחנה, “and after (these procedures) you may enter the camp.” The reference is to the camp of the Shechinah. After all, a person who has “only” contracted ritual impurity through contact with a corpse does not have to leave any other parts of the camp.
Verse structure: 4 words, 18 letters. Notable word values: "Hashem" (יְהֹוָ֖ה) = 26, the value of the divine name Hashem. The shortest word is "Hashem" (יְהֹוָ֖ה, 4 letters) and the longest is "and·he·said" (וַיֹּ֥אמֶר, 5 letters). The root אמר appears 2 times in this verse. 3 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "Hashem" (root יהוה, 389x in Numbers); "and·he·said" (root אמר, 246x in Numbers); "to·Moses" (root משה, 217x in Numbers). Full calculation: וַיֹּ֥אמֶר [and·he·said] (257) + יְהֹוָ֖ה [Hashem] (26) + אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֥ה [to·Moses] (376) + לֵּאמֹֽר [saying] (271) = 930.
"Take the sum of the prey that was taken, both of man and of beast, you, and Eleazar the priest, and the heads of the fathers' houses of the congregation;
verse value 3621
Insights
Verse structure: 12 words, 52 letters. The shortest word is "take" (שָׂ֗א, 2 letters) and the longest is "and·animal" (וּבַבְּהֵמָ֑ה, 6 letters). 4 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "take" (שָׂ֗א), "the·booty·of" (מַלְק֙וֹחַ֙), "captured" (הַשְּׁבִ֔י). The root ראש appears 2 times in this verse. 11 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "the·community" (root עדה, 79x in Numbers); "families·of" (root אב, 73x in Numbers); "the·priest" (root כהן, 71x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'and·animal', dividing the verse into phrases of 6 and 6 words. Full calculation: שָׂ֗א [take] (301) + אֵ֣ת רֹ֤אשׁ [an·inventory·of] (902) + מַלְק֙וֹחַ֙ [the·booty·of] (184) + הַשְּׁבִ֔י [captured] (317) + בָּאָדָ֖ם [human] (47) + וּבַבְּהֵמָ֑ה [and·animal] (60) + אַתָּה֙ [you] (406) + וְאֶלְעָזָ֣ר [and·Eleazar] (314) + הַכֹּהֵ֔ן [the·priest] (80) + וְרָאשֵׁ֖י [and·heads·of] (517) + אֲב֥וֹת [families·of] (409) + הָעֵדָֽה [the·community] (84) = 3621.
Onkelos
"Take a count of the captive-booty of the captives — of humans and of animals — you and Eleazar the priest and the heads of the fathers of the assembly.
Rashi
שאו את ראש means, TAKE THE CENSUS.
Ibn Ezra
"Take a count" — I have already explained this. "Booty" — refers to the animals. "The captives" — refers to the people; the conjunctive vav is missing, as in "sun and moon." "And the heads of the fathers of the congregation" — these are the princes.
Rabbeinu Bahya
שא את ראש המלקוח השבי, “count the total of the spoils of beast and humans.” The word מלקוח is a reference to the animals, the word שבי is a reference to the human prisoners. The two words fit together just as the words שמש ירח, “sun (and) moon,” without the conjunctive letter ו; (compare Chabakuk 3,11).
and divide the prey into two parts: between the men skilled in war, that went out to battle, and all the congregation;
verse value 2565
Insights
Verse structure: 9 words, 46 letters. The shortest word is "between" (בֵּ֚ין, 3 letters) and the longest is "the·booty" (אֶת־הַמַּלְק֔וֹחַ, 8 letters). 3 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "and·divide" (וְחָצִ֙יתָ֙), "the·booty" (אֶת־הַמַּלְק֔וֹחַ), "combatants·who·engaged" (תֹּפְשֵׂ֣י). The root בין appears 2 times in this verse. 8 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "to·the·army" (root צבא, 81x in Numbers); "all·the·community" (root עדה, 79x in Numbers); "the·booty" (root לקח, 72x in Numbers). First appearance of the root חצה ("and·divide") in Numbers. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'to·the·army', dividing the verse into phrases of 7 and 2 words. Full calculation: וְחָצִ֙יתָ֙ [and·divide] (514) + אֶת־הַמַּלְק֔וֹחַ [the·booty] (590) + בֵּ֚ין [between] (62) + תֹּפְשֵׂ֣י [combatants·who·engaged] (790) + הַמִּלְחָמָ֔ה [the·campaign] (128) + הַיֹּצְאִ֖ים [who·went·out] (156) + לַצָּבָ֑א [to·the·army] (123) + וּבֵ֖ין [between] (68) + כׇּל־הָעֵדָֽה [all·the·community] (134) = 2565.
Onkelos
And divide the captive-booty between the men who waged battle and who went out to the army, and the entire assembly.
Rashi
וחצית את המלקוח בין תפשי המלחמה וגו׳ AND THOU SHALT DIVIDE THE PREY INTO TWO PARTS: BETWEEN THEM THAT TOOK THE WAR UPON THEMSELVES, etc. — half of it for these and half of it for those.
Ibn Ezra
"And you shall divide the booty" — a general term.
Sforno
וחצית את המלקוח, seeing that this war was a war of revenge for something the enemy had done against the people as a whole, the Torah wanted that the principle of ואכלת את אויביך, “you will consume your enemies,” (Deuteronomy 20,14) be fulfilled. Something similar occurred with David and the loot taken from Amalek (Samuel I 30,26) when he distributed loot he personally had captured from the Amalekites.
Rabbeinu Bahya
וחצית את המלקוח, “and divide in half the spoils of beasts and humans.” The מלקוח here is a general term for both humans and animals. The Holy One, blessed be He, commanded that everything be divided between those who waged the war and the entire congregation, and that those who waged the war should give from their portion a tribute to the priests of one out of five hundred, and that Israel should give to the Levites a tribute from their portion of one out of fifty.
and levy a tribute to Hashem of the men of war that went out to battle: one soul of five hundred, both of the persons, and of the beeves, and of the asses, and of the flocks;
verse value 4503 — אֶחָ֣ד = 13 (echad/ahavah)
Insights
Verse structure: 16 words, 80 letters. Notable word values: "one" (אֶחָ֣ד) = 13, the value of echad ('one') and ahavah ('love'). The shortest word is "a·levy" (מֶ֜כֶס, 3 letters) and the longest is "and·from·the·donkeys" (וּמִן־הַחֲמֹרִ֖ים, 9 letters). 5 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "and·you·shall·levy" (וַהֲרֵמֹתָ֨), "a·levy" (מֶ֜כֶס), "from·five" (מֵחֲמֵ֖שׁ). 16 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "for·Hashem" (root יהוה, 389x in Numbers); "one" (root אחד, 165x in Numbers); "warriors·of" (root איש, 130x in Numbers). First appearance of the root מכס ("a·levy") in Numbers. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'hundred', dividing the verse into phrases of 12 and 4 words.
