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Why Moses killed all except Virgin girls in the War against Midianites :: Research

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King Knight

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In Numbers 31 Moses killed all except Virgin girls in the War against Midianites. Lets research the reason for leaving girls

The Midianite virgins you refer to (31:18) were young girls who obviously were not involved in the licentiousness and immorality associated with Baal worship. They were therefore not implicated along with the adult men and women. These virgins grew up and were given in marriage to men in Israel.

As for why the young boys of Midian were not spared, I can only guess. Remember, the nation of Israel at this time in their history lived in an age of tribal warfare. The males of the nations around them were, of course, the warriors who made life difficult for Israel. Perhaps the boys were not spared because had they been allowed to grow up they would have sought vengeance for the deaths of their family members at the hands of Israel. Perhaps it is because the iniquities of their fathers were upon them just as the sin of Adam is on all humanity.

YHWH is not by nature a vengeful God who strikes out capriciously and randomly at whatever people-group He feels like killing off. YHWH does not take pleasure in the death of any man or woman, boy or girl. He is longsuffering and slow to anger, plenteous in mercy. He even provided for the acceptance of sojourners and strangers into the fold of Israel if they were willing to join Israel in the worship of the one true God, YHWH.

While He may visit the iniquity of the fathers to the third and fourth generations of those who do evil (Nu 14:18 ff.; De 5:9), He also shows "lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love [Him] and keep [His] commandments" (De 5:10).

Moreover, He waited for hundreds of years to liberate His chosen people, Israel, from bondage in Egypt because "the iniquity of the Amorites had not yet reached its full measure" (Ge 15:16). When it did, it was a stench in the nostrils of a holy God, not to mention a blot on humanity.

We need not go into detail on the depths of depravity into which the polytheistic peoples of Palestine had sunk by the time their iniquity had reached its full measure. Suffice it to say, that "full measure" was unimaginably depraved and likely included such aberrant behavior as child-sacrifice, cult prostitution, bestiality, pedophilia, and more, making Sodom and Gomorrah look like a Sunday school picnic!

The immorality of the human race became so egregious in the days of Noah, that God chose to wipe out humanity, save for Noah and the seven members of his family. Was God "justified" in doing so? Here's what the Bible says about humanity in the days of Noah:

"Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Ge 6:5 NIV, my emphasis).

This verse is not hyperbole, but is a succinct summation of the depths to which humanity can go if left unchecked and without a moral compass. Utter annihilation of even a people guilty of heinous sins may seem to us today to be unthinkably cruel, but to a holy God it may in fact be an act of mercy and a way to purge the human race of unmitigated evil and thus safeguard succeeding generations.

2) Are they taken as Sex slaves ?

No . They are taken for marriage after a month since bible already told to marry a slave girl after one month (can't remember the location of the verse. help me)

Because after a month the girl will able to forget the pain

3) Do they have sex with non virgin women before killing them?

Don't know . Since in olden days having sex with captured girls are common . They don't consider it as rape since rape means , in olden times , only having sex with girls who not belong to you. In bible , in each war , god telling "I handover the people to you".

There is a possibility that the solders mat thought that "since they going to die anyway let us have sex with them "

But I can't sure

4) Is killing the family members before a girl below 15 years will be very painful for her?

Yes. seeing the murder of the family members in very painful for a young girl .

But after that , the girls will be observed in to Hebrew families and they gradually forget the pain

5) Is killing a pregnant girl with her fetus is wrong ?

The girls are also sinned. So they have to be killed . Even though the fetus inside her is a virgin , it's not practical to wait for a maximum of 10 months and after delivery kill the girl and take the child if she is girl or kill him also if a boy

Since they are children , after death they can directly go to heaven. So no loss for them.

(I think the Hebrew ladies guided soldiers when killing pregnant girls to show correct location to stab in belly and ensure the fetus is killed before the girl is dead. That is the pregnant girls bellies where stabbed before beheading them to minimize the pain for the fetus )

6) Why virgin boys are killed ?
The also participated in evil gods worship . . But since they are children , after death they can directly go to heaven. So no loss for them.

7) What is the death count ?

Bible tells there are 32000 virgins . So at least 200000 were killed


.

