An Atheist Explores the Bible Part 31: Killing people and taking their land. Because God. (Numbers 31-36)

Numbers 31-36

Killing people and taking their land. Because God.

Welcome to another instalment of An Atheist Explores Sacred Texts (Bible version).

In this series I work my way chapter-by-chapter through the King James Bible, commenting on it from the point of view of the text as literature and mythology. 

For more detail, see the introductory post http://bit.ly/2F8f9JT

For the online KJV I use, see here http://bit.ly/2m0zVUP

And now:

Numbers 31

“So there were delivered out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand of every tribe, twelve thousand armed for war.”

Moses levies the Israelites, one thousand from each tribe, and sends them to war with the Midianites, who they defeat utterly, including donkey-beating stooge Balaam, killing all the men, burning the cities and bringing women, children, animals and treasure back as plunder.

A rather unfortunate example happens next; so that the Israelites don’t pollute themselves with “foreign” wives, Moses orders all the women killed, and all the male children as well. Plunder is ritually purified, anyone who has killed is ritually purified and offerings are made from the cattle (or “beeves” as they are called here) and other animals. The cruel realities of warfare in this time and place – I was going to say typical of ancient and classical events, but this kind of thing still goes on, sadly. It’s unfortunate that it is recorded here as being a righteous action when done in the name of God, but I don’t think it could be classed as anything unusually brutal for the time and place.

Numbers 32

“Now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great multitude of cattle: and when they saw the land of Jazer, and the land of Gilead, that, behold, the place was a place for cattle;”

Two of the tribes, the Reubenites and Gadites, note that the lands that the land of Gilead is good for their cattle, and ask Moses if they could settle there. Moses isn’t best pleased, thinking that they are trying to get out of fighting, and reminds them of the last time when the spies dissuaded the Israelites from entering Canaan, which ended with the Israelites getting lost in the wilderness. The Reubenites and Gadites agree to fight, but point out that this land is still better for their cattle than Canaan, so Moses gives it to them if they join him. This then happens, followed by a list of all the cities that they build.

I don’t have a lot more to say on this one. I think you’ve got to assume that herders know the best land for their flocks; it’s not obvious to me from the context if this is part of the promised land or not – I think it must be the bit they’ve just conquered in the last chapter, so yes, otherwise it’s a bit of a rubbish promised land to give to a nation of herders, if the grazing is better just outside it. I’m wondering if this will be a theme of the conquest – each section of Canaan just happens to suit the needs of one of the twelve tribes.

Numbers 33

“These are the journeys of the children of Israel, which went forth out of the land of Egypt with their armies under the hand of Moses and Aaron.”

This is mostly what I have come to term a “Reverend Lovejoy” chapter, full of lists of names, but it’s a handy guide for the travels of the Israelites from the departure from Egypt and the crossing of the Red Sea. I notice that the “Wilderness of Sin” and the “Wilderness of Zin” both get mentioned, and I wonder if these are actually the same thing, but they occur at different times. The chapter ends much as we last left the Israelites, in the former lands of the Moabites on the banks of the Jordan about to cross into Canaan. And the city of Jericho gets what I think is its first mention. We also get mention of the death of Aaron, aged 123 on the flanks of Mount Hor, which I don’t remember being mentioned elsewhere. And then the chapter ends with an exhortation to destroy the Canaanites and their gods so that they don’t remain to torment the Israelite invaders in future.

Numbers 34

“And the border shall go down to Jordan, and the goings out of it shall be at the salt sea: this shall be your land with the coasts thereof round about.”

First God lays out the borders of the land that he is giving the Israelites, and then Moses commands the tribes to draw lots for dividing the land up (less the tribes of Reuben and Gad who have already taken land, and half the tribe of Manasseh, which I missed where this came in.

If the names of the landmarks used to demarcate the promised land meant anything to me I could envisage it on a map, although I’m guessing a general Israel/Lebanon/Jordan kind of area by modern borders. I notice that it extends to the south to the “river of Egypt” which must surely mean the Nile, which is a remarkable addition. A western border on the sea is obviously the Mediterranean, but the eastern sea border is interesting. The Dead Sea? Or is the allocation enormously ambitious and meant to extend to the Persian Gulf and beyond? Some investigation into these place names is needed…

Numbers 35

“Command the children of Israel, that they give unto the Levites of the inheritance of their possession cities to dwell in; and ye shall give also unto the Levites suburbs for the cities round about them.”

This chapter starts by setting down ordinance for cities, or suburbs for the Levites, and the areas around cities where they can live, but then digresses into retributive justice because six of these cities are to set up as places of refuge for anyone accused of murder – as long as they remain in the refuge city they cannot be harmed until judged.

And then follows a set of laws for adjudicating murder trials – what actions constitute murder and what do not (what would be manslaughter or unlawful killing rather than premeditated murder). A couple of interesting points – the penalty for murder is death, but this is served by the person who has blood ties to the murdered person, not by any judicially appointed executioner. A person cannot be convicted of murder on the testimony of just one witness, which is a nice little point to prevent false accusations (or, at least, make them less likely), and finally V31 “Moreover ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer, which is guilty of death: but he shall be surely put to death” – I’m not sure of “taking satisfaction” here is a warning to take no joy in executing a murderer, or if it means to place no importance in his life. Clarification from KJV English needed!

Numbers 36

“This is the thing which the LORD doth command concerning the daughters of Zelophehad, saying, Let them marry to whom they think best; only to the family of the tribe of their father shall they marry.”

A strange little chapter to end the book on, and it reminds me about the allocation of the tribe of Manasseh now, as that was the one with only daughters. It seems to be that Moses is ordering the tribes to only marry within the tribes to prevent the land allocations from being mixed around by right of marriage; I suppose the tribes are large enough that this isn’t too incestuous at this point, but I can see this particular law potentially coming under strain at some future point.

And on that odd non sequitor we end the books of odd non-sequitors, which has been a combination of bits of Exodus and Leviticus retold, several times, with a few random new bits and some movement into the land of Gilead. Certainly the writing in this one doesn’t match the soaring poetry of Genesis 1, nor even the dry but clear instructions of Leviticus, and in all it’s a strange inclusion in the mix.