Parshat Matos contains the actual details of the battle that the Jews undertook against the nation of Midian, in retribution for their conspiring to annihilate the Jews, first physically, using the sources of Bilaam the sorcerer, and then spiritually, by causing the Jews to fall into the sins of immorality and idolatry.
As discussed last week, the battle was led by the great Pinchas, who fought with the added element of vengeance for his ancestor Yosef’s sale as a slave. Yosef’s original purchasers had been the Midianim (see the pesukim in Parshat Vayeishev), and now, hundreds of years later, Pinchas would avenge that slight. In this particular battle, the Torah states that 12,000 Jewish soldiers fought against the armies of Midian; the size of the Midianite army is not listed.
However, in Shoftim, when the great judge Gideon would fight against the remaining Midianite peoples, the Navi describes (Shoftim, chap. 7) the Midianite army as being "as vast as the seashore." From the details of the spoils of war listed in our Parshah, one would think that the Midianite army must have numbered well into the hundreds of thousands.
The pesukim in Parshat Mattos (Bamidbar chap. 31’, Pesukim 48’-49) state, in the aftermath of the battle against Midian: "...The army officers approached Moshe - the officers who were over divisions of the thousands and the officers of the thousands, and the officers of the hundreds."
"And they said to Moshe, 'Your servants have taken a census of the soldiers who went out to war and not one of us is missing…'"
Astoundingly, not one soldier had died! Rabbeinu Bachye (ad. Loc.) notes: "...This was a remarkable miracle. In fact, it may be described as one of the greatest miracles amongst all the miracles which were performed for the Jewish people ever. When we consider the number of prisoners taken we can imagine how many adult males there must have been participating in this war. The Israelites killed each one of them without sustaining a single casualty…"
It would seem that this is the source for the tremendous value Am Yisrael places on the lives of each of its members, and the extreme national pain felt at the loss of our brave warriors over the course of our recent (and ancient) history.
However, an extremely critical lesson can be further gleaned from the pesukim towards the end of Shmuel Beit, which detail the song of praise of David Hamelech. The opening verse states (Shmuel II, chap. 22): "...David addressed the words of this song to G-d, after G-d had saved him from the hands of all his enemies and from the hands of Saul…"
The Midrash wonders why, of all of the battles and tribulations faced by King David, does the possuk list his suffering at the hand of King Saul [Shaul] individually? The Midrash answers, powerfully and poignantly, that all of the battles that David fought against non-Jewish aggressors pale in comparison to the fact that King Saul was a Jew, and for King Saul to be an enemy of his fellow Jew, David Hamelech, warranted an independent mention in the Navi.
Indeed, throughout the course of Tanach, the battles fought against foreign nations seem to shrink in comparison to the many civil wars the Jews fought. As the Torah states here, against Midian, not one soldier was killed - but during just the rebellion of Avshalom against his father, David Hamelech, tens of thousands of Jews were killed (Shmuel II, 18:7). The lesson here is clear: When we fight together, with unity, against our enemies, Hashem will provide Divine providence and protection. When we fight against each other, that extra level of Divine safeguarding will be lost.
Dedicated in memory of all those who have perished and sacrificed for Am Yisrael, and for the recovery of all the ill of Israel.