----------------

Ok What method they followed to kill them ?

In Midan :

1.The males of the city were gathered in a big ground.

2.The soldiers will dig a large pit before the gathered people

3.The 10-20 soldiers with swords will stand on the edge of the pit in a single line side by side with 2 meters gap to each other .

4.Each and every soldier have 20-30 persons standing in queue in front of them

5.All of the women , where gathered and sat down some meters away from the pit

6.Leader mosses will sit on a raised platform or house top to supervise the killings. Hebrew people who supply food and cloth to army also watch the genocide from some distance .

7.Now , the a man standing in the first of the queue come forward and kneel down before the soldier.

8.The soldier will cut the head (beheading) of man and push the body and head into the pit.

9. The women gathered watching them with tears and screams

10.This continues until all persons standing in the queue beheaded.

11.Then another 20-30 persons will come and stand like mentioned above .

12.This cycle continues until 100 % males got killed .

13.After that the pit will be closed.

In the Camp
Moses ordered to kill all non virgin women

The same steps above described . Replace males with "non-virgin women".

Let us imagine a non virgin girl explains her experience in the city after the war
----------------
"The soldier came inside my house grabbed me out. I was 14 at that time . My sister-in-law was 9 months pregnant at that time. They also grabbed her 2 children of age 5 and 2 . They also took my brothers , along with my father and mother. Then I was forced to sit in a large ground. I saw mosses standing in a stage and watching us. Also Hebrew people also watching the genocide from some distance .

They started to dig pit. We all watching it with great horror. Our males delivered the final words to the family.

Then they made to stand in a bunch of queues and got beheaded . We all screamed .

Many woman went unconscious . They treated by the solders and made to sit there again

After killing all , they took us to the camp .

.......

After a couple of hours passed they again start to dig a pit .

They ordered all non virgins to form a queue near the pit
They killed my father , mother and brothers . I got hiccups by crying

then they grabbed my pregnant sister and made her to stand in pregnant girls queue. her male children standing in their children queue.

I saw her children got pacified by a Hebrew woman. After that they got beheaded. It was horrible scene . I cried. She screamed. A Hebrew woman for her queue told me her they will go to heaven directly . So she calmed to some extent.

After some time , the soldier with sword for her queue called me to her me. She begged him that me baby will die if I die.

The Hebrew woman told that the baby will go to heaven directly after the death. So she accepted to die.

The women for the queue located the fetus and pointed the place to stab

The soldier stabbed in her pregnant belly. The blood of her and foetus came out. She looks down her belly with tears . After some seconds , queue woman verifies whether the fetus died.

Then she ordered her to kneel down and the solder beheaded her.

I cried since this was very horrific

After a couple of hours , everyone died . They closed the pit.

Then they took us to nursing camps ..

genocide.jpg
 

Mountainmanbob

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As for why the young boys of Midian were not spared,




I can only guess. Remember, the nation of Israel at this time in their history lived in an age of tribal warfare. The males of the nations around them were, of course, the warriors who made life difficult for Israel. Perhaps the boys were not spared because had they been allowed to grow up they would have sought vengeance for the deaths of their family members at the hands of Israel. Perhaps it is because the iniquities of their fathers were upon them just as the sin of Adam is on all humanity.

YHWH is not by nature a vengeful God who strikes out capriciously and randomly at whatever people-group He feels like killing off. YHWH does not take pleasure in the death of any man or woman, boy or girl. He is longsuffering and slow to anger, plenteous in mercy. He even provided for the acceptance of sojourners and strangers into the fold of Israel if they were willing to join Israel in the worship of the one true God, YHWH.

While He may visit the iniquity of the fathers to the third and fourth generations of those who do evil (Nu 14:18 ff.; De 5:9), He also shows "lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love [Him] and keep [His] commandments" (De 5:10).

Moreover, He waited for hundreds of years to liberate His chosen people, Israel, from bondage in Egypt because "the iniquity of the Amorites had not yet reached its full measure" (Ge 15:16). When it did, it was a stench in the nostrils of a holy God, not to mention a blot on humanity.

