Commentary for Numbers 25:6

והנה איש וגו׳ AND BEHOLD, ONE [OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL CAME] The tribe of Simeon gathered to Zimri who was their prince, saying to him. “We are sentenced to death and you remain quiet!?”, — as it is related in the chapter beginning אלו הן הנשרפין (Sanhedrin 82a).

ויקרב אל אחיו, in order to seduce her, in violation of Leviticus 18,6 that revealing private parts of members of the opposite sex is also forbidden.

ויקרב אל אחיו את המדינית, “He brought the Midianite woman near to his brethren;” the Torah really should have written: “a man by the name of Zimri, prince of the tribe of Shimon, went and brought the Midianite woman whose name was Cozbi bat Tzur near his brethren.” However, the Torah could not bring itself to reveal name of the wicked person who had become the reason for the raging pestilence until he had been dealt with, i.e. until Pinchas had killed him and until Pinchas had received his reward. Only then does the Torah mention the names of both the man and the woman involved (verses 14-15). All of this is to tell us the praises of Pinchas who displayed fearlessness. Although the people in question were a prince and a king’s daughter respectively, he did not let this stop him from killing them (Rashi).

The tribe of Shimon gathered… Rashi is answering the following question: Surely all of Yisroel saw that Moshe had commanded them to kill all who united themselves with Ba’al Pe’or and those who had laid with the Moavites. Thus, why was he not afraid to approach her? Re’m explains that if he had done this on his own volition, why did he wait until Moshe said “Each of you must execute his men who were united…” (v. 5).

V. 6. והנה: bevor noch diese Anordnung zum Vollzug kam und während noch die Richter der Nation um Mosche versammelt waren. איש מבני ישראל: wir erfahren aus V. 14, dass es ein Stammfürst war. Er wird hier jedoch nur als "ein Mann aus Israel" bezeichnet, wohl nur, um das Folgende rein nur vom Standpunkt des "jüdischen Mannes" auffassen zu lassen. So gewiss sein Verbrechen durch seinen Charakter als Fürst, der als Muster edler Sittenreinheit voranleuchten sollte, nur um so gravierender erscheinen muss, und so gewiss die Pinchastat um so größer erscheint, je höher im Range über ihm der Mann stand, an welchem er zum Rächer des Gesetzes wurde, und daher auch Verse 14 u. 15 sehr wohl der Rang des Mannes und des Weibes gemeldet wird: so gewiss beginnt das Verbrecherische des Verbrechens, das hier geübt und gerächt wurde, nicht erst mit dem Fürsten. Es ist der "jüdische Mann" der "איש מבני ישראל", der mit der "מדינית" Gott und sein Gesetz und Israel gehöhnt, und damit in flagranti den קנאין, den Eiferern für Gott und sein Gesetz und ישראל verfällt. הבועל את הארמית קנאין פוגעין בו (Sanhedrin 82a).

ויקרב אל אחיו את המדינית, “and he publicly presented to his brethren the Midianite woman;” the root קרב has been chosen by the chosen by the Torah to describe carnal relations, for instance in Genesis 20,4. Compare also Isaiah 8,3 ואקרב אל הנביאה, “I was intimate with the prophetess.”

את המדינית THE MIDIANITISH WOMAN — Kozbi the daughter of Zur.

לעיני משה ולעיני כל עדת ישראל, “in the presence of Moses and the assembled community of Israel.” He (Zimri) accorded no respect to either heaven or G’d’s creatures.

Who permitted the daughter of Yisro to you? However they erred, because Moshe had married before the giving of the Torah. Alternatively she was a convert.

ויקרב: er brachte sie ganz eigentlich hin, um sie damit zu höhnen. עדת בני ישראל, und so auch V. 7 מתוך העדה, ist wohl die Versammlung der zu Mosche berufenen Richter (siehe Sanhedrin 82a). — והמה בוכים der Anblick hatte sie so schmerzlich überwältigt, dass sie Kraft und Besinnung zur Mannestat nicht hatten.

והמה בוכים, “while these were weeping;” they wept when they heard Moses’ instructions to kill the guilty persons. In many instances it meant that they had to kill their own relatives.

לעיני משה BEFORE THE EYES OF MOSES — They said to him: “Moses, is this Midianite woman forbidden or permissible as a wife. If you say she is forbidden, then who made Jethro’s daughter, a Midianite woman, permissible to you, etc.” as is related there (Sanhedrin 82a).

והמה בוכים, “and they were crying.” The Israelites were crying on account of the pestilence which had begun to claim victims amongst them indicating G’d’s anger at the people. Our sages in Tanchuma Balak 20 say that they were crying because a religious decision, הלכה, had apparently escaped Moses and had made this pestilence possible. Zimri had asked Cozbi to sleep with him to which Cozbi had replied: I will not agree to sleep with any one of you unless it is Moses or Eleazar the High Priest seeing I am a king’s daughter. To this Zimri had replied: “I am just as high ranking as they are. I will bring you before them in public.” He took Cozbi by her plait and dragged her before Moses, saying: “Ben Amram, is this woman permitted for me to sleep with or not? If you say that she is not permitted for me to sleep with, who gave you permission to sleep with the daughter of Yitro (a Midianite)?” When Moses heard this he could not remember what should be done to punish Zimri. At that point all the people started crying. This is the meaning of: “they were crying at the entrance to the Tent of Testimony.”
Why precisely did the people cry? Did they really think that Moses, a man who had many times been able to stand up to 600,000 fellow Israelites, such as when he burned the golden calf the people had danced around, was now too weak to hold his own against a single Zimri? G’d prevented Moses from remembering the correct procedure at that time in order to enable Pinchas to reap the reward for his initiative. Concerning this incident Solomon says in Proverbs 30,31: “the greyhound, a male goat, and a king who is senile.” Our sages in Sanhedrin 82 apply this verse to Moses (the senile king) and Pinchas the greyhound, the eager beaver. Seeing that Moses forgot the correct response to Zimri he was compared to a senile old king.

The halachah was concealed from them. For if not so, why would they have wept here more than during the sin of the [Golden] Calf, or during other sins.

והמה בכים AND THEY WERE WEEPING — the law (decision on this matter) escaped him and therefore they all burst out into weeping (Sanhedrin 82a). — In the case of the golden calf Moses successfully resisted six hundred thousand men, as it is said, (Exodus 32:20) “And he ground it to powder [and he made the children of Israel drink of it]”, and here his hands were weak (he did not know what to do)?! But this was intentionally caused by God in order that Phineas might come and receive that which was meant for him (Midrash Tanchuma, Balak 20).