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[Troy Seal]

While I was talking to my atheist friend, he mentioned the time “God commanded Moses to execute women and children, and then take the virgins.” My friend then implied that the virgins could have been used for sex slaves. I don’t know what book he is referring to in the Bible. If you would be so kind, could you please direct me to and clarify what he is talking about?

[jimwalton]

Glad to talk and to help out in whatever way I can.

The verse about “God commanded Moses to execute women and children and then take the virgins” is one of those atheist cherry-picking texts. Most Christians aren’t even aware of that text, so you know (1) they’re getting it from some website, because (2) we can be sure they aren’t diligently reading and studying their Bibles to come across this stuff, and (3) it’s not like they’ve studied it or researched it at all. They get it from a website, know close to nothing about it, and throw it in our faces.

The text is Numbers 31.17-18.

Numbers 31 is the Midianite war. It was one of those rare occurrences where the Israelites were to purge the moral cancer in their midst. It still wasn’t genocide. (There is no genocide in the OT, something most people don’t realize, but that’s another conversation.) It was an act of payback for something specific Midian did against Israel (recorded in Num. 25.17-18). The women had seduced the men of Israel, not just to have sex, but also to idolatry (Num. 25.18; 31.16). Israel’s leadership, military, and family life were all collapsing under the influence of the Midianites. They posed a serious threat that could result in the demise of the nation, and God is judging them.

Num. 31.7: ...“killed every man.” This is not genocide. The Midianites were a large confederation of nomadic tribes. They roamed all through the areas of Sinai, the Negev, and the Transjordan. They were Bedouin by practice and culture, though there were some villages and a few walled cities that were populated by Midianites. The Israelites are not riding through the entire Middle East slaughtering innocents. Here is it those particular Midianites associated with Moab that are targeted. This particular collection of villages and been hostile to Israel, and they had been a moral detriment to the people. They had instigated hostility against them, and it was time for military action. The Israelites did execute the 5 kings of Midian (v. 8), but this is by no means a genocide. By executing the five kings, they are seeking to destroy their sense of identity (what holds them together as a people group), so that they become powerless and leaderless. The Midianites show up later in the times of the Judges (Judges 6.1), to confirm for us that the ethnic group was not wiped from the face of the earth. Gideon defeated them in Judges 7, but they're still around as a people group. The prophet Habakkuk (Hab. 3.7) mentions them in about 600 BC, so they're still around then.
Num. 31.16: John writes, in “The Lost Word of the Conquest”: "What exactly the Peor incident entailed is not transparent to the modern reader, though presumably the ancient audience would have understood it. Some inferences, however, are possible.

1. The offense goes beyond simple, generic idolatry or promiscuity. We know this because the primary party involved in those activities specifically is the Moabites (Num. 25.2), but no vengeance is taken against them; in fact, Israel is specifically prohibited from doing anything to them whatsoever (Dt. 2.9). Moreover, the offenses that exclude Moab from the assembly are identified as preventing passage and hiring Balaam to curse them (Dt. 23.3); no mention is made of Peor. Therefore, whatever the Peor incident is, it involves Kozbi and the Midianites specifically (Num. 25.18). This is further demonstrated by the use of the introductory word wehinneh (“then”) in Num. 25.6, which indicates a transition in narrative focus, with Num. 25.1-5 providing the background and context for the main plot.[1] The relationship with the Moabites and the Baal of Peor, and the burning wrath of God are happening in the background and providing the context for a particular incident involving Phineas and a Midianite woman, and it is this incident that is avenged in Numbers 31.

2. The activity of the perpetrators is deliberate, not passive or accidental. The Midianites deceived Israel (Num. 25.18), following the advice of Balaam (Num. 31.16). This is in contrast to something the Israelites receive passively (Num. 25.3; Ps. 106.36). What exactly the Midianites scheme was, or what it was supposed to achieve, is lost to us. In any case, the description “treated you as enemies when they deceived you” (Num. 25.18) indicates that it was not friendly in intention. One possibility is that they have discovered a workaround to Balaam’s inability to curse Israel.[2] God’s instructions to Moses are not classified secrets; the Gibeonites know about them (Josh. 9.24). Perhaps Balaam has learned which Israelite behaviors will invoke the wrath of YHWH and advised the Midianites to encourage these behaviors among the people of Israel. If this is the case, the vengeance is not only for hostile intent against YHWH’s people (a common indictment in the prophetic oracles against Israel’s neighbors), but also for attempting to manipulate YHWH himself (cf. 2 Ki. 18.22-25; 19.7, 35-37; note that the vengeance in Num. 31.3 is “the Lord’s”).

