Numbers 25:18

Num 25:18 For they vex you with their wiles, wherewith they have beguiled you in the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of a prince of Midian, their sister, which was slain in the day of the plague for Peor’s sake.

Ver. 18. For they vex you with their wiles.] Not with their wars; they outwit you, out smart by counterfeit courtesy, cut-throat kindness; they have deceived you into those sister sins, fornication and idolatry, which God hath so severely punished.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Num 25:18. With their wiles — For under pretence of kindred, and friendship, and leagues, which they offered to them, instead of that war which the Israelites expected, they sought only an opportunity to insinuate themselves into their familiarity, and execute their hellish plot of bringing that curse upon the Israelites which they had in vain attempted to bring another way. We see here that we have more to fear from our passions than from the malice of our enemies, and that it is a very dangerous thing to suffer ourselves to be seduced by voluptuousness and the desires of the flesh. This is the application which St. Paul makes of this history in the passage above referred to; where he tells us that “these things were written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the world are come.” Again, the zeal which Moses and Phinehas showed on this occasion, and God’s rewarding Phinehas, prove that we must zealously oppose, by all just and lawful means, those that offend God openly; that this is in particular the duty of magistrates and ministers of religion; and that God rewards the fidelity of those who thus express their zeal for his glory.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Causing you to commit both corporal and spiritual fornication by Balaam’s counsel, Num. 31:16; Rev. 2:14.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

they vex you with their wiles--Instead of open war, they plot insidious ways of accomplishing your ruin by idolatry and corruption.

their sister--their countrywoman.

Next: Numbers Chapter 26

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

For under pretence of kindred, and friendship, and leagues, yea, and marriages, which they offered to them, instead of that war which the Israelites expected from them, they sought only an opportunity to insinuate themselves into their familiarity, and execute their hellish plot of bringing that curse upon the Israelites, which they had in vain attempted to bring another way.

In the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi; by drawing you both to spiritual and corporal whoredom.

Their sister, in a large sense, to wit, their countrywoman.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

18. For they vex you — Not with wars but with wiles, which were more destructive to Israel. The vigorous prosecution of this war is detailed in chap. 31.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

With their wiles - For under pretense of kindred and friendship and leagues, which they offered to them, instead of that war which the Israelites expected, they sought only an opportunity to insinuate themselves into their familiarity, and execute their hellish plot of bringing that curse upon the Israelites, which they had in vain attempted to bring another way.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

כי צררים הם לכם וגו׳ על דבר פעור FOR THEY SHOWED THEMSELVES YOUR ENEMIES etc. IN THE MATTER OF PEOR — i.e., in that they abandoned their daughters to prostitution in order to lead you astray after Peor; but He did not command them to destroy the Moabites — on account of Ruth who would later on issue from them, just as we state in Bava Kamma 38b.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

