Numbers 31:15-18 – Taking Vengeance

In Numbers 25 God told Moses what to do to Midian. In Numbers 31 He tells Moses that now is the time to take vengeance against them.

Background

How did we get to this point? It started in Numbers 22.

Barak hired Balaam to curse the Jewish people (Numbers 22 – 24). God put other words into Balaam’s mouth and prevented him from cursing.

Balaam then told Barak that God hates immorality. He told him how to entice the Jewish people to worship idols and engage in sexual immorality.

The result was a plague that killed 24,000 people. Phinehas stopped the plague when he killed Zimri and Cozbi (Numbers 25:1-9).

God then told Moses what to do to Midian:

However, it’s not until Numbers 31 that God tells Moses it’s now time to take vengeance against the Midianites.

War of Vengeance Against Midian

Let’s look at how Israel fought against Midian.

Moses enlisted an army of 12,000 soldiers, 1000 from each tribe. He told them it was their job to “go against the Midianites, and do the Lord’s vengeance in Midian” (Numbers 31:3).

In the war they killed 5 kings of Midian and all of the men and burned their cities.

They captured the women of Midian, the children, and cattle and flocks.

Moses Not Happy

Despite Israel defeating Midian and killing all of the adult men, Moses was not pleased.

There are many points to be made about these verses. I will focus on understanding the command to kill many of the captives.

Numbers 31:15 Explained

31:15 And Moses said to them, Have you kept all the women alive?

Moses is bewildered that the leaders of the army allowed the women to be kept alive and taken as prisoners. However, Moses never told them exactly how to take vengeance on the Midianites.

As Sforno points out, Deuteronomy 20:14 (more on this verse later) teaches who may be killed in a war that is not against the 7 nations. Midian is not one of the 7 nations.

However, the leaders did not realize that this war of vengeance was an exception. They should have killed those women who were recognized as causing the Jews to sin.

Numbers 31:16 Explained

31:16 Behold, these caused the people of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the Lord in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the Lord.

This verse tells us what advice Balaam gave to Balak. The earlier verse (see Numbers 24:14) just says he gave advice without specifying what it was.

As Rashi explains, Balaam gave Barak advice about leading the Jews into sexual immorality because he knew God hates it.

Chizkuni adds Balaam had said that God did not see any sin among the Jews (Numbers 23:21). He came up with an idea of how to make them sin.

Netziv adds that the women enticed the Jewish men into sinning. However, these women had been sent by the men of Midian. Therefore, the men of Midian were punished more severely.

Rabbi Sorotzkin points to the principle that causing a person to sin is worse than killing the person. Killing a person removes him from this world, but causing a person to sin destroys him in this world and the world to come. These women caused the Jewish people to sin.

Numbers 31:17-18 Explained

31:17 Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that has known man by lying with him.
31:18 But all the young women, who have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.

Why did Moses order that even the young boys should be killed?

According to Sforno killing the all the males is the vengeance. This will ensure that they will never have any offspring.

Abarbanel suggests that even though the male children are small now, there is reason to believe they will grow up to become adversaries. They are to be killed based on the future, on what they may become.

As for the girls, Moses ordered some to be killed and the others could be retained as maidservants (Gemara Yevamot 60b).

What exactly did Moses mean by the phrase “has known man by lying with him”?

According to Rashi, the criteria was if the girl was old enough to be able to have relations with a man. They brought every girl in front of the High Priest’s Headplate (in Hebrew, tzitz). If she was fit to have relations with a man, then her face turned green. This happened even if she had never had relations.

The Netziv explains the verse based on its more simple reading.

The women to be put to death were those who were married and had sexual relations with a man who was not her husband (in this case, the Jewish men who sinned). These women were guilty of adultery which carries a death penalty for non-Jews. (See my article on the importance of commandments for more details.)

Israel and the Nations

In Genesis 15 God promised Abraham that his offspring would return to the Land of Canaan.

The nations that lived in Canaan were on a downward path spiritually. But they had not yet reached the point that would cause God to act against them.

Many years later, Moses tells the generation that will enter the Land, that they should destroy those nations:

The 7 nations living in Canaan had now reached the level of sinfulness that God was ready to act against them.

God also warned what would happen if these nations were not destroyed.

Let’s state clearly a lesson from these verses. God knows the spiritual status of every person and nation. At times He will act to punish and even destroy a nation that is beyond repair.

Also, there can be negative consequences to living too close to evil people.

Here is how Rabbi Areyh Kaplan summarizes these ideas:

In our times we no longer have prophets who can tell us how and when to act against evil.

Therefore, in my opinion, it would not be proper for a Jewish army to be used to totally destroy another nation. Rather, the starting point for a Jewish army is to act according to the guidelines in Deuteronomy 20.

A Basic Rule of War

The Torah makes a distinction between the seven nations living in the Land of Canaan and all other non-Jewish nations.

The seven nations were to be destroyed but not the other nations.

Midian was not one of the seven nations that were living in the Land of Canaan.

How the Jews were to fight wars against most non-Jewish nations is taught in Deuteronomy 20. The Jews first ask the nation to surrender. If they refuse, then the Jews could attack.

In a nutshell, the Jewish army could destroy the enemy’s army but not the civilians. It’s the nature of modern war, especially urban combat, that civilians will be die. That’s unavoidable, but not the same thing as targeting them annihilation.

But the war against Midian was a war of vengeance and thus subject to a stricter standard.