I had a son.

Now let’s get back to journeying through scripture examining God’s commands.  Specifically, we are looking at the imperatives, the “do this now” commands, in scripture.  Last time in the story of Yahweh-remaking-slaves-into-his-people we had the passing of Aaron and the rise of Eleazar as priest.  Now God will fight for the people as they skirt around the promised land.

Numbers 31:1 “The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2“Avenge the people of Israel on the Midianites. Afterward you shall be gathered to your people.” 3So Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Arm men from among you for the war, that they may go against Midian to execute the LORD’s vengeance on Midian.”

The imperatives in these verses are “Avenge” commanded by God and “Arm men” spoken by Moses.  The first occurrence of naqam, avenge, is in Genesis 4:15 when God promises that if Cain is attacked for his crimes, God will avenge Cain.  Almost every other occurrence of “avenge” in Genesis till Numbers is easily seen as big-God looking out for weak-party (Exo 21:20-21 concerns harming slaves; Lev 19:18 don’t… love your neighbor as yourself; even Lev 26:25 is vengeance against Israel for breaking covenant).  We may be tempted to read this story of the Midianites and the following conquests as God asking Israel to “pick on the weak guy.”  The Midianites feature in the Joseph story at Gen 37:36 where they are the slavers who buy the abused brother.  In Numbers 25:17, the Midianites are described as harassing the Israelites not in a military way, but in a way that sought to undermine and infiltrate the new Israelite nation and their devotion to Yahweh.

The whole battle and war is viewed as a purifying event.  Therefore v23 “and whatever [plunder] cannot stand the fire, you shall pass through the water. 24 You must wash… and afterward you may come into the camp.”  Moses, the prophet, responds to God’s call for “Avenge” with “Arm yourselves.”  The threat of impurity is serious for the ex-slaves so near the promised land.

Numbers 31:17 “Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man by lying with him.”

First off, this command is from Moses, not directly from Yahweh.  But in the story, there is no judgment on Moses for good or bad.  Moses is faced with two dark realities 1) his death, 31:2 “afterward you shall be gathered to your people”, and 2) Although he hadn’t spelled out that this is a war of purity, the people instead viewed this war as a means to get rich and a means to gather what were essentially slaves.  Is the command for killing children and women out of Moses’ desire to have a legacy of zeal or some bargain for more life?  Or did he feel this killing outside of battle was in the spirit of God’s command to “avenge”?  Certainly, this would not be an application of naqam in the same ways previously seen in scripture.  These women and children are defenseless.

Numbers 32:23 “But if you will not do so [take up arms to help conquer the rest of the land], behold, you have sinned against the LORD, and know your sin will find you out.”

After the battle with Midian, the Israelites continue around the eastern side of the Dead Sea and Jordan river.  The tribes of Rueben and Gad feel since they have much livestock and the land was mainly good for herding, they were done with their journey.  Moses chastises these tribes for not helping the rest of the tribes in battle, vv6-8.  They agree to setup places to drop off the herds, their kids and their families, but the fighting men of Gad and Reuben promise “We will not return to our homes until each of the people of Israel has gained his inheritance” 32:18.  The imperative in 32:23 is “Know your sin will find you out.”  It is hard in this set of promises and curses spoken by Moses to discern if he is speaking directly for Yahweh or scolding as someone who knows Yahweh.  Either way the people interpret the message as official by saying “What the LORD has said to your servants, we will do” v31.

Numbers 33:51 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘When you pass over the Jordan into the land of Canaan…”

Finally, a standard prophetic pronouncement.  Most of chapter 33 is an account of the conquest of the eastern side of the Jordan.  It is no surprise that after Moses makes promises about who possesses the land, the people get quickly to work in conquering it.  The command is to “speak” and the message is, “It is really serious that you wipe out the inhabitants of the land, and here’s how to divide it up.”

Numbers 34:2 “Command the people of Israel, and say to them, ‘When you enter the land of Canaan…’”

God is ordering Moses to command the people to have a vision for what the land will be.  These are a people who have never had a place to call home.  They have only ever built cities when they were slaves.  The generation currently under Moses has always been wandering.  They will have borders.

Numbers 35:2 “Command the people of Israel to give to the Levites some of the inheritance of their possession as cities for them to dwell in. And you shall give to the Levites pasturelands around the cities… 10 Speak to the people of Israel… select cities to be cities of refuge…”

The command is that the Levites will be the tribe among the people.  They aren’t supposed to be about worldly pursuits, but they still must eat.  Furthermore, the allowance for Levite cities allows Yahweh to roll out a novel system of justice, cities of refuge.  The refuge city system is too complex for this short examination, but the purpose was simple, “You shall not pollute the land in which you live, for blood pollutes the land…” 35:33.  God knew these tribal people had picked up the dog-eat-dog system of justice other tribal societies had.  Cities of refuge allowed space and time for justice, not blood feuds, to happen.

Chapter 36 contains no true imperatives.  The story is a follow up to the daughters of Zelophehad from chapter 27.  Israelite women could inherit property and pass it on to their children.  However, this command clashed with some of the ideas of dividing up the land to specific tribes.  What if a woman married a man from another tribe.  Would the inherited land be credited to the father or mother’s tribe?  The people are forbidden from using intermarriage between tribes to steal land from other tribes.  The allotments are from God and are not to be jockeyed for.

Numbers ends with “These are the commandments and the rules that the LORD commanded through Moses to the people of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho” 36:13. The people are on the edge of greatness and their greatest struggles so far.  Big things are coming, but what they need is discipline.  They need commands from God.  If they are unleashed into the promise without instruction, they will end up no better than the Midianites.  And if the people won’t follow instruction then Yahweh promises, “I will do to you as I thought to do to them” 33:56.