Parshat Matot6 min read

Moses Finished the War With Midian and Then Let Go of His Life

God named two clocks in one breath. Avenge Midian. Then Moses would be gathered. He heard both clauses and still called for the spears.

Curated by Arthur · Told by Maggid ·
Table of Contents
  1. Two Clauses in One Breath
  2. Midian's Hour Came First
  3. The Comfort That Was a War
  4. He Would Not Stretch His Days
  5. After the Field Went Quiet

Moses stood with both clauses still in his ears. "Avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites. Afterward shalt thou be gathered unto thy people." One breath. One war. Then the end of his life.

Moses Finished the War With Midian and Then Let Go of His Life Click for full size

He knew what the camp would say if he rushed. They would say he wanted to die, since God had tied his remaining days to Midian's fall. Delay would stretch his breath. He called for the spears anyway.

Two Clauses in One Breath

Shittim still sat in his chest. Balaam had opened his mouth to curse and had blessed instead. When words failed him as a weapon, counsel of bodies and idols did not. Midianite women walked into the camp. Israel fell into Baal Peor. Thousands died on a quieter knife than a sword. Moses, who could split the sea and send hail and make angels rise from their seats as he passed, could only weep.

God comforted him with a hard comfort. "As thou livest, thou shalt not depart out of this world until thou shalt have avenged those who tempted Israel to sin." The same sentence named his death. Moses heard the comfort and the cost together and did not put the cost first.

God also rebuked him. At the Golden Calf, when every tribe but Levi stood against him, he had found courage. At Shittim, when every tribe but Simeon stood with him, he had not been strong enough to hold the sinners back. The war would close what weeping had not.

Midian's Hour Came First

Israel received the command to fight Midian and Moab in the same season. Moses struck Midian at once. Moab he left. The camp was tired. Border nations can look alike from a dusty tent. Heaven's brief did not.

Moab's hatred had a root. Israel had not made war on them, but the people had pillaged the region and put fear into Moab's bones. Midian had no such claim. They joined the fight anyway and outdid Moab in hatred. Moab wanted Israel dead. Midian wanted Israel to sin, which is worse than death.

Moses asked God about the clash of orders. "Yesterday didst Thou say, Vex not Moab, and now Thou sayest, Avenge." God answered that Moab had been named for Lot's line, Abraham's kin. That claim was spent. They would be called Midianim, those who lost their claim. Still the sword stayed narrow in this hour. Ruth was still hidden in Moab, a valuable thing God had not yet found. "Wait yet a while in this matter of the war against the Moabites. I have lost something valuable among them. As soon as I have found it, ye shall avenge yourselves of them." David's time would finish that ledger. Moses' time was Midian.

The Comfort That Was a War

Balaam's prophecy had said Israel would not lie down until it ate of the prey and drank the blood of the slain. The words came due before Moses lay down to everlasting sleep. Shortly before his death it was granted him to see Balaam fall and the five Midianite kings fall with him.

He sent Phinehas, whose spear was already bloody from the camp at Shittim. Soldiers marching against Midian carried more than weapons. They carried brothers lost to a softer knife. The field at last answered the grove and the invitation into idol tents. Purity of the camp and the death of the plotters shared one order from the same God who had refused to let a hired tongue damn the people.

A prophet for hire and a people hired into sin met a lawgiver who would not leave the wound open while he still breathed command. Balaam's long game of spiritual war met a short, hard campaign of ordinary war.

He Would Not Stretch His Days

Moses thought it through and did not let the thought rule him. "If I go now, they will say I wish for my own death. My life is assured me as long as I put this off." He went. Wherever a command of God or Israel's cause was concerned, he gave no thought to himself, even when the matter was his own breath.

Joshua later learned the opposite lesson and paid for it. When he came to Canaan he thought, "If I wage incessant war I will die as soon as I finish, the way Moses died after Midian." So he proceeded slowly, hoping to keep a long life. God's word prevailed over the many thoughts in a man's heart. Joshua had hoped to reach his master's age. He died at a hundred and ten, ten years before the span first allotted to him.

Moses chose the spending. Death delayed until duty finished is not the same as death denied. He knew the difference and marched inside it. The leader who once refused to go to Pharaoh without Aaron now refused to cling to office past the ordered fight.

After the Field Went Quiet

When the campaign closed, the man who had linked his pulse to Midian's fall opened his hand. Balaam's strategy met its answer. Moab's later fate would not be Moses' file. Joshua's generation would inherit a camp cleaner of that particular poison, and a memory of a lawgiver who spent his last command on other people's safety rather than on one more year of his own title.

Midian learned that hired sin is still sin. Israel learned that a leader can love life and still spend it on a battle he will not personally enjoy in the land of promise. Command that knows how to end is rarer than command that knows how to begin. Moses began at a bush. He ended, in this strand, with a campaign finished and a life unclenched, ready for the mountain where the last sight of Canaan would be enough.

He did not stall the war to stretch his days. He staffed it, sent Phinehas, and treated the campaign as the last work that must not be left messy for successors who had not seen Egypt's gates open. Letting go was part of the victory. The age of Moses prepared to end without leaving the Peor wound unbandaged.

MosesMidianMoabBalaamPhinehasWar
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From the tradition

Sources

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The texts behind this telling. Some cards carry a translation of the source; others are our own retelling of it, and each card says which. Every card links out to the original.

