Vengeance Against Midian | Numbers part 34

Scripture Reading: Genesis 32:22-30

Are you ready to wrestle with God today? Are you willing to hold on to His Word until He blesses you?

Several weeks ago, we took a look at violence in the Bible through the lens of holiness.

Holiness requires the purging of sin and its effects.

Holiness entails purification. That which is unholy must be removed in order for the object, or person, to be holy. I noted, as Christians, we have no problem with violent imagery when it comes to sin. Paul calls Christians to “crucify the flesh” in Galatians 5.

And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

Galatians 5:24

Think about this picture. Paul says those who belong to Christ take their fleshly desires, their physical limitations and failures, and all that draws them away from Christ making them unholy and nails it to the cross—just as violently and graphically as Christ Himself went to the cross.

I bring this up because today’s passage is just as graphic. Reading it could give you pause and ask, “Did Moses really do that? Did God really tell them that?” And it probably should. I might be concerned if you weren’t concerned.

You may also remember I had a theory about why we are so bothered about these passages. I think, partially, it is because we are so used to excusing our own sin, we see ourselves in the pagans and fallen Israelites. And we should. When Paul says “All have fallen short of the glory of God,” we are in that “all.” It is by grace that we are not consumed like the Midianites. And, yes, that grace is extended towards all people through Christ, but if we reject Christ, if we continue in our sin, then condemnation still stands—and condemnation is violent.

And this reality is connected with another layer of historical understanding of Scripture. It is part of human nature to want God to be like we are. After all, if God agrees with me, then I don’t have to actually address my faults. When theologians through the centuries approach passages like Numbers 31, they tend to address its meaning along their own preconceived notions. For some, the nature of God is such a love that this passage must not actually be true of God. Thus, there are characters in history like Marcion who wanted to separate the God of the Old Testament with the God of the New. It becomes much easier to dismiss the conflict between love and holy war if we are dealing with a false deity. Or, along similar lines, there have been “Christians” who argue God does condone a holy war, or a just war. From Augustine to our modern world, there are some who would use the Old Testament as a basis for political armies massacring the so-called “enemies of God” who just so happen to look like political enemies.

So now, how does holiness, just war, false views of God, and grace all tie together for today?

It goes back to something I have stated many, many times. When we come to passages in Scripture that cause us to pause—passages that are difficult at best to deal with—it is not time to alter the passage to something more palatable. It is time to dig deep. Jacob was commended for wrestling with God refusing to give up even when defeat was certain. I believe God still commends His people who wrestle with Scripture even in the face of certain defeat.

Blessings await those who are willing to wrestle with the difficult parts of God’s Word.

Executing Vengeance | Numbers 31:1-12

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying,“Avenge the people of Israel on the Midianites. Afterward you shall be gathered to your people.” So Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Arm men from among you for the war, that they may go against Midian to execute the Lord's vengeance on Midian. You shall send a thousand from each of the tribes of Israel to the war.” So there were provided, out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand from each tribe, twelve thousand armed for war. And Moses sent them to the war, a thousand from each tribe, together with Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, with the vessels of the sanctuary and the trumpets for the alarm in his hand. They warred against Midian, as the Lord commanded Moses, and killed every male. They killed the kings of Midian with the rest of their slain, Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian. And they also killed Balaam the son of Beor with the sword. And the people of Israel took captive the women of Midian and their little ones, and they took as plunder all their cattle, their flocks, and all their goods. All their cities in the places where they lived, and all their encampments, they burned with fire, and took all the spoil and all the plunder, both of man and of beast. Then they brought the captives and the plunder and the spoil to Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and to the congregation of the people of Israel, at the camp on the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho.

Numbers 31:1-12

Moses is given one last task before his death. It is time to execute judgment on Midian for their crimes against Israel. You may recall, as Israel passed by, the kings of Midian, specifically Balak, enlisted Balaam to curse Israel. Though a curse could not be placed on Israel, it would appear that Balaam offered another method to get rid of Israel. He suggested the kings invite the Israelites to take part in their worship of false gods which included a number of activities contrary to God’s Law—besides the fact they were worshiping other gods. All of which demanded capital punishment according to the Law given to Moses. Thus, Balaam had told Midian how they could have Israel punished by their own God rather than seeking a military victory. The plan worked, and 24000 Israelite men were put to death.