We need not go into detail on the depths of depravity into which the polytheistic peoples of Palestine had sunk by the time their iniquity had reached its full measure. Suffice it to say, that "full measure" was unimaginably depraved and likely included such aberrant behavior as child-sacrifice, cult prostitution, bestiality, pedophilia, and more, making Sodom and Gomorrah look like a Sunday school picnic!

The immorality of the human race became so egregious in the days of Noah, that God chose to wipe out humanity, save for Noah and the seven members of his family. Was God "justified" in doing so? Here's what the Bible says about humanity in the days of Noah:

"Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Ge 6:5 NIV, my emphasis).

This verse is not hyperbole, but is a succinct summation of the depths to which humanity can go if left unchecked and without a moral compass. Utter annihilation of even a people guilty of heinous sins may seem to us today to be unthinkably cruel, but to a holy God it may in fact be an act of mercy and a way to purge the human race of unmitigated evil and thus safeguard succeeding generations.

2) Are they taken as Sex slaves ?

No . They are taken for marriage after a month since bible already told to marry a slave girl after one month (can't remember the location of the verse. help me)

Because after a month the girl will able to forget the pain

3) Do they have sex with non virgin women before killing them?

Don't know . Since in olden days having sex with captured girls are common . They don't consider it as rape since rape means , in olden times , only having sex with girls who not belong to you. In bible , in each war , god telling "I handover the people to you".

There is a possibility that the solders mat thought that "since they going to die anyway let us have sex with them "

But I can't sure

4) Is killing the family members before a girl below 15 years will be very painful for her?

Yes. seeing the murder of the family members in very painful for a young girl .

But after that , the girls will be observed in to Hebrew families and they gradually forget the pain

5) Is killing a pregnant girl with her fetus is wrong ?

The girls are also sinned. So they have to be killed . Even though the fetus inside her is a virgin , it's not practical to wait for a maximum of 10 months and after delivery kill the girl and take the child if she is girl or kill him also if a boy

Since they are children , after death they can directly go to heaven. So no loss for them.

(I think the Hebrew ladies guided soldiers when killing pregnant girls to show correct location to stab in belly and ensure the fetus is killed before the girl is dead. That is the pregnant girls bellies where stabbed before beheading them to minimize the pain for the fetus )

6) Why virgin boys are killed ?
The also participated in evil gods worship . . But since they are children , after death they can directly go to heaven. So no loss for them.

7) What is the death count ?

Bible tells there are 32000 virgins . So at least 200000 were killed


.

----------------

Ok What method they followed to kill them ?

In Midan :

1.The males of the city were gathered in a big ground.

2.The soldiers will dig a large pit before the gathered people

3.The 10-20 soldiers with swords will stand on the edge of the pit in a single line side by side with 2 meters gap to each other .

4.Each and every soldier have 20-30 persons standing in queue in front of them

5.All of the women , where gathered and sat down some meters away from the pit

6.Leader mosses will sit on a raised platform or house top to supervise the killings. Hebrew people who supply food and cloth to army also watch the genocide from some distance .

7.Now , the a man standing in the first of the queue come forward and kneel down before the soldier.

8.The soldier will cut the head (beheading) of man and push the body and head into the pit.

9. The women gathered watching them with tears and screams

10.This continues until all persons standing in the queue beheaded.

11.Then another 20-30 persons will come and stand like mentioned above .

12.This cycle continues until 100 % males got killed .

13.After that the pit will be closed.

In the Camp
Moses ordered to kill all non virgin women

The same steps above described . Replace males with "non-virgin women".

Let us imagine a non virgin girl explains her experience in the city after the war
----------------
"The soldier came inside my house grabbed me out. I was 14 at that time . My sister-in-law was 9 months pregnant at that time. They also grabbed her 2 children of age 5 and 2 . They also took my brothers , along with my father and mother. Then I was forced to sit in a large ground. I saw mosses standing in a stage and watching us. Also Hebrew people also watching the genocide from some distance .

They started to dig pit. We all watching it with great horror. Our males delivered the final words to the family.

Then they made to stand in a bunch of queues and got beheaded . We all screamed .

Many woman went unconscious . They treated by the solders and made to sit there again

After killing all , they took us to the camp .

.......

After a couple of hours passed they again start to dig a pit .

