Following the victory over Midian, the military commanders return to the camp with captives, only to be met with a severe rebuke from Moses. A tragic irony unfolds: the women brought into the camp as spoils of war are the very architects of the recent disaster that devastated the nation. Moses points them out directly, indicating that the soldiers actually recognized the specific women who had caused individual Israelites to stumble [רש״י, פענח רזא]. This ability to personally identify them suggests that the sin with the Midianite women was a focused, isolated incident, whereas the majority of the plague's victims had fallen prey to a broader, mass transgression with the Moabite women [ברכת אשר על התורה].
Why did the military leaders spare these women in the first place? They likely assumed the women were merely passive participants who were coerced by their fathers and husbands, or acting as simple messengers who bore no real guilt [אור החיים, נחל קדומים]. Furthermore, they might have believed that the standard rules of warfare, which permit the taking of female captives, applied here [חתם סופר]. Moses entirely rejects these justifications. He emphasizes the women's active and willing participation in causing the Israelites to sin [רש ר הירש]. Even if the Midianite men who sent them bear a greater share of the blame, the women acted with direct and deliberate intent [העמק דבר]. Because this was a divinely commanded war of retribution specifically targeting those who had led the nation astray, the standard laws regarding captives were completely nullified; anyone involved in the conspiracy was meant to be killed [חתם סופר].
The unfolding confrontation reveals a crucial historical detail: the entire plot was orchestrated by Balaam. This revelation serves as a testament to the oral tradition, which preserved the specifics of Balaam's counsel through the generations [אם למקרא]. While returning to his homeland, Balaam realized that the only way to weaken the Israelites and cause God to abandon them was through moral and spiritual seduction [שד״ל]. He deduced this from his own prophetic visions, understanding that God's protective providence relies entirely on the nation's purity [חזקוני]. Consequently, he advised the Midianites to send their most prominent daughters to seduce the men [שד״ל]. Placing the blame on Balaam highlights a profound historical pattern: the mass moral decay of a generation often originates from its greatest leaders [ברטנורא על התורה].
The ultimate goal of this seduction was to incite a fundamental betrayal and rebellion against God [נתינה לגר, הכתב והקבלה], forming a deliberate conspiracy [העמק דבר]. This act of betrayal was marked by audacity [שד״ל] and involved obscene, repulsive practices tied to the idol Baal Peor [הכתב והקבלה]. A deeper layer of the tragedy emerges when contrasting Balaam's original advice with the women's actual conduct. Balaam had advised using only sexual temptation, knowing that God despises immorality. The Midianite women, however, took the initiative and escalated the plot far beyond their instructions. They refused to yield to the Israelite men unless the men first bowed down to Baal Peor. Consequently, the women themselves became the direct catalyst for idolatry, rather than just immorality [אור החיים].
The resulting devastation was precise in its cause. The terrible plague that swept through the nation was not a punishment for the acts of immorality, but strictly a consequence of the idolatry to Peor [אור החיים, העמק דבר]. In light of this, Moses' rebuke is piercing and absolute: these women were the very stumbling block that caused the idolatry, which in turn brought a deadly plague upon God's congregation. To bring them into the Israelite camp now as victors' spoils was completely unthinkable [ביאור שטיינזלץ].