War Crimes in the Bible

@ghost-of-a-duke said
Rather amusingly, he has recently toyed with the idea that the insult was a parody of my tag line 'Spirited Misfit.'

@Ghost-of-a-Duke

and that 'Spirited' clearly relates to the 'Ghost' element of my username.

@Duchess64

In the post that he deleted, Sonship claimed that the (non-virgin) Midianite
women and girls were 'weaponized' (How unfair to the helpless Hebrew men!).

Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed fornication, and there fell in one day twenty-three thousand. (1 Cor. 10:8)

Sonship claimed that the (non-virgin) Midianite
women and girls were 'weaponized'

And it is here at this point that the treachery of the Midianites becomes visible in the narrative: this was deliberate strategy on the part of the Midianite leadership to use ‘sex’ as a weapon, and have Israel abandon the protection and life-source of their God.

The verses give us the substance of the treachery and deceit:

The LORD said to Moses, 17 “Treat the Midianites as enemies and kill them, 18 because they treated you as enemies when they deceived you in the affair of Peor and their sister Cozbi, the daughter of a Midianite leader, the woman who was killed when the plague came as a result of Peor.” [Num 25.16f]

“Have you allowed all the women to live?” he asked them. 16 “They were the ones who followed Balaam’s advice and were the means of turning the Israelites away from the LORD in what happened at Peor, so that a plague struck the LORD’s people. [Num 31.15]

@sonship said
@Ghost-of-a-Duke

and that 'Spirited' clearly relates to the 'Ghost' element of my username.

I was making a pun on "spirit" as alcohol is sometimes called spirits.

Spirited misfit - alcoholic misfit. Get it?

It was dumb. It was insulting.
I'm sorry it was dumb and insulting to you.

I am concerned today with showing that the seducing women in the conflict were using sexual activity in a combative way.

We know that in modern times rape in warfare is sometimes used.

In this instance in ancient times seduction and fornication were used for essentially military advantage.

Copied with permission www.christianthinktank.com
[Their bolding]

So, Balaam somehow is back into the picture?! Somehow Balaam advised the women on how to turn the Israelites away from the Lord?!

“It appears that the Israelite men began to have sexual relations with the Moabite and Midianite women (Num 25:1,6). How such liaisons began we can only guess, but they seem to be connected with the bad advice given to the Moabites by the prophet Balaam, son of Beor. Prior to this event, the king of Moab had hired Balaam to curse the people of Israel; because of the strong hand of God on his life, however, Balaam had only been able to bless them. Apparently still bent on helping the Moabite king, Balaam had stayed on in the land of Moab and Midian. Numbers 31:16 informs us the ‘[the Midianite women] were the ones who followed Balaam’s advice and were the means of turning the Israelites away from the LORD in what happened at Peor, so that a plague struck the LORD’s people.’ (Apparently the Midianites were in Moab giving military advice to the Moabites at this time). [HSOBX]

“Chs. 22-24 highlighted Moab’s attempt to overthrow Israel; Midian played a minor role in these chapters. Here the reverse is true—Midian is the chief actor, with Moab taking a supporting role.” [NICOT, Numbers, p516]

“In the further course of history, we learn that Balaam went to the Midianites, and advised them to seduce the Israelites to unfaithfulness to Jehovah, by tempting them to join in the worship of Peor. He was still with them at the time when the Israelites engaged in the war of vengeance against that people, and was slain by the Israelites along with the five princes of Midian.” [KD:1:202]

“As the princes of Midian, who were allied to Moab, had been the advisers and assistants of the Moabitish king in the attempt to destroy the Israelites by a curse of God; so now, after the failure of that plan, they were the soul of the new undertaking to weaken Israel and render it harmless, by seducing it to idolatry, and thus leading it into apostasy from its God.” [KD:1:203

@sonship said
I am concerned today with showing that the seducing women in the conflict were using sexual activity in a combative way.

We know that in modern times rape in warