This chapter is one of those chapters in the Old Testament which is challenging to say the least. The ruthless gruesome annihilation of human life, including that of civilian prisoners of war, reflects a very primitive culture.
God told Moses to take vengeance on the Midianites for having led Israel into idolatry in Numbers 25. (however remember that Moses was married to a Midianite) The Israelites organized an army with 12,000 men, with 1,000 from each tribe, and Phinehas the priest was the "battle priest." The Israelites routed the Midianites and killed all their men, whilst suffering no losses, and they returned from battle bringing the Midianite women, children, herds, flocks and goods as plunder. They also killed Balaam.
Moses was angry because they brought back the women alive as they had been the cause of the trouble in Numbers 25. So the order was given to kill all the women and boys and just spare the virgin girls. The Israelite soldiers then had to go through a 7-day cleansing process for having been in contact with dead bodies, and the spoils of battle had to be purified too.
Then the spoils were divided with half going to the warriors and half going to the Israelites in general. Part of these spoils went to the High Priest Eleazar (675 sheep, 72 cattle, 61 donkeys, 32 women) and part went to the Levites (2% of the animals and persons given to the Israelites in general). The total plunder was 675,000 sheep, 72,000 cattle, 61,000 donkeys, 320,000 virgin women. 190 kilos of gold was also placed in the Tabernacle as a donation to God from the plunder of the warriors.
No comments:
Post a Comment