Tafsiran Bilangan 25:17: Tze'enah Ure'enah, Rashi, Kli Yakar & Or HaChaim

“Assail the Midianites” [25:17]. Rabbi Simeon said: it is worse when a person makes his friend sin than if he killed him. This way he only leaves this world, but he still has the world to come in any event. When he makes him sin, he loses both worlds. We find that the Egyptians pursued Israel with their swords to kill them. They did not want to let them leave their land. Though the Holy One forbade Israel that they should kill the two nations, Egypt and Edom, or cause them to suffer, but the Holy One did order that Ammonites and Moabites should never be accepted by Israelites to marry them. This is because the Moabites caused Israel to sin with illicit sex.⁷Tanhuma, Phinehas, 3.

צרור — This grammatical form is similar to זכור and שמור: it expresses the idea of continuous present action — You must [constantly] show enmity toward them.

Harass the Midianites etc. And He did not command to harass the Moabites because it is said (Numbers 25:1): And the people began to commit harlotry with the daughters of Moab. What is the meaning of began? It means that the Israelites were the initiators and sought out the daughters of Moab, going to their tents and soliciting the women, enticing them. Therefore it says the people began, because the people were the initiators, not the daughters of Moab. That is why it says to the daughters of Moab and not with the daughters of Moab, to indicate that the Israelites went to them, but Moab did not send their wives and daughters to the Israelites. Therefore, the Moabites were not held accountable, because the one who initiates the corruption is the primary culprit and the sin depends on him.