Paying Our Debts

The Jews split the booty from the war on Midyan, half to the soldiers and half to the rest of the people. Why should the soldiers give half the spoils away? The reason, it would seem, is that the soldiers fought as our representatives. The Jewish people took revenge, the soldiers were the agents. They had a partnership with the rest of the people; the Jews as a whole had a dream which the soldiers carried it out. In return, Jewish merit protected those soldiers, resulting in impossibly-few soldiers winning the battle, and zero casualties.

So it was entirely proper that the booty be split. The interesting part here is what happens next. Each of the groups, the soldiers and the Jews, gave a tax. The soldiers’ tax was 1/500 and it went to Elazar. The nation’s tax was 1/50 (ten times as much!) and went to the Levi’im. Why?

Perhaps the answer is that in this unique partnership, where the Jews supplied Merit, and the soldiers Action, Hashem helped out more with the Jews’ portion than with the soldiers’ one. Our merits are sort of doubtful; we need Hashem’s kindly eye validating them. The soldiers’ acted. Action is action. The tax represented our debt to Him. Our debt was 10 times greater than the soldiers’ was!