Midrash Tanchuma, Chukat 23 | Jewish Mythology

(Numb. 21:21:) “Then Israel sent messengers.” All the words of Torah are necessary to each other, for what one covers over the other opens up.146Numb. R. 19:28. It is stated here (in Numb. 21:21), “Then Israel sent messengers,” while in another place [Scripture] ascribes the sending to Moses. [Thus] it is stated (in Deut. 2:26), “Then I sent messengers from the Desert of Kedemoth [unto King Sihon of Heshbon with words of peace].” In another place [it is stated (in Numb. 20:14)], “Moses sent from Kadesh messengers to the king of Edom.” These verses require one another, as Moses is Israel and Israel is Moses. [This comes] to teach you that the head of a generation is surely equivalent to the whole generation. (Numb. 20:17:) “Please let us pass through your land.”147As Buber suggests in note 370, the citation is probably a misreading for Numb. 20:22: LET ME PASS THROUGH YOUR LAND. This alternate reading better fits the context and also agrees with the parallel in Numb. R. 19:29. As he had sent to inform the king of Edom that he would do no damage, so did he send to this one.148The bracketed words come from the parallel in Numb. 19:19 and are necessary for the sense of the argument. (Deut. 2:28), “You shall sell me food for money, and water with money….” It is customary for water to be given gratis, but I am giving payment for it. (Numb. 21:22) “We will go by the king's highway [until we have passed through your territory].” But in another place it is written (in Deut. 2:29), “until I have crossed the Jordan.” The matter is comparable to one guarding a vine or fig tree. When someone comes and says, “Let me pass through here, so that I may gather grapes from the vineyard,” he says to him, “It is only because of you that I am sitting on guard, and you would come to gather [the grapes]?” So it was with Sihon. He received wages from all the kings of Canaan; and they would bring taxes up to him, for he would crown them. Moreover he and Og were considered the equivalent of them all, since it is stated (in Ps. 136:19-20), “Sihon, king of the Amorites…; And Og, king of Bashan.” Israel said to [Sihon], “Let us pass through your land149“Let us pass through your land” is similar but not quite equal to either Numb. 20:17 or Numb. 21:22. to conquer the kings.” He said to them, “I am sitting here to guard them from you.” (Numb. 21:23:) “So Sihon did not allow Israel to cross on his territory; instead Sihon gathered all his people together and went out against Israel.” The Holy One, blessed be He, only did this to deliver him into their hand without trouble. As it is written (in Numb. 21:34 = Deut. 3:2), “to Sihon, king of the Amorites who dwelt in Heshbon (i.e., with calculation).”150The stress on the Holy One acting with fore-thought was suggested by the words, IN HESHBON, which can also be translated WITH CALCULATION. If Heshbon had been full of mosquitos, no mortal could have conquered it; and if Sihon had been in a valley, no mortal could have overpowered him. And it goes without saying [that it could not be conquered], since he was a warrior and dwelt in a fortified city. [Ergo,] (in Numb. 21:34 = Deut. 3:2), “Sihon, king of the Amorites who dwelt in Heshbon.” If he and his troops151Gk.: ochloi. had dwelt [scattered about] in his towns, Israel would have worn themselves out to prevail against him and conquer each and every town. Instead the Holy One, blessed be He, gathered them together so as to deliver them into their hand without trouble. And so it said (in Deut. 2:31), “See I have begun to give Sihon [and his land] over to you.” They killed all his warriors who had come out against them. Then they returned for the women and infants without exertion. It is therefore written (in Numb. 21:23), “instead Sihon gathered all his people together.”

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