Post by purr on Mar 22, 2024 23:48:22 GMT
Yahweh commanded the Israelites to carry a Weapon of Mass Destruction called the Ark of the Covenant into their battles with the Canaanites.
ATHEISTS, CHRISTIANS & ANYONE CURIOUS GATHER ROUND
Numbers is the 4th book of the Five Books of Moses in the Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy). Chapter 31 tells the deeply troubling story of the death, that is: exit from history, of the Midianites. Troubling to the secular mind because at face value it reads like a detailed, 'realistic' account of the Israelites making war on close relatives (like Israel, Midianites descended from Abraham, yet through his third wife Keturah and are thought to have been a tribe of Arab desert nomads or Bedouin) resulting in a slaughter that effectively wipes them out. Potentially far more troubling for the Christian believer, because here it seems to be God himself ordering atrocious acts of mass slaughter, begging the question how the loving and righteous God of Christian Theology could behave in an utterly repugnant and unconscionable manner.
Here's how things got ugly between the Israelites and Midianites. Although closely related, both Semitic tribes, both with the blood of Abraham in their veins, Israel worships Yahweh, while the Midianites worship Canaanite gods, including the extremely popular Goddess Ashera. To each their own, this would have been mostly a reason for these neighbors to keep out of each others way, moreover, since the Midianites strictly speaking were only residents of Canaan, but not by blood Canaanites (=descendants of Canaan, implicated in the sin of child sacrifice), there was no reason for war. But things went south due to the peculiar Midianite style of evangelism. They sent out their beautiful daughters to capture the attention of Hebrew men, to "beguile" them somehow culminating in a friendly invite to the elevated place of Midian sacrifice. The Midianite young ladies must have been quite charming and attractive because Hebrew men started to enthusiastically participate in the Midian religion! There was even one Israelite-Midianite marriage!
The 13th century BCE Torah describes contemporary religion as Henotheism (different nations each have their own Gods, just like Yahweh is the God of Israel) requiring unwavering loyalty to one's tribal deity, while changing gods is considered the worst betrayal and a capital offense. So when Yahweh himself saw 'his' people engaged in sacrificing to other Gods he sent a plague among the Israelites, and many died. Yahweh then spoke to Moses, ordering him to avenge the loss of lives and believers on the Midianites.
On Yahweh's order, relayed by Moses to the Israelite army, 1000 men from each tribe, 12,000 in all are used by Yahweh to carry out this vengeance.
Numbers 31:5-7 Names of God Bible (NOG)
So 1,000 men from each tribe were supplied from the divisions of Israel—12,000 men ready for war. Then Moses sent them off to war, 1,000 men from each tribe along with Phinehas, son of the priest Eleazar. Phinehas took with him the holy articles and the trumpets for the fanfare.
They went to war against Midian, as Yahweh commanded Moses, and killed every man. Among those killed were the five kings of Midian—Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba.
Israel's warriors were victorious having killed the enemy in battle, they even carried home considerable spoils including animals, precious metals and prisoners of war. Ought to be 'mission accomplished', time to celebrate, do a victory dance. But Moses saw them coming and met the Israelite army outside of their encampment on the plains of Moab, and he was livid at the commanders.
Numbers 31:15-18 NOG
“Why did you let all the women live?” he asked them. “Remember, they were the ones who followed Balaam’s advice and caused[translation unsure] the Israelites to be unfaithful to Yahweh in the incident that took place at Peor. Yahweh’s community experienced a plague at that time. So kill all the Midianite boys and every Midianite woman who has gone to bed with a man. But save for yourselves every girl who has never gone to bed with a man.
Now, I'm a believing Christian, believe in God and the difference between Good and Evil. Imho an important part of Faith is reading the Bible in an honest manner. When you see a donkey, call it a donkey. See a turd, say: Turd. And what the Bible here seems to record is how Yahweh (in Christianity equated with: God) orders Moses to make war culminating in the death of all of Midianite men (combatants, leadership), and all Midianite women, and their male children. There's an ominous ring to the injunction to 'save for yourselves all the young virgins'. That's 32,000 virgins, equally divided between the people who stayed home and the army that fought and won the battle. Is giving 16,000 young orphaned girls to exhausted, traumatized and bloodied young men coming straight out of battle a horror recipe?
