Study Questions:
1. How firm should a vow made to the Lord be? Numbers 30:2
2. How many of the Israelites perished in the battle against Midian? Numbers 31:48, 49
Commentary and Reflection:
Some of the precepts that God gave to Moses in the Mosaic law may surprise us because Egyptian and Canaanite cultures were very different from ours. For example, in Moses’ time, a woman was the property of her husband. Female inequality, slavery, and polygamy, among other abominable practices, became part of the culture of the Old Testament due to the degeneration caused by sin.
The Bible is the Word of God for all, for all times, but it must be studied and understood in its context. This means that to understand it well, we must ask ourselves who wrote it, to whom, where, when, and why. It is very useful to know the author’s environment and culture as well as that of his audience.
John Calvin, the reformer, established the following principles for biblical interpretation, “It will help you greatly to understand the Scripture if you take into account, not only what is said or written, but by whom, to whom, with what words, at what time, where, with what intention, in what circumstances, considering what comes before and what comes after.” “Institutes of the Christian Religion,” Preface to the Geneva edition of 1559.
God ordered the extermination of Midian, descendants of Abraham with Keturah, his second wife, because it was the Midianites who were instruments of the enemy to lead the people to fornication and idolatry by counsel, nothing more and nothing less than that of Balaam. In the battle that followed, the ambitious prophet perished.
In relation to God’s order to exterminate the Midianites and Canaanites, consider the following,
“The Canaanites had a primitive mythology. Their religion contained the most demoralizing worship practices then existing in the Near East. These practices included human sacrifice, sacred prostitution, eunuch priests, snake worship, and a brutal mythology”, Biblical and Archaeological History: A Sketch, Homer Heater Jr.
Regarding this topic, Sister White says, “Like the men before the Flood, the Canaanites lived only to blaspheme heaven and defile the earth. And both love and justice demanded the prompt execution of these rebels against God and foes to man.” PP 492
May God grant you a very blessed day.
