THOU SHALT NOT SEEK THEIR PEACE. "Since it is written [with respect to a fugitive slave], He shall dwell with thee, in the midst of thee [where it liketh him best; thou shalt not wrong him],⁠¹ I might think that the rule also applies to this one [an Ammonite or Moabite fugitive slave]. Scripture, therefore, says, Thou shalt not seek their peace.⁠" This is Rashi's language. Now, this interpretation in the Sifre² is deduced from the expression [here] nor their prosperity [Thou shalt not seek their peace 'nor their prosperity,' and not as it might appear from the heading in our text of Rashi that it is derived from the expression their peace, for thus is the language of the Sifre]: "Since it is stated there [with respect to the fugitive slave] 'batov lo' (where it liketh him best); thou shalt not wrong him³ — exclude these [the Ammonite and Moabite fugitive slaves] from this tovah (good).⁠"⁴ But the expression Thou shalt not seek their peace is interpreted in the Sifre as follows: "Since it is stated, When thou drawest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it,⁠⁵ I might think that the same rule applies to Ammon and Moab. Scripture therefore says, Thou shalt not seek their peace. " It is also so stated in Tanchuma.⁠⁶
It appears to me that Scripture has forever forbidden war against Ammon and Moab, and the verse stating, neither contend with them⁷ was not only a temporary command, but a negative commandment for the generations. It is for this [reason] that He said, because I have given it unto the children of Lot for a possession.⁠⁸ Thus their land belongs to them forever because it is the possession that G-d gave them. If so, the verse here stating, Thou shalt not seek their peace commands that if we wage war against them over a city which they captured from other peoples, that we are not to proclaim peace to them. Similarly, if they invaded our Land we are permitted to pursue them and capture cities from them, to smite the inhabitants of those cities who harmed us, as Jephtah did [of whom it is said], And he smote them from Aroer until thou come to Minnith, even twenty cities.⁠⁹ David also did so to all the cities of the children of Ammon¹⁰ because they "breached the fence" first and warred against him. In that event we need not to proclaim peace to them and we may smite those fighting us in every city, the men, and the women, and the little ones¹¹ if we wish. Thus the Rabbis have said in Midrash Rabbah:⁠¹² "And ye shall smite every fortified city, and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree, and stop all fountains of water.⁠¹³ They [i.e., Jehoshaphat king of Judah and Jehoram king of Israel] said to him [Elisha]. 'Scripture states, Thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof,⁠¹⁴ and you say thus [destroy them]!' He [Elisha] said to them: 'Scripture commanded this with respect to all peoples, but this one is minor and despised,' as it is said, And this is but a light thing in the sight of the Eternal, and He will deliver the Moabites into your hand,⁠¹⁵ for it is said, Thou shalt not seek their peace 'v'tovatham' (nor their good), this alluding to the 'good trees.'" Now, all this is to harm them and to vex them, but the land is to remain that family's for it is the possession which G-d gave them. This subject is mentioned in Agadoth [homilies],⁠¹⁶ Bereshith Rabbah,⁠¹⁷ and in Midrash Tehilim.⁠¹⁸
In line with the plain meaning of Scripture, the purport of the verse Thou shalt not seek their peace nor their prosperity is as if to say, "Although they are members of your family, and your father Abraham loved their father as his brother, that sucked the breasts of his mother,⁠¹⁹ yet you should not act towards them like brothers seeking their peace and prosperity, for it is they who have broken the covenant of brotherhood;⁠²⁰ let it remain broken forever.⁠" Thus G-d guarded for Lot's children the merit of their father who accompanied His prophet [Abraham] on the path where G-d sent him. Therefore He gave them an inheritance from Abraham's possession²¹ and He punished his children for their sin that they could not become attached to Israel. Similarly He banned the Egyptians for three generations²² because of their wickedness in bringing upon us many evils and troubles,⁠²³ but He did not abhor them forever because we were strangers in their land where we found refuge with them in days of famine through the honor they showed our father [Jacob], and they appointed over themselves a chief and ruler from among us. So also did He do with the Edomites. He preserved the merit of the ancestors for them since they were of holy seed,⁠²⁴ but he banned them for three generations²⁵ because they came forth against us with the sword and they remembered not the brotherly covenant.⁠²⁶ Now, the tradition of our Rabbis²⁷ is that the third generation does not mean "the third generation from the days of Moses" but when one of them [Edomites or Egyptians] becomes a proselyte his third generation [i.e., his grandchild] may enter into the assembly of the Eternal.