The encampment of the 12 tribes of Israel, on all sides guarding Yahweh's Tabernacle (tent of sacrifice).
If the above biblical mystery/contradiction appeals to you, whatever your beliefs or motivation, tell me how you see such brutal tale starring God/Yahweh, Moses and the heroic Israelites. A HINT: THERE'S MORE HERE THAN MEETS THE EYE.....
Christians today believe in a Good God, who has come among us as a Friend.
POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS TO NUMBERS 31
1. Jewish and Christian scribes and translators after the last half of the millennium BCE have begun translating various names in the Torah/Old Testament for God as simply (any version of) 'God' or the LORD. However, one way of reading the text is to recognize each different name (like Elohim=The Powerful Ones, or Yahweh=I Will Be Who I Will Be, or Elyon=The God of All Gods) as a different entity among a large number of tribal gods playing Tribal War Games with human armies and real world territorial gains we now know as: countries. ET engaging in religious theatre taking on the role of Gods of War.
2. The whole story is made up. Load of bollocks. Nothing to see here, move on folks...
3. I love to read (not study) the Bible, and from the precise nuances of the text a remarkable solution presents itself.
Numbers 31:1-2 NOG
Yahweh said to Moses, “Get even with the Midianites for what they did to the Israelites. After that you will join your ancestors in death.”
Uhh.... What?! Get even, Moses, and then you die! Could it be that there's something in Moses way of 'getting even' that kinda rubbed Yahweh the wrong way? Did Moses put his foot in? Yes he did. Moses' anger directed at the army returning from battle seems part of a pattern of throwing a temper tantrum, leading to rash action, followed by Yahweh punishing Moses. Once when descending off the slopes of Jabal al Lawz, carrying the Tablets with the Ten Commandments, he saw the people dancing before a Golden Baal idol, promptly blew a gasket and let the tablets slip (Oops....!) and shatter on the ground. Bummer. Later he was ordered by Yahweh to strike a standing boulder to access an aquifer to give thirsty Israelites to drink. They overdo the complaining and whining and Moses loses it, explodes and claims he gave them water (not God). God punished him by refusing him entrance to the Promised Land/Canaan.
Numbers 31 makes a fine legalistic distinction between Yahweh's order, how the Israelite army carries it out, and the actions of Moses. First the 12,000 strong fighting force:
Numbers 31:3-4 NOG
Moses said to the people, “Some of your men must get ready to go to war against the Midianites. Yahweh will use them to get even with Midian. Send 1,000 men from each of the tribes of Israel.”
Moses speaking with the voice of God to Israel ordered the men to go to war and that Yahweh would USE THEM to get even with Midian. Once in battle, the commanders make all the calls that defeat the enemy, they decide to kill all the Midianite warriors, all the men, and to leave the women and children alive. Thus returning home victorious with many 'valuables' and demonstrating a level of decency and common sense reminiscent of the modern IDF. This is how De Facto Yahweh had USED THEM to balance the scales.
But instead of honoring those who had risked their lives and won the day, Moses again flew off the handle, with horrific cruelty ordering all the women prisoners of war and their male offspring to be slain. Midianites are gone. The Numbers text, placing Moses 'getting even' + 'join your ancestors in death' closely together suggests that Yahweh was not pleased with eradicating a whole tribe. He had enough, deciding it was Game Over for good old Moses. This explanation imo allows for the God of Theology to remain as ever the good guy.
purr
P.S. with regard to the fate of the 'saved' or spared Midianite virgins: the stipulations (they may enter the Israelite encampment only if pure/untouched & they would not be allowed to live otherwise) and exact numbers bode (relatively) well for these girls' treatment. We cannot know for sure, these were terrible and brutal times. But 2x16,000 virgins were taken, with 1 out of 50 (=32) reserved for the priests and Temple rituals, which suggests all of them were kept 'pure', that is safe from sexual assault, with the (identical) numbers for the People and the Army apparently complete. Indicating that on entry into the Israelite camp, they became wives and/or slaves.
P.P.S. to show I'm not making this up, you may check out Numbers 31 in context, that is the entire chapter Numbers 31 - NOG