Musar su Deuteronomio 20:16

The commandment to exterminate the seven Canaanite nations is directly connected with the sanctity of the Holy Land which is part of G–d Himself. G–d chose Israel as His nation because חלק ה' עמו, Israel is part of G–d's "share." You must appreciate something about the significance of these seven nations. Every single nation has its representative in the Celestial Regions. These representatives, usually known as שר, are also known as אלוהים אחרים "other deities." Due to its status as "G–d's share" Israel cleaves directly to Him, to part of what the Kabbalists call אצילות הבנין, the world of the "throne." It is from this domain that the 7 emanations of בנין evolve "downward" till they result in a physical world, מלכות. Each of the emanations comprises sub-categories of all ten emanations, representing all the concepts which the ten emanations symbolize. Thus we have a total of seventy for the seven emanations comprising בנין. Jacob came to Egypt with 70 people who formed the nucleus of the Jewish nation. These seventy are referred to in the Torah as a single נפש because they were the mystical dimension of this number seventy. The seven Canaanite nations between them also symbolize ten Gentile nations each, making a total of seventy, i.e. the well-known concept of the "seventy nations of the world." These seventy nations, however, do not represent the holiness which has its root in the world of אצילות, rather they represent the קליפות, the spiritual domain in which Satan is rooted. No wonder then that intermarriage with nations whose spiritual roots represent the חצוניות is forbidden. One must not even marry a convert from these nations. Intermarriage with other nations is prohibited only if the second party did not convert to Judaism first.

The Arizal explains the reason that the Torah (Deut. 20,16) has demanded that the Jewish people kill every member of these seven Canaanite nations: לא תחיה כל נשמה. When the Torah instructs us how to relate to other nations (such as שעיר, i.e. אדום, עמון, and מואב however), it only commanded (Deut. 2,9 et al) the Jewish people under Moses not to make war against those nations. The seven Canaanite nations represent seven קליפות, i.e. שבעה כלים שנשברו, negative aspects of the seven emanations which comprise what we called בנין, the constructive forces enabling the creation of a perfect physical universe. Although, as we explained in connection with the name "Samael," even Satan had his root in something holy, i.e. א-ל, the spiritual decline of these descendants of the original Canaan, the cursed, was such that no vestige of sanctity was left in them. This meant automatically that no נשמה, spiritually elevated soul of theirs, would survive. The other three nations whose land G–d had promised as part of ארץ ישראל still retained vestiges of holiness. These were the קיני, קניזי and קדמוני, whose lands G–d had also promised Abraham (Genesis 15,19) when He promised us the Holy Land. These nations had their origin in the "upper" three emanations. The promise that we will inherit their lands in the future can be fulfilled when the last vestiges of sanctity will have vanished from these three nations. At such a time the commandment not to let a soul survive will also be applicable to those three nations. The Arizal wants to equate the three nations Edom, Ammon and Moab with the Keynee, Kenizi and Kadmoni respectively. The very names of these three nations allude to their having had a superior origin, שעיר alludes to Deut. 33,2, where G–d is portrayed as coming from Se-ir to give Israel the Torah. The name Moab means "from the אב, "the father," another allusion to the higher emanation חכמה, seat of undiluted holiness. The name Ammon is close to the word נועם, an allusion to the emanation בינה. שעיר is none other than אדום. The seven kings whom the Torah describes in the Torah (Genesis 36,31-39) as having ruled in the land of Edom before Israel had a king were not part of that nation. Apparently they had subjugated the country. This is why the Torah, when telling us that a particular king ruled over Edom, informs us of his country of origin. We are told in 2,20: והעמונים קראו להם זמזומים, that the Ammonites called the Refa-im Zamzumim. The word זמזום is derived from זמם, planned, thought out. In other words these רפאים had the "superior" emanation חכמה somewhere in their background. Their descendants were the mixed multitude who joined the Jewish people at the Exodus and converted to Judaism. This explains why they still had enough of a spark of sanctity in them to recognize the spiritual rejuvenation that was taking place at the time of the Exodus. On the other hand, anyone who plans something evil and uses his superior intelligence negatively, is similarly descended from them. The name סיחון, one of the kings of the Canaanite nations, suggests the word סייח, a young ass. The Hebrew word for donkey is חמור, the same letters as חומר, matter. The Canaanites were concerned with matter to the exclusion of the spirit. The name Og, king of Bashan, evokes similar considerations. The Arizal concludes that because the lands of these kingdoms were situated East of the river Jordan which symbolized the foundation of the feminine aspect in the emanations, these kingdoms could not have been subdued by anyone but Moses. Spiritually speaking, Moses represented the "middle" line between the left (feminine) side of the diagram of the emanations and the right (masculine) side. Moses was the carrier of the symbol of the Holy Covenant. He broke the tablets and salvaged the sanctity contained in them. When the Torah describes the defeat of the שני מלכי האמורי, "the two kings of the Emorite" (3,8), the first letters of these three words form the name משה. G–d said to Moses (2,31): ראה החילותי תת לפניך את סיחון, "See, I have begun to hand over to you Sichon, etc." This means that the patron of this kingdom, the שר, had been subjugated by Moses. The land of Israel is perceived as the "feminine" part of the union between the people of Israel and its land. Taking possession of the land of Israel, ביאת הארץ, is a euphemism for the union between Israel and its land as husband and wife. [I have rephrased some of this. Ed.]

