Numbers 25:17

17 "Harass the Midianites, and defeat them;

Numbers 25:17 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 25:17

Vex the Midianites, and smite them.
] Go to war with them, and smite them with the sword; not the Moabites, but the Midianites, though they were both confederates against Israel; but God had given a charge not to contend in battle with Moab, ( Deuteronomy 2:9 ) , they were spared for the sake of Lot, from whom they sprang; and, as Jarchi says, for the sake of Ruth, who was to come from them; and so in the Talmud F12; though they did not entirely escape the divine resentment, as appears from ( Deuteronomy 23:3 Deuteronomy 23:4 ) but the Midianites were the first that advised to send for Balaam, and with them he stayed and was entertained, after he had been dismissed by Balak; and it seems as if it was to them he gave the wicked counsel, to draw Israel into fornication, and so into idolatry, and thereby bring the curse of God upon them; which advice they communicated to the Moabites, and both were concerned in putting it into execution; see ( Numbers 22:4 Numbers 22:7 ) ( Numbers 25:1 Numbers 25:6 ) ( Numbers 31:9 Numbers 31:16 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F12 T. Bab. Bava Kama, fol. 38. 2.

Numbers 25:17 In-Context

15 The name of the Midianite woman who was killed was Cozbi daughter of Zur, who was the head of a clan, an ancestral house in Midian.
16 The Lord said to Moses,
17 "Harass the Midianites, and defeat them;
18 for they have harassed you by the trickery with which they deceived you in the affair of Peor, and in the affair of Cozbi, the daughter of a leader of Midian, their sister; she was killed on the day of the plague that resulted from Peor."
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.