To Live In The Promised Land, At Peace With the Neighbors

Parshat Balak

by Rabbi Avi Billet

A larger view of the Torah provides the context through which we can see how the Biblical Israelites were meant to relate to their neighbors living in the lands within and surrounding the Promised Land. (Bereishit 15:7)

Egypt was the land in which Abraham’s descendants were to be “strangers in a strange land” (Bereishit 15:13). It was also the land to which kings were forbidden to return the nation. (Devarim 17:16) The lands east of the Jordan River (Saudi Arabia and Jordan) were occupied by Edom/Seir, Midian, Moav, Emori, and Bashan respectively. Each of them was given the opportunity to allow the Israelites to pass freely through to the Jordan River, where the intended crossing into the Land was to take place. For reference: Edom – Bamidbar 20:14-19 (refused in verse 21); Emori – Bamidbar 21:21-22, attacked in verse 23; Bashan – didn’t wait for the request, but attacked the Israelites in Bamidbar 21:33.

In the case of Moav, the Torah tells us they had already been conquered by Sichon (Bamidbar 21:26), and perhaps the defeat of Sichon freed them from his oppression. We are told in Devarim 2:8-9 that the people of Edom and Moav were untouchables, owing to Edom being descendants of Eisav and Moav being descendants of Lot. It was only the defeat of Moav at the hands of Sichon, and their land no longer belonging to Moav that allowed the Israelites to conquer that land.

Even the Gaza area, historically owned by the Phillistines since the time of Avimelech King of Gerar, was untouchable to the Israelites on account of the peace treaty that had been made in the time of Abraham (Bereshit 21:22-34). Similarly, lands further east of the areas previously mentioned were also not in the realm of Israelite conquest on account of the treaty made between Lavan and Yaakov (Bereshit 31:51-54), and the line they made that each was not to cross.

As for the seven nations living in the Land, God declared they were unworthy of maintaining their presence there on account of their idolatrous practices and immorality. (see Devarim 7:1-2, Devarim 20:16-18, Yehoshua 3:10 and other places) Despite what the biblical text says, they were given the option to leave, as the Girgashi did, or to accept Israel’s authority (see last Tosafot on Sotah 35b), and had they done so, there would have been peace in the land since time immemorial. Even cities further out of these areas were to be given the option of accepting Israel’s authority, and had they done so they would have been spared of the sword. (Devarim 20:10-11)

We can also note that had Israel been deserving of staying in the land, they never would have been exiled.

All of this points to the idea that, while ancient Israel were certainly given one-time instructions to wipe out certain nations, the peaceful offer was always to be put on the table first. In many cases, such as Emori, Bashan, Moav, Midian, Jericho, Ai, as well as all the nations of Canaan (see Yehoshua 9:1-2), they chose to attack Israel. When your nation attacks, they become subject to a counter-offensive, which in ancient times often translated to a complete annihilation. Think about the aims and goals of the nation of Amalek, and what became the mantra towards Amalek which we still recall to this day (Shmot 17:14, Devarim 25:19), and was actually acted upon by King Saul (Samuel I 15) and David (Samuel I 30).

All of mainstream Jewry today does not subscribe to ancient rules of genocide. Any Biblical mandates of such were for a specific time, a single time, and never had any bearing beyond that time period. We may all find it troubling, just as, hopefully, contemporary Christians and Muslims do not subscribe to the horrific deeds perpetrated by their co-religionists over the last 2000 years. In an age of modernity, the civilized world has embraced coexistence and rejected the “accept my way or die” offer of bygone times.

In our parsha, we see that Moav (of the Lot family) and Midian (as easily represented by Moshe’s father-in-law Yitro) chose to attack the Israelites before even hearing an offer. Their efforts to destroy Israel from within forced Israel to take revenge against Midian (see Bamidbar 31).

The Middle East is a very large swath of land, which has room for many groups. Were each group to look at itself and say, “Let us make the best living conditions for ourselves. Let us grow our economy. Let us provide for ourselves. Let us make something of ourselves,” while at the same time realizing that war and fighting is beneficial to no one, it would be incredible to see what could come from putting down weapons.

In Solomon’s days, peace reigned in the Land. If Israel is not attacked, if Israel is simply respected and allowed to live their lives in peace, there would be no fighting, because Israel – from ancient Biblical times – has only wanted to live in the Promised Land in fulfillments of God’s vow to Abraham of “To your children I have given this land.”

Whenever they were not attacked, they had no reason to fight on the offensive or to defend themselves. (There were exceptions in ancient times, either for "Milchemet Mitzvah" or for expansion of land purposes (a common practice of many ancient nations) - but these were uncommon events)

And that is what the modern State of Israel would like to see today: neighbors who are happy to live as neighbors, who have no desire to destroy Israel’s rights to her Ancestral Land.