Now, the Lord tells Moses to have this new generation of Israel purge the Midianites from the land.

But we should note how the army goes to battle. Why is it that Eleazar the priest goes with them along with the vessels of the sanctuary and the trumpets for the alarm? We are to understand this is no ordinary war. As God’s representative, Eleazar goes to demonstrate this war is the Lord’s vengeance upon the Midianites. Moses is told to execute the Lord’s vengeance, and the Lord is with them as they go. They are not just doing battle with the people of Midian, but also its gods that would separate Israel from her Lord.

The war against the Midianites is a physical and spiritual confrontation.

The armies go into battle and do what has been commanded. They conduct the war as they know how and take captive the women, children, and livestock. But, in the next passage, we see they made a mistake.

Completing the Mission | Numbers 31:13-18

Moses and Eleazar the priest and all the chiefs of the congregation went to meet them outside the camp. And Moses was angry with the officers of the army, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, who had come from service in the war. Moses said to them, “Have you let all the women live? Behold, these, on Balaam's advice, caused the people of Israel to act treacherously against the Lord in the incident of Peor, and so the plague came among the congregation of the Lord. Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man by lying with him. But all the young girls who have not known man by lying with him keep alive for yourselves.

Numbers 31:13-20

The problem with the initial war against Midian is that it did address the real problem. Moses asks why they let the women live, when it was the women, on Balaam’s advice, who enticed Israel to act against the Lord. The army of Israel took care of the physical part of the war, but failed to complete the spiritual removal of what caused the sin in the first place. Israel must destroy the women because they are the source of their temptation.

Now, there is the question of Israel’s responsibility to just not be persuaded to sin by the women of Midian. This question draws us closer to Jesus. This war points us to the necessity of purging sin and those that cause sin. This principle is played out in a war of nation against nation because nation-building is what is happening at this point in history. By the time we get to Jesus, He takes this principle even further.

If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.

Matthew 5:29-30

Jesus points us to the real problem of sin. It is our own fleshly desires that are the problem. If we are unable to control ourselves, then we must find a means to keep ourselves under control. If that means gouging an eye or cutting off a hand, then it is better to enter heaven with missing limbs than to enter hell whole. The Israelites could not maintain fidelity to the Lord with these pagan cultures around them. The Lord warned them multiple times to not allow any of the cities to remain, or they would become a snare for Israel. As we reflect on this reality today, it brings us to this principle:

If we allow any temptation to remain in our lives, we will inevitably fall prey to it.

This reality is probably best seen in the lives of addicts. Every human has their addictions. Some addictions are just more socially acceptable than others. The corruption of sin is much like a drug addiction. Our bodies crave it even when we know, in our minds, we should avoid the sin. Jesus’ warning in Matthew 5 is much the same as the Lord’s warning in Numbers and elsewhere—purge the temptations from your midst, or it will overcome you.

Connected to this principle is the reasoning behind the wholesale slaughter of the Midianites. It may be somewhat easy to understand the war against the Midianite men. With some understanding, we may even accept the slaughter of the women. But why the young boys?

Scholars have pointed back to the whole story of the Peor incident. The idolatry at Peor comes within the wider context of Israel conquering the Promised Land. In each case of a city being conquered by Israel, Israel is told to purge the whole city. Nothing, and no one, is to remain. If the boys were allowed to grow up, they would still be considered Midianites, and their children would also hold the same heritage. The judgement against Midian for their crime of attempting to separate Israel from their covenant with the Lord is complete destruction—of their city, their religion, and their identity as Midianites. The only reason the young girls are allowed to live is they had not participated in the seductions at Peor. These young ladies would grow and marry Israelites, and their identities would forever be molded as Israelites themselves.

Purification after War | Numbers 31:19-24

Encamp outside the camp seven days. Whoever of you has killed any person and whoever has touched any slain, purify yourselves and your captives on the third day and on the seventh day. You shall purify every garment, every article of skin, all work of goats' hair, and every article of wood.”