Onkelos
And set apart an offering before Hashem from the men who waged battle and who went out to the army — one soul out of five hundred, from the humans and from the cattle and from the donkeys and from the flocks.
Ramban
AND THOU SHALT LEVY A TRIBUTE UNTO THE ETERNAL. The reason for this tribute [given to the priests and Levites] was also because this spoil was taken from [a war constituting] the vengeance of the Eternal on a land that was not theirs. But [from the spoil taken] in the lands of Sihon and Og they did not give any part at all to the priests and Levites; [on the contrary], they were even warned against [taking of] it, as it is said, neither shalt thou [Aaron] have ‘any’ portion among them, even in the spoil.
Ibn Ezra
"One person" — equivalent to "one person" (nefesh aḥat).
Chizkuni
מאת אנשי המלחמה, אחד נפש מחמש המאות, “one item in each five hundred, be it a person or chattel or animal.” Seeing that the warriors had born the brunt of the burden of this campaign, their “tithe” for the Lord is relatively much smaller in terms of the percentage they must give to the Temple treasury. It would be handed over to the High Priest Elazar. (verse 29)
Tur HaArokh
והרמות מכס לה' “you are to impose a levy (tax) for Hashem.” Nachmanides writes that the reason for this levy is that the loot under discussion was secured from the vengeance due to Hashem. When similar or even larger quantities of loot were secured as a result of the wars with Sichon and Og, Hashem, i.e. the priests and Levites His representatives, did not receive any share of it at all, as the priests and Levites by definition had been excluded from sharing in the lands of the Canaanite nations. They had not been excluded from loot from any other people or tribes.
take it of their half, and give it to Eleazar the priest, as a portion set apart for Hashem.
verse value 3493 — יְהֹוָֽה = 26 (Hashem)
Insights
Verse structure: 7 words, 35 letters. Notable word values: "Hashem" (יְהֹוָֽה) = 26, the value of the divine name Hashem. The shortest word is "shall·be·taken" (תִּקָּ֑חוּ, 4 letters) and the longest is "from·their·half-share" (מִמַּֽחֲצִיתָ֖ם, 7 letters). 1 word in this verse appears nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "from·their·half-share" (מִמַּֽחֲצִיתָ֖ם). 7 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "Hashem" (root יהוה, 389x in Numbers); "and·you·shall·give" (root נתן, 119x in Numbers); "shall·be·taken" (root לקח, 72x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'shall·be·taken', dividing the verse into phrases of 2 and 5 words. Full calculation: מִמַּֽחֲצִיתָ֖ם [from·their·half-share] (628) + תִּקָּ֑חוּ [shall·be·taken] (514) + וְנָתַתָּ֛ה [and·you·shall·give] (861) + לְאֶלְעָזָ֥ר [to·Eleazar] (338) + הַכֹּהֵ֖ן [the·priest] (80) + תְּרוּמַ֥ת [a·contribution·to] (1046) + יְהֹוָֽה [Hashem] (26) = 3493.
Onkelos
From their half you shall take and give to Eleazar the priest as a separation-offering before Hashem.
And of the children of Israel's half, you shall take one drawn out of every fifty, of the persons, of the beeves, of the asses, and of the flocks, even of all the cattle, and give them to the Levites, that keep the charge of the tabernacle of Hashem."
verse value 6920 — אֶחָ֣ד = 13 (echad/ahavah)
Insights
Verse structure: 18 words, 96 letters. Notable word values: "one" (אֶחָ֣ד) = 13, the value of echad ('one') and ahavah ('love'). The shortest word is "you·shall·take" (תִּקַּ֣ח, 3 letters) and the longest is "the·Israelites" (בְּנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֜ל, 8 letters). 4 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "and·from·the·half-share·of" (וּמִמַּחֲצִ֨ת), "taken" (אָחֻ֣ז), "from·the·donkeys" (מִן־הַחֲמֹרִ֥ים). 18 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "the·Israelites" (root בן, 499x in Numbers); "Hashem" (root יהוה, 389x in Numbers); "one" (root אחד, 165x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'from·all·the·animals', dividing the verse into phrases of 11 and 7 words.
Onkelos
And from the half of the children of Israel you shall take one drawn out of every fifty — from the humans, from the cattle, from the donkeys, and from the flocks, from all the animals — and give them to the Levites who keep the charge of the Tabernacle of Hashem."
Ibn Ezra
"One holding" — equivalent to "and the holding that is held"; both words are joined together, as I have explained. "From all the animals" — such as camels. It appears that Eleazar did not take a portion from them; perhaps they were few, and that is why neither the number brought nor the number the Levites received is mentioned.
Chizkuni
אחד אחוז מן החמשים ונתתה אותם ללוים, (from the half share of the other Israelites) “you shall withhold one in every fifty (humans, cattle, and chattels) and give them to the Levites.” When the Levites received 10 shares out of every thousand, the priests took for themselves one share. [Rabbi Chavell points out that our author appears to have made a miscalculation here. I will not get involved in this. Ed.] מן הבקר ומן החמורים ומן הצאן, “from the herds, the donkeys and the flocks.” Why were the camels not mentioned, seeing that there must have been very many of them? In the war against Midian under Gideon (Judges 6,51) the author tells us that the number of camels captured were too many to bother counting. Apparently, only these animals were counted as qualifying for the Temple treasury which were ritually pure, or which the Torah had accorded a special status such as donkeys, whose first born males had to be redeemed. (Exodus chapter 13,15) We may assume that the camels were included in when the Torah wrote: ממל הבהמה, from all of the livestock in our verse.
Tur HaArokh
מן הבקר ומן החמורים ומן הצאן מכל הבהמה, “from the cattle, from the donkeys, from the flock- from all the livestock.” The system followed by the Torah here is known as פרט וכלל, listing individual items, all of which fit the heading mentioned afterwards. Ibn Ezra comments that the expression מכל הבהמה means, for instance, that Eleazar did not take any of the captured camels, as they were few in number. This is why no number was given as to how many such animals had been captured, and the share of the Levites among them was therefore not mentioned either.
And Moses and Eleazar the priest did as Hashem commanded Moses.
verse value 2519 — יְהֹוָ֖ה = 26 (Hashem)
Insights
Verse structure: 8 words, 33 letters. Notable word values: "Hashem" (יְהֹוָ֖ה) = 26, the value of the divine name Hashem. The shortest word is "Moses" (מֹשֶׁ֔ה, 3 letters) and the longest is "and·Eleazar" (וְאֶלְעָזָ֖ר, 6 letters). The root משה appears 2 times in this verse. 7 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "Hashem" (root יהוה, 389x in Numbers); "as" (root אשר, 223x in Numbers); "Moses" (root משה, 217x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'the·priest', dividing the verse into phrases of 4 and 4 words. Full calculation: וַיַּ֣עַשׂ [and·he·did] (386) + מֹשֶׁ֔ה [Moses] (345) + וְאֶלְעָזָ֖ר [and·Eleazar] (314) + הַכֹּהֵ֑ן [the·priest] (80) + כַּאֲשֶׁ֛ר [as] (521) + צִוָּ֥ה [commanded] (101) + יְהֹוָ֖ה [Hashem] (26) + אֶת־מֹשֶֽׁה [Moses] (746) = 2519.