Legends of the Jews 6:96Legends of the Jews

Retold in our words. Read the original at the link below.The Legends of the Jews by Louis Ginzberg (1909) · Public Domain

It's a story of justice, regret, and ultimately, a final act of redemption for Moses.

Remember Balaam, the non-Jewish prophet hired to curse Israel, who instead ended up blessing them? Well, one of his prophecies was, "He shall not lie down until he eat of the prey, and drink the blood of the slain." in the story, this prophecy found its fulfillment very quickly. Shortly before Moses' death, before he could "lie down to everlasting sleep," he was granted the bittersweet reward of witnessing the defeat of Balaam and the five Midianite kings who were allied with him.

Why bittersweet? Because the sin that brought this conflict about was a deep wound to Moses' heart. The "sinful profanation at Shittim," as it's called – Israel's transgression involving idolatry and immorality with the daughters of Moab and Midian – it was all orchestrated by Balaam's wicked advice. It's a dark chapter, a painful reminder of human frailty.

Think about Moses for a moment. This wasn’t just any leader. As we learn, God had appointed Moses as lord of the angels! They parted fire and cloud for him, rising from their celestial seats in respect. He commanded the sea, cleaving it and restoring it at his will. He even wielded the "treasures of hail," unleashing them upon the Egyptians. He had power over angels and the very forces of nature!

And yet, this same Moses, this powerful figure, could only weep when his people succumbed to temptation. He was devastated when Israel "committed whoredom with the daughters of Moab and Midian." It’s a powerful image: even immense power is no match for the pain of seeing your people stray.

So, to comfort Moses, God makes a promise: "As truly as thou livest, thou shalt not depart out of this world until thou shalt have avenged those who tempted Israel to sin. 'Avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites: afterward shalt thou be gathered unto thy people.'" This is a crucial moment. It's not just about revenge; it's about restoring justice and allowing Moses to find peace before his death.

But there's also a rebuke. God reminds Moses of his earlier despair and lack of action at Shittim. He asks "You stood strong against the entire people, save Levi, after the Golden Calf incident. Why did you hesitate at Shittim when only the tribe of Simeon was against you?" It’s a challenge, a reminder of Moses’ own strength and a gentle scolding for his moment of weakness.

Receiving the command to wage war, Moses hesitates again! We find this in the text. He reminds God, "Yesterday didst Thou say to me, 'Vex not Moab,' and now Thou sayest, 'Avenge the children of Israel.'" There seems to be a contradiction!

God clarifies: "When I said, 'Vex not Moab,' I named these people after their grandsire, the son of Lot, but now through their own fault they have lost the claim to kind treatment from Israel." Essentially, God is saying that while kinship once offered protection, their own actions have forfeited it. "I shall no longer think of their grandsire Abraham's kinsman, but shall call them Midianim, 'they that lost their claim.'" The name itself becomes a symbol of their transgression, a mark of their forfeited privilege.

What does this all mean? It suggests that even divine commands aren’t always straightforward. They are contextual, evolving with the actions of humanity. And it highlights the heavy burden of leadership. Moses, despite his power, is still human, wrestling with doubt and struggling to reconcile divine directives with his own understanding of justice and mercy. This story reminds us that even the greatest leaders face moments of doubt and regret, but it's their willingness to confront those feelings and act justly that defines their legacy.

Full source
Legends of the Jews 6:98Legends of the Jews

Retold in our words. Read the original at the link below.The Legends of the Jews by Louis Ginzberg (1909) · Public Domain

Two ancient enemies sat on Israel's border, and both had earned divine judgment. But history treated them very differently. The Midianites and the Moabites were both thorns in Israel's side, and according to tradition the command to wage war against them came at the very same moment. So why did Moses immediately strike out against Midian, while war against Moab was delayed all the way until the time of David?

One explanation revolves around the very nature of their animosity. Moab's hatred, while certainly unwelcome, wasn't entirely without cause. the verse says "Legends of the Jews," the Israelites, though not directly attacking Moab, had instilled great fear through pillaging in the region. The Moabites, understandably, sought any means to protect themselves.

The Midianites, however, were a different story. They had no justifiable reason for hostility. Not only did they join forces with Moab, but they actually exceeded them in their hatred of Israel. A key distinction, says the tradition, is that Moab simply wanted to eliminate Israel, whereas Midian sought to corrupt them, to lead them into sin, which is considered a fate worse than death.

There's an even more profound reason for the delay in punishing Moab, one that speaks to the heart of divine providence. As the text points out, the Moabite Ruth was destined to become the ancestor of David, the future king of Israel. The very lineage of Israel's greatest king sprang from the loins of the enemy.

"Wait yet a while in this matter of the war against the Moabites," God is believed to have said to Israel, "I have lost something valuable among them. As soon as I have found it, ye shall avenge yourselves of them."

God, in his infinite wisdom, recognizing a future blessing hidden within a nation considered an enemy. This notion is also found in the Talmud (Sanhedrin 96b), which emphasizes the importance of waiting for the opportune moment.

So, the story teaches us more than just history. Perhaps it encourages us to look beyond immediate conflicts and consider the long arc of destiny, and the potential for redemption, even in the most unlikely of places.

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