“And Israel Joined Himself unto the Baal of Peor”

And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit harlotry with the daughters of Moab. And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods; and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods. And Israel joined himself unto the Baal of Peor; and the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel. … And, behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, while they were weeping at the door of the tent of meeting. (Numbers 25:1–3, 6)

וַיֵּשֶׁב יִשְׂרָאֵל בַּשִּׁטִּים, וַיָּחֶל הָעָם לִזְנוֹת אֶל בְּנוֹת מוֹאָב. וַתִּקְרֶאןָ לָעָם לְזִבְחֵי אֱלֹהֵיהֶן, וַיֹּאכַל הָעָם וַיִּשְׁתַּחֲווּ לֵאלֹהֵיהֶן. וַיִּצָּמֶד יִשְׂרָאֵל לְבַעַל פְּעוֹר, וַיִּחַר אַף ה' בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל ... וְהִנֵּה אִישׁ מִבְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל בָּא, וַיַּקְרֵב אֶל אֶחָיו אֶת הַמִּדְיָנִית, לְעֵינֵי מֹשֶׁה וּלְעֵינֵי כָּל עֲדַת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, וְהֵמָּה בֹכִים פֶּתַח אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד. (במדבר כ"ה, א-ג, ו)

At the end of Balak, the Torah tells of the people beginning to have sexual relations with Moab’s daughters and Israel joining Baal-peor. Later, however, Moab’s daughters disappear from the account, which focuses instead on “Cozbi, the daughter of Zur” (Numbers 25:15), a Midianite daughter of one of Midian’s kings. In Mattot, the LORD asks Moses to avenge Israel upon Midian, and Midian’s women are killed.

Why was harsh vengeance directed specifically against Midian rather than Moab, with whom the story began?

The following discussion seeks to understand the story as it stands: beginning with Moab and Midian’s elders jointly approaching Balaam, proceeding through Moab’s daughters and the Midianite Cozbi, and ending in vengeance against Midian.

Balak begins with Moab’s fear of Israel and its cooperation with Midian’s elders. Together they ask Balaam to curse Israel so they can defeat and drive them away. After the initial meeting, however, Midian’s elders are not mentioned again; we hear nothing of Midian until Zimri’s act with Cozbi daughter of Zur.

Mattot says attachment to Baal-peor was Balaam’s advice, “to act treacherously against the LORD in the matter of Peor” (Numbers 31:16). Perhaps he gave it already at that initial meeting: instead of fighting Israel, he proposed joining and merging with them, like Hamor’s proposal to Jacob at Shechem: “And make ye marriages with us; give your daughters unto us, and take our daughters unto you.” (Genesis 34:9). Moab maintained the original plan of persuading Balaam to curse Israel, while Midian accepted his advice. Midian therefore disappears until the portion’s end, when its chosen strategy is revealed.

On this proposal, Midian’s aim in “the matter of Peor” was a union with Israel at both national and divine levels. Worship of Baal-peor, like that of the Baals, may have included sexual coupling intended to arouse the gods. Balaam advised performing these acts between Israelite men and Midianite women, specifically Israel’s leaders and Midianite princes’ daughters, as Zimri son of Salu and Cozbi daughter of Zur illustrate. Perhaps this also explains why the LORD demanded impaling the people’s heads specifically: “‘Take all the chiefs of the people, and hang them up unto the LORD in face of the sun, that the fierce anger of the LORD may turn away from Israel.’” (Numbers 25:4).

Relations with Moab’s daughters, which began the process, were not religious in character, although they led to participation in sacrifices and worship of their gods. The Torah describes a clear sequence: first “the people began to commit harlotry with the daughters of Moab” (Numbers 25:1), then “they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods” (verse 2). The sexual act itself is not described as ritual, but as a sexual connection leading Israel to join sacrifices, eat, bow to their gods, and finally attach themselves to Baal-peor.

In Zimri and Cozbi’s story, by contrast, the Midianite woman does not meet him outside the camp and invite him to her gods’ sacrifices. He brings her into Israel’s camp, into “the chamber,” before Moses and the whole congregation as they weep at the Tent of Meeting’s entrance. The act occurs publicly, amid attachment to Baal-peor, opposite the place representing the LORD’s presence in Israel. It can therefore be understood as a ritual act and deliberate defiance of the LORD and His worship rather than private sexual misconduct.

Moab also sought to harm Israel, but its aim was more limited: “peradventure I shall prevail, that we may smite them, and that I may drive them out of the land” (Numbers 22:6). Its attempt was doomed from the outset: divination and sorcery cannot force the LORD to pronounce an unwanted curse. “How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? And how shall I execrate, whom the LORD hath not execrated?” (Numbers 23:8). Moab’s punishment was accordingly more moderate: exclusion from the LORD’s assembly and a prohibition on seeking its peace and welfare (Deuteronomy 23:5, Hebrew numbering).

Midian chose a far more dangerous course. It sought to harm Israel by blurring its distinctiveness and undermining its special relationship with the LORD. The plot almost succeeded. Attachment to Baal-peor aroused His jealousy and wrath, killed twenty-four thousand, and, without Phinehas’ act, could have destroyed the people, as He said: “so that I consumed not the children of Israel in My jealousy” (Numbers 25:11).

Harsh vengeance therefore targeted Midian, whose actions nearly destroyed Israel, rather than Moab, whose attempt to expel Israel had failed.