Two Difficulties with the Siforno

TWO DIFFICULTIES WITH THE SIFORNO

This Siforno is difficult to understand on two levels. First, what was the sin of the Jewish people? They weren’t accused of doing acts of immorality. Their “crime” was in not protesting an act done in their midst. Where do we see that the punishment for not giving rebuke is death?

Even more troubling is what seems to be a grave inequity. If Pinchas had not killed Zimri, then HASHEM would have had to wipe out an entire nation. Pinchas’s act of killing one man evened out the score so that now the death penalty against the generation didn’t have to be carried out. How does killing one man equal the death of millions?

The answer to this question can be best understood with a moshol: