וַ֭יִּצָּ֣מְדוּ לְבַ֣עַל פְּע֑וֹר וַ֝יֹּאכְל֗וּ זִבְחֵ֥י מֵתִֽים׃
I przywiązali się do Baala Peora, i spożywali ofiary martwych.
Or HaChaim
You may ask that there should have been no need to change clothing seeing that clothing could have become defiled only through direct contact with the idolatrous object, an אב הטומאה, and even if these garments had been in direct contact with the idolatrous object they could not have conferred impurity on a human being seeing they themselves were not primary sources of impurity. When we read in Psalms 106,28: ויאכלו מזבחי מתים, "they ate sacrifices offered to the dead," the word "dead" is understood to be a reference to idolatry. Idolatry and the dead are equated halachically for the purpose of the transference of impurity. Chulin 3 states that the sword of a slain person is of the same degree of impurity as the person who has been slain with it. [normally it would be of a lesser degree, seeing it is not the original source of that impurity, Ed.] According to Maimonides Hilchot Tum-at met chapter chapter 5 the example of "sword" is applicable to any of the objects that were attached to the slain person at the time he died, including his garments. According to the foregoing the garments of the people of Shechem then were capable of transferring impurity to human beings just as the sword which kills a person.
Rabbeinu Bahya
A Midrashic approach as presented by Rashi: Concerning the words: “they shall take to you a red cow.” The words: “to you” mean that the people have to pay for this red cow. Just as when the people had divested themselves of their golden jewelry in order to enable Aaron to make the golden calf (Exodus 32,3), they now have to pay for the instruments which will secure them purification and forgiveness for the ritual contamination they had caused themselves thereby. The matter is best illustrated by a parable. The son of the king’s maidservant had dirtied the palace. Thereupon the king ordered the maid to clean up the filth her son had left lying about. Similarly, the red cow is to atone for the whole episode of the golden calf. The reason that the cow is to be red is understood by the Midrash as natural, seeing that sins are generally associated with the colour red, i.e. blood guilt. We know this from Isaiah 1,18: “if your sins are crimson, they will become white as snow (after expiation).”
The word תמימה, unblemished, is understood by the Midrash as a reference to the unblemished state of the Jewish nation prior to the sin of the golden calf. Due to their participation in that sin in varying degrees they had all became spiritually blemished. The function of the red cow and the procedure of sprinkling the Israelites with its ash and holy water would remove these blemishes. The words: “which has not borne a yoke,” are understood by the Midrash as an allusion to the yoke of the Torah which the Israelites had shaken off by their participation in the sin of the golden calf. They had rejected the yoke of accepting G’d as king. The words: “to Eleazar the priest,” are understood as an oblique reference to Aaron’s share in that sin. The red cow ritual could not be performed by Aaron as the participant in the guilt cannot reverse himself to act as advocate for the guilty. [Aaron could, of course, perform the ritual of future red cows if needed. Ed.] The words: “he shall burn the cow” are an allusion to the golden calf which Moses had burned immediately after his return from the mountain (Exodus 32,20).
The words: “cedar-wood, hyssop, and crimson-red wool,” are understood by the Midrash as an allusion to the 3,000 active participants in the worship of the golden calf whom the Levites had executed. The cedar is the tallest of the trees, whereas hyssop is the smallest. It symbolizes that the tall become haughty, sin as a result, and in the end wind up as the lowest, the most insignificant. The worm, תולעת, (source of the red color crimson) also symbolizes the human being after he has become guilty.
The word למשמרת, “as a safekeeping,” (verse 9) is a reminder that the sin of the golden calf will never be forgotten as every time the Israelites become guilty of a sin and punishment, some of the unexpiated guilt of the golden calf episode will be added to their punishment throughout the generations. This is based on Exodus 32,34: “and on the day when I make an accounting, I shall bring their sin to account against them.” In this way the sin will be remembered for all times.