Onkelos
And Moses and Eleazar the priest did as Hashem had commanded Moses.
Ramban
AND MOSES AND ELEAZAR THE PRIEST DID AS THE ETERNAL COMMANDED MOSES. The reason why it does not mention the princes [i.e., the heads of the fathers’ houses of the congregation, although in Verse 26 it said that they were to be present at the counting and division of the spoils] is because it is self-understood that they did as Moses commanded them, since he was their ruler, although in the matter of counting the people it does say, These are those that were numbered, which Moses and Aaron numbered, ‘and the princes of Israel.” Perhaps the reason [for not using such an expression] here is that G-d commanded that [the heads of] the fathers’ houses of the congregation should be present [at the counting and distributing of the spoils] because it involved monetary matters, so that the people would not suspect Eleazar of taking for himself more than he was entitled to; therefore this commandment [to include the heads of the congregation] was an optional matter [for their benefit], and they said: “Far be it from us! For he [Eleazar] is the messenger of the Eternal, and there is no need for us to be there.”
Tur HaArokh
ויעש משה ואלעזר הכהן, “Moses and Eleazar the High Priest did, etc.” the princes are not mentioned here, as opposed to when the people were being counted. (Numbers 1,44) Nachmanides writes that possibly the reason is that the reason for the princes to be present during such a count, (31,13) is to ensure that Eleazar would not appropriate to himself an unfair amount for himself and the Levites. As soon as the princes and the community became aware that this could be perceived as the reason for their presence during the count, they refused to take part, as they trusted Eleazar implicitly and did not want to even give the impression that there was any possible suspicion that he would not share out the spoils fairly. Basically, whenever division of money, etc., is involved one must appoint additional witnesses in order to forestall such suspicions from being voiced. The people considered the High Priest as comparable to an angel whose motives in matters of money are beyond suspicion.
Now the prey, over and above the booty which the men of war took, was six hundred thousand and seventy thousand and five thousand sheep,
verse value 4328
Insights
Verse structure: 15 words, 60 letters. The shortest word is "people·of" (עַ֣ם, 2 letters) and the longest is "booty" (הַמַּלְק֔וֹחַ, 6 letters). Words sharing gematria 111: thousand, thousand. 4 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "booty" (הַמַּלְק֔וֹחַ), "remainder" (יֶ֣תֶר), "spoil" (הַבָּ֔ז). The root אלף appears 3 times in this verse. 13 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "that" (root אשר, 223x in Numbers); "and·it·was" (root היה, 180x in Numbers); "thousand" (root אלף, 103x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'the·army', dividing the verse into phrases of 8 and 7 words.
Onkelos
Now the captive-booty — the remainder of the plunder that the people who went out to the army had taken — was: sheep, six hundred and seventy-five thousand;
Rashi
ויהי המלקוח יתר הבז AND THE PREY, OVER AND ABOVE THE BOOTY … WAS [SIX HUNDRED THOUSAND etc.] — Because they had not been commanded (v. 28) to levy a tribute from the movables but only from the מלקוח (the men and cattle; cf. Rashi on v. 11) it (Scripture) writes this expression: ויהי המלקוח, that which came under the law of being divided (v. 27) and which also came under the law of tribute — which was over and above (יתר) the booty of the movables, אשר בזזו עם הצבא איש לו WHICH THE MEN OF THE HOST HAD PLUNDERED, EACH FOR HIMSELF, and which did not come under the law of being divided, — the number of sheep was etc. (i.e. צאן at the beginning of the second half of the verse means: the number of sheep).
Ibn Ezra
"The remainder of the spoil" — beyond what they had eaten, which is why it says "remainder"; and the text recorded their number because it was an exceptionally great quantity, unlike any plunder we have heard of. The text likewise noted the tribute because it too was great. The word mekhes is from a class of doubled-root verbs, on the pattern of va-yimmar le-yoldetah, and it derives from the root "you shall apportion" (tekhassu) for the lamb — meaning a portion.
Sforno
יתר הבז אשר בזזו, for the property which was part of the houses, i.e. chattels the soldiers had taken for themselves.
Or HaChaim
-43. ויהי המלקח, "The prey amounted to, etc." The lengthy description and the repetitive numbers in this whole sequence need analysis. Who amongst us cannot figure out what half of a total of 675.000 sheep amounts to? We can also figure out for ourselves what the מכס, the 2 pro mil tax given to the Temple-Treasury amounted to. Nachmanides wrote that the Torah wanted to inform us that not one of these animals had died since its capture until the distribution of the prey. I do not agree that the fact that the flocks did not diminish in the brief interval since the battle was something miraculous, at least not to the extent that we have to read about it every year, 3.700 years later. I believe that the reason that the Torah tells us what half the total of these flocks amounted to was to teach us that the calculation of the tax was based on the 500th animal being the tax rather than the 501st. This is the reason the Torah had to repeat this calculation in each instance. In other words, the tax amounted to one in 499 and not as we might have thought one in 500. The reason the Torah had to tell us how much the half which constitued the congregation's share consisted of was to prevent us from making another mistake. Unless the Torah had written matters as it did, we would have concluded that the tax was taken off the top before there was any division of the prey between the soldiers on the one hand and the people on the other hand. In view of the numbers recorded here it becomes clear that the soldiers paid their part of the tax from their collective share of the prey whereas the people paid their part from the total allocated to them as their share. The fact that the Torah only lists half of the total when describing the share of the people proves that the people and the soldiers each paid the tax separately from their respective shares; otherwise the people could not have received 36.000 heads of cattle, for instance.
Chizkuni
יתר הבז, “the excess of the loot;” this refers to what the soldiers had consumed prior to returning to camp.
Rabbeinu Bahya
ויהי המלקוח יתר הבז, “after deducting the inert objects captured and the amounts the soldiers had consumed, the remainder of the animal loot amounted to, etc.” the reason the Torah gives us all these numbers is to enable us to picture the vastness of this victory, an amount of loot not paralleled elsewhere. The Torah mentions the מכס, tribute or tithe, given to the Levites separately as even this was a substantial amount. Our author understands the word מכס as being similar to חלק, share, as in Exodus 12,4 תכסו על השה "You shall participate in the lamb".
Verse structure: 4 words, 17 letters. The shortest word is "thousand" (אָֽלֶף, 3 letters) and the longest is "seventy" (וְשִׁבְעִ֖ים, 6 letters). 4 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "thousand" (root אלף, 103x in Numbers); "two" (root שנה, 90x in Numbers); "seventy" (root שבע, 85x in Numbers). Full calculation: וּבָקָ֕ר [and·cattle] (308) + שְׁנַ֥יִם [two] (400) + וְשִׁבְעִ֖ים [seventy] (428) + אָֽלֶף [thousand] (111) = 1247.
