Holy War? (Numbers 31)
In Numbers 31, we come to a controversial topic for modern readers. It is a topic that is more associated with the book of Joshua. It is also a topic that was likely always “controversial.” How were the Children of Israel to deal with the pagan nations that inhabited the land they were about to enter?
Several things need to be kept in mind when looking at this chapter, as well as the book of Joshua:
1. The war commanded here is not a genocidal act, but a combat against sin.
2. The war commanded here was not a universal principle (though spiritual principles can be inspired by it), or even something that is ever seen again.
3. There were different instructions regarding this holy war, for different circumstances.
4. The danger was not the people that Israel was fighting, but rather their sin, their culture, their worldviews.
5. Holy War was not as thorough, or as effective as we might read.
6. Holy War was not an effective solution to sin and was never intended to be that.
Taken in order, here are some more comments on these issues:
God’s command to Moses is for the people to avenge themselves for the sin that Midianites had lured them into. This was a sort of spiritual warfare that the Midianites had engaged in. When they failed to curse Israel with Balaam’s words, they turned to using women to entice Israel into pagan worship and sex. Elsewhere, the bible tells us Balaam was in fact behind this strategy. This “holy war” was a continuation of the aggression that had already been initiated by Midian. It was never a “kill the Midianites for their Midianite-ness,” but rather a response to what Midian had done. The war here serves as a first of many battles that the people would embark upon as they occupied the land filled with cultures who had been practicing similar evil worship for 400 years.
This warfare here in Numbers 31 and later in Joshua in the following weeks, was not something God was establishing for His people for all time. Over the following centuries, you do not see Israel engaged in God-commanded genocidal actions. In fact, the genocidal actions AGAINST the Jews are some of the most oft repeated in history. There may be spiritual applications such as that the people of God should constantly “be at war” in their spirits against sin and sinful practices. Or that we should avoid sinful situations and cultural activities to avoid temptations. However, God’s people are commanded to love their enemies far mor than these few examples where they were told to cleanse the land of sinful culture. The immediate idea here was to set Israel up in a land free from the temptations of the pagan cultures occupying it. They clearly struggled with rebellion against God enough on their own!
The holy war commands seem to be a case-by-case issue. In Joshua 6 and Joshua 8 we see two different instructions regarding plunder. The text in Deuteronomy 20:14 would indicate that what the men do here in Numbers 31 is ok. So, instead of a hard-and-fast rule approaching the enemy, God seems to want the people to follow His specific instructions in each action, and to treat each threat differently. This too could speak to our spiritual interpretation looking for principles here. Instead of dealing with all sin and temptation in all believers the same, standard way, it is best to look to God’s leadership in every circumstance.
The ultimate issue here, for both Israel entering Canaan and the believer today, is sin. We need to see sin and temptation as the serious issue that it is. Sin separates us from God and harms our relationship with Him. We need to respect it and set up clear boundaries against it. We should never entertain it, tolerate it, or play with it in our lives as though it were a harmless thing. We should govern our behavior, habits, and relationships in a way to shield ourselves from its influence as much as possible.
Much is made of how the Israelites wiped entire civilizations and cultures out in these passages. We need to take care that we don’t read into the text things that are not there. The Midianites are not completely wiped out here. Midian comes back to haunt and harm Israel again and again. So too many of the other cultures in Canaan. Israel never manages to wipe out the other peoples in Canaan completely, and they are a continual source of trouble and temptation down through history for Israel. The fact is that the texts claiming to completely wipe out civilizations are literary exaggerations. Not falsehoods, but texts that reflect the way that all kingdoms and civilizations back then communicated. Our problem reading the texts today arises when we insert our own cultural perspectives on the text, both in the way we read the information as well as in the way we judge the motivations.
Finally, this holy warfare was never the solution in God’s plan. Similarly to the Law itself, it was not going to be the solution to Israel’s sin. Instead, it is another way the God proves to us that we are incapable of fixing our sin problem in our own efforts. Law won’t save us. Sacrifices will never suffice. Good living will never be enough. Killing all evil people in the world will only end up sending everyone to hell. Our situation is dire, and we need God Himself to intervene on our behalf.
