I hate when people feel like they need to defend the Bible. It happens a lot. There is a passage that people find “difficult,” and so they stand behind a lectern at a university or in a church building, and explain away God’s actions.
Let’s make one thing clear: God’s actions are God’s actions. They are just because He is just. No amount of mansplaining from me or anyone else will impact His decisions in Scripture.
Now that that’s out of my system, let’s get to the point of this article: Explaining what happened with the Midianite women in Numbers 31.
(I know, I know, it’s super hypocritical of me. But I’ve already done it in other articles and probably will do it in the future so whatever. I feel like we should put genocide in context. Sue me.)
This passage is really troubling for a lot of people, and for good reason. Moses is angry—really angry—despite a resounding victory over the Midianites. When his generals report back their success, Moses keys in on the fact that they spared some of the women.
This isn’t without precedent (Genesis 34:25-29). In Deuteronomy 20:14, Moses himself teaches that all women, children, and animals are to be spared from non-Canaanite cities, which should include Midian.
For that reason, it seems personal to Moses, which it probably is. But given what he says, it’s more likely he sees the Midianite women as the ones behind the sexual immorality of Numbers 25 that Balaam led.
As a matter of fact, that’s not just likely, that’s literally what he said in Numbers 31:16: “Behold, these caused thesons of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to trespass against the Lord in the matter of Peor, so the plague was among the congregation of the Lord.”
So, there’s that.
Further proof is seen in the fact that he spares all the women that were virgins—an understandable clause regarding a sexual sin. If it were just women in general, Moses wouldn’t have made that allowance.
Think back to that sin in Numbers 25, because that’s obviously the backdrop here. In Numbers 25:17-18, God commands Moses to strike the Midianites for what they did against Israel, but there’s no immediate record of it happening. We have to wait until Numbers 31 to see the fulfillment.
In other words, this attack on Midian is not just another battle for Canaan, but a very specific tool of judgment from God on people that led his nation into idolatry. And if that’s how God feels about the Midianites, shouldn’t Israel (and Moses) feel the same way?
The book of Joshua is filled with stories of Israel ridding the land of idols. But they never finish, do they? They stop short, either because they’re tired (Joshua 15:63), discouraged (Joshua 17:16), or just plain lazy (Joshua 18:3).
If they had the same attitude as God towards idolatry and immorality, Canaan would’ve been cleared in twenty minutes. Instead, they let them linger, and linger, and linger.
And look what happened.