Read The Lines...
. . . then actually read the lines.
Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Take vengeance (revenge) on the Midianites for the sons of Israel . . . " So Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Arm men from among you for the war, so that they may go against Midian to execute the Lord’s vengeance (revenge) on Midian.” So there were selected from the thousands of Israel, a thousand from each tribe, twelve thousand armed for war. So they made war against Midian, just as the Lord had commanded Moses, and they killed (murdered) every male. And the sons of Israel took captive (kidnapped) the women of Midian and their little ones (children); and they plundered all their cattle, all their flocks, and all their property. They brought the captives (victims) and the spoils and the plunder to Moses, to Eleazar the priest, and to the congregation of the sons of Israel . . .But Moses was angry with the officers of the army, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, who had come from service in the war. And Moses said to them, “Have you spared (not murdered) all the women? Behold, they caused the sons of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to be unfaithful to the Lord in the matter of Peor, so that the plague took place among the congregation of the Lord! Now therefore, kill (murder) every male among the little ones (children), . . . and kill (murder) every woman (mother) who has known a man intimately. However, all the girls (virgins) who have not known a man intimately keep (kidnap) alive for yourselves (as sex slaves). Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “You and Eleazar the priest and the heads of the fathers’ households of the congregation take a count of the spoils that were captured, both of people and of livestock; and divide the spoils between the warriors who went to battle and all the congregation. Now the spoils that remained from the plunder which the men of war had plundered was 675,000 sheep, seventy-two thousand cattle, sixty-one thousand donkeys, and of captive people, of the women (virgins) who had not known a man intimately, in all were thirty-two thousand people. (female virgins)
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I have never been presented a REASONABLE explanation as to why ANYONE should follow a god that would command his followers to commit such atrocities as found in Numbers chapter 31.
bob
r.u.reasonable@gmail.com
As any of the regulars at Debunking Christianity, or the now defunct Cross Examined on Patheos, will tell you, this is my go-to argument. It has YahwehJesus ordering the kidnapping of wee virgin girls for the purpose of sex slavery and paedophile rape wives. YahwehJesus setting out rules for divvying up the spoils, including the virgin children and how much is YahwehJeses' portion. There is just no out.
ReplyDeleteChristian Professor of Hebrew Studies, the Rev. Wil Gafney, outlines the problem in a talk about the "Tough Texts" at timestamp 31 minutes in the following video:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCqtMRZ2c8I
“It’s evil, but it also happens to be scriptural… Tell the whole story.” —Rev. Dr. Wil Gafney
https://mackenzian.com/blog/2014/05/02/propping-up-books/