Onkelos
and cattle, seventy-two thousand;
Daat Zkenim
ובקר שנים ושבעים אלף, “and seventy two thousand head of cattle.” We need to examine why no camels were found among the livestock captured in this list of booty from the Midianites. We know from Judges 6,5, that the Midianites owned large flocks of camels. Perhaps they had not started raising camels until after this period. [Perhaps the Book of Judges referred to the other Midian mentioned in the Book of Exodus. Ed.]
Verse structure: 4 words, 17 letters. Notable word values: "one" (אֶחָ֥ד) = 13, the value of echad ('one') and ahavah ('love'). The shortest word is "one" (אֶחָ֥ד, 3 letters) and the longest is "and·donkeys" (וַחֲמֹרִ֕ים, 6 letters). 4 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "one" (root אחד, 165x in Numbers); "thousand" (root אלף, 103x in Numbers). Full calculation: וַחֲמֹרִ֕ים [and·donkeys] (304) + אֶחָ֥ד [one] (13) + וְשִׁשִּׁ֖ים [sixty] (656) + אָֽלֶף [thousand] (111) = 1084.
and thirty-two thousand persons in all, of the women that had not known man by lying with him.
verse value 3864
Insights
Verse structure: 11 words, 48 letters. The shortest word is "human·beings" (אָדָ֔ם, 3 letters) and the longest is "from·the·women" (מִ֨ן־הַנָּשִׁ֔ים, 7 letters). 2 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "from·the·women" (מִ֨ן־הַנָּשִׁ֔ים), "all·persons" (כׇּל־נֶ֕פֶשׁ). The root נפש appears 2 times in this verse. 10 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "that" (root אשר, 223x in Numbers); "thousand" (root אלף, 103x in Numbers); "two" (root שנה, 90x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'male', dividing the verse into phrases of 7 and 4 words. Full calculation: וְנֶ֣פֶשׁ [and·person] (436) + אָדָ֔ם [human·beings] (45) + מִ֨ן־הַנָּשִׁ֔ים [from·the·women] (495) + אֲשֶׁ֥ר [that] (501) + לֹֽא־יָדְע֖וּ [had·not·known] (121) + מִשְׁכַּ֣ב [lying·of] (362) + זָכָ֑ר [male] (227) + כׇּל־נֶ֕פֶשׁ [all·persons] (480) + שְׁנַ֥יִם [two] (400) + וּשְׁלֹשִׁ֖ים [thirty] (686) + אָֽלֶף [thousand] (111) = 3864.
Onkelos
and persons of humans — from the women who had not known lying with a male — all the persons were thirty-two thousand.
And the half, which was the portion of them that went out to war, was in number three hundred thousand and thirty thousand and seven thousand and five hundred sheep.
verse value 5209
Insights
Verse structure: 15 words, 67 letters. The shortest word is "share·of" (חֵ֕לֶק, 3 letters) and the longest is "three·hundred" (שְׁלֹשׁ־מֵא֥וֹת, 7 letters). Words sharing gematria 111: thousand, thousand. 4 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "half" (הַֽמֶּחֱצָ֔ה), "share·of" (חֵ֕לֶק), "in·the·campaign" (בַּצָּבָ֑א). The root אלף appears 3 times in this verse. 12 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "and·it·was" (root היה, 180x in Numbers); "thousand" (root אלף, 103x in Numbers); "five" (root חמש, 99x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'in·the·campaign', dividing the verse into phrases of 5 and 10 words.
Onkelos
And the half — the portion of those who had gone out to the army — the count of sheep was three hundred and thirty-seven thousand and five hundred;
Ramban
AND THE HALF, WHICH WAS THE PORTION OF THEM THAT WENT OUT TO WAR, WAS IN NUMBER etc. Scripture had to enumerate [the spoil] in such detail, mentioning how much was the half [of these who went to war] and how much was the tribute [given to the priests and Levites, although both these figures can be worked out from the total figures mentioned], in order to inform us that from the day that they took this booty until they counted and halved it, set aside the tribute and gave it to Eleazar the priest, not one of all this great herd died. This was a miracle. This is also [the reason why Scripture mentions] the half [given] to the congregation [of Israel who did not fight, and the amount that they gave] to the Levites.
Tur HaArokh
ותהי המחצה, “the half amounted to, etc.” Nachmanides writes that there was a need to state what appears as obvious to the casual reader of the text. The Torah wanted to point out that since the day the loot was captured, and subsequently counted, and still later distributed, there had been zero shrinkage. None of the animals had died, and none of the silver, gold, etc., had disappeared. The levy was also handed over in accordance with the percentages specified by the Torah.
And the beeves were thirty-six thousand, of which Hashem's tribute was seventy-two.
verse value 2765
Insights
Verse structure: 8 words, 37 letters. The shortest word is "six" (שִׁשָּׁ֥ה, 3 letters) and the longest is "thirty" (וּשְׁלֹשִׁ֖ים, 6 letters). 1 word in this verse appears nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "and·the·cattle" (וְהַ֨בָּקָ֔ר). 8 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "to·Hashem" (root יהוה, 389x in Numbers); "thousand" (root אלף, 103x in Numbers); "two" (root שנה, 90x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'thousand', dividing the verse into phrases of 4 and 4 words. Full calculation: וְהַ֨בָּקָ֔ר [and·the·cattle] (313) + שִׁשָּׁ֥ה [six] (605) + וּשְׁלֹשִׁ֖ים [thirty] (686) + אָ֑לֶף [thousand] (111) + וּמִכְסָ֥ם [and·their·levy] (166) + לַיהֹוָ֖ה [to·Hashem] (56) + שְׁנַ֥יִם [two] (400) + וְשִׁבְעִֽים [seventy] (428) = 2765.
Onkelos
And the cattle were thirty-six thousand, and their offering before Hashem was seventy-two.
And Moses gave the tribute, which was set apart for Hashem, to Eleazar the priest, as Hashem commanded Moses.
verse value 4216 — יְהֹוָ֔ה = 26 (Hashem)
Insights
Verse structure: 11 words, 47 letters. Notable word values: "Hashem" (יְהֹוָ֔ה) = 26, the value of the divine name Hashem. The shortest word is "Moses" (מֹשֶׁ֗ה, 3 letters) and the longest is "to·Eleazar" (לְאֶלְעָזָ֖ר, 6 letters). Words sharing gematria 521: levy, as. 1 word in this verse appears nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "levy" (אֶת־מֶ֙כֶס֙). The root משה appears 2 times in this verse. 9 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "Hashem" (root יהוה, 389x in Numbers); "as" (root אשר, 223x in Numbers); "Moses" (root משה, 217x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'the·priest', dividing the verse into phrases of 7 and 4 words. Full calculation: וַיִּתֵּ֣ן [and·he·gave] (466) + מֹשֶׁ֗ה [Moses] (345) + אֶת־מֶ֙כֶס֙ [levy] (521) + תְּרוּמַ֣ת [contribution·of] (1046) + יְהֹוָ֔ה [Hashem] (26) + לְאֶלְעָזָ֖ר [to·Eleazar] (338) + הַכֹּהֵ֑ן [the·priest] (80) + כַּאֲשֶׁ֛ר [as] (521) + צִוָּ֥ה [had·commanded] (101) + יְהֹוָ֖ה [Hashem] (26) + אֶת־מֹשֶֽׁה [Moses] (746) = 4216.
