In this week’s parshah, we are looking at the end of the 40 years of Klal Yisrael being in the desert. Klal Yisrael is now approaching Eretz Canaan (Yisrael) from the south.  The land of Edom was between them and Eretz Canaan. Hashem instructed Moshe Rabbeinu not to attack Edom, Klal Yisrael’s cousins, Eisav’s descendants. Moshe sends messengers to the king of Edom, requesting permission to take a shortcut through their land to reach Eretz Canaan faster. They would stay on the highway and even pay for food and drink. Edom refuses and threatens to attack. Klal Yisrael is forced to take the long route around, heading towards the east. 

Eventually, Klal Yisrael comes around on the eastern side of the Jordan River. There were the kingdoms of Amon and Moav, both descendants of Lot, and once again Hashem instructed Moshe not to attack them. Rashi says that Moshe also requested from both of them to allow passage through their lands to reach Eretz Caanan faster. They both refused. Bnei Yisrael was forced to head north, where they approached the land of Sichon, king of the Emori. North of him was Og, king of Bashan.

The Torah now tells us how Sichon acquired his lands. Sichon conquered them from Moav and Amon, who he defeated with the assistance of Bilam who cursed them. (We’ll hear more about this in next week’s parshah.) The gemara in Gittin says that these wars were all planned out by Hashem, to enable Bnei Yisrael to conquer more land. The lands of Amon and Moav were forbidden to them. Because Sichon conquered the lands of Amon and Moav, Bnei Yisrael was able to conquer them from him.

Rav Avigdor Miller explains that we see from here how all the wars - and all that transpire throughout history - were orchestrated by Hashem for the benefit of Klal Yisrael.

I’d like to make another point here.

When Edom refused passage through their land, they knew it was an evil response. They didn’t want Klal Yisrael to reach their final destination, and wanted to greatly inconvenience them. So now, Klal Yisrael was forced to approach Amon and Moav, who both gave the same response, with the same evil intentions. Klal Yisrael needed to approach the kingdom of Sichon. Sichon was paid tribute by the kings of Canaan not to allow any enemy forces to enter Eretz Canaan. Moshe asked Sichon to allow them to pass through. Of course, Sichon couldn’t allow that; he needed to keep to his word. He came out to battle Klal Yisrael, and was miraculously defeated. Now Klal Yisrael conquered all of his lands. Because they defeated Sichon, Og came out to fight. He was also miraculously defeated, and his lands were also conquered by Klal Yisrael.

Watch this. Had Edom allowed Klal Yisrael to pass through, Klal Yisrael would have passed through and been on their way. Had Amon and Moav allowed Klal Yisrael to pass through, Klal Yisrael would have passed through and been on their way. Because they didn’t, Klal Yisrael needed to approach Sichon. Because of their refusals, Klal Yisrael gained all the lands of Sichon and Og! This included all the lands conquered by Sichon, taken from Amon and Moav, the entire west bank of the Jordan River! It was only because of their evil intentions that Klal Yisrael got any of that land; it was all a bonus! This was definitely not in the plans of Edom, Amon, and Moav!

In addition, had they allowed Klal Yisrael passage, Klal Yisrael would have gone through, and that could have been the end of their relationship. It wouldn’t be necessary for Edom, Amon, and Moav to have any further relationship if they so desired. However, now they were stuck with Klal Yisrael as their neighbors! In the view of Edom, Amon, and Moav, these were very unwanted neighbors. Exactly what they didn’t want! 

From here we see how the evil plans of our enemies to harm us backfired on them and only benefited us!

Throughout history, there have been many events that transpired that we may think are completely unconnected to us. Other events were extremely painful for us.

But all events in the world have been for the benefit for Klal Yisrael. Some we are zoche to see and understand. However, there are events which will only be revealed to us with the coming of Moshiach showing how we benefited from them.

Hashem’s plans, calculations, and designs are awesome!

Let us strengthen our emunah and bitachon, and pray that we should merit to see how everything which is happening around us is the best thing possible, with the coming of Moshiach very soon!

 By Dov Chaitovsky