Numbers 31:8Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

The representation of the five 'kings of Midian' symbolizes the five means through which sin enters humanity. Sin manifests through five channels: sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch. By Phinehas defeating these five kings, we perceive a reflection of Immanuel, who rendered the strength of sin powerless. It is noted concerning these five channels: ‘Death shall come in through the windows.... and entered into our land’ (Jeremiah 9:21). The prophet alludes here to the sensory windows.

I spoke, "Do not compromise the gift through selfishness. Just as fine medicine loses its efficacy in an impure vessel, similarly, the spiritual and salvific power of grace cannot thrive in a soul that is not cleansed from selfish desires. Balaam was summoned by a dual delegation from King Balak of Moab to curse Israel: 'Balaam answered and said unto the princes of Balak, If Balak shall give me his full temple of gold and silver, I cannot transgress the word of the Lord God, whether to do that which is small or great in my mind' (Num. 22:18). While Balaam maintained his selflessness, he experienced clear visions and delivered prophecies. However, once he succumbed to corruption, this seer turned into a promoter of decadence and faced the same fate as the corrupt.

Balaam the diviner enticed the people of Israel into moral compromise by approaching the soldiers, not with armed men, but with young women adorned in various decorations, seeking to transform combat into frivolity, to degrade victory into shame, to make the avengers into transgressors, and to defile purity through wickedness. This prompted Moses to proclaim, "And you shall execute Balaam the diviner, for he has caused the people of Israel to stumble."