What about Gods cruelty against the Midianites? The incident recorded in Numbers 31 is frequently mentioned as an illustration of Gods cruelty or His nature as a human fabrication of twisted minds. The passage is a troubling one, for many reasons, but there are many misconceptions about what actually happened in the text as well. Consider some of the statements people have sent into me about this event: Skeptic statement, Throughout time, mankind has been at war with itself. Frequently, these conflicts are over the possession of land, and often use religious decree as reasoning for war. Because of the atrocities prevalent in war, mankind has created rules of engagement to determine punishable war crimes. How ironic is it that these obvious criminal war time acts were not only perpetrated by the children of Israel, but were commanded or condoned by their God. Additionally, allowances were made for the Israelite men to keep attractive female captives for themselves for carnal purposes. These are some serious accusations to make against the God portrayed in the bible, and allegations that should disturb the hearts of all warm-blooded people. Right off the bat, though, there are several obvious historical errors in these brief statements, and several assumptions that have no warrant whatsoever in either the text itself, or in the historical background of the ANE. The passage will be difficult enough to our sensibilities as it is, but lets first weed out the chaff among these ...
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