Midrash sobre Números 31:9

(Nume. 32:1:) MUCH LIVESTOCK. This text is related (to Ps. 75:7–8 [6–7]): FOR IT IS NOT FROM THE EAST OR FROM THE WEST OR FROM THE WILDERNESS THAT THERE COMES AN EXALTATION (harim), FOR IT IS GOD WHO JUDGES; ONE HE PUTS DOWN, AND ANOTHER HE LIFTS UP. What is the meaning of (Ps. 75:7 [6]:) FOR IT IS NOT FROM THE EAST (rt.: MTs') OR FROM THE WEST?¹⁹Tanh., Numb. 9:6; Numb. R. 22:8. It is not from the fact that, when a person works hard by going out (rt.: MTs') for trade and traveling from east to west, he becomes wealthy. <No!> Even if one sails away in ships to go from east to west and returns over wildnesses and over mountains (harim), he does not become wealthy. What is the meaning of (Ps. 75:7 [6], cont.:) OR FROM THE WILDERNESS THAT THERE COMES AN EXALTATION (harim)? R. Abba²⁰According to Tanh., Numb. 9:6; and Numb. R. 22:8, this sage was R. Abba of Serungaya (near Tiberias). says: Every use of harim in Scripture denotes mountains except for here, where it denotes exaltation. Thus one is not exalted from these things. So what does the Holy One do? He takes from one and gives to another. A certain matron asked R. Jose ben Halafta: In how many days did the Holy One create his world? He said to her in six days.²¹Above, Numb. 1:18; Gen. R. 68:4; PRK 2:4; Lev. R. 8:1; Numb. R. 3:6; cf. above, Gen. 1:2. She said to him: And what has he been doing since that time? He said to her: He sits down and makes ladders for raising up one and putting down another. You yourself know that, when he wanted the children of Reuben and Gad to become wealthy, he brought down the Midianites at their hand. What is written (in Numb. 31:9)? THEN THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL TOOK THE WOMEN [AND CHILDREN] OF THE MIDIANITES CAPTIVE, [AND ALL THEIR CATTLE, ALL THEIR LIVESTOCK,] <AND ALL THEIR WEALTH THEY SEIZED AS PLUNDER>. Then after that <comes> (Numb. 32:1:) NOW THE CHILDREN OF REUBEN <AND THE CHILDREN OF GAD> HAD MUCH LIVESTOCK. Ergo (in Ps. 75:8 [7]): FOR IT IS GOD WHO JUDGES; ONE HE PUTS DOWN, AND ANOTHER HE LIFTS UP. And who is wealthy? One who is happy with his lot, as stated (in Ps. 128:2): YOU SHALL EAT THE PRODUCE OF YOUR HANDS; YOU SHALL BE HAPPY, AND IT SHALL GO WELL WITH YOU.

This is related to the verse (in Ps. 75:7), “For it is not from the east or from the west or from the wilderness that there comes an exaltation (harim) […].” What is the meaning of (Ps. 75:7) “For it is not from the east (rt.: mts') or from the west?” It is not from a person working hard by going out (rt.: mts') for trade and traveling from east to west and searching in wildernesses and on mountains (harim) that he becomes wealthy. Rather even if one sails away in ships to go from east to west and searches in wildernesses and on mountains (harim), he does not become wealthy. What is the meaning of (Ps. 75:7, cont.), “or from the wilderness that there comes an exaltation (harim)?” R. Abba of Rumania says, “Every use of harim in Scripture denotes mountains except for here, where it denotes exaltation. Thus one is not exalted from these things.” So what does the Holy One, blessed be He, do? He takes possessions (nekhasim) from one and gives them to another, as stated (in Ps. 75:7, cont.), “For God it is who gives judgment; He brings down one man, He lifts up another.” That is why they are called nekhasim, as they are covered (nikhsim) from one and revealed to another. And why is the name of [common coins] called zuzim? Because they move (zazim) from one and are given to another. [It is called] money (mammon), because what you count (mah [she’atah] moneh) is not anything. [It is called] coins (ma’ot), because they are something for a time (mah le’et). And one can expound [with these] expression[s of money]. And so did Hannah say (in I Sam. 2:6-7), “[…] The Lord makes poor and makes rich; He casts down, He also lifts high.” What is the meaning of, “He also (af) lifts high?” With the anger (af) that He bring upon one, He lifts up the other. A certain matron asked R. Jose ben Halafta, “In how many days did the Holy One, blessed be He, create His world? He said to her, “In six days, as stated (in Exod. 31:17), ‘for in six day the Lord made the heavens and the earth.’”⁵Gen. R. 68:4; PRK 2:4; Lev. R. 8:1; Numb. R. 3:6. She said to him, “And what has He been doing since that time?” He said to her, “He sits down and makes ladders [for] raising up one and putting down another. Hence it is stated (in Ps. 75:7), ‘For God it is who gives judgment; He brings down one man, He lifts up another.’” You yourself know that, when He wanted the Children of Gad and the Children of Reuben to become wealthy, He brought down the Midianites in front of Israel, so that the Children of Gad and the Children of Reuben would become wealthy. What is written above (in Numb. 31:9)? “Then the children of Israel took the women and children of the Midianites captive, [and all their cattle, all their livestock, and all their wealth they seized as plunder].” Then after that, it is written (in Numb. 32:1), “Now [the Children of Reuben and the Children of Gad] had much livestock.” See that He brought down the Midianites and raised up Israel, to fulfill that which is stated, (in Ps. 75:8), “For it is not from the east or from the west…, for it is God who judges; He brings down one man, He lifts up another.”