Comentario sobre Números 21:29

אוי לך מואב WOE TO THEE, MOAB — [These are not the words of the historian but those of Balaam and Beor, for] they cursed the Moabites (as they had been hired to do) so that they should be delivered into his (Sihon’s) hands (Midrash Tanchuma, Chukat 24).

WOE TO THEE, MOAB! THOU ART PERISHED, O PEOPLE OF CHEMOSH. The meaning of this is that [the people of] Moab used to worship Chemosh their deity, and build high places [i.e., altars, to him] and trust in him more than every other people, and in the time of their trouble they would say to him: ‘Arise, and save us.’³⁰⁰See Jeremiah 2:27. Similarly Scripture refers to [this worship of theirs] in all places, as it is written, And it shall come to pass, when it is seen that Moab hath wearied himself upon the high place, that he shall come to his sanctuary to pray; but he shall not prevail;³⁰¹Isaiah 16:12. and it is further stated [of Moab], and Chemosh shall go forth into captivity, his priests and his princes together with him;³⁰²Jeremiah 48:7. Moreover I will cause to cease in Moab, saith the Eternal, him that offereth in the high place, and him that offereth to his gods.³⁰³Ibid., Verse 35. Therefore those who spoke in parables said by way of mockery, that Chemosh hath given ‘his sons’ as fugitives,³⁰⁴Here in Verse 29. refugees who flee [to safety] because of the sword; and ‘his daughters’ into captivity;³⁰⁴Here in Verse 29. [these terms, “sons” and “daughters” are used] because those who believe in him are called “his sons” and “his daughters,” in the same way that they are [here] called “his people” [people of Chemosh]. Similarly [we find the expression], the daughter of a strange god.³⁰⁵Malachi 2:11. The [correct explanation is thus] not like the words of Rashi, who interpreted [the verse as follows]: “He the Giver [i.e., G-d] gave his sons [i.e., those of Moab] as fugitives from the sword.”
Chemosh was also worshipped by the children of Ammon, as Jephthah said [to the king of Ammon], that which Chemosh thy god giveth thee to possess that you will possess.³⁰⁶Judges 11:24. They also had in their country Milcom the detestation of the Ammonites.³⁰⁷I Kings 11:5. Or [it may be that] Jephthah mentioned Chemosh to the king of Ammon because of [the land] which Israel had captured from Moab, just as he [Jephthah] mentioned to them [i.e., to the Ammonites]: Balak king of Moab,³⁰⁸Judges 11:25. And now art thou anything better than Balak … meaning to say that neither Chemosh their god nor Balak their king had saved their land [Moab] from the hand of Israel. It is very fitting that we say, as our Rabbis explained,³⁰⁹Bamidbar Rabbah 19:8. that [the reference in the term] ‘hamoshlim’ (they that speak in parables)²⁶³Further, Verse 27. is to Balaam and those like him, the diviners who spoke in parables about future events.

אוי לך מואב, “woe unto you Moav (the people)!” He cursed it that it should fall into the hands of Sichon. כמוש, a reference to the favorite god of the Moabites. נתן בניו, this is an appeal to the power that be to make fugitives and prisoners out of the Moabites (part of Bileam’s curse at the time).
Alternatively, the words may refer to Kemosh, Moav’s deity. The verse would then tell us that the people of Moav who served the deity Kemosh, built altars for it and had more faith in that deity than any other nation (as we know from Isaiah 16,12), paid the price for their misplaced faith, and the poet writing these lines ridicules the people for having put their trust in that deity. Their deity is the reason that the believers now have to either flee or become prisoners. Malachi 2,11 speaks about the worshippers of idols as his sons and daughters. This is the way Nachmanides explains our verse.

That he be delivered into his hands. Meaning that this verse is related to, “May it be built and established” (v. 27), as if to say that since the city was built for Sichon, ultimately it would be handed over to him.

V. 29. אוי לך וגו׳, in dieser Niederlage hatte sich die Ohnmacht Moabs und seiner Nationalgottheit gezeigt. Subjekt zu נתן ist כמוש.

נתן בניו פליטים, “He has given his sons as fugitives;” the reference is to the minors who were not old enough to fight and had therefore been spared by the sword. The use of the word נתן in our verse is similar to the use of the same word in Song of Songs 1,12: נרדי נתן ריחו, “my aromatic plant gave off its aroma.”

אוי לך מואב, “woe unto you, Moav;” this is all part of the parables referred to earlier.

כמוש CHEMOSH was the name of Moab’s god.

אבדת עם כמוש, “you are undone people who worship Kemosh.” Do not be amazed at the word אבדת which usually means: “you are lost;” in this instance it means the same as in Micah 7,2 אבד חסיד מן הארץ, “the pious have vanished from the earth;” they have not literally disappeared, but have become passive as if they did not exist. The same applies to the Moabites now under the rule of Sichon.

נתן HE HATH GIVEN [HIS SONS] — The subject of the sentence is to be supplied: HE who gave HATH GIVEN HIS SONS i.e. those of Moab,

נתן בניו פליטים, “he has made its sons fugitives;” a reference to the under age male children in Moav who though they escaped his sword have been turned into fugitives. They were allowed to grow up as prisoners in Sichon’s palace, as the Moabites saw no other way to keep them alive.

פלטים — AS FUGITIVES — as men who flee and attempt to escape from the sword, and his daughters into captivity, etc.