And the angel said unto me. "Behold these shall dwindle in unbelief" 1 Nephi 12:22
Posted: Monday 24 April 2023 ( 12 months ago )
Our last podcast episode told the story of the Midianite massacre of Numbers 31. It's one of the most appalling stories in the entire Bible. And it's also one of the most puzzling.
Here are some of my questions about it.
The Midianites were the descendants of Midian, who was Abraham's son.
Then again Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah. And she bare him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah. Genesis 25:1-2
So the Midianites were just as much descendants of Abraham as were Moses and the Israelites. Didn't God bless the "seed" of Abraham? If so, why did he command the Midianites to be slaughtered?
Did Moses's wife, Zipporah, and his two sons die in the Massacre?
When Moses killed an Egyptian, he went into exile in Midian - the land of the Midianites. He married a Midianite woman name Zipporah, had two sons with her, and stayed there for forty years.
Of course that was a long time ago - another forty years or so. But his wife and sons could still be there, along with his grandchildren and other family members.
Moses commanded the soldiers to kill every Midianite male and non-virgin female. That would have included his wife, sons and their families. And yet he showed no concern about that.
And what did God and Moses have against the Midianites anyway?
This is what God said about it:
And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Vex the Midianites, and smite them: For they vex you with their wiles, wherewith they have beguiled you in the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of a prince of Midian, their sister, which was slain in the day of the plague for Peor's sake. Numbers 25:16-18
And here is what Moses said after he saw that some of the Midianite women were left alive:
Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD. Numbers 31:16
But God and Moses are wrong about that, if the story in Numbers 25 is true. Because the Israelites committed whoredom with the daughters of Moab, not the daughters of Midian.
And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. Numbers 25:1
It's true that there was one Midianite woman who was involved. Her name was Cozbi
One of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation, and took a javelin in his hand;
And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel. Numbers 25:6-8
And the name of the Midianitish woman that was slain was Cozbi. Numbers 25:15
It's far from clear, however, just what she was doing, besides hanging out with an Israelite man. The only evidence that some hanky-panky was going on was the thing about Phinehas spearing them both threw their bellies.
But whatever they were doing, did they deserve to be impaled for it? And how would that justify the massacre of the Midianites?
The thing that angered God so much that he killed 24,000 Israelites in a plague was that the Israelite men were having sex with the Moabite women.
And yet now, Moses tells the soldiers to keep the Midianite virgins alive for themselves. So the Israelites men are to have sex with non-Israelite women -- which was the thing that angered God in the first place!
There are many other questions, of course. Here are just a few more.
The land of Midian is several hundred kilometers south of Moab. Nearly as far as the Israelites traveled during their entire 40-year Exodus.
Would the 12,000 Israelite soldiers travel that far to kill the Midianite males, then travel back to Moab -- and then return again, at Moses's command, to kill all the non-virgin females?
And what about all those animals?
675,000 sheep, 72,000 cows, 61,000 asses - that's a lot of animals to herd a few hundred kilometers north. Could 12,000 soldiers control and care for so many animals on the journey back?
And what about all those virgin females? 32,000 of them. How would they provide food for so many?
And finally, what did God do with his 32 virgins? I suppose the same thing happened to them as happened to the animals that were given to God. They were sacrificed to him. Or maybe he did as Moses suggested the soldiers do, and kept them alive for himself.
When you mention a story like Numbers 31, apologists like to say that you're taking it out of context. But, as is almost always the case, context makes it even worse.