3. The incident is clearly indicated as an indictment by elements other than the fact of the destruction. The commandment to treat them as enemies (Num. 25.17) is invoked in a talionic sense (eye for eye), and is not repeated in regard to other nations, even though the nations treat Israel as enemies (Num. 10.9; 33.55)."


Numbers 31.17: “Now kill all the boys.” This is a military strategy, since all boys pose a potential military threat in the future as an enemy army. (Keep in mind that the Israelite males who participated in the seduction were also put to death.) An enemy people will rise again unless they are sufficiently vanquished. Napoleon Bonaparte, after crowning himself as emperor, was banished and exiled. But three years later he rose up again to challenge the government and won. It was only Waterloo that brought him down. In 1953, Fidel Castro launched a revolution in Cuba. He was captured and imprisoned, and many of his men were killed. But he was released in 1955 as part of a general amnesty. He moved to Mexico, gathered supporters around him, and returned to Cuba and took over the country.

Numbers 31.17: “And kill ever woman who has slept with a man.” Women who had had sex might possibly have been engaged in the licentious worship of Peor (Num. 25.2), and they were to be killed to preserve the congregation from all contamination from that abominable idolatry. Nothing should survive that is known to be an abomination to YHWH—the purge the sin and the future temptation to sin was the whole point of this battle. It was to protect the Israelites from any further defilement and to prevent a future propagation of the Midianite people. As we saw with the killing of the kings in v. 8 (so that the people would disperse), now we have the killing of the women so that no more Midianite children are born to this particular region.
Numbers 31.18: "but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man.” This is the verse the atheists say commands or allows rape. Ha! It does no such thing. All you have to do is read it and see that it has nothing to do with sex or rape. Modern day atheists say “Well, what do you think ’save for yourself’ mean (wink, wink)?” Let’s look at it.

First, any female who was still virginal could be spared because they could not have possibly been guilty of cultic fornication.
“Save for yourself” is the verb “chayah,” “To keep alive.” Second, there is nothing in “for yourselves” implying sexual pleasure. It simply means “do not kill them, but let them live.” Third, it was explicit in the Israelite law (Deut. 21.10-14) that it was AGAINST THE LAW for Israelite soldiers to use women prisoners of war as sex objects. An Israelite male had to carefully follow proper procedures before she could be taken as a wife. In light of the highly sensitive nature of sexual purity in Israel and for Israel’s soldiers, specific protocols had to be followed. Rape was most certainly excluded as an extracurricular activity in warfare.

The idea here is that an Israelite soldier could take a woman back to Israel, and after a one-month period of purity ritual, take her as his wife. These girls were not raped, they were not taken as sex slaves, nor were they mistreated. If the marriage didn’t work out (Dt. 21.14), those women had rights and were to be protected from abuse.

Another question, of course, is how often this happened. Most Israelite males married young, and an Israelite male who was newlywed was exempted from military service. Therefore most Israelite soldiers were married and had been married more than a few years. Polygamy was rare (usually only the rich and the royalty could afford more than one wife). It was most likely only practiced by the widower soldiers, if even then.

So, technically your friend is correct (“God commanded Moses to execute women and children and then take the virgins”), but probably not in the way he/she is interpreting it. It was a just war: God’s judgment on the Moabite Midianites. The women were killed because they had been the perpetrators. The boys were killed because they were a future army against Israel. The virgins were spared to be brought into families, loved as wives, and incorporated into Israel life.

This may have raised questions. Feel free to ask.




[1] We see a similar construction in Num. 20.16 (“now”), where the events of Num. 14 are recalled to provide the background and context for the accusation of the Transjordan tribes.

[2] The presence of Balaam among the Midianites when he is killed (Num. 31.8) indicates that he came back at some point after returning to his home (Num. 24.25), presumably to offer the advice of Num. 31.16.