In the dusty hills of a war-torn valley, Captain Kane led a platoon of seasoned soldiers deep into enemy territory. The orders from command were brutally clear. The village ahead was a known insurgent stronghold. The soldiers were ordered to kill and burn everything, women and children included, because they were shielding insurgents.
The men had seen many comrades die after being ambushed by insurgents who were hiding behind civilian skirts and using children as human shields. Anger and grief ran hot. But when the platoon crested the ridge at dawn and looked down on the village, something shifted. They saw women carrying water jugs on their heads, children chasing chickens in the dirt, and elderly men praying outside mud-brick homes. The supposed “stronghold” looked like any poor farming village.
Warfare in Western civilization is based on the premise that we don’t kill women, children, or other non-combatants. However, what do you do when the line between combatants and non-combatants is not clear?
Today’s passage tells about a time when Israel initially spared non-combatants in battle, but the non-combatants were not actually innocent. The greatest sin of the non-combatants was causing Israel to worship a false god. The instruction to kill some of the non-combatants illustrates the severity of the sin of enticing people to worship a false god.
After Sarah died, Abraham took another wife named Keturah. She bore several sons to Abraham, including a son named Midian (see Genesis 25). Over the following 500 years, the descendants of Abraham multiplied into the nation of Israel and the descendants of Midian multiplied into the nation of Midian.
Moses, who lived about 500 years after Abraham, grew up in Egypt, but also lived in Midian for many years and married a Midianite woman (see Exodus 2). After Yahweh afflicted Egypt with ten plagues, Moses led Israel out of slavery in Egypt toward the Promised Land. They spent several decades wandering in the wilderness, during which time Yahweh gave them great military victories.
When Balak, king of Moab, saw the military successes of Israel, he sent emissaries to Midian, and together they hired Balaam to curse Israel (see Numbers 22). Yahweh did not allow Balaam to curse Israel. However, Balaam wanted to help Moab and Midian, so he advised them how to put stumbling blocks before Israel (see Revelation 2:14). Balaam suggested the women should entice the men of Israel to worship Baal instead of Yahweh (see Numbers 25).
Later, after an Israelite man brought a Midianite woman into his tent, Yahweh commanded Moses to be hostile to the Midianites and strike them (see Numbers 25:17).
Num. 31:1 ¶ Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
Num. 31:2 “Take full vengeance for the sons of Israel on the Midianites; afterward you will be gathered to your people.”
Notice the word “vengeance”. This battle was about punishing Midian for enticing Israel away from Yahweh.
Num. 31:3 And Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Arm men from among you for the war, that they may go against Midian to execute Yahweh’s vengeance on Midian.
Num. 31:4 One thousand from each tribe of all the tribes of Israel you shall send to the war.”
Num. 31:5 So there were furnished from the thousands of Israel, one thousand from each tribe, twelve thousand armed for war.
Num. 31:6 And Moses sent them, one thousand from each tribe, to the war, and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war with them, and the holy vessels and the trumpets for the alarm in his hand.
Num. 31:7 So they made war against Midian, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses, and they killed every male.
Take note that they killed every male. This implies they did not kill the females.
Num. 31:8 They killed the kings of Midian along with the rest of their slain: Evi and Rekem and Zur and Hur and Reba, the five kings of Midian; they also killed Balaam the son of Beor with the sword.
Don’t miss the significance of the reference to Balaam. Balaam was originally from the Mesopotamian Valley. He was not a Midianite. However, at some point Balaam moved to Midian.
Balaam was a true prophet of Yahweh. However, greed corrupted him. When Moab and Midian offered Balaam a lot of money to curse Israel, he wanted to do so, but Yahweh would not allow him to curse Israel (see Deuteronomy 23:5). Instead, Balaam showed Moab and Midian how to make Israel stumble. During that process, Balaam apparently moved to Midian.
Num. 31:9 And the sons of Israel captured the women of Midian and their little ones; and all their cattle and all their flocks and all their goods they plundered.
Notice the word “captured”. Israel did not kill the women or little ones. They captured them instead.
Num. 31:10 Then they burned all their cities where they lived and all their camps with fire.
Num. 31:11 And they took all the spoil and all the loot, both of man and of beast.
Num. 31:12 And they brought the captives and the loot and the spoil to Moses and to Eleazar the priest and to the congregation of the sons of Israel, to the camp at the plains of Moab, which are by the Jordan opposite Jericho.
Num. 31:13 ¶ And Moses and Eleazar the priest and all the leaders of the congregation went out to meet them outside the camp.
Num. 31:14 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.
Look at the word “angry”. The soldiers defeated Midian, which was their mission, but Moses was not happy.
Num. 31:15 So Moses said to them, “Have you spared all the women?
Ponder this question. We live in a society that has a strong tradition of defending women and children. We are greatly influenced by the philosophy “Don’t hit a girl”. When we go to war, we put forth effort to avoid killing innocent women and children. That is how the Israelite soldiers behaved, but Moses was not happy about it.
Num. 31:16 Behold, these caused the sons of Israel, through the word of Balaam, to act unfaithfully against Yahweh in the matter of Peor, so the plague was among the congregation of Yahweh.
In the case of Midian, the women were not innocent. It was the Midianite women who enticed the men of Israel to worship false gods. Now, the soldiers had brought those very women into the camp of Israel.
Num. 31:17 So now, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man intimately.
The reason for killing the male children was so that they would not grow up to be young men with enough strength to avenge the deaths of their fathers. It was not wise to have potential traitors inside the Israelite camp.
The reason for killing the women was that they were the ones who caused Israel to sin.
To modern Western ears, the command in verse 17 seems cruel and unjustifiable. We do not kill women and children. We do not kill non-combatants. However, God’s order shows the seriousness of causing others to worship false gods. Just as the Mosaic Law included commands to put adulteresses to death, so too women who enticed people away from Yahweh were to be killed.
Num. 31:18 But all the girls who have not known man intimately, spare for yourselves.
Num. 31:19 And you, camp outside the camp seven days; whoever has killed any person and whoever has touched any slain, purify yourselves, you and your captives, on the third day and on the seventh day.
Num. 31:20 And you shall purify for yourselves every garment and every article of leather and all the work of goats’ hair and all articles of wood.”
Num. 31:21 ¶ Then Eleazar the priest said to the men of war who had gone to battle, “This is the statute of the law which Yahweh has commanded Moses:
Num. 31:22 only the gold and the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin and the lead,
Num. 31:23 everything that can stand the fire, you shall pass through the fire, and it shall be clean, but it shall be purified with water for impurity. But whatever cannot stand the fire you shall pass through the water.
Num. 31:24 And you shall wash your clothes on the seventh day and be clean, and afterward you may enter the camp.”
The Israelite soldiers spared the lives of the women and children because they did not want to kill non-combatants. However, the women were not innocent. They had enticed Israel to worship false gods. Leading people away from Yahweh is so grievous, it deserves death, which is what happened to the women of Midian.
This is a warning to us that we should only worship Yahweh, also known as Jesus, the one and only true God, the God of the Bible, the Creator of the universe.
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“Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.”