Wholly War
Numbers 31: 1-24
This may be the most disturbing section thus far. When people refer to the angry God of the Old Testament, they are talking about passages like this one. Lots of darkness here.
So God tells Moses that it's time for some vengeance. Go grab John Wayne, Mel Gibson, and Quentin Tarantino, saddle up the troops, and clean out the Midianites. They take 12,000 troops (one thousand from each tribe) and along with Phinehas the priest, went to battle. Phinehas' job here is to sound the trumpet and carry articles from the sanctuary. Seemingly the least important figure, probably the most.
So Israel puts on their blue face paint and cleans house. Mike Tyson boxing Justin Beiber. Every Midian man dies including all five kings and our old friend Balaam. They take all kinds of plunder, gather up all the women and children, burn the villages to the ground and head back to Moses and Eleazor.
With such an astounding victory, they were probably surprised by Moses' angry reaction. Why are the women still alive? They are the ones who listened to Balaam and caused that plague to happen. Kill all the boys and kill every female who isn't a virgin. You can keep the virgins for yourselves.
So God's spokesperson speaks out here in a way that disturbs. Kill and capture. Even the innocent. Even the children. And those you deem worthy of life, are now your physical property.
After the battle anyone who had killed someone or touched something dead had to wait seven days before returning to camp so that purification could occur. They had to go through a purification ceremony on days three and seven. Anything that could stand fire needed to burned and washed with the "water of cleansing". If it wouldn't make it through the fire, it still had to be washed.
This section is beyond disturbing. How do you explain away the brutality of vengeance here? This is all God's will- in fact His command. He knows the subtext, the hearts of the individuals, and the big picture, but even that seems like an easy answer to pretend that such vengeance is beyond the figure who we envision as our Loving Father.
Perhaps the most helpful aspect to this horror story is to envision the potential fate of ourselves were it not for the vengeance-clearing sacrifice of Jesus. Maybe a story like this can make us appreciate at an even greater level what Jesus went through to spare us the fate of the Midianites.
Numbers 31: 1-24
This may be the most disturbing section thus far. When people refer to the angry God of the Old Testament, they are talking about passages like this one. Lots of darkness here.
So God tells Moses that it's time for some vengeance. Go grab John Wayne, Mel Gibson, and Quentin Tarantino, saddle up the troops, and clean out the Midianites. They take 12,000 troops (one thousand from each tribe) and along with Phinehas the priest, went to battle. Phinehas' job here is to sound the trumpet and carry articles from the sanctuary. Seemingly the least important figure, probably the most.
So Israel puts on their blue face paint and cleans house. Mike Tyson boxing Justin Beiber. Every Midian man dies including all five kings and our old friend Balaam. They take all kinds of plunder, gather up all the women and children, burn the villages to the ground and head back to Moses and Eleazor.
With such an astounding victory, they were probably surprised by Moses' angry reaction. Why are the women still alive? They are the ones who listened to Balaam and caused that plague to happen. Kill all the boys and kill every female who isn't a virgin. You can keep the virgins for yourselves.
So God's spokesperson speaks out here in a way that disturbs. Kill and capture. Even the innocent. Even the children. And those you deem worthy of life, are now your physical property.
After the battle anyone who had killed someone or touched something dead had to wait seven days before returning to camp so that purification could occur. They had to go through a purification ceremony on days three and seven. Anything that could stand fire needed to burned and washed with the "water of cleansing". If it wouldn't make it through the fire, it still had to be washed.
This section is beyond disturbing. How do you explain away the brutality of vengeance here? This is all God's will- in fact His command. He knows the subtext, the hearts of the individuals, and the big picture, but even that seems like an easy answer to pretend that such vengeance is beyond the figure who we envision as our Loving Father.
Perhaps the most helpful aspect to this horror story is to envision the potential fate of ourselves were it not for the vengeance-clearing sacrifice of Jesus. Maybe a story like this can make us appreciate at an even greater level what Jesus went through to spare us the fate of the Midianites.