They ordered all non virgins to form a queue near the pit
They killed my father , mother and brothers . I got hiccups by crying

then they grabbed my pregnant sister and made her to stand in pregnant girls queue. her male children standing in their children queue.

I saw her children got pacified by a Hebrew woman. After that they got beheaded. It was horrible scene . I cried. She screamed. A Hebrew woman for her queue told me her they will go to heaven directly . So she calmed to some extent.

After some time , the soldier with sword for her queue called me to her me. She begged him that me baby will die if I die.

The Hebrew woman told that the baby will go to heaven directly after the death. So she accepted to die.

The women for the queue located the fetus and pointed the place to stab

The soldier stabbed in her pregnant belly. The blood of her and foetus came out. She looks down her belly with tears . After some seconds , queue woman verifies whether the fetus died.

Then she ordered her to kneel down and the solder beheaded her.

I cried since this was very horrific

After a couple of hours , everyone died . They closed the pit.

Then they took us to nursing camps ..

genocide.jpg

Maybe because they carried unwanted seed?
M-Bob
 
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yeshuaslavejeff

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Why no replies ?
Yahweh is Sovereign.

Most people have no idea the answer to your questions, it seems,
choosing rather to oppose Yahweh's Word, thinking perhaps somehow they 'understand' better? than He does, and not willing to accept His Will and His Perfect Righteousness, His Perfect Judgment, and His Perfect Purpose in all things.
 
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yeshuaslavejeff

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6) Why virgin boys are killed ?
The also participated in evil gods worship . . But since they are children , after death they can directly go to heaven. So no loss for them.
This is directly opposed to all Scripture , and totally contrary to Yahweh's Declared Plan and Purpose and Wisdom.
Perhaps you could tell who taught this error (and the other errors not addressed yet) ?
 
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JackRT

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What is being described here is what we in the modern world call genocide and genocide almost always includes rape. This is the way tribal wars were and are fought even today. The justification, of course, is survival and the motivation usually starts with demonizing the enemy to the point where they are considered subhuman and unworthy of life. All of this is exacerbated the patriarchal culture and its emphasis on tribal and family honour and vengeance. The adult women and their male children were murdered out of a quite natural fear that they would take vengeance for their lost husbands and sons. The virgin girls (almost entirely pre-pubescent) would be spared as breeders to replace the men lost in battle. All of this is completely evil and has no justification whatsoever. But of course attempts have been made to justify it mostly by simply saying that it was the will of God. Even so, it is still evil and reduces us to the level of beasts.
 
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DamianWarS

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Why no replies ?
these are tough passages and the story you pair with it makes it all that more real. Our world is so removed from these kinds of practices that we would only call it barbaric today, yet in that world, it was what happened. The tension is why does God adopt these practices? There is a sense of irony in it all too as Israel is later deconstructed piece by piece from the inside out. It is right or wrong? contextual or excessive? was it what was needed to ensure the preservation of God's plan just as we see with flood? Revelation seems to indicate there will be more. I don't know how to answer it and I see the tension, all I know is if it was needed the only one who could determine that is God. It's a copout answer but that doesn't make it untrue.
 
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2PhiloVoid

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What is being described here is what we in the modern world call genocide and genocide almost always includes rape. This is the way tribal wars were and are fought even today. The justification, of course, is survival and the motivation usually starts with demonizing the enemy to the point where they are considered subhuman and unworthy of life. All of this is exacerbated the patriarchal culture and its emphasis on tribal and family honour and vengeance. The adult women and their male children were murdered out of a quite natural fear that they would take vengeance for their lost husbands and sons. The virgin girls (almost entirely pre-pubescent) would be spared as breeders to replace the men lost in battle. All of this is completely evil and has no justification whatsoever. But of course attempts have been made to justify it mostly by simply saying that it was the will of God. Even so, it is still evil and reduces us to the level of beasts.

I don't intend to be cutting with this question, but which men were 'lost' in the Numbers 31 account, JackRT?
 
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JackRT

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I wrote: The adult women and their male children were murdered out of a quite natural fear that they would take vengeance for their lost husbands and sons.

The "lost men" you ask about were the Midianite men killed in battle.
 
