민수기 21:1의 Musar

When Israel continued to sin, we read in the Torah Numbers 21,1: וישמע הכנעני מלך ערד … וילחם בישראל וישב ממנו שבי, "The Canaanite, king of Arad….engaged Israel in war and and took some of them captive." This means that at that point in time even what had previously remained "captive," i.e. the balance of the gifts from the Gentile nations prior to Israel accepting the Torah, was taken away from them. Whenever Israel will do תשובה, G–d will restore all these gifts. Israel will atone for its sins, and these gifts will act as protection for them.

ושבית שביו . We have mentioned earlier that the Sifri interprets this to mean that even non-resident Canaanite prisoners are included in the permission granted to take them as prisoners. We must remember that our internal conflicts, our battle with the evil urge, is also due to the curse resting on Canaan whose strength is derived from Samael in the Celestial Regions. We find an allusion to this in Numbers 21,1 where the Torah reports that the Canaanite led by the king of Arad took prisoners, שבי, from among the Jewish nation. This king, or the nation he represents, is perceived as having used scales that were not true in his hands (Hosea 12,8). In Job 39,5 the word ערד is used to describe a wild ass. The verse in Job refers to the "releasing" of such an animal to wreak havoc. Know therefore that it is sin and not the wild ass which causes death. Israel learned this lesson in Numbers 21 where Moses was told to construct the copper snake and people who looked up to it, i.e. looked to G–d for help were saved (cured from the bites of the snakes mentioned in 21,6), whereas the others died from the bites sustained (Rosh Hashanah 29). In this connection the Talmud (Berachot 33a) recounts an occurrence where a wild ass terrorised a community and people told Rabbi Chaninah ben Dotha about it. The Rabbi asked to be shown the lair of the animal in question. When he was shown the lair he placed his heel on the entrance to the lair. The wild ass emerged, bit Rabbi Chaninah ben Dotha and died as a result. Rabbi Chaninah ben Dotha hauled it on his shoulder and brought its carcass to the house of study. There he told his students that it was not the wild ass that had brought death to the community but the sins of the people who had been bitten by it. At that time the people said: "Woe to the people who have encountered the wild ass, and woe to the wild ass that has encountered Rabbi Chaninah ben Dotha." Rashi comments: "I have found in Halachot Gedolot that they say in ארץ ישראל "When a wild ass bites a human being and the wild ass reaches water first the victim dies; if the victim reaches water first the wild ass will die. A miracle occurred in the case of Rabbi Chaninah and a well of water suddenly opened beneath his heel. This is no idle legend. When the Israelites conquered the land of Canaan the Canaanites died from such bites, but miracles occurred for the Israelites who crossed the Jordan. Afterwards the Canaanites started dying. These were what are referred to as מלחמות שוות, normal wars.