Numbers 31-32

God’s message to me: Ask and it shall be given. When the Children of Gad and Reuben saw the lands they had just conquered on the way into the promised land they recognized their value for raising cattle and sheep. These two tribes were the primary ranchers of the nation of Israel and asked to be given this land rather than seeking other land in the promised land. Moses warned them against repeating the sin of their parents in hiding in fear from those living in the promised land.

These Israelites saw the opportunity to build a home base. They could leave their flocks and herds secured on ranches in this region and let their families enjoy the protection of homes and cities here while they went into the promised land to fight with the rest of the Israeli army. Their willingness to continue fighting beside their brothers to take the inheritance promised by God, allowed them to receive what they asked for. In doing so they provided a secure base of operations to the Israelites during the initial forays and expanded the territory which would eventually belong to their nation. They Expanded the border and reinforced it with their presence while making good use of suitable land that would otherwise have been abandoned and, potentially taken by enemies later.

Promises: God will give you victory and When He is standing with you no one can stand against you. After the war with the Midianites the Israelites found that none of the soldiers they sent to war had been killed. Everyone had returned home in victory. This was something of a pattern which continues today. as the Enemies of God’s Chosen People come against their tiny nation they are repeatedly beaten back and overwhelmed by a much smaller and less prepared Israeli Army.

I give all due credit to the Israeli intelligence and military structures but, most of the major wars of Modern Israel began when the bulk of those forces were on holiday at home and the military was completely out of place for proper defense. Out manned, out gunned, out sized, outmaneuvered and overwhelmed they nevertheless ended these wars in absolute victory with control over large portions of the invading countries territory. They managed these victories in a matter of days in most cases and within a handful of weeks at most.

Commands: You can’t conquer sin and then bring it’s source into your home. Give God the glory and honor for your victories. And, ask for what you desire. It is God’s pleasure to fulfill your desires and he only withholds those things if He has better for us waiting or if they will be harmful for us.

Timeless principles: There is nothing wrong with pity and mercy but it can go to far. The Israelites killed every Midianite inclined to war but saved the women and children. This is merciful and caring but, the women were a major cause of the sin that brought them to war in the first place and many of the children were already indoctrinated into the lifestyle that had led to the war. As for the separation of the girls, I can only say that young ladies were not seen as much of an influence. Subject to the head of household they did not appear to hold influence.

Then as now, women were a major influence on society. Reading though the scriptures you will find one story after another of how the women made major differences in outcomes. Stealing and concealing idols, influencing decision, taking actions and convincing their husbands to do so. For good or ill women made major changes in the course of history. Sarah giving Abraham her handmaid, Rachel and Leah giving Jacob their maids, Rebeka driving Jacobs deception of his father, Eve offering Adam the apple and so much more yet to come. Historical persons may not have seen women as powerful or influential but the writers of the bible certainly saw what these women could and did do to influence events.

How can I apply what I’ve learned: look past the superficial view of political correctness and humanistic ethics and you can see the truth of what was done in biblical times. While this superficial view has lead to a lot of man made doctrines which enjoy broad support, the rule of the majority can never outweigh the rule of God.

Women are subject to their husbands but that doesn’t make them weak or ineffective. War kills a lot more than just soldiers but, that isn’t always evil. The spoils of war is one of the oldest traditions and, that tradition leads to prosperity so long as those spoils don’t include things which will lead us into the sin of the enemy. Frankly, the subject of war could lead to several long articles so I think I will leave it to readers to bring their opinion to this discussion. I only ask that your opinion be backed by scripture.

more to learn for in-depth study: Sterilization. When bringing home spoils of ware they had to be cleaned. Anything capable of surviving fire was put through fire and the rest was scrubbed thoroughly in water to clean away anything that might have been brought back with it. It’s not hard for modern eyes to recognize sterilization techniques.

The revenge against the Midianites seems harsh. Look at the middle east today. There are a number of documentaries including Obsession: modern Islam’s war against the west which clearly show the problem. Five year old children are taught to hate and to desire martyrdom through Jihad and suicide bombing. boys as young as seven and some younger are given an assault rifle and taught to fight as soon as they are big enough to handle the weapon. The same happens in Africa and even in parts of South America, not to mention Asia. How many times have you heard the stories from veterans of Korea, Vietnam, The Gulf War and others, of children shooting at them or carrying bombs to their camps. How many teenage and, more recently, pre-teen boys and girls will be used as suicide bombers before we understand that war is not and never will be the pleasant, politically correct conflict we want to believe in.

The Geneva conventions convince a lot of people that we can fight a war with rules. There is a basic problem with this theory. Since the conventions were enacted, none of the countries subscribing to them has fought each other. You might say that societies capable of establishing rules for civilized warfare have outgrown their use for warfare. Historians would disagree with me on that point because it hasn’t proven true in the past but it is true that everyone we have fought since then has ignored the Geneva Conventions. Our respect for those rules of warfare has not changed their tactics or their will in the least. Their own moral convictions place no value on the convictions that led to the Geneva Conventions being written.

Fighting within the bounds of the Geneva Conventions isn’t wrong, it is living up to the moral standard we set for ourselves. We must understand; however, that the enemy has no such standard. Their moral standard is completely different and they laugh at our naiveté in following such a code. Whenever you see the opposition leaders cry about our violating Geneva conventions you know what we are doing is effective. They are attempting to undermine our support for the effort by acting offended when most of their troops have never even heard the concept of the conventions. They will break every rule in that book and accuse us of doing so. It is for this reason that Israel, in so many cases, was ordered by God to wipe out the people.
Doing so got rid of the ideology and the resistance. Failure to do so, in most recorded cases, resulted in the Israelites later adopting the ways of the captured people and sinning against God.

The first note in this story is evidence of that. Two key problems with the Midianites were prostitution and idolatry that began with socializing. By bringing the women and children back alive, the Israeli army brought home the very problem they set out to eliminate.

tomorrow: Numbers 33-35