Onkelos
And Moses gave the separation-offering before Hashem to Eleazar the priest, as Hashem had commanded Moses.
And of the children of Israel's half, which Moses divided off from the men that warred—
verse value 2790
Insights
Verse structure: 8 words, 38 letters. Verse gematria: 2790 is divisible by 18, the value of chai ('life'). The shortest word is "children·of" (בְּנֵ֣י, 3 letters) and the longest is "from·the·men" (מִן־הָאֲנָשִׁ֖ים, 8 letters). 3 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "and·from·half·of" (וּמִֽמַּחֲצִ֖ית), "divided" (חָצָ֣ה), "the·ones·who·served" (הַצֹּבְאִֽים). The root חצה appears 2 times in this verse. 7 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "children·of" (root בן, 499x in Numbers); "which" (root אשר, 223x in Numbers); "Moses" (root משה, 217x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'Israel', dividing the verse into phrases of 3 and 5 words. Full calculation: וּמִֽמַּחֲצִ֖ית [and·from·half·of] (594) + בְּנֵ֣י [children·of] (62) + יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל [Israel] (541) + אֲשֶׁר֙ [which] (501) + חָצָ֣ה [divided] (103) + מֹשֶׁ֔ה [Moses] (345) + מִן־הָאֲנָשִׁ֖ים [from·the·men] (496) + הַצֹּבְאִֽים [the·ones·who·served] (148) = 2790.
Onkelos
And from the half of the children of Israel that Moses had divided off from the men who had gone out to the army —
Rashi
וממחצית בני ישראל אשר חצה משה AND OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL’S HALF WHICH MOSES DIVIDED among the congregation and which he had taken for them, מן האנשים הצבאים FROM THE MEN THAT WARRED.
now the congregation's half was three hundred thousand and thirty thousand and seven thousand and five hundred sheep,
verse value 4998
Insights
Verse structure: 12 words, 54 letters. The shortest word is "thousand" (אֶ֙לֶף֙, 3 letters) and the longest is "three·hundred" (שְׁלֹשׁ־מֵא֥וֹת, 7 letters). Words sharing gematria 111: thousand, thousand. 1 word in this verse appears nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "half·share·of" (מֶחֱצַ֥ת). The root אלף appears 3 times in this verse. 9 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "and·it·was" (root היה, 180x in Numbers); "thousand" (root אלף, 103x in Numbers); "five" (root חמש, 99x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'from·the·sheep', dividing the verse into phrases of 4 and 8 words. Full calculation: וַתְּהִ֛י [and·it·was] (421) + מֶחֱצַ֥ת [half·share·of] (538) + הָעֵדָ֖ה [the·community] (84) + מִן־הַצֹּ֑אן [from·the·sheep] (236) + שְׁלֹשׁ־מֵא֥וֹת [three·hundred] (1077) + אֶ֙לֶף֙ [thousand] (111) + וּשְׁלֹשִׁ֣ים [thirty] (686) + אֶ֔לֶף [thousand] (111) + שִׁבְעַ֥ת [seven] (772) + אֲלָפִ֖ים [thousand] (161) + וַחֲמֵ֥שׁ [five] (354) + מֵאֽוֹת [hundred] (447) = 4998.
Onkelos
the half belonging to the assembly was from the sheep: three hundred and thirty-seven thousand and five hundred;
Rashi
ותהי מחצית העדה THE CONGREGATION’S HALF WAS so-and-so in number (as stated in the second half of this verse and in vv. 44—46).
Verse structure: 4 words, 16 letters. Verse gematria: 1710 is divisible by 18, the value of chai ('life'). The shortest word is "six" (שִׁשָּׁ֥ה, 3 letters) and the longest is "thirty" (וּשְׁלֹשִׁ֖ים, 6 letters). 4 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "thousand" (root אלף, 103x in Numbers); "thirty" (root שלוש, 74x in Numbers); "and·cattle" (root בקר, 43x in Numbers). Full calculation: וּבָקָ֕ר [and·cattle] (308) + שִׁשָּׁ֥ה [six] (605) + וּשְׁלֹשִׁ֖ים [thirty] (686) + אָֽלֶף [thousand] (111) = 1710.
even of the children of Israel's half, Moses took one drawn out of every fifty, both of man and of beast, and gave them to the Levites, that kept the charge of the tabernacle of Hashem; as Hashem commanded Moses.
verse value 7254 — אֶחָ֣ד = 13 (echad/ahavah)
Insights
Verse structure: 20 words, 96 letters. Notable word values: "one" (אֶחָ֣ד) = 13, the value of echad ('one') and ahavah ('love'). Verse gematria: 7254 is divisible by 26, the value of the divine name Hashem. The shortest word is "Moses" (מֹשֶׁ֜ה, 3 letters) and the longest is "children·of·Israel" (בְּנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל, 8 letters). Words sharing gematria 26: Hashem, Hashem. 3 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "from·half·share·of" (מִמַּחֲצִ֣ת), "the·one·held" (אֶת־הָֽאָחֻז֙), "and·from·the·animals" (וּמִן־הַבְּהֵמָ֑ה). The root משה appears 2 times in this verse. 18 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "children·of·Israel" (root בן, 499x in Numbers); "Hashem" (root יהוה, 389x in Numbers); "as" (root אשר, 223x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'and·from·the·animals', dividing the verse into phrases of 9 and 11 words.
Onkelos
And Moses took from the half of the children of Israel that which was drawn out — one out of fifty — from the humans and from the animals, and gave them to the Levites who keep the charge of the Tabernacle of Hashem, as Hashem had commanded Moses.
Rashi
ויקח משה וגו׳ AND MOSES TOOK [FROM THIS HALF OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL ONE PART OUT OF EACH FIFTY] etc.
Ibn Ezra
"From the persons and from the animals" — a general term.
