The Vengeance on the Midianites is in the book of Numbers Chapter 31. Here are some rotten apples, that some would call cherries... === The Lord said to Moses, “Take vengeance on the Midianites for the Israelites". They fought against Midian, as the Lord commanded Moses, and killed every man. The Israelites captured the Midianite women and children Moses was angry with the officers of the army, "Have you allowed all the women to live?” he asked them. Now kill all the boys and kill every woman who has slept with a man, but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man. The plunder remaining from the spoils that the soldiers took was 675,000 sheep, 72,000 cattle, 61,000 donkeys and 32,000 women who had never slept with a man. === Later, we read that God commanded that these girls be allocated equally, "between the soldiers who took part in the battle and the rest of the community", but of the soldier's share, one in 500 went "to Eleazar the priest as the Lord’s part" and of the rest, one in 50 went "to the Levites, who are responsible for the care of the Lord’s tabernacle.” So 32 girls were given "to Eleazar the priest as the Lord’s part, as the Lord commanded Moses". and 320 girls given "to the Levites, who were responsible for the care of the Lord’s tabernacle. You can form your own judgements, but in my opinion, the behavior of God is indefensible. But apparently, I am wrong. I've searched a few websites and it seems that God was justified. OK, it does take a considerable amount of work, but it can be done. Many of the critics of God have made the mistake of exaggerating. They have made assumptions based on their unbelief and presuppositions. They have made historical errors and didn't understand the culture. Life was tough and God had to be very strict to prevent sin. The Midianites worshiped other gods and corrupted the Israelites. If the boys had grown up, they would have been dangerous. There were only a small number of baby boys. Anyway, the women were worse than the men. The girls were spared because God is merciful. Here are some of the defensive comments I found... "We are generally uncomfortable with the idea of vengeance because it doesn’t seem consistent with God’s love. Yet, in the right context, vengeance is something good that God is interested in." "we as Christians can be at peace, knowing that good has been done when vengeance has been executed." "Moses was angry because the children of Israel failed to see the great danger of sexual immorality and idolatry posed by these women who before led the men of Israel into these exact sins." "A portion of the spoil also was to be given to the Lord. Even with the spoils of war, God wanted Israel to have the heart of givers." "Numbers 31 is just a picture of precisely what Jesus is describing in Matthew 5 — that everything that is a source and an occasion of our sin requires ruthless dealing in the pursuit of holiness." "Complaining about Jehovah’s order to destroy innocent children is a vain gesture when one realizes that the children were spared an even worse fate of being reared as slaves under the domination of sin. Instead of having to endure the scourge of a life of immorality and wickedness, these innocents were ushered early into the bliss of Paradise." So killing children is really doing them a favor ? That might seem like a crazy idea, but... "Shortly after Andrea Yates methodically drowned her five children in the bathtub, she told an investigator that she did it because she was such a bad mother she had doomed her young to eternal damnation. The only way to save them, she said, was to kill them."
