민수기 25:5의 주석

הרגו איש אנשיו KILL EVERYONE HIS MEN — Each one of the judges of Israel killed two men (אנשיו is plural), and the judges of Israel were eighty-eight thousand in number, as it is related in Sanhedrin (cf. Sanhedrin 18a).

[AND MOSES SAID UNTO THE JUDGES OF ISRAEL]: ‘SLAY YE EVERY ONE HIS MEN [THAT HAVE JOINED THEMSELVES UNTO BAAL-PEOR].’ “Each one of the judges of Israel killed two [men, as the word anashav — his ‘men,’ in the plural, indicates], and the judges of Israel were seventy-eight thousand,³¹⁵Our texts of Rashi have the figure 88,000, but 78,000 [the number found in a Ramban manuscript] is correct [to the nearest thousand] — and this is also the figure quoted in Tractate Sanhedrin. The exact figure for the 600,000 Israelites is 78,600 judges, as follows: Captains of thousands, 600; captains of hundreds, 6,000; captains of fifties, 12,000; captains of tens, 60,000 — which total 78,600. It should be noted that in the first edition of Rashi (Reggio 1475) this whole text is missing. as is stated in Tractate Sanhedrin.”³¹⁶Sanhedrin 18a. This is Rashi’s language. But I cannot understand this, that [we should say that] those who joined themselves [to Baal-peor] who were judged [liable to death] were more than a hundred and fifty thousand — a quarter [of the total population] of Israel!³¹⁷For if the judges of Israel who numbered 78,600, each killed two men, a total of 157,200 men is reached! This is more than a quarter of the total population of the people! Heaven forbid! [Moreover], cases punishable by death [cannot be decided] by [only] one judge, but [require] a court of twenty-three judges. And [even if we were to say that two people were killed by each court of twenty-three judges], they would still be very many people! And the difference between the [two] censuses is not so great,³¹⁸In the census taken in the second year after the exodus, the people totalled 603,550 (above 1:46) and now after the incident of Baal-peor, they totalled 601,730 (further 26:51), the decrease being only 1,820! That figure is nowhere near the total number of people killed according to Rashi, for even if two people were killed by each court of twenty-three judges, over 7,000 people were killed. Ramban further on, explains that in actual fact none of the people were put to death. although all those who joined themselves to Baal-peor died, as it is written, for all the men that followed Baal-peor, the Eternal thy G-d hath destroyed them from the midst of thee.³¹⁹Deuteronomy 4:3.
But the meaning of every one his men is that the judges should kill all those who joined themselves [to Baal-peor], that is to say, each court should judge [the men of] its own tribe and its [groups of] thousands, as it is written, So I took the heads of your tribes, wise men, and full of knowledge, and made them heads over you, captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds … and officers, ‘tribe by tribe’.³²⁰Ibid., 1:15. The phrase tribe by tribe indicates that each tribe had its own judges who dealt with offenses committed by men of this tribe. And afterwards I found in the Gemara Yerushalmi [the following statement] in the Chapter Cheilek:³²¹Yerushalmi Sanhedrin X, 2. For the term Cheilek, see above, Note 228. “And how many were the judges of Israel? Seventy-eight thousand and six hundred. Moses said to them: ‘Each one of you should kill two.’ Thus you find that those killed were one hundred and fifty-seven thousand and two hundred.”³¹⁷For if the judges of Israel who numbered 78,600, each killed two men, a total of 157,200 men is reached! This is more than a quarter of the total population of the people! If so, we must say that according to their opinion [that of these Rabbis] the Israelites increased very remarkably between the [time of the first] census and the [second] census [in order to make up the loss of the many people killed because of this sin of Baal-peor]!
The correct interpretation of the meaning of this section [of the Torah] appears to me to be that at first it says, And Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor; and the anger of the Eternal was kindled against Israel,³²²Verse 3. [meaning] that there is wrath gone out from the Eternal; the plague is begun;³²³Above, 17:11. and G-d in His mercy told Moses that the judges should [first] try and then hang those who joined themselves [to Baal-peor], so that the wrath will not indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked.³²⁴See Genesis 18:23. And Moses gave this command to the judges; and when all the congregation was assembled at the door of the Tent of Meeting³²⁵Verse 6. to do as Moses commanded, and the plague was still raging amongst them, this Simeonite [Zimri the son of Salu]³²⁶Further, Verse 14. brazenly brought unto his brethren a Midianite woman³²⁵Verse 6. to rebel against Moses and the judges, and to do so publicly, because he was a prince³²⁶Further, Verse 14. and a great man and [knew that] many would come to his help. Or it may be [that he dared to do this publicly] because, as our Rabbis have said,³²⁷Sanhedrin 82a. [the people of] his tribe complained to him: “We are being sentenced to death, and you keep quiet!” Then [when Zimri came forth] Moses and the judges began weeping,³²⁵Verse 6. and Phinehas stood up, and wrought judgment, and so the plague was stayed.³²⁸Psalms 106:30. Thus none of the people was [actually] sentenced by the judges, for G-d had said, and hang them up unto the Eternal in face of the sun, that the fierce anger of the Eternal may turn away from Israel,³²⁹Verse 4. and His anger had already turned away [by the action of Phinehas, so that the judges no longer had to proceed with the execution of the judgment]. It is for this reason that Scripture does not say: “and the judges of Israel did so [as they had been commanded].”
It is possible that the intention of the text mentioned [above as to the number of men slain in this episode is not that they were actually killed, but means, as explained above], that according to [the strict] command [of G-d] there ought to have been more than one hundred and fifty thousand killed, meaning to say that there were many sinners, but the act of Phinehas protected them. Thus there remained [many of those] who had joined themselves [to Baal-peor], and the Holy One, blessed be He, destroyed them later on before they crossed over the [river] Jordan. This is [the meaning of] the verse which says, for all the men that followed after Baal-peor, the Eternal thy G-d hath destroyed them from the midst of thee. But ye that did cleave unto the Eternal your G-d are alive every one of you this day.³³⁰Deuteronomy 4:3-4.
Pinchas

