POST OVERVIEW. A careful exegesis of Numbers 31 when the LORD commanded the sons of Israel under Moses to execute His full vengeance on Midian.

In Numbers 31, we read of the LORD’s judgment of Midian through the sons of Israel. Because this story is both largely unknown by believers and is misinterpreted by those who “do not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions” (1 Tim. 1:7), the episode can cause problems when it comes up for discussion. In this article, I will attempt to show, first, that there is nothing here in the judgment of Midian that should surprise the believer, and second, that there is a surprising element in this story as the LORD once again displays His grace.

SITUATION. As this episode opens, the Midianites are known to be a wicked people. In the recent past, they had caused Israel “to trespass against the LORD” (31:16). [The full account is in Numbers 25.] As a result, the LORD commands Moses to “take full vengeance on the Midianites” (31:2).

COMMENT. The LORD is commanding Moses to bring recompense on the Midianites for their wicked acts. This is temporal judgment for their sins. The LORD’s “patience toward these vessels of wrath” (Rom. 9:22) has ended and He is executing His vengeance (31:3) through Israel. So, there is nothing surprising or confusing about this judgment. Midian willfully committed great wickedness against the LORD and against His people, and they are now receiving the due penalty of their sin.

A STORY OF THE LORD’S JUDGMENT

This story, then, is clearly one of judgment. The LORD is bringing His wrath on Midian because, by their wickedness, Midian has merited the LORD’s full vengeance. We therefore fully expect there to be no mercy for Midian but instead, a complete destruction.

ASIDE: WHEN THE LORD SUSPENDS JUDGMENT

As an aside, I want to comment on how the world views the Lord’s judgment and His mercy. The Lord is a merciful God and, because of His mercy, He is constantly withholding His wrath from being poured out on man. In Romans 1:18, Paul begins his magnificent gospel treatise with a statement about God’s wrath: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.” God’s wrath is revealed, but it is very rarely dispensed, even though “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23).

But ironically, because the Lord suspends His judgment of sin, the world presumes upon the Lord’s kindness and forbearance and patience (Rom. 2:4). Because people sin and the Lord does not bring prompt judgment, people begin to assume He will never judge. Once they are convinced that God will never judge, they go beyond that to think that He has no right to judge. The world then begins to defy God and sin with vigor because they assume they can sin with impunity. Then, when God brings a just recompense for man’s sins, the world is outraged at what they claim to be the Lord’s petulance and cruelty. Rather than praising the Lord for His kindness and forbearance and patience and repenting of their sin (Rom. 2:4), the world blasphemes Him when He brings upon them the just consequences of their sin.

BACK TO MIDIAN. We return to Midian, where the sons of Israel have been charged with the task of rendering “full vengeance” on Midian. Yet even here, where the LORD’s justice is on display and where Midian has merited a complete destruction, even here the LORD demonstrates His unmerited favor. For the Scripture says:

“The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and great in lovingkindness” (Psalm 145:8)

and the LORD answers His people when they cry,

“In wrath remember mercy” (Hab. 3:2).

A STORY OF THE LORD’S MERCY AND GRACE

Earlier we had said, “There is nothing surprising or confusing about Midian’s judgment.” All sin merits a just recompense (Heb. 2:2) and the sinner has “a terrifying expectation of judgment” (Heb. 10:27). But while there is nothing surprising about the Lord’s judgment, there is everything surprising about His mercy and grace. Numbers 31 is, therefore, a very surprising chapter. What do I mean?

Notice that, while Midian’s wickedness would be justly punished by a complete destruction, the LORD does not destroy them completely. Midian is a condemned people, but some from Midian are spared. A small remnant of Midian received mercy and grace. Yes, all the men are killed (Num. 31:7, 8) and all the boys are killed (31:17a). “Every woman who has known man by lying with a man” is also killed (31:17b). All these receive the judgment they deserve. “But all the female children who have not known man by lying with a man, keep alive for yourselves” (31:18). Amazingly, the LORD commands Moses to spare all the female virgins so they can become wives for the sons of Israel. In Numbers 31:35, there were 32,000 Midianite virgins. These 32,000 received mercy from the LORD, for they did not receive the punishment due to a condemned people, but they also received the LORD’s grace, for these female children, instead of being executed in judgment, could now become wives to husbands from the sons of Israel and could thus be enfolded into the company of the LORD’s covenant people. From condemned to member of the covenant people of God – all by God’s grace.

SUMMARY

First, there are times when God’s patience and forbearance run out and He chooses to execute His temporal judgment on an individual or, as in this case with Midian, on a group of people. His judgment is always warranted and His justice is always righteous.

But second, we have seen that the LORD is inclined to mercy and is free to dispense His grace. Although we have all merited His wrath (Rom. 3:10-18, 23; Ezekiel 18:4; etc.), the Lord now suspends His wrath and judgment and instead extends to us the offer of forgiveness and free righteousness through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The mercy and grace shown to Midian in Numbers 31 is but a faint foreshadow of the mercy and grace that God now grants to all who will bow the knee to Jesus and confess Him as Lord. These will be saved.

Soli Deo gloria            rmb                 12/18/2023                 #684