And the officers that were over the thousands of the host, the captains of thousands, and the captains of hundreds, came near to Moses;
verse value 3333
Insights
Verse structure: 10 words, 47 letters. The shortest word is "who" (אֲשֶׁ֖ר, 3 letters) and the longest is "and·they·approached" (וַֽיִּקְרְבוּ֙, 6 letters). 1 word in this verse appears nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "of·thousands·of" (לְאַלְפֵ֣י). The root אלף appears 2 times in this verse. 9 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "who" (root אשר, 223x in Numbers); "to·Moses" (root משה, 217x in Numbers); "the·commanders" (root פקד, 103x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'the·troop', dividing the verse into phrases of 6 and 4 words. Full calculation: וַֽיִּקְרְבוּ֙ [and·they·approached] (324) + אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֔ה [to·Moses] (376) + הַפְּקֻדִ֕ים [the·commanders] (239) + אֲשֶׁ֖ר [who] (501) + לְאַלְפֵ֣י [of·thousands·of] (151) + הַצָּבָ֑א [the·troop] (98) + שָׂרֵ֥י [officers·of] (510) + הָאֲלָפִ֖ים [the·thousands] (166) + וְשָׂרֵ֥י [and·officers·of] (516) + הַמֵּאֽוֹת [the·hundreds] (452) = 3333.
Onkelos
And the commanders appointed over the thousands of the army — the officers of thousands and the officers of hundreds — drew near to Moses.
Rashi
הפקדים means THOSE WHO WERE APPOINTED (not those who were counted, as e.g. in Numbers 3:39).
Ibn Ezra
"The officers" — I have already explained this.
Rabbeinu Bahya
ויקרבו אל משה הפקודים, “the officers approached Moses, etc.” The word הפקודים here is the same as הפקידים, “the commanders.”
and they said to Moses: "Your servants have taken the sum of the men of war that are under our charge, and there lacks not one man of us.
verse value 3784
Insights
Verse structure: 12 words, 57 letters. Verse gematria: 3784 is divisible by 86, the value of Elohim. The shortest word is "who" (אֲשֶׁ֣ר, 3 letters) and the longest is "and·not·is·missing" (וְלֹא־נִפְקַ֥ד, 7 letters). 3 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "have·taken" (נָֽשְׂא֗וּ), "in·our·charge" (בְּיָדֵ֑נוּ), "and·not·is·missing" (וְלֹא־נִפְקַ֥ד). The root איש appears 2 times in this verse. 11 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "and·they·said" (root אמר, 246x in Numbers); "who" (root אשר, 223x in Numbers); "to·Moses" (root משה, 217x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'in·our·charge', dividing the verse into phrases of 9 and 3 words. Full calculation: וַיֹּֽאמְרוּ֙ [and·they·said] (263) + אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֔ה [to·Moses] (376) + עֲבָדֶ֣יךָ [your·servants] (106) + נָֽשְׂא֗וּ [have·taken] (357) + אֶת־רֹ֛אשׁ [count·of] (902) + אַנְשֵׁ֥י [the·men·of] (361) + הַמִּלְחָמָ֖ה [the·war] (128) + אֲשֶׁ֣ר [who] (501) + בְּיָדֵ֑נוּ [in·our·charge] (72) + וְלֹא־נִפְקַ֥ד [and·not·is·missing] (271) + מִמֶּ֖נּוּ [from·us] (136) + אִֽישׁ [one] (311) = 3784.
Onkelos
And they said to Moses: "Your servants have taken a count of the men of war who are with us, and not one man of us is missing.
Rashi
ולא נפקד means THERE IS NOT LACKING. Its translation in the Targum is לא שגא which, too, in the Aramaic language means “lacking”, just as the words (Genesis 31:39) אנכי אחטנה “I will make good the shortage”, are translated in the Targum by דהות שגיא ממנינא that which was lacking of the number (cf. Rashi on that verse), and so, too, is (I Samuel 20:18) “For thy seat יִפָּקֵד”, i.e., the place where you sat will lack the man who usually sat there. And similar is (I Samuel 20:15) “וַיִפָּקֵד the place of David” — his place lacked, and no man sat there.
Ramban
THY SERVANTS HAVE TAKEN THE SUM OF THE MEN OF WAR THAT ARE UNDER OUR CHARGE, AND THERE LACKETH NOT ONE MAN OF US. [The meaning of this is]: “G-d has wrought a great salvation through us, for not one of all those men of war that were under our charge died, or was wounded by the sword so that he would be missing from the host; and therefore we want to bring the Eternal’s offering [to Him] Who saved us, to give before Him the atonement for our souls because He redeemed [us] from death, and in war from the power of the sword.” And our Rabbis have interpreted [the verse as follows]: “And there lacketh not one man — [going off] to commit a sin.” That is to say, they were continually under our charge, and not a single one of our brothers who were in the host went off to another place to commit a sin.” And Moses said to them: “If so, what is this offering for?” They replied, “To make atonement for our souls — sinful “thoughts of the heart.”
Ibn Ezra
"Who are in our charge" — because they were under their authority; similarly, "you shall take in your hand ten men."
Or HaChaim
-50. ויאמרו אל משה…ונקרב, They said to Moses:…"we have brought the Lord's offering, etc." The meaning of the soldiers saying that after counting who had returned from the battle it became clear that they had not suffered a single casualty was designed to convince Moses that not one of these soldiers who had volunteered had previously been guilty of any sin even remotely connected to the parts of the body on which these pieces of jewelry were worn , and which they had offered as atonement offerings for themselves. The expression ונקרב alluded to הרהורי עברה, fantasies about committing a sin. The purpose of the sacrifice was to atone for any such fantasies one had entertained (compare Shabbat 64). I have elaborated on this theme in my booklet called חפץ השם (on a variety of Talmudical subjects)
Chizkuni
ולא נפקד ממנו איש, “and not one of us who had been counted is unaccounted for.” The remarkable thing here was that we have a rule that a headcount is liable to result in a plague, and that there is no remedy against this. Our sages therefore do not understand the word נפקד here in the conventional sense, but they translate it to mean that none of the 12000 soldiers in this campaign had become guilty of a personal sin, which might have resulted in Satan having an excuse to kill him. (Talmud tractate Shabbat folio 64)
Rabbeinu Bahya
עבדיך נשאו את ראש אנשי המלחמה אשר בידינו ולא נפקד ממנו איש, “your servants have counted the heads of the warriors entrusted to us and not a single man is missing.” This was a remarkable miracle. In fact, it may be described as one of the greatest miracles amongst all the miracles which were performed for the Jewish people ever. When we consider the number of prisoners taken we can imagine how many adult males there must have been participating in this war. The Israelites killed each one of them without sustaining a single casualty. The reason why this miracle occurred was that every one of these 12,000 soldiers was a righteous individual who felt morally superior enough to take part in this punitive expedition. This is what our sages had in mind (Shabbat 64) when they said that the words ולא נפקד מהם איש mean that not one of them was guilty of a sin that would be held against him [the word being used as in Exodus 20,5. Ed.] When Moses heard this, he asked: ”if this is so why do you want to offer this sacrifice of gold, etc.?” They answered: ”we want to atone for lewd thoughts which we may have entertained.”
Tur HaArokh
עבדיך נשאו את ראש אנשי המלחמה, “Your servants took a census of the men of war under our command;” they meant that not a single one had fallen, become a casualty during this campaign. ולא נפקד ממנו איש, “and not a single one of us is missing.” No one has even been injured so that he would be hospitalized, etc.
