War on the Midianites

Numbers 31

            Balak was the king of Moab, but the Midianites were his allies in that whole mess with Balaam and the sin at Beth Peor. That mess was a big deal for the Lord. It actually comes up several more times in the Scriptures. Therefore, the Lord orders the destruction of Midian.

            This is the one of several times that we will need to struggle with the practice herem (the ‘h’ make a hard ‘ch’ sound, kind of like you’re clearing your throat). It means that something must be totally dedicated to the Lord, which usually meant killing. In the case of animals, it seems a wasteful practice. When it’s applied to men, as it is here, it seems vicious. When it’s applied to women and children, too, (Joshua 6, for example), it seems just downright appalling to us.

            We have to keep the practice of herem in the context of Israel as the keeper of God’s promise of a Savior. Anything that would threaten the fulfillment of that promise, like, for example, the temptation to idolatry that the Midianites had already shown themselves to be, had to be completely eradicated. Actually, “eradicate” is a good word for it. If we think of Israel as a greenhouse, in which the Lord can maintain the right conditions for His promise to thrive, then eradicating the peoples that would threaten Israel’s faithfulness is like pulling up weeds that might choke out the more delicate plants being cultivated. (To eradicate something means to tear it out by the roots.)

            I can’t make herem more palatable for you. I can ask you to rejoice that the Church doesn’t have the same kind of concerns that Israel did and that we are not called—as the Church—to make war at all. And I can try to place it into a context that at least makes it a little more understandable.