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JackRT

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The Hebrew woman told that the baby will go to heaven directly after the death. So she accepted to die.

At that point in the history of the Hebrew/Jewish religion, the concept of a life after death was unknown.
 
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1213

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I cried since this was very horrific

After a couple of hours , everyone died . They closed the pit.

Then they took us to nursing camps ..

genocide.jpg

Sad story, but it seems there is lot of imagination added. I think we know only what the Bible tells about the matter. Everything else is imagination and can be wrong. I don’t like to speculate about imaginary things.
 
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solid_core

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How did they check the virginity of all females? This had to be also very dreadful. Killing your family and then checking your private parts to decide if you will live.

But maybe it did not happen at all and its just a spiritual teaching lesson.
 
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JackRT

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How did they check the virginity of all females? This had to be also very dreadful. Killing your family and then checking your private parts to decide if you will live.

But maybe it did not happen at all and its just a spiritual teaching lesson.

Genocide is how tribal wars were fought then and now. I am reasonably sure that a genocide did happen but perhaps not as severe as the Bible describes it. We must also remember that the Book of Numbers was written sometime after 600 BC which is 7 or 8 centuries after the fact.
 
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solid_core

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Genocide is how tribal wars were fought then and now. I am reasonably sure that a genocide did happen but perhaps not as severe as the Bible describes it. We must also remember that the Book of Numbers was written sometime after 600 BC which is 7 or 8 centuries after the fact.
I think there are no historical records for this, except of the text that is long time after the event and long time copied so its not very certain today. So, who knows, its something that is under a heavy cover of dust. Maybe it happened, maybe not, maybe it was less dramatic.
 
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Lost4words

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The Bible is the word of God. But, written by man. Copied, and copied and copied, through the ages. I believe that not 'everything' is to be taken quite literally. Some sections have more deep rooted lessons that are trying to be shown.

I can imagine God, sitting in His living room, face in His Holy hands, shaking His head saying:

"No, no, no no! It doesnt mean that! You have it all wrong! You are interpreting it incorrectly!"
 
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JackRT

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The Bible is the word of God. But, written by man. Copied, and copied and copied, through the ages. I believe that not 'everything' is to be taken quite literally. Some sections have more deep rooted lessons that are trying to be shown.

I can imagine God, sitting in His living room, face in His Holy hands, shaking His head saying:

"No, no, no no! It doesnt mean that! You have it all wrong! You are interpreting it incorrectly!"


Rabbi Brian Zachary Mayer wrote ~~~ I do not take the Bible literally. But I take it seriously. To take it literally would mean that I believe that every word, as it is written, was spoken by God. I cannot do that. But I can and do take it seriously. To take the Bible seriously means to examine it in its time and for the culture in which it was written. I want to offer up a very handy distinction that can help in our understanding of the Bible. That distinction I would like to make is revealed in the two words: true and truth. True is if it actually happened. It is a fact of history. Truth is the moral. It is the actual essence of things. I do not believe that most of the biblical stories are true stories. But I sure do believe that they are truth stories. It doesn’t matter to me if the Red Sea parted or if Noah had an ark. I don’t care if Jonah was swallowed by a whale or if that’s not necessarily factually so. To me, the great meaning of these stories has nothing to do with whether they’re historically accurate or not. Whether Jonah slept or didn’t sleep for three nights in the proverbial halibut hotel does not take away from the moral of the story – that it is human nature to run away from the things that we don’t want to do. I don’t believe this historically happened. I don’t believe Jonah was swallowed by a great fish and brought to the bottom of the sea-world after not doing what he knew he had to do. This is a truth story. Not a true story. This is a story about humanity, about me, about the troubles we get into when we don’t do what we should do and about how it will bring us down to the very bottom of our existence. It’s a truth story, not a true story. And if we look at the miracles in the Bible as truth stories, what we learn from these stories will be liberative for us. In this important way the Bible can be a very liberating force in our lives. If we read the Bible in this way we will probably fight less with what we read in the Bible. Moreover, seeking the "truth" of the stories can allow us to have meaningful conversations with people who might read the stories to be true stories rather than truth ones. The truth aspect of the story offers a place of connection between myself and those who read the words literally.
 
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