The golden calf had brought defilement and ritual impurity on all who had any dealings with it, (Psalms 106,28) “they attached themselves to Baal Peor and ate sacrifices offered to the dead.” [The reference to the “dead” is to compare the impurity conferred by idolatry to that conferred by contact or association with the dead. Ed.]. We also have a verse in Isaiah 30,22 comparing idolatry to associating with a menstruous woman “You will cast them away like a menstruous woman. ‘Out! you will call to them’” The red cow causes similar defilement to all who busy themselves with it. Just as the purification of the Israelites from that sin at the time came about by their being sprinkled with the ash of the golden calf and water (Exodus 32,20), so the red cow procedure will parallel what Moses had done at the time in order to rehabilitate the Israelites who had become defiled.
The word תמימה, unblemished, is understood by the Midrash as a reference to the unblemished state of the Jewish nation prior to the sin of the golden calf. Due to their participation in that sin in varying degrees they had all became spiritually blemished. The function of the red cow and the procedure of sprinkling the Israelites with its ash and holy water would remove these blemishes. The words: “which has not borne a yoke,” are understood by the Midrash as an allusion to the yoke of the Torah which the Israelites had shaken off by their participation in the sin of the golden calf. They had rejected the yoke of accepting G’d as king. The words: “to Eleazar the priest,” are understood as an oblique reference to Aaron’s share in that sin. The red cow ritual could not be performed by Aaron as the participant in the guilt cannot reverse himself to act as advocate for the guilty. [Aaron could, of course, perform the ritual of future red cows if needed. Ed.] The words: “he shall burn the cow” are an allusion to the golden calf which Moses had burned immediately after his return from the mountain (Exodus 32,20).
The words: “cedar-wood, hyssop, and crimson-red wool,” are understood by the Midrash as an allusion to the 3,000 active participants in the worship of the golden calf whom the Levites had executed. The cedar is the tallest of the trees, whereas hyssop is the smallest. It symbolizes that the tall become haughty, sin as a result, and in the end wind up as the lowest, the most insignificant. The worm, תולעת, (source of the red color crimson) also symbolizes the human being after he has become guilty.
The word למשמרת, “as a safekeeping,” (verse 9) is a reminder that the sin of the golden calf will never be forgotten as every time the Israelites become guilty of a sin and punishment, some of the unexpiated guilt of the golden calf episode will be added to their punishment throughout the generations. This is based on Exodus 32,34: “and on the day when I make an accounting, I shall bring their sin to account against them.” In this way the sin will be remembered for all times.
The golden calf had brought defilement and ritual impurity on all who had any dealings with it, (Psalms 106,28) “they attached themselves to Baal Peor and ate sacrifices offered to the dead.” [The reference to the “dead” is to compare the impurity conferred by idolatry to that conferred by contact or association with the dead. Ed.]. We also have a verse in Isaiah 30,22 comparing idolatry to associating with a menstruous woman “You will cast them away like a menstruous woman. ‘Out! you will call to them’” The red cow causes similar defilement to all who busy themselves with it. Just as the purification of the Israelites from that sin at the time came about by their being sprinkled with the ash of the golden calf and water (Exodus 32,20), so the red cow procedure will parallel what Moses had done at the time in order to rehabilitate the Israelites who had become defiled.
Rambam
Idolatrous sacrifices are called the offerings of the dead, as the verse (Psalms 106:28) called it, as we explained in the third chapter of Idol Worship (Rambam Mishnah Avodah Zarah 3:8). And Yishayahu also called it "vomit and feces" to disgrace it, [just] like idolatry itself is called dung and abominations. And before this verse is a verse that indicates occupation with food and drink and ignoring Torah and its study, and because of this the tables are all as if they ate upon them dirty things and feces - meaning to say, idolatry. And that [verse] is his saying before this verse, "But these are also muddled by wine and misled by ale" (Isaiah 28:7).
Bartenura
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והעבירו תער AND LET THEM SHAVE [ALL THEIR FLESH] — I have found in the work of R. Moses the Preacher the following: Because they were made propitiatory substitutes for the firstborn who had worshipped the idol (the Golden Calf), and it (idolatry) is called (Psalms 106:28) “offerings to the dead”, and the leper is also called dead (cf. Numbers 12:12), it (Scripture) requires them to shave their body like lepers.