IslandMix

From my website:

I was revisiting the biblical book of Numbers chapter 31 and began to wonder about something. I mean we all know the writers of the Bible were “inspired” and because of this cannot be considered primitive in their thinking and on target with all their facts and all that good stuff (anyone wants to buy the Eiffel Tower?). Well, if anyone had any doubts the Bible was written by men and solely by men without any so-called inspiration of a “good and loving” God, you need look no further than here.

The chapter opens with the “Lord” speaking to Moses (conveniently so, of course) to go and massacre the Midianites to avenge the Lord. Later on in the chapter (verse 16), Moses explains that the reason for this was because the Midianite women caused the Israelite people to trespass which led to a plague (sickness). Please note that the “inspired” writer attributed all devastations to God so if a plague broke out, justification had to be found as to what pissed this good and loving god off. After all, he couldn’t be that petty. Interestingly though, while Moses wanted everybody from Midian dead, he did not mind sparing the virgin girls for the men. Hmm…

So in order to find out what this was all about, we have to go back to the equally wonderful chapter of Numbers 25 where the offense allegedly took place. Seems like the women of Moab/Midian were too irresistible to the Israelite men and they got their whoring on. In addition, the writer had to toss in the usual idol worship to justify what was to come which played out when a certain Eleazar in a frenzy of fanatical zeal started impaling folks. This “holy” act supposedly stayed the plague.

Now when one REALLY takes a good look at the story, the orgyfest, the subsequent plague and how Moses was adamant on killing all Midianites except the virgin girls, do you think it is plausible that the plague that broke out may have been some kind of sexually transmitted disease, maybe even an ancient version of AIDS (from God as punishment of course)? Think about it. The plague came upon the Israelites after they involved themselves in what appeared to have been a sexfest and the writer highlights the contact with these women as the cause and also as the cause for the vengeance taken upon the Midianites. In addition, Moses spares only the virgin Midianite girls. There seems to have been a connection made in the mind of the writer with sexual experienced Midianite women and the subsequent outbreak of a plague so it made sense that only the virgin Midianite girls were to be spared. So Moses…er, God was not upset that Israelite men had sex with Midiante women, just that they had sex with the infected ones, those who were not virgins.

It is rather clear that this was all about vengeance, a vengeance to wipe out a people who infected the people of Israel with some disease. Later in the chapter we also read how the Israelites also plundered the Midianite land and divided it up amongst their tribes. Old fashioned plunder, loot and steal in God’s name. What is also rather mysterious about all of this is the fact that Moses’ wife, Zipporah, and his father-in-law, Jethro, were Midianites. Where were they in all of this?

By the way, how did these soldiers determine who were virgins and who were not? Not sure I even want to think about it. You just have to love this. After all, God’s ways are higher than our ways and his ways is beyond our understanding. I sure don’t care to know what they are about either. Seems quite bloody.