Rashbam
עבדיך נשאו את ראש.....לא נפקד ממנו איש, by pestilence. [Even when no casualties are suffered in battle, it would be normal for someone among 12.000 men to experience some fatal disease such as a pestilence. This is why we will present our offering to G’d consisting of items of captured gold jewelry, which we vowed as such before making the count, hoping thereby to protect ourselves against any plague This is why G’d commanded to use these items as something to be used in connection with the Temple service. We have already heard about contributions of such coins serving the purpose of fending off pestilence or plague in Exodus 30,12 where Moses had been commanded to accept silver coins as a form of expiation and to utilise them in the construction of the Tabernacle. The same was to be done with these contributions called קרבן, a gift to assure oneself of becoming closer to G’d. I have heard this interpretation from my father Rabbi Meir, and it is the principal meaning of our verse.
And we have brought Hashem's offering, what every man has gotten, of jewels of gold, armlets, and bracelets, signet-rings, ear-rings, and pendants, to make atonement for our souls before Hashem."
verse value 4669 — יְהֹוָ֗ה = 26 (Hashem)
Insights
Verse structure: 16 words, 74 letters. Notable word values: "Hashem" (יְהֹוָ֗ה) = 26, the value of the divine name Hashem. The shortest word is "each" (אִישׁ֩, 3 letters) and the longest is "for·our·persons" (עַל־נַפְשֹׁתֵ֖ינוּ, 9 letters). Words sharing gematria 170: armlets, before. 9 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "and·we·have·brought" (וַנַּקְרֵ֞ב), "came·upon" (מָצָ֤א), "articles·of·gold" (כְלִֽי־זָהָב֙). The root יהוה appears 2 times in this verse. 15 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "Hashem" (root יהוה, 389x in Numbers); "as" (root אשר, 223x in Numbers); "each" (root איש, 130x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'and·pendants', dividing the verse into phrases of 12 and 4 words.
Onkelos
And we have brought near the offering of Hashem — each man what he found: vessels of gold, armlets and chains, rings, earrings, and necklaces — to make atonement for our souls before Hashem."
Rashi
אצעדה — These are BANDS FOR THE FOOT (anklets). וצמיד are BANDS FOR THE HAND (bracelets). עגיל are EARRINGS. וכומז is an ornament in the form of the womb — to atone for the thoughts their hearts had entertained for the daughters of Midian (Shabbat 64a).
Ibn Ezra
"We bring near" — in thought or in speech. "Armlet" — it is worn on the upper arm, as it is written. "Bracelet" — for the wrist. "Ring" — for the finger. "Earring" — for the ears, as it is written; perhaps it is called so because it is round (agol). "Pendant" — like the others.
Sforno
לכפר על נפשותינו, for the sin at Baal Peor, as an act of gratitude for not having died in the plague that broke out then.
Chizkuni
ונקרב את קרבן ה', לכפר על נפשותינו, ”we have broughtthe Lord’s offering......to make atonement for our souls.” Wehad made this commitment already before having been counted in order to protect us against the potential harm that might befall us on account of the count. This is why we have now brought it to the Tabernacle. We find confirmation for this interpretation in Exodus 30,16: ולקחת את כסף הכפויים ונתת אותו על עבודת אהל מועד, “and you shall take (accept) the atonement money from the Children of Israel and shall appoint it for the service of the Tent of Meeting;” ונקרב את קרבן ה, Rashi adds that they meant that even if they had withstood the temptation to commit a sin, they had not been free from the temptation to do so, and they meant to atone for this by this offering. If you were to counter that the Torah had actually condoned sleeping with prisoners of war due to giving in to their physical allure, (Deuteronomy chapter 21) so what sin or temptation to sin did these soldiers talk about? We would have to refer to the Jerusalem Talmud who states that chapter 21 of Deuteronomy only condones relations with a captured female after the conquest has been completed, not during the war.
Rabbeinu Bahya
ונקרב את קרבן ה', “we have offered the sacrifice to the Lord.” This verse proves that when one vows to bring a sacrifice either in thought or word this already constitutes a sacrifice, i.e. that the money set aside with which to buy the animal is already sanctified (Yuma 63). אצעדה, “anklet;” an ornament worn on the foot, the organ one makes steps with צעדים) צמיד, “bracelet;” an ornament worn on the arm. We have encountered the word when Eliezer put two such bracelets on Rivkah’s hands (Genesis 24,22). טבעת, “a ring;” for the finger; עגיל, “a ring worn in the ear.” וכומז, “a clasp;” something known as chastity belt in the middle ages, worn over the private parts.
Daat Zkenim
'ונקרב את קרבן ה, “we have brought the Lord’s offering, etc.” Rashi explains this verse in his commentary on the Talmud tractate Shabbat, folio 64, by saying that whereas these soldiers had all withstood the temptation to sin during this campaign, they had not been free from the temptation to sin, and it was to atone for this temptation that they brought the offering mentioned in our verse. Although we know from the Torah that a Jewish soldier who falls in love with a physically attractive prisoner of war is even allowed to marry her after she has converted, and no mention is made of his having to bring an offering for having even slept with her prior to this, this exemption only applies to the first time he could not resist this sinful temptation. To be lusting after her after having first satisfied his lust is forbidden for that soldier also.
And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of them, even all wrought jewels.
verse value 2289
Insights
Verse structure: 9 words, 36 letters. The shortest word is "all" (כֹּ֖ל, 2 letters) and the longest is "and·Eleazar" (וְאֶלְעָזָ֧ר, 6 letters). 9 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "Moses" (root משה, 217x in Numbers); "all" (root כל, 98x in Numbers); "and·he·took" (root לקח, 72x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'from·them', dividing the verse into phrases of 6 and 3 words. Full calculation: וַיִּקַּ֨ח [and·he·took] (124) + מֹשֶׁ֜ה [Moses] (345) + וְאֶלְעָזָ֧ר [and·Eleazar] (314) + הַכֹּהֵ֛ן [the·priest] (80) + אֶת־הַזָּהָ֖ב [the·gold] (420) + מֵֽאִתָּ֑ם [from·them] (481) + כֹּ֖ל [all] (50) + כְּלִ֥י [articles] (60) + מַעֲשֶֽׂה [work] (415) = 2289.
Onkelos
And Moses and Eleazar the priest received the gold from them — all the wrought vessels.
Ibn Ezra
"All wrought articles" — Scripture thereby tells us that there was not a broken vessel among them.
Sforno
ויקח משה, he accepted it from them and weighed it. כל כלי מעשה, every kind of jewelry and decorative art employed by the women at Baal Peor.
