Bamidbar 31: Hidden Stories Hidden Threats

Chapter 31 returns to the previous story of the Midyanite woman and Baal Peor. God has not forgotten the evil plot to seduce the population and cause them to sin. Were it not for the heroics of Pinchas, the plot would have succeeded. This is why God tells Pinchas to lead the army into battle against the Midyanites.“Moses sent them to the campaign—one thousand from each tribe—together with Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest, with the sacred vessels and the trumpets for sounding the blasts.”וַיִּשְׁלַח אֹתָם מֹשֶׁה אֶל־הַצָּבָא אֶלֶף לַמַּטֶּה אֹתָם וְאֶת־פִּינְחָס בֶּן־אֶלְעָזָר הַכֹּהֵן לַצָּבָא וּכְלֵי הַקֹּדֶשׁ וַחֲצֹצְרוֹת הַתְּרוּעָה בְּיָדוֹ(Numbers 31:6)In this chapter we find out that the people killed Balaam in their attack on Midyan.“They put Balaam son of Beor to the sword.”וְאֵת בִּלְעָם בֶּן־בְּעוֹר הָרְגוּ בֶּחָרֶב(Numbers 31:8)Later, when Moshe chastises the people for keeping the women alive he admonishes the people: “Yet they are the very ones who, at the bidding of Balaam, induced the Israelites to trespass against God” (verse 31:16).הֵן הֵנָּה הָיוּ לִבְנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל בִּדְבַר בִּלְעָם לִמְסֹר מַעַל בַּה׳ עַל־דְּבַר פְּעוֹר(Numbers 31:16)On a side note, this is the source for reading into the Balaam story that Balaam was really an evil person. In fact, Balaam is probably more complex. The Balaam story showed that he was loyal to the word of God, but here the text reveals that he also was able to scheme another way to harm the Israelites. More importantly this verse begs a larger question—when did the people find out about the Balaam story? Moshe does not instruct them to kill Balaam at the beginning. So they may have only found out about it in verse 16.The story of Balaam is the only time from the beginning of the Abraham narrative where the story has no major Israelite character involved. (Two other possible stories—the story of Eliezer is directed by Avraham, and Rivkah is there; and the story of the cupbearer and Pharaoh’s dreams involves Yosef). This chapter reminds me of the articles that one often reads about the IDF thwarting a terrorist attack. Everyone is going about their lives as if nothing is happening. Everything seems fine. However, behind the scenes, the IDF is working tirelessly to keep everyone safe. It also explains why the story of Balaam appears now. It is yet another example of the effort of God to prepare the people for entry into the land and become self reliant. No one was involved in the Balaam story except for God. God’s message with the Balaam story is that the people should not rest on their laurels. Everything may seem to be calm, but God is always in the background trying to thwart efforts to harm the Israelites.