Sin of Peor

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Divine Justice for Peor Sin

TANAKH

The sin of Peor was so severe that it required a direct command from God to Moses to publicly punish the ringleaders. The Torah recounts how the Israelites' idolatry with Baal-peor incited God's wrath, leading to a divine command for public punishment to turn away His anger.

Thus Israel attached itself to Baal-peor, and יהוה was incensed with Israel. יהוה said to Moses, “Take all the ringleaders and have them publicly impaled before יהוה, so that יהוה’s wrath may turn away from Israel.” So Moses said to Israel’s officials, “Each of you slay those of his men who attached themselves to Baal-peor.”

Numbers 25:3-5

The Deceptive Nature of Idolatry

TALMUD

Even acts that seem to demean an idol, like urinating before it, do not necessarily negate its idolatrous status. In Tractate Avodah Zara, the rabbis debate the deceptive nature of Rabban Gamliel's response about the idolatrous status of a statue, using the worship of Peor as an example.

§ Rav Ḥama bar Yosef the Distinguished says that Rabbi Oshaya says: Rabban Gamliel gave a deceptive response to that officer, Proclus. And I, Rav Ḥama, say that the response was not deceptive but truthful. The Gemara explains: What was its deception, according to Rabbi Oshaya? It was that Rabban Gamliel said to him: This statue stands upon the sewage pipe and all people urinate before it. In saying this, Rabban Gamliel meant that the statue has no idolatrous status as is evident from the demeaning conduct performed before it…

Avodah Zarah 44b:7-8

The Complexity of Idol Annulment

COMMENTARY

Disgraceful acts performed in front of an idol can sometimes be a form of worship, rather than annulling its idolatrous status. The Mishnah, the first codification of Jewish law from the early third-century land of Israel, discusses the complexities of idol annulment in the context of the worship of Baal Peor.

If he spat before it, urinated before it, dragged it [in the dust] or hurled excrement at it, behold it is not annulled. Acting in a disgraceful way in front of the idol does not annul it. According to the Talmud, the non-Jew may being do this out of anger at the idol, without annulling its divinity. In other words, merely getting angry at the idol does not mean that the pagan assumes that it is no longer a god. When his anger cools down he will again worship the idol, and therefore the idol was never annulled…

English Explanation of Mishnah Avodah Zarah 4:5:3

The Zeal of Phineas

MIDRASH

Phineas's zealous action in killing Zimri and the Midianitish woman led to a divine reward for him and his descendants. Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, an eighth-century midrashic work, elaborates on biblical narratives, including the story of Phineas from Numbers 25.

All the princes with Moses, Eleazar, and Phineas saw the angel who was to destroy the people, and they sat down and wept, and they did not know what to do. Phineas saw how Zimri went publicly to the Midianitish woman for an immoral purpose, and he was moved by a great zeal, and he snatched the spear out of the hand of Moses, and ran after (Zimri) and pierced him through the back, through the pudenda, and the spear went into the belly of the woman. Therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, gave a good reward to him and to his sons with the food of the shoulder…

Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 47:6

Midianite Strategy and Revenge

JEWISH THOUGHT

The Midianites' strategic use of immoral acts to cause Israel's downfall reveals the depth of their enmity and their plans for revenge. Rabbi Isaac Arama’s medieval work, Akeidat Yitzchak, delves into the historical and philosophical context of the Midianites' actions against Israel.

(1) We have explained in chapter eighty two that the Midianites actually felt more threatened by Israel than the Moabites, since they had not been assured of physical or economic immunity, seeing that G'd had forbidden Israel to harm Moab. G'd had not imposed such strictures concerning Midian (Deut 2, 18-19) This is why the Midianites tried to cause the downfall of Israel through their committing immoral, licentious sexual unions. When this had failed, they planned other actions just as the Ammonites had done. (Samuel I 10,6) who hired mercenaries to attack Israel…

Akeidat Yitzchak 84:1:10

The Meaning of Shittim

TALMUD

The term 'Shittim' in the Torah is interpreted by Rabbi Yehoshua as an allusion to the Israelites' engagement in sinful behavior, contrasting with Rabbi Eliezer's view that it is simply the name of the place. The Gemara discusses the meaning of 'Shittim' in Numbers 25:1, highlighting a dispute between Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua.