FOR THEY [the Midianites] HARASS YOU BY THEIR WILES. The meaning [of the expression by their wiles] is, as I have explained, that this evil plan [to lead the Israelites astray through their seduction by the Moabite women] was contrived by the elders of Midian, as it is said, And Moab said unto the elders of Midian, 22:4. [thus showing] that it was with them [the elders of Midian] that the Moabites originally took counsel. And they gave this advice [later on] to Moab, to encourage their daughters to prostitute themselves with them [the Israelites], and thereby cause them to join Baal-peor, and to draw them away from G-d, even though this advice is not [explicitly] mentioned there. Moreover, [a proof that the Midianites gave this idea to the Moabites is] that they even sent them their own king’s daughter to commit harlotry with them, this being the meaning of the expression, and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of the prince of Midian, their sister. For were this not done with the knowledge [and encouragement] of the counsellors of the [Midianite] kingdom, what was the distinguished Midianite princess seeking in Shittim, in the plains of Moab, that she should come to the camp of a foreign people, for Israel was in the plains of Moab, in Shittim, and how did this [important] Midianite woman come to be there? But [the only reasonable explanation of this is that] she was very beautiful, and therefore the elders of Midian sent her there, because they said: “Through the figure of a beautiful woman many people become corrupted.” It is probable that Balaam was also involved in [giving] this counsel, for on his return from the land of Moab [after he departed from Balak] he passed through Midian, from where he had come, and he deliberated with the counsellors of the kingdom. Perhaps Balaam stayed there a while in order to know what would [ultimately] happen to them [i.e., the Israelites], and that is why the Israelites found him in Midian and killed him. In that case the meaning [of the verse], And Balaam rose up, and went and returned to his place is that Balaam “went on his way [with the intention] of returning to his land” [but he did not actually get there, since he stayed on the way in Midian]. And it indeed appears so [that Balaam participated in giving this evil advice], for the Israelites would not have killed one who had prophesied except after [receiving a special] permission of the Torah [to do so, and we do not find any mention of such permission]. But after they had been told [that they were to punish the Midianites because] they harass you by their wiles wherewith they have beguiled you etc., [it is self-understood] that all those who took part in this beguilment were liable to the death penalty, and therefore they killed Balaam as well, since they knew that he was the one who had proposed this evil design.Now the Holy One, blessed be He, commanded [the Israelites] to avenge themselves of them [the Midianites], but as for the Moabites, He had already warned them, Be not at enmity with Moab. For Israel had at first come to the border of Edom, and He had warned them [against fighting] them, [as it is said], and take ye good heed unto yourselves;, Verse 4. and afterwards they arrived at the border of Moab, and He told Moses, Be not at enmity with Moab. He said furthermore, Thou art this day to pass over the border of Moab, even Ar; and when thou comest nigh over against the children of Ammon, harass them not, Verses 18-19. and He [further] stated, Rise ye up, take your journey, and pass over the valley of Arnon; behold, I have given into thy hand Sihon., Verse 24. And after all this Balak saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites, that is, to the two Amorite kings, Sihon and Og, and then this whole episode [of the blessings of Balaam, and the seduction at Shittim by the Moabite women] took place. If so, [we must perforce say] that the warning Be not at enmity with Moab was declared before the command Harass the Midianites. And therefore I am astonished at the expression of the Agadah [homiletic exposition], where the Rabbis say in Tractate Baba Kamma: “Be not at enmity with Moab, [neither contend with them in battle]. But would it have entered Moses’ mind to wage war [against Moab] without the permission [of G-d, so that he had to be especially told to refrain from doing so]! But Moses of his own accord reasoned by [the syllogism of] a kal vachomer, saying: ‘If, in the case of the Midianites, who only came to assist the Moabites, the Torah said, Harass the Midianites, and smite them, surely [this duty applies] even more so to the Moabites!’ But the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses: ‘It is not so as it has entered your mind! I have two [good] doves who are to come forth from them — Ruth the Moabitess, and Naamah the Ammonitess.’” But He had already warned Moses [against waging war on Moab] long before the kal vachomer [could have occurred to Moses, since He had, as explained above, given the command not to harass Moab before the incident with the women, and thus before the command to punish Midian for their share in that incident]! Moreover, if [it was only to negate] Moses’ kal vachomer [that he had to be warned against fighting Moab], why did He have to warn him [also] not to fight the children of Ammon, Verses 18-19. [since they played no part at all in the incident at Shittim]! Perhaps the Rabbis were not so particular in their language in the Agadah [about the actual chronological order of events]; since their main [intention] was to say that it was known [beforehand] to Him, blessed be He, that when He would command Moses, Harass the Midianites, Moses would have [an opportunity to argue by the syllogism of] a kal vachomer that he ought to wage war against Moab, without any other [special] permission, therefore He warned him in advance not to do so. And because He warned him about Moab, therefore He also admonished him with respect to the children of Ammon, so that Moses should not think that [the fact that] He only forbade him [not to fight] Moab was [tantamount to an implied] permission to [wage war] against the children of Ammon who had also dealt evil to the Israelites because they met them not with bread and with water., who were guilty of this, whereas the Moabites [also mentioned there] did meet the Israelites with bread and water. They are excluded, however, from the assembly of the Eternal because they hired Balaam to curse the Israelites. According to another Midrash [the reason why Israel was commanded to punish Midian but not to attack Moab], was because the Moabites acted out of fear that they [the Israelites] would plunder them, but the Midianites meddled with a strife not their own, as Rashi wrote in the section of Eileh Mas’ei. — further, 31:2.According to the plain meaning of Scripture, a further reason [for the different treatment that G-d commanded with respect to the Midianites and with respect to the Moabites] is that the lands of Ammon and Moab G-d had given unto the children of Lot for a possession, because of Lot their father who ministered to the righteous one [Abraham] and went into exile with him to that Land; therefore He did not allow [anyone] to do them evil in their countries. However, because of their sin in showing hostility to Israel and not treating them in a friendly manner, He punished them by excluding them from [the possibility of joining] His people, by commanding, An Ammonite or a Moabite shall not enter into the assembly of the Eternal, 23:4. measure for measure.

Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.