על חיי משה, ספר א נ״וOn the Life of Moses, Book I 56
א׳
1[305] Since, now, their internal troubles were entirely at an end, and, further, all those who were suspected of desertion or treachery had perished, it seemed to be a very suitable opportunity for waging war against Balak who had both plotted and executed mischief on so vast a scale. In the plotting he had been served by the soothsayer, who, he hoped, would be able by his curses to destroy the power of the Hebrews; in the execution by the licentiousness and wantonness of the women, who had caused the ruin of their paramours, of their bodies through lust, of their souls through impiety.
ב׳
2[306] However, Moses did not think well to employ his whole army, knowing that over-large multitudes fall through their own unwieldiness, and, at the same time, he thought it was an advantage to have reserves to reinforce those who bore the first brunt. He accordingly selected the flower of his men of military age, one thousand from each tribe, twelve thousand, that is, corresponding to the number of the tribes, and chose as commander-in-chief Phinehas, who had already given proof of his courage in that capacity; and after favourable sacrifices he dispatched his armed men, with words of encouragement to the following effect: “The contest before you is not to win dominion,
ג׳
3[307] nor to appropriate the possessions of others, which is the sole or principal object of other wars, but to defend piety and holiness, from which our kinsfolk and friends have been perverted by the enemies who have indirectly caused their victims to perish miserably.
ד׳
4[308] It would be absurd, then, if, after having slain with our own hands those who transgressed the law, we should spare the enemies who committed the graver wrong; if, after putting to death those who learned the lesson of wrongdoing, we should leave unpunished the teachers who forced them to it, and are responsible for all they did or suffered.”