And furthermore, I also asked him the following question: What is the meaning of the term “Shittim” in the verse: “And Israel dwelled in Shittim” (Numbers 25:1)? And he said to me that Shittim was its name. The Gemara comments that this answer is like one side of a dispute between tanna’im: Rabbi Eliezer says: Shittim is the actual name of the place. Rabbi Yehoshua says: This moniker is an allusion to the fact that they were engaged in matters of nonsense [shetut], i.e…

Bekhorot 5b:5

The Consequences at Shittim

COMMENTARY

The transgressions at Shittim led to the death of 24,000 men from the tribe of Simeon and the subsequent remarriage of their widows into other tribes. This modern analysis explores the consequences of idolatry and immorality on the tribe of Simeon, as recounted in the biblical narrative.

Cursed be their anger…I will divide them in Jacob – 24,000 men of Simeon died in Shittim due to their sins of licentiousness and idolatry, and their widows married into other tribes.

Tribal Lands, Chapter 3; Shimon 32

Phinehas and the Covenant of Peace

MIDRASH

Phinehas's zealous act of stopping a plague among the Israelites earned him a divine covenant of peace. Midrash Tanchuma, an early medieval collection of midrash, recounts the lineage and divine reward of Phinehas, emphasizing his descent from Aaron the priest and the importance of peace in Jewish tradition.

(Numb. 25:11) “Phinehas ben Elazar […].” What reason did the Holy One, blessed be He, have for tracing the lineage of Phinehas after this act (of slaying Zimri in Numb. 25:8)? [The reason was] that, when Zimri was pierced along with Cozbi, the tribes rose up against [Phinehas] and said, “Did you see the son (actually, grandson) of Puti? This man, whose mother's father fattened calves for idolatry, has killed a tribal prince of Israel!” Therefore Scripture has come to trace his lineage [through his paternal grandfather] (in Numb…

Midrash Tanchuma, Pinchas 1:1

Timeless Lessons from Pinhas

TANAKH

The Israelites' vulnerability to external temptations and the necessity of decisive leadership are timeless lessons. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks explores the unchanged nature of the Israelites and Moses despite the sin of Peor, emphasizing the critical role of Pinhas in halting the plague.

It did not change the Israelites, who remained vulnerable to the Moabites, Midianites, and the enticements of sex, food, and foreign gods. It did not change Moses, who left it to Pinhas to take the decisive act that stopped the plague and was soon thereafter told that Joshua would succeed him as leader.

I Believe; A Weekly Reading of the Jewish Bible, Balak; The Hidden Meaning of the Balaam Story 10

The Corruption at Shitim

MIDRASH

The moral decline of the Israelites at Shitim is intricately tied to the corrupting influence of the local spring, notorious for its association with harlotry and foolishness. Bamidbar Rabbah, an 11th-century midrash on the book of Numbers, delves into this decline, contrasting it sharply with the virtues that merited Israel's redemption from Egypt.

“Israel was dwelling in Shitim, and the people began to engage in harlotry with the daughters of Moav” (Numbers 25:1).
“Israel was dwelling in Shitim” – halakha, due to the merit of several matters, Israel was redeemed from Egypt. Our Rabbis taught: Due to the merit of four matters, Israel was redeemed from Egypt: Because they did not change their names; because they did not change their language; [because] they did not reveal their secrets, as Moses said to them: “Each woman will borrow from her neighbor silver vessels and gold vessels” (Exodus 3:22) – this was entrusted to…

Bamidbar Rabbah 20:22

Rejecting Idolatry

HALAKHAH

The prohibition against benefiting from items associated with idol worship underscores the Jewish commitment to monotheism and the rejection of idolatry. The Shulchan Arukh, in the authoritative 16th-century code of Jewish law, addresses the prohibition of any items found with idols, even if they are found in a degrading manner outside the idol's partition.

