The
following quote is taken from evilbible.com:
"Murder, rape and pillage of the Midianites - They
attacked Midian just as the LORD had commanded Moses, and they killed all the
men. All five of the Midianite kings – Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba –
died in the battle. They also killed Balaam son of Beor with the
sword. Then the Israelite army captured the Midianite women and children
and seized their cattle and flocks and all their wealth as plunder. They
burned all the towns and villages where the Midianites had lived. After
they had gathered the plunder and captives, both people and animals, they
brought them all to Moses and Eleazar the priest, and to the whole community of
Israel, which was camped on the plains of Moab beside the Jordan River, across
from Jericho. Moses,
Eleazar the priest, and all the leaders of the people went to meet them outside
the camp. But Moses was furious with all the military commanders who had
returned from the battle. "Why have you let all the women
live?" he demanded. "These are the very ones who followed
Balaam's advice and caused the people of Israel to rebel against the LORD at
Mount Peor. They are the ones who caused the plague to strike the LORD's
people. Now kill all the boys and all the women who have slept with a
man. Only the young girls who are virgins may live; you may keep them for
yourselves. (Numbers 31:7-18 NLT)
Clearly Moses and God approves
of rape of virgins."
Let's examine the events of Numbers
chapter 31. You can read the full text
here:
At this point in Israel's history,
the people were still wandering in the desert before entering the promised land
of Canaan that God had vowed to give them.
Earlier, in Numbers chapter 22, the king of Moab and the elders of
Midian, two nations that were distantly related to the Israelites but hostile
towards them, felt threatened that Israel had come to live so close to
them. They hired a man named Balaam to
curse them, but God caused Balaam to bless them instead (Numbers 22-24).
And so, taking further advice from
Balaam (Numbers 31:16), the leaders of Moab and Midian came up with a new tactic
to destroy the Israelites. Moabite and
Midianite women went to Israelite men and enticed them into sex and worship of
their false god, "Baal of Peor" (Numbers 25). God had repeatedly warned the Israelites that
if they ever worshipped other gods or idols, they would be destroyed (see Exodus 20:3-6, 23; 23:13, 23-24; 34:17;
Leviticus 19:4; 26:1; Deuteronomy 4:15-28; 5:7; 6:14-15; 8:19; 12:31; 17:2-7;
27:15; 29:17-18). As a result of this
sin, a plague killed 24,000 Israelite people (Numbers 25:9). After this incident, compounded by an
Israelite man named Zimri unashamedly bringing a Midianite woman named Kozbi
into his tent to engage in sex and idolatry in front of all the Israelites, God
determined that the Midianite people should be executed for their treachery (Numbers
25:16-18).
This brings us to the events of
Numbers chapter 31. God had pronounced
his divine judgment on the nation of Midian, and he sent the Israelite army to
carry it out. Here, we are faced with a
difficult question: Why did Moses command the army to kill the Midianite (non-virgin)
women and the boys?
This passage must be considered in a
cultural and historical context. In the
Ancient Near East, tribal warfare was the way of life, and women and children
were treated as little more than property [1].
Earlier in Israel's history, the Egyptian Pharaoh had ordered the murder
of thousands of Israelite baby boys, because he was concerned that the
Israelite population had grown too numerous and that they had become a threat (Exodus
1). The mindset at that time was simply
that it was dangerous to let the boys of a conquered nation or tribe live. When the boys of the conquered nation grew
up, there was the risk that they would take up arms and fight against their
conquerors. This is why they were ordered
to be killed. It is difficult for us to
comprehend such an order in this day and age, but back then, it was
commonplace.
As for the Midianite women who were
not virgins, the reason that they were killed was because they had directly
participated in the calculated effort to destroy Israel (Numbers 25,
31:15-16). They were responsible for the
deaths of thousands of people, and they were sentenced to death for their
crime.
The crime of the Midianites in
attempting to destroy Israel is all the more baffling considering that not long
before these events, Midian was allied with Israel: Moses' wife Zipporah was a
Midianite (Exodus 2:15-22) and her father, Jethro (aka Reuel), who was a priest
of Midian, had heard about the power with which God had brought the Israelites
out of Egypt, and had even given praise and thanks to God, and made offerings
to him (Exodus 18:9-12). He then aided
Moses by giving him advice on settling disputes (Exodus 18:13-27). The Midianites knew of the Israelites and of
the power of God, but horribly betrayed them anyway.
Now we come to the question: Why did
Moses command them to spare the virgin Midianite girls, and "save for
yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man" (Numbers 31: 18,
NIV)? What exactly did this mean?
First of all, in the entire text of
Numbers 31, there is no mention of rape.
None of the Hebrew words used to suggest rape, or even sexual
intercourse, are used in the text. Not
only was rape forbidden by the Law (Deuteronomy 22:25-27), but immediately
after these events, Moses commanded the soldiers to purify themselves and their
captives for seven days (verse 19). Rape
would have violated that command (Leviticus 15:16-18). The ultimate fate of the Midianite girls is
not mentioned, but never once are they referred to as victims of rape or sex
objects.
The situation of orphans in the
Ancient Near East was not good. If the
Israelites had killed the older women and boys and left the girls to fend for
themselves, they most likely would not have survived. By sparing their lives, the Israelites became
responsible for them and for their care.
The most likely scenario is that the Midianite virgin girls, when they
were old enough, married among the Israelites.
References
[1] Life In The Ancient Near East, Daniel C. Snell, 1997. Pgs. 35-36.
References
[1] Life In The Ancient Near East, Daniel C. Snell, 1997. Pgs. 35-36.