הרגו איש את אנשיו, “kill, each one of you, his guilty counterpart.” The Jerusalem Talmud Sanhedrin 10,2 reports that each of the judges killed two Israelites, as there were a total of 78600 judges, and according to this 157.200 Israelites were executed on that occasion. Nachmanides questions the statement in the Jerusalem Talmud reminding us that a capital crime may not be judged by only one judge. Furthermore, if correct, the tremendous number of missing Israelites should be reflected in the census the Torah reports as having taken place immediately after this event, as per He therefore comes to the conclusion that the words איש את אנשיו refers to the judges who had convicted the active participants and whom G’d had commanded Moses to hang after their execution, would each be executed by the court of his tribe, so that not all judges had to participate in all the executions, but only in the executions of members of their particular tribe. [In other words, the word אנשיו restricts the individual judges’ duties as executioners. Ed.] I believe (Nachmanides’ words) that the correct interpretation of the whole paragraph beginning with the words (verse 3) ויצמד העם, is that initially the debacle began with some of the people worshipping the idol known as בעל פעור. This evoked G’d’s anger at the people of Israel and the plague began to take its toll among the people. G’d simultaneously told Moses to tell the judges to carry out their judicial duties in order to insure that the innocent would not fall victim to the plague, which did not distinguish between the loyal and the disloyal Jews. Once the whole community had been assembled at the entrance to the Tabernacle in order to carry out Moses’ instructions, and it was found that the plague continued to kill Israelites, Zimri came and presented the Midianite princess using her to incite a rebellion against Moses. by, among other things, challenging Moses who had himself slept with a Midianite woman, Tzipporah. This caused both Moses and the elders to commence weeping, seeing that Moses did not have an answer that would have sounded convincing, This was the signal for Pinchas to take the law into his own hands in order to put a stop to the plague. We know that he succeeded as the Torah reports that as an immediate consequence of Zimri and Cosbi being stabbed to death the plague ceased. (verse 8) There had not been enough time to convict a single member of the people by court of law. The proof is that G’d ordered them to be hanged, seeing that they had not been convicted legally. [Hanging after execution is called תליה not הוקעה. Ed.] This is the reason why the Torah does not report that Moses’ instructions to the judges had been carried out. It is possible that the intention of the sages in the Jerusalem Talmud quoted earlier was to inform us that if the order to execute the guilty people had indeed been carried out, each of the judges would have had to execute two Israelites. The vast majority of them were saved by the courageous deed of Pinchas. They survived at this point, but they did not cross the Jordan into the Holy Land as the Torah testifies that G’d destroyed all the persons that had been actively involved in this sorry affair. (Compare Deut.4,3)

V. 5. אל שופטי ישראל ויאמר וגו׳ (siehe V. 4). אנשיו: wie später außer dem höchsten Tribunal von einundsiebzig jede größere Stadt ihr Kriminalgericht von dreiundzwanzig hatte, so waren auch während Israels Wanderung bestimmte Volksgruppen bestimmten Gerichten überwiesen (siehe Schmot Kap. 18, 21), oder, nach Sanhedrin 35a חלק להם בתי דינין, wurde hier ad hoc eine Verteilung des Volkes unter eine entsprechende Anzahl Gerichte vorgenommen. אנשיו וגו׳ sind daher hier wohl diejenigen unter den einem jeden als Richter Überwiesenen. Es sollte also jedes Gericht aus der ihm als solchem untergeordneten Volkszahl die des Peorverbrechens Überwiesenen hinrichten. איש ist wohl nicht Einzelrichter, sondern der Gerichtspräses, אב בית דין, mit Zuziehung seines Kollegiums.

הרגו איש את אנשיו, “slay every man each of the men (that have worshipped the Baal Peor) the bodies to be hanged.!” The leader of each tribe was charged with that task.