Give Thanks

Hashem commands Moshe to kill the Midyanim but Moshe gives the job over to Pinchas.  How could Moshe give the job over to Pinchas if he had a direct command to kill the Midyanim himself?  The Midrash (22:4) says וַיִּשְׁלַח אֹתָם משֶׁה (במדבר לא, ו), אָמַר הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא לְמשֶׁה: נְקֹם נִקְמַת, אַתָּה בְּעַצְמְךָ, וְהוּא מְשַׁלֵּחַ אֶת אֲחֵרִים, אֶלָּא מִפְּנֵי שֶׁנִּתְגַּדֵּל בְּאֶרֶץ מִדְיָן אָמַר אֵינוֹ בְּדִין שֶׁאֲנִי מֵצֵר לְמִי שֶׁעָשָׂה בִּי טוֹבָה.  But Hashem still gave over the command to Moshe, so how could he give the command of the war to someone else?  Rav Chayim Shmulevetz says that hakarat hatov is such a self-understood principal that Moshe understood that built into the command of Hashem was this obligation of hakarat hatov and he should put someone else in charge of the war. 

The Gemarah Berachot (48b) says that Chazal enacted to say the beracha of הטוב והמטיב for the fact that those killed in Betar did not emit a foul stench and that they got to be buried.  Why was this the inspiration for this beracha?  The Meshech Chachma Ekev explains that the first blessing of ברכת המזון were established when Yisrael was well established in their own land, seeing the daily miracles of the Mikdash.  After that life was destroyed, it appeared that Yisrael may be lost in the exile especially after their revolt was squashed.  The ability to give proper dignity to the dead was an indication that even as the nation appeared to be lying dormant, G-d was still watching over His people.  The fact that we are sustained even as we are pushed to the curb is itself reason to give thanks.  The Gemarah Berachot (20b) says that because Klal Yisrael says ברכת המזון even when they are not satiated, not ושבעת, therefore Hashem is נושא פנים to them.  Why is it this detail more than any additional stringency or hanhaga that Klal Yisrael has adopted which causes נושא פנים?  Because of the fact that we give thanks to Hashem even when one does not have the ability to eat until satiated, we merit that Hashem acknowledges our thanks.  It is easy to be cognitive of the good in one's life when all is good but to see the good in the destruction is a tall order which Klal Yisrael adapted.