A few notes on the outset.
People on both sides of the belief spectrum have been known to misuse this passage. Skeptics or agnostics use the passage to judge the Biblical narrative as harsh, or unloving. This story to them becomes ammunition to reject God.
On the other side however, there's a flaw just as dangerous. Numerous preachers, speakers, and writers have proposed that your reaction to this story should be something like, "God is God, and his ways are higher than my ways and I need to make peace with the fact that this happened."
That message is also dangerous and should be stopped.
Rest assured, the visceral emotions this story evoke in you are good, right, and even healthy. Feeling upset, confused, angry at God, angry at the Israelite men, all these are acceptable reactions for any warm blooded human.
A few points to help in the digestion of this story. These points are cited through the earlier chapters of Numbers, before the chapter 31 story.
The Midianite people were incredibly fearful of the Israelites as they moved through the land. Although they were never a target of Israelite aggression, they still attempted to actively search for ways to destroy the Israelites.
Israel had defeated a particular king that had attacked them named Sihon; because of this the Midianites believed they could not stop Israel in a military sense, so they began actively searching for other ways to disrupt the people.
The Midianite King heard through a priest that the strength of Israel lie in her relationship to her God. He then was told that if he could sever that bond Israel would be vulnerable.
Midian sent thousands of women under armed caravan to the place where Israel was camping. The women were tasked with seducing the men of Israel, the purpose of which was to cause God to abandon Israel. This prompted God to send the plague mentioned in Numbers.
The seduction was not only sexual in nature, it was a blatant attempt to turn Israel away from God.
God's order to Moses in Numbers 31 has nothing to do with military reaction or eliminating a potential "threat". This is God's response to the idea that someone would intentionally try to sever the relationship he's trying to build with people he loves.
The lesson to be learned from Numbers 31 is less about God's wrath and more about God's love. God's jealous passion for his chosen means he will stop at nothing to ensure the health of the relationship he's trying to foster.
His anger was so incited because this wasn't just a sex party, it was an attempt to get God's people away from him.
Obviously a healthy amount of blame goes to the Israelite men here, and make no mistake, God commanding them to go actively kill others is part of their punishment. Notice verse 19, God clearly explains that the violence these men work will make them unacceptable and unclean to be in the camp with the rest of the people. Yes, God gives a command that will make his people unworthy to be in his presence for a time. This is part of their punishment.
One more thought.
The essential goal of the Old Testament narrative is to bring the story forward to Jesus. Anything that poses a threat to that happening stands in the way of God's ultimate expression of love coming to this earth.
At the end of reading this post, it's possible, likely even, that you feel no differently about the story. The raw emotions are still there, and the confusion hasn't stood one change of easing.
That's good. That's right. That's healthy.
Hopefully, for most of your life passages like this one will bring up all the fresh, hard emotions that they did the first time you read it.
Having Zues like wrath thrown down from the heavens is hard to understand when it comes from a character who is described as "slow to anger, abiding in love, and compassionate and gracious".
Love, expressed in wrath, is still love, but it's also still wrath, and meshing those two things sometimes causes our brain to throw up a red flag or two, or twelve.
And so, the nice cozy conclusion at the end of the post is no where to be found, probably just the way God wants it.
To go to a much deeper, scholarly level with this story, try this.
No comments:
Post a Comment