Then Eleazar the priest said to the men in the army who had gone to battle: “This is the statute of the law that the Lord has commanded Moses: only the gold, the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin, and the lead, everything that can stand the fire, you shall pass through the fire, and it shall be clean. Nevertheless, it shall also be purified with the water for impurity. And whatever cannot stand the fire, you shall pass through the water. You must wash your clothes on the seventh day, and you shall be clean. And afterward you may come into the camp.”

Numbers 31:21-24

We will not address the last section within this passage for the sake of time and because it records the amount of plunder. For the sake of today’s message, I want to focus on the process for the combatants coming back into the camp with the plunder. They, and everything they brought from Midian, had to undergo the purification ritual. Whatever could withstand fire had to pass through the fire and be washed in the purifying water. If it could not stand the flames, it must pass through the purifying water. There was no illusion that the combatants were completely innocent in what must be done. They had caused death and been in direct contact with death. They would be unclean until the week of purification concluded.

Though Israel was being guided towards holiness, they were still a corrupt people living in a corrupt land. Imagine being in the boots of those soldiers. They killed a whole city, and then later women and children, for the crimes against God—both Israelite and Midianite crimes. Surely, some of them wondered what right they had to be tools of God’s vengeance.

Between this sad state and the command to pass the bounty through the fire, I believe the text points us ever closer to Jesus.

First, consider the emotional and spiritual state of the soldier who knows his duty, but still feels as though he is engaged in something terribly wrong with this world. When will this type of war and tragedy end? Will there come a day when wars cease?

Second, consider how some of the bounty could pass through fire and water to be cleansed, but others could only stand the water. This innocuous scientific observation of the obvious, I would argue, points us to the reality that not everything in this life lasts into eternity. Paul mentions that when Christians build on the foundation of Christ, not everything will last into eternity.

According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

1 Corinthians 3:10-15

Not everything we do as Christians will last into eternity. Some work is like gold, silver, and precious stones. It will survive the test of fire on the Day of the Lord. But other work is like wood, hay, and straw. It will be burned up.

The holy war described in Numbers and elsewhere is a work of wood and hay. It has a place in this world, but it will not last in the New Creation. In fact, because of Jesus, this work has already passed away. For those who would argue the holy war of the Old Testament gives credit to Christians using political power to subvert and destroy other religions, they do not understand their place in history. Jesus said His Kingdom is “not of this world.” He is building an eternal kingdom. Yes, one day sin and those who cause sin will be removed from this Earth, but that is a task that Jesus says He will accomplish. His people, on the other hand, are to share the Good News of salvation. We are not called to condemn the world because Jesus didn’t even come to condemn the world. He came to save, and so we go to point others to salvation. It is a spiritual battle, not a physical one.

Jesus calls His people to engage in spiritual warfare fighting the true enemies of God.

As we close today, I would like us to consider what it means to complete our own mission in the spiritual war of today.

First, we are called to rid our lives of anything that causes us to sin. Jesus said if our eye or hand causes us to sin, cut it off. I don’t believe we understand this saying if we simply dismiss it as hyperbole. Sin is the problem of this world. False deities still exist that would have us pursue sinful habits and pull us away from God. As God’s people, it is time to remove these idols and temptations from our lives.

Second, we are called to engage in battle with the darkness in this world. When was the last time you prayed for those caught in sin’s grip? We have a tendency to complain and lament this fallen world, but have we prayed for it? Are we asking God’s Spirit to uncloud the thinking of our lost friends and family? Have we “studied to show ourselves approved” to do battle—not with swords and bows, but with the Word of God?

Third, are we a model for lost people to understand holiness, or are we allowing the temptations of life to drag us down with them? This last question is a combination of the first two. One of the common themes throughout the story of Israel is Israel’s failure to live as God designed them to live. The triumph of Christ over sin is not just the cross. It is also in His sinless life in which He fulfills every bit of the Law given to Israel. As people transformed by the Holy Spirit, we also are called to live as God designed empowered by the same Spirit that enabled Jesus to live His sinless life. Will we make mistakes, yes of course. But the question is this: does our life model a movement towards holiness, or do we display the same fallen nature as the lost people around us?

As we close today, let us reflect on the call to holiness for ourselves and others around us. What sins we’ve held onto need to be released today? Who do we need to pray for as they wrestle with God themselves? And lastly, how can we model holiness in a very unholy world?