| From our Sages on the Parshah |
Moses sent them to the war... (Numbers 31:6)
G-d charged Moses with the mission, yet he sends others! But since Moses had grown up in the land of Midian, he thought: It is not right that I should punish one who has done good to me. The proverb says: "A well from which you drank, cast not a stone into it."
(Midrash Rabbah)
They warred against Midian, as G-d commanded Moses (31:7)
When laying siege on a city to conquer it, we do not surround it from all four sides, but only from three sides, leaving a way to escape for anyone who wishes to flee for his life. As it is written, "they warred against Midian, as G-d commanded Moses"; it has been handed down by tradition that this is what G-d had commanded him.
(Maimonides)
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