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Chapter 31: The Holy War against Midian
They are a branch of Sodom's vine-stock, from the vineyards of Gomorrah. Poisonous are their grapes and bitter their clusters ... Close at hand is the day of their disaster and their doom is rushing upon them! Surely, the LORD shall do justice for his people; on his servants he shall have pity. When he sees their strength failing, and their protected and unprotected alike disappearing ... "Learn then that I, I alone, am God, and there is no god besides me. It is I who bring both death and life, I who inflict wounds and heal them, and from my hand there is no rescue ... With vengeance I will repay my foes and requite those who hate me."
Deuteronomy 32:32, 35b-36, 39 (NAB)
God's judgment is especially harsh on those who cause the downfall of others. The men and women who bring God's children to sin are the "seed of the Serpent" (prophesied in Genesis 3:15) who make war on the collective "promised seed" of the Woman (Rev 12:17). They have contrived, like their "father" Satan, to lead others astray and to cause them to forfeit their salvation (Rev 12:17). Such was the case with the Midianites who, with Balaam's evil counsel (Num 31:16; Josh 13:22; Rev 2:14), conspired to lead the Israelites into the sins of idol worship and sexual perversion in their plan to separate the Israelites from God's blessings.
Question: What did Jesus say would happen to someone who led an innocent child into sin and caused the child to loose his faith in Him or even an adult, who is a child of God, to sin and loose faith? See Mt 18:5-7; Mk 9:42 and Lk 17:1-3.
Answer: Jesus said the judgment against that person would be severe.
Numbers 31:1-6 God's Judgment on the Midianite Tribes Allied with Moab
Question: How many fighting men was each tribe to provide?
Answer: One thousand men from each of the twelve tribes.
The division of military units into a thousand men is a system known from the Bible and from secular documents of the ancient world. Moses sent twelve thousand hand picked men. It was a number that was a multiple of two symbolic numbers: ten (perfection of divine order) and twelve (perfection of divine government).
Question: What was the reason God told Moses to send the Israelites to war against the Midianites?
Answer: He was commanded to execute retribution upon the Midianites for having acted on the advice of Balaam to incite their women to seduce the Israelites into sexual orgies in worship of Baal of Peor.
The "vengeance of Yahweh" was to seek vindication for Midianite treachery. The vengeance or "wrath of God" was not revenge but retribution for the sake of righteousness.
When one thinks of the strength of the Midianites (five tribes of Midian), twelve thousand Israelites is a small army (the tribe of Judah alone had 76,500 fighting men), but their strength was not in numbers-their strength was their belief in the Lord God of Israel.
Question: What was the sign that this was "holy war" of divine judgment?
Answer: Phinehas, the son and heir of the High Priest, was selected by God to accompany the Israelites into battle, carrying the divine oracles of the urim and thummin to determine battle decisions and the silver trumpets to signal the warriors.
Question: Why was Phinehas sent instead of his father Eleazar, the High Priest?
Answer:
- Phinehas was the hero who, like his grandfather Aaron, had the courage to step between Israel's sin and the wrath of God when he stopped the sinful orgy in the festival of Baal and averted God's judgment on the Israelites.
- The High Priest was forbidden to expose himself to contamination by close contact to death (Lev 21:10-12).
Question: What was Phinehas commanded to carry into the battle? See Num 31:6 and Num 10:1-2, 9; and 27:21
Answer: Phinehas was in charge of the silver trumpets that were to be blow with a battle cry as the signal for the soldiers to attack, and he also carried the sacred oracle objects of the urim and thummin to determine the will of Yahweh for the strategy of the battle.
Once again, Phinehas became God's agent as an antidote to Balaam and his plans to separate Israel from God's blessings. Just as Phinehas answered God's call to put an end to Balaam's plan to seduce the Israelites, he now served as the spiritual leader of Israel's hand-picked commandoes as they become the instruments of God's divine judgment against the Midianites, in whose midst Balaam continued as their advisor. Joshua, Moses ordained successor and the commander of the battle with the Amalekites, is not mentioned, but he probably led the attack under Phinehas' direction according to the divine oracles, the urim and thummin, as God commanded Joshua to be divinely instructed at his ordination ceremony (see Num 27:21).
Numbers 31:7-12 Israel's Holy War against Five Tribes of Midian
The Monastery at Petra, Jordan
Rekem (verse 8) is the ancient name for the city of Petra located in Edomite territory. The Midianite tribes were apparently numerous and formed alliances with or had authority over different peoples in the Transjordan: The Ishmaelites, Israelites, Edomites and Moabites are all mentioned as having an association with Midianite tribes.
At one time the Midianites must have controlled Edom and Moab since Genesis 36:35 records that Hadad son of Bedad the Edomite defeated the Midianites in the country of Moab, evidently reestablishing independence for Edom. That Moses was able to obtain sanctuary from the Egyptians in Midian suggests that the tribes of Midian were strong enough to provide refuge for Egyptian fugitives, and that the Egyptians did not pursue the Israelites when the crossed into Midianite territory suggests the Egyptians were not prepared to initiate a war with a powerful Midianite tribal confederacy. You will recall that Moses' father-in-law Jethro came to join the Israelites as soon as they reached Mt. Sinai (Ex 18:5). He must have joined them as soon as they crossed into Midianite territory.