Several things need to be kept in mind when looking at this chapter, as well as the book of Joshua:
1. The war commanded here is not a genocidal act, but a combat against sin.
2. The war commanded here was not a universal principle (though spiritual principles can be inspired by it), or even something that is ever seen again.
3. There were different instructions regarding this holy war, for different circumstances.
4. The danger was not the people that Israel was fighting, but rather their sin, their culture, their worldviews.
5. Holy War was not as thorough, or as effective as we might read.
6. Holy War was not an effective solution to sin and was never intended to be that.
Taken in order, here are some more comments on these issues:
God’s command to Moses is for the people to avenge themselves for the sin that Midianites had lured them into. This was a sort of spiritual warfare that the Midianites had engaged in. When they failed to curse Israel with Balaam’s words, they turned to using women to entice Israel into pagan worship and sex. Elsewhere, the bible tells us Balaam was in fact behind this strategy. This “holy war” was a continuation of the aggression that had already been initiated by Midian. It was never a “kill the Midianites for their Midianite-ness,” but rather a response to what Midian had done. The war here serves as a first of many battles that the people would embark upon as they occupied the land filled with cultures who had been practicing similar evil worship for 400 years.
This warfare here in Numbers 31 and later in Joshua in the following weeks, was not something God was establishing for His people for all time. Over the following centuries, you do not see Israel engaged in God-commanded genocidal actions. In fact, the genocidal actions AGAINST the Jews are some of the most oft repeated in history. There may be spiritual applications such as that the people of God should constantly “be at war” in their spirits against sin and sinful practices. Or that we should avoid sinful situations and cultural activities to avoid temptations. However, God’s people are commanded to love their enemies far mor than these few examples where they were told to cleanse the land of sinful culture. The immediate idea here was to set Israel up in a land free from the temptations of the pagan cultures occupying it. They clearly struggled with rebellion against God enough on their own!
The holy war commands seem to be a case-by-case issue. In Joshua 6 and Joshua 8 we see two different instructions regarding plunder. The text in Deuteronomy 20:14 would indicate that what the men do here in Numbers 31 is ok. So, instead of a hard-and-fast rule approaching the enemy, God seems to want the people to follow His specific instructions in each action, and to treat each threat differently. This too could speak to our spiritual interpretation looking for principles here. Instead of dealing with all sin and temptation in all believers the same, standard way, it is best to look to God’s leadership in every circumstance.
The ultimate issue here, for both Israel entering Canaan and the believer today, is sin. We need to see sin and temptation as the serious issue that it is. Sin separates us from God and harms our relationship with Him. We need to respect it and set up clear boundaries against it. We should never entertain it, tolerate it, or play with it in our lives as though it were a harmless thing. We should govern our behavior, habits, and relationships in a way to shield ourselves from its influence as much as possible.
Much is made of how the Israelites wiped entire civilizations and cultures out in these passages. We need to take care that we don’t read into the text things that are not there. The Midianites are not completely wiped out here. Midian comes back to haunt and harm Israel again and again. So too many of the other cultures in Canaan. Israel never manages to wipe out the other peoples in Canaan completely, and they are a continual source of trouble and temptation down through history for Israel. The fact is that the texts claiming to completely wipe out civilizations are literary exaggerations. Not falsehoods, but texts that reflect the way that all kingdoms and civilizations back then communicated. Our problem reading the texts today arises when we insert our own cultural perspectives on the text, both in the way we read the information as well as in the way we judge the motivations.
Finally, this holy warfare was never the solution in God’s plan. Similarly to the Law itself, it was not going to be the solution to Israel’s sin. Instead, it is another way the God proves to us that we are incapable of fixing our sin problem in our own efforts. Law won’t save us. Sacrifices will never suffice. Good living will never be enough. Killing all evil people in the world will only end up sending everyone to hell. Our situation is dire, and we need God Himself to intervene on our behalf.
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