This is one of those passages that has led people to reject or abandon the Christian faith. People read this and say, “Can this really be the same God as the NT God of love?” When you think of the seven year old Midianite girl, taken into the home of the people who killed her father, her mother, and all her brothers – even her baby brother! – it makes you wonder: what was God thinking?!
How could God command genocide? With the release of "Noah" (the movie) this weekend, it's worth pointing out that God is the only one who has the right to command genocide. He is the judge of all the earth -- and he is a just judge. He has decreed that the wages of sin is death. Therefore all of humanity is under a sentence of death.
And from time to time God has given us pictures of what all humanity deserves – the Flood, Sodom and Gomorrah.
Some would object that those are different – because that was God acting directly. In Numbers 31, it is Israel that is commissioned to be the agent of God's eschatological wrath.
Yes, this is different. But think back to the creation. Adam is supposed to be God's vicegerent. Man is supposed to execute judgment on the earth -- exercising God's authority.
Our problem is that we exercise that authority for our own benefit, rather than for God's glory. Israel was called to be the Son of God – the one who restored humanity to fellowship with God. And so God called Israel to be his agent of eschatological wrath against the Midianites.
And as we’ll see, the cross is at the heart of God’s answer.
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