Numbers 31:13-20 Divine Judgment on the Women who seduced the Israelites to Worship Baal at Peor
Question: Why were the captured adult Midianite women condemned to death?
Answer: The bodies of the Midianite women were polluted by ritual prostitution and sex with animals in the worship of Baal and other false gods; it was sin they willingly used to seduce the Israelite men. Their sin would continue to pollute God's holy people should they become part of the community.
It is more difficult to understand why all the Midianite sons were also condemned to death. However, all male children would be bound by the ancient tradition of blood feud and to have these boys growing to manhood within the community would have been the cause of future rebellions and the disintegration of the community. God had to protect the "promised seed" of Israel that would one day bring forth the promised Messiah. The girl children, on the other hand, were expected to marry into the community and become mothers. These girl children would become suitable brides for the Israelites men and eventually they and their children would be completely assimilated into the community.
Question: Why were the soldiers refused entrance into the camp for seven days? See Num 5:1-3; 19:11-22.
Answer: The soldiers and the girl children that were to be admitted into the community had been contaminated by the sin of death, and according to the Law they must be ritually purified with the waters of the red heifer before re-entering the camp.
Think of the importance physiologically of the seven day purification period and the separation from the community. These men had witnessed and perpetrated horribly acts of violence. This was a period that provided a healing and cleansing of body, mind, and spirit before the men were re-united with their families and began again the normal routine of the camp and family life.
Numbers 31:25-47 The Allocation of the Spoils and Captives
Question: By divine decree, how were the persons and animals taken as spoil divided?
Answer:
- The combatants and the community each received one-half.
- One-five-hundredth of the army's share went to Eleazar for the Sanctuary.
- One-fiftieth of the community's share went to the Levites.
The soldiers paid one-tenth as much as the civilians and the Levites received ten times as much as the priests. For every thousand persons or animals taken, the soldiers received nine more than the civilians.
Totals of the Midianite spoils:
- 32,000 maidens
- 675,000 sheep and goats
- 72,000 cattle
- 61,000 donkeys
- 16,750 shekels of gold seized by commanders
Numbers 31:48-54 The Commanders Voluntary Contribution to the Sanctuary
Question: What did the officers discover after they had polled their men?
Answer: They discovered that they had not lost a single man in the battle.
The Rabbis point out that this miraculous preservation of all the soldiers proved that the Israelite commandoes did not take advantage of the captive women but maintained a state of sexual purity. It was sexual sin that had led to the war in the first place.
Question: Why did they offer Yahweh all the gold they had amassed from the defeated Midianite settlements? What was required under the Law for polling the soldiers compared to what they gave? See Ex 30:11-16 and Num 31:50.
Answer: According to the Law, when a census was taken by the Israelites, each one polled in the census must pay a ransom for his life of half a shekel to be paid to the Sanctuary. However, in gratitude for Yahweh's mercy in sparing all the Israelite warriors, they did not simply pledge the 6,000 shekels owed for polling each of the 12,000 the soldiers. Instead they offer as korban (the gift offering of "drawing near" to God) and kipper (a ransom for atonement), the voluntary gift of all the treasure in recognition of the miracle that God had spared his holy warriors. Their gift amounted to 16,750 shekels. They gave more than double above and beyond that which was required.
Question: What did Moses and Eleazar do with the gold?
Answer: The gold was used in the Sanctuary as a reminder of the victory and God's mercy. Since the soldiers wished to make expiation for their sins, it may also have been used to purchase the animals for the sin sacrifices for the troops.
Even in a "holy war", the sin of killing, even justifiable homicide, must be expiated for peace to be re-established with God.
Much of the gold was probably made into Sanctuary vessels or used to repair damaged vessels and damaged portions of the gold covered wood frames of the Tabernacle.
Chapter 30: The Promise of Restoration and the Conclusion of the Renewal Ceremony
Deuteronomy 30:1-5
The Promise of God's Mercy and Israel's Restoration
Least the people should become too discouraged over the predictions of the consequences of covenant failure, Moses gives them hope in the promise of a future restoration should those dire judgments come to pass in future generations. At some point, when covenant failure brings on the curse-judgments and the people are dispersed throughout the Gentile nations, there will be a turning point when the people repent and turn back to God who will graciously forgiven them and receive them back into communion with Him.
Question: What does restoration depend upon?
Answer:
- Meditating on the promised blessings and the results of the covenant judgments.
- Repentance and conversion as individuals and as a people.
- Renewed acceptance of the covenant.
This passage presupposes that even with the Israelites disbursed to the "ends of the earth" that a faithful remnant will be preserved. There are several possible interpretations of the fulfillment of this promised restoration:
- The return of the exiles of Judah to the Promised Land after the Babylonian exile in the 6th century BC. This was not from the "ends of the earth" but from what was then the Persian Empire.