Quand on a trouvé dans un temple ou en dehors de son enceinte un objet que les païens ont l'habitude d'offrir aux idoles, il est interdit d’en profiter, car il est probable qu'il était destiné au culte de l’idolâtrie. Mais si on a trouvé cet objet en dehors de la grille du temple, cet objet est défendu s’il a été placé en cet endroit pour l’embellissement du lieu; sinon, il est permis. Quand on a trouvé à la suite un moellon servant d’idole, celui-ci est défendu dans tous les cas.

Shulchan Arukh, Yoreh De'ah 139:5

Moses' Call for Repentance

SECOND TEMPLE

Moses addresses a moral crisis by focusing on repentance and moral correction rather than immediate punishment. Josephus, in his historical work 'The Antiquities of the Jews,' recounts how Moses called the people to a congregation to speak about resisting their lusts and maintaining moral integrity.

10. Even Zimri, the head of the tribe of Simeon accompanied with Cozbi, a Midianitish women, who was the daughter of Sur, a man of authority in that country; and being desired by his wife to disregard the laws of Moses, and to follow those she was used to, he complied with her, and this both by sacrificing after a manner different from his own, and by taking a stranger to wife. When things were thus, Moses was afraid that matters should grow worse, and called the people to a congregation, but then accused nobody by name, as unwilling to drive those into despair who, by lying concealed…

The Antiquities of the Jews 4:6:10

Divine Revelation of the Guilty

MIDRASH

The divine intervention in identifying the sinners through a miraculous peeling back of the cloud and the sun shining upon them is a unique and dramatic method of revealing the guilty individuals among the Israelites. The Midrash Tanchuma, an early medieval collection of midrash, provides additional narrative details and interpretations of the episode in Numbers 25 where Israelites worship Baal Peor.

(Numb. 25:4:) TAKE ALL THE HEADS OF THE PEOPLE, AND IMPALE THEM <BEFORE THE LORD IN THE SUN>. R. Judan said: He hanged the heads of the people, because they had not protested about the people who stood out among them like the Sun. R. Nehemiah said: He did not hang them. Rather the Holy One said to Moses: Appoint Sanhedrin heads for them, and let them judge whoever went to Peor. He said to him: But who will make such a one known? The Holy One said to him: I will expose such a one…

Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Balak 28:1

The Perils of Idolatry

COMMENTARY

The death of 24,000 Israelites highlights the critical importance of adhering to the laws against idolatry. Chizkuni, a 13th-century Torah commentary, discusses the severe consequences of idolatry and the necessity of following Torah laws to inherit the Holy Land.

עיניכם הרואות, “Your eyes which have seen, etc.;” in verse 1 of this chapter Moses had told us to observe the laws of the Torah to ensure that the people whom he addressed would indeed inherit the Holy Land. It was also a warning not to once more miss that opportunity as it had been missed a few months earlier by 24000 of them who had worshipped the Peor. This had happened to them although up until that moment their conduct had entitled them to inherit their shares of that land. The previous generation had all died because of the sin related to the spies…

Chizkuni, Deuteronomy 4:3:1

Moral Decline and Divine Punishment

REFERENCE

The moral decline of the current generation is compared to the time of Moses, highlighting the increased prevalence of immorality and the consequent divine punishment. Rabbi Chanina bar Chama, an Amora from the Talmudic period, offers insights into the moral and ethical teachings of his time as noted in the Babylonian Talmud in tractate Moed Katan.

Rabbi Chanina scolded the inhabitants of his city for their immorality and he said: “During the time of Moses there was one Zimri and 24 thousand Jews lost their lives on his account. In this generation we have many Zimri’s. Why then should we complain if God punishes us?”

The Jewish Spiritual Heroes, Volume II; The Amoraim of Palestine and the Jerusalem Talmud, Rabbi Chanina bar Chama 24

The Sin of Peor

TARGUM

The Israelites' active participation in idolatry with the Moabite women is a stark reminder of the dangers of straying from their faith. The Targum Onkelos, an ancient Aramaic translation and interpretation of the Torah, provides a detailed account of this event from the Book of Numbers.

They [girls of Moav] invited the people [of Yisroel] to their idolatrous sacrifices [abominations]; and the people ate and prostrated themselves before their gods [abominations].

Onkelos Numbers 25:2

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