I have found an allusion along these lines in the portion dealing with expansionary wars in Deut. 20,1-9, participation in which is restricted to certain categories of people outlined there. It is clear that the paragraph speaks about מלחמת רשות, a permissible expansionary kind of war, as distinct from מלחמת חובה, an obligatory war against the seven Canaanite nations in which no potential soldier of military age was exempt. In connection with this מלחמת חובה, the Torah writes: לא תחיה כל נשמה, "you must not allow any soul to survive" (Deut. 20,16). The sequence of the paragraphs dealing with the capture of a physically attractive woman prisoner (Deut. 21,11), followed by the paragraph of a man who has two wives and wishes to appoint the first-born of his more beloved wife as his principal heir, though the son in question is junior to another son from his first wife whom he grew to hate in the meantime (Deut. 21,15), is intriguing. The two wives which the Torah describes as האחת אהובה, והאחת שנואה, may be understood as referring to the "harlots" mentioned in the Zohar. The אהובה, refers to מחלת, the happy and beautiful one. The שנואה refers to לילית, the melancholy one. When the Torah speaks about a beautiful woman whom you see in captivity, this is a woman captured during a מלחמת רשות in one of the surrounding countries where the קליפות are permanently at home. The duty to subjugate these קליפות is part of the injunction to do good. This has to be done in one of two ways. In order to defeat and humble Lilith, harsh measures are required. Prayer "a la" Lilith, has to originate from a crushed heart, has to be accompanied by tears. Lilith can only be rehabilitated in this way. In order to be successful, the process of subjugating and rehabilitating Machalat, the happy-go-lucky one of these two harlots, needs to be handled differently. We have to demonstrate to Machalat the joyful aspects of Judaism, the Sabbath days, the holidays, the joy experienced in helping the less fortunate, etc., as well as to convey some of our knowledge about the goodness and grandeur of G–d. As long as we are exiled from our homeland all our joy on holidays is subdued due to the קליפות surrounding us on all sides. It is extremely difficult to totally defeat the קליפות of Machalat in such circumstances. When the Torah refers to the beautiful woman prisoner as: וראית בשביה אשת יפת תואר, this is to tell us that under conditions of exile, i.e. שביה, the קליפה מחלה continues to exist. We have only succeeded in eliminating the קליפה לילית. When the Talmud teaches that all gates are sometimes closed except the gates of tears, this is a hint that at least the קליפה לילית can be overcome at all times.