Or HaChaim
כל כלי מעשה, "all kinds of wrought articles." We get an idea of the quantity and variety of the loot the Israelites captured from the Midianites if these wrought articles alone amounted to 16,750 shekels. The Torah (verse 53) adds: "each man looted for himself" after the Torah had already told us previously that the soldiers had looted for themselves. Why did the Torah mention this fact again in this context? Apparently the Torah wanted to tell us that this was the sum total of all the golden pieces which the commanders had captured, exclusive of what the common soldiers had captured which had been mentioned previously. Altogether, great riches had been found and captured.
Chizkuni
כל כלי מעשה, “even jewelry that had been made from such gold.”
Rabbeinu Bahya
ויקח משה ואלעזר הכהן את הזהב מאתם כל כלי מעשה, “Moses and Elazar the priest took the gold from them, all items which had been fashioned into a complete article.” The Torah stresses that the offering did not contain broken items. They brought it to the Tabernacle to convert into כלי שרת, utensils to be used in the sacrificial rituals.
And all the gold of the gift that they set apart for Hashem, of the captains of thousands, and of the captains of hundreds, was sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels.—
verse value 7034
Insights
Verse structure: 18 words, 77 letters. The shortest word is "that" (אֲשֶׁ֤ר, 3 letters) and the longest is "seven·hundred" (שְׁבַע־מֵא֥וֹת, 7 letters). Words sharing gematria 510: officers·of, officers·of. 2 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "they·offered" (הֵרִ֙ימוּ֙), "seven·hundred" (שְׁבַע־מֵא֥וֹת). The root אלף appears 2 times in this verse. 15 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "to·Hashem" (root יהוה, 389x in Numbers); "that" (root אשר, 223x in Numbers); "and·was" (root היה, 180x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'shekel', dividing the verse into phrases of 12 and 6 words.
Onkelos
And all the gold of the separation-offering that they separated before Hashem was sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels — from the officers of thousands and from the officers of hundreds.
For the men of war had taken booty, every man for himself.—
verse value 828 — לֽוֹ = 36 (double-Chai)
Insights
Verse structure: 5 words, 17 letters. Notable word values: "for·himself" (לֽוֹ) = 36, double chai. Verse gematria: 828 is divisible by 18, the value of chai ('life'). The shortest word is "for·himself" (לֽוֹ, 2 letters) and the longest is "men·of" (אַנְשֵׁי֙, 4 letters). The root איש appears 2 times in this verse. 4 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "men·of" (root איש, 130x in Numbers); "for·himself" (root לכם, 88x in Numbers); "the·ranks" (root צבא, 81x in Numbers). Full calculation: אַנְשֵׁי֙ [men·of] (361) + הַצָּבָ֔א [the·ranks] (98) + בָּזְז֖וּ [they·plundered] (22) + אִ֥ישׁ [everyone] (311) + לֽוֹ [for·himself] (36) = 828.
Onkelos
The men of the army had each plundered for himself.
Ibn Ezra
"The soldiers had each taken plunder for himself" — Scripture mentions this to make known that every individual had taken much gold and wrought articles as plunder.
Daat Zkenim
אנשי הצבא בזזו איש לו, “the men actively involved in the fighting of that campaign had each taken personal loot to keep for themselves.
And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it into the tent of meeting, for a memorial for the children of Israel before Hashem.
verse value 4589 — יְהֹוָֽה = 26 (Hashem)
Insights
Verse structure: 17 words, 80 letters. Notable word values: "Hashem" (יְהֹוָֽה) = 26, the value of the divine name Hashem. Verse gematria: 4589 is divisible by 13, the value of echad ('one') and ahavah ('love'). The shortest word is "Moses" (מֹשֶׁ֜ה, 3 letters) and the longest is "for·the·Israelites" (לִבְנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל, 9 letters). 2 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "and·the·hundreds" (וְהַמֵּא֑וֹת), "for·the·Israelites" (לִבְנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל). 17 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "for·the·Israelites" (root בן, 499x in Numbers); "Hashem" (root יהוה, 389x in Numbers); "Moses" (root משה, 217x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'and·the·hundreds', dividing the verse into phrases of 9 and 8 words.
Onkelos
And Moses and Eleazar the priest received the gold from the officers of thousands and hundreds, and brought it to the Tent of Meeting — a memorial for the children of Israel before Hashem.
Ramban
AND THEY BROUGHT IT INTO THE TENT OF MEETING, FOR A MEMORIAL FOR THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL BEFORE THE ETERNAL. It would appear from this verse that they made them [the ornaments they had captured] into vessels to be used for the Service [in the Sanctuary], and handed them over to the public for a memorial for all the children of Israel with which to perform the Service of G-d throughout their generations. For had these vessels [merely] gone to the treasury of the House of G-d [rather than actually being used for the Divine Service], the verse should rather have said, “a memorial ‘for them’ before the Eternal,” but [the phrase] the children of Israel [a memorial for ‘the children of Israel’] includes all the people, and [it means] that the memorial consists of something permanent.
Sforno
ויקח משה, after having weighed it he brought it to the Tabernacle, as a remembrance for the Jewish people, to serve as expiation of the sin committed at Baal Peor.
Or HaChaim
אל אהל מועד זכרון לבני ישראל, to the Tent of Meeting as a memorial for the children of Israel, etc. Why did the Torah use the unusual way of separating the words "Tent of Meeting" and "before G'd" by interposing the words "as a memorial for the children of Israel?" These words should have appeared at the end of the verse! We may be able to understand our verse with the help of a statement in Massechet Kallah. Said Rabbi Achai bar Yoshiah: "anyone who turns away from a sin that he was about to commit becomes as fit as the High Priest to offer a sacrifice on the altar even if he is not a priest." Thus far the relevant statement of Rabbi Achai. The pieces of jewelry offered by the commanders of the punitive expedition in our verse as sacrifices were all in the nature of offerings after the owners had spurned the commission of sins which they were about to commit. The jewelry had been taken literally from the persons with whom the sin in question would have been committed. Our sages commented on Song of Songs, 6,6: "your teeth are like a flock of ewes," that during the war in question the Israelite soldiers removed the Midianite women's personal jewelry, smeared some kind of plaster and dung on their faces, took off their nose-rings so that they would not be tempted to look at them and to lust after them. This is what the Torah had in mind with the words לבני ישראל followed by the words לפני השם. The soldiers in question had elevated themselves to a spiritual level equivalent to the priests who offer the sacrifices before G'd in the Tabernacle. Their conduct became a memorial for future generations of Israelites.
Tur HaArokh
ויביאו אותו אל אהל מועד זכרון לבני ישראל, “they brought it to the Tent of Meeting as a remembrance for the Children of Israel.” Nachmanides explains this verse as the Israelites constructing various vessels made from captured gold coins and jewelry, these newly made vessels to be used in the activities connected to the holy service in the Tabernacle. If these vessels would only have been stored in the Temple treasury, the Torah should have written זכרון להם, “as a remembrance for the people who had brought them to the Temple treasury.” The reason that the Torah wrote זכרון לבני ישראל was that by their being used in the Temple service they acted as a remembrance for the whole people.
Onkelos
Or HaChaim