- The restoration and gathering in of the descendants of Abraham into the New Covenant of Jesus Christ from where they had been disbursed to the ends of the Roman world. It is a restoration that continues today.
- The recreation of the modern state of Israel in 1947-8, and the continued return of Jews to the modern state of Israel from countries across the face of the earth after the devastation of WWII. Despite regional hostility and the fact that Israel is a secular state, modern Israel continues to thrive. From the time the United Nations voted to recreate the state of Israel in 1947, a nation called Israel had not existed since 722 BC.
Deuteronomy 30:6-14
The Promise of God's Gift to the Faithful Remnant of the Restored Israel
Moses' terrible description of curse-judgments for covenant failure is balanced by the promise of restoration in which God will give His people the spiritual gift they need to remain faithful-a circumcised heart. For Israel, circumcision of the male foreskin was the symbol of the covenant (Gen 17:10), but the symbol was meaningless without inward devotion (Dt 10:16). When that time comes, no longer will the covenant people have to rely on the Law written on stone tablets. Yahweh will write His law on their hearts, as the prophet Jeremiah promises with the gift of a new covenant (Jer 31:31-34).
St. Paul will quote Deuteronomy 30:12-14 in Romans 10:6-8, adapting the quote to suit his own purpose to illustrate the basic nature of the New Covenant.
Question: Read Romans 10:5-13. How does St. Paul use verses 12-14?
Answer: He applies the verses to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He interprets the "depths of the sea" as Sheol (the grave)-it is Christ who came up from the depths to ascend to the heavens and it is the "word of faith, the faith which we preach" that is near to you and in your mouth and heart. Paul continues with a profession of faith, after quoting Deuteronomy 30:14-The word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart, that is, the word of faith, the faith which we preach, that if you declare with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and if you believe with your heart that God raised him from the dead, then you will be saved (Rom 10:8-9).
Deuteronomy 30:15-20 The Contrast of the Two Ways
In this passage we have more imagery that takes us back to the beginning of the Pentateuch. "To walk with God" and the "voice of God" are expressions that are found in the Genesis. The Israelites are called to live in communion with God in the way Adam and Eve lived with God before the Fall (Gen 3:8), the same way that blessed Enoch, the righteous man who did not taste the physical suffering of death, walked with God all his life (Gen 5:24), and the way that Noah "walked with God" (Gen 6:9). We also have the recollection of the oath God swore to the Patriarchs.
Question: What theological point is Moses making in verse 15? See CCC 311, 1730-34.
Answer: God has given man a ration mind and the free-will to make choices; it is our decision to choose between good and evil, life and death. Karma or fate does not exist-man's destiny is not predetermined, even though God knows the choices we will make.
Question: What two witnesses are called to give evidence in this covenant lawsuit, according the regulations of the Law?
Answer: Heaven and earth.
It is common in covenant treaties of the ancient Near East to call upon pagan gods to witness the treaty and to bring judgment to the vassal state that fails in its sworn covenant obligations. Moses calls upon "heaven and earth" to witness against the Israelites if they fail to uphold the covenant, as he will again in 31:25.
Life and death, good and evil are to be balanced within the life of each of us (St. Basil, Homily on Psalm 61:4). By His grace and the gift of free-will, God has let us be free to choose between good and evil, heaven and hell. Eternal life is the destiny He has planned for us, but He will respect our choice.
CHALLENGE: “Infant baptism is an invention of men not practiced by the early Christians.”
DEFENSE: Infant baptism was practiced from the beginning of Church history. The principles behind it are articulated in the New Testament, and we have explicit documentation of it from the second century on. We observe elsewhere the biblical principles behind infant baptism (see Day 75).
One is that baptism is the Christian initiation ritual and its equivalent of circumcision. This led some in the early Church to discuss whether baptism should be performed on the eighth day after birth—the time circumcision was performed (Lev. 12:2–3).
Around A.D. 253, Cyprian of Carthage reported the results of a council that held that baptism should not be delayed until the eighth day but given even sooner: “But in respect of the case of the infants, which you [Fidus] say ought not to be baptized within the second or third day after their birth, and that the law of ancient circumcision should be followed, so that one who is just born should not be baptized and sanctified within the eighth day, we all thought very differently in our council.
For no one agreed with the course you thought should be taken; rather we all judge that the mercy and grace of God is not to be refused to anyone born of man” (Letters 58:2).
Other records show infant baptism was performed in the second century. St. Irenaeus of Lyons was clear that being regenerated or “born again” happened in baptism: “As we are lepers in sin, we are made clean of our old transgressions by means of the sacred water and the invocation of the Lord; we are spiritually regenerated” (Fragments from the Lost Writings of Irenaeus 34 [c. A.D. 190]).
Irenaeus further indicated that this was done for infants when he wrote: “For [Jesus] came to save all through himself—all, I say, who through him are born again to God—infants, and children, and boys, and youths, and old men” (Against Heresies 2:22:4 [c. A.D. 189]). As someone who grew up in a Christian home, Irenaeus himself was likely baptized as an infant around the year A.D. 140, less than fifty years from the apostolic age.
Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist
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