Why Were the Male Midianite Babies Destroyed by Israel Got Questions
Question
Why did God command the Israelites to completely destroy the Midianites in Numbers 31:17?
Answer
Understanding and applying passages from the exodus and conquest of Canaan can be challenging. The passages about putting certain inhabitants to death are among the virtually difficult. Among those is Numbers 31.
God told Moses, "Take vengeance on the Midianites for the Israelites" (Numbers 31:1). The Israelites obediently armed themselves and attacked the Midianites, killing the men (verse 7). As well, "the Israelites captured the Midianite women and children and took all the Midianite herds, flocks and goods as plunder" (poesy 9). When the troops returned to Moses, he was aroused that they had non fully carried out the Lord'due south vengeance (verse 14; cf. verse 3). The Midianite women were those who had caused State of israel to sin at Baal Peor (see Numbers 25). So Moses commanded that the women be killed, and also "kill all the boys" (Numbers 31:17).
When nosotros expect at the command to kill the male Midianite children, there are two perspectives nosotros might take. 1 is the more understandably temporal. During the timeframe in question, tribal warfare was rampant. It was highly likely that the male Midianite children would grow up and seek revenge for their fathers and grandfathers confronting Israel. Avenging the death of one'due south father is a commonly accustomed necessity in every civilisation and even in pop fiction—it'due south what motivates Village in Shakespeare'southward classic play and what energizes Inigo Montoya in The Princess Helpmate.
Farther, the utterly icky depravity in which these Midianite boys had been raised is well documented. Regular behaviors amongst the Midianites included child sacrifice, cult prostitution, and animality. The divine prohibition of these acts was codification, and the acts were known to the Israelites (Leviticus 18:21, 23–24). Male inhabitants carrying on the lineage of this culture would take been a perennial problem for State of israel.
The other perspective we should consider is the divine. At present, we cannot know the mind of God or comprehend the depths of His wisdom (Isaiah 55:viii–9). But nosotros can know that, given the depravity of the Midianites, God's command to kill the Midianite boys might have been an act of divine mercy. In His perfect cognition—including His cognition of what would happen in the lives of those young Midianites, had they lived—it'south possible that God brought them to Himself before they had the opportunity of choosing to reject Him. Information technology is highly possible that, had these males grown to maturity, they would have embraced the wanton rebellion and idolatry of their fathers. From God's perspective, it may have been improve for them to dice at a young historic period than to endure a life of depravity and the attending temporal (and eternal) consequences.
In all this, we must retrieve that God is goodness. He is non simply a good moral agent like humans are allowable to exist; He is not beholden to or measured by a standard outside of Himself. We cannot look at God's actions as existence in any moral category similar man actions. God is not a man (Numbers 23:19). The very nature of God is such that He cannot practise evil. "The LORD is righteous in all his ways" (Psalm 145:17). This is the bespeak by which we must reconcile passages such as Numbers 31:17 with the likes of John 3:16.
Moreover, a major mistake we sometimes make is to think that our lives are our ain. We are creatures, not the Creator. We could non be for i moment without God's willing our existence (Hebrews 1:3; Acts 17:28). We should not call up that God owes us anything, be it a long life, a life free of suffering, or anything else. God desires our ultimate proficient, which is everlasting union with Him (ii Peter 3:8–10). Our ultimate good may not be realized in a long life or ane devoid of pain and suffering. As strange as information technology may audio, the ultimate adept of the Midianite males may non accept come about without their being killed by the Israelites in warfare. This is "brass tacks" and gets to the root of whether one thinks that human being was made in the image of God or whether one makes a god in the image of human.
It is difficult to discuss these topics rationally because emotions frequently take over, and proclamations of "the innocence of children" grow loud. We sometimes hear things like "I could never believe in a God like that." We are correct in the visceral reaction to children suffering and dying. At the same fourth dimension, we must differentiate the cause and circumstance of the young Midianites' deaths from current situations. Suffering today is not brought virtually past God's people taking possession of their promised land against a morally depraved and militant people group.
Also, we are profoundly incorrect when nosotros kickoff embracing notions like "if I were God, I certainly would not accept done that." God does non see human events every bit we practise; He sees them as simply God can. Thus, we have no footing by which to say that God would not have a humanly understandable, morally sufficient reason for commanding the expiry of children during the conquest of Canaan.
Questions nigh Numbers
Why did God control the Israelites to completely destroy the Midianites in Numbers 31:17?
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This page last updated: Jan 4, 2022
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