Perhaps the most dangerous challenge which the Jewish people faced during their 40 years in the desert was neither the Golden Calf nor the vicious attack by the Amalekites, but the moral challenge posed at Shittim by the cult of Baal Peor.

Balaam, the soothsayer of the King of Moab, hated the Israelites and advised the Moabites and their allies, the Midianites, how to destroy them. The Israelites, he said, derive their strength from their moral loyalty to God, so if you lure them into sin, you will be able to defeat them.

The worship of Baal Peor by the Israelites involved consorting with prostitutes in the pagan temple. Why did Cozbi, the Midianite princess who lured Zimri, a prince from the tribe of Simeon, and the Midianite and Moabite women agree to the role of seducing Israelite men into immorality, prostitution and idolatry? While these types of ritual were widespread in the ancient world, it is clear that the Midianite and Moabite leaders did not hesitate to use their own daughters to destroy the Israelites. According to one midrash, the plan was for Cozbi to seduce Moses but Zimri convinced her that he was as important as Moses.

Cozbi and the Midianite and Moabite women were probably willing servants in this scheme, as it was in the national interests to overcome the Israelites. We can demonise Cozbi and the Midianite and Moabite women at that time for their participation. However, we cannot demonise the people as a whole, as Moses's wife, Tzipporah, was a Midianite, and Ruth, a descendant of Moab, made a very significant decision in the shaping of her own life of following the path of the Israelite God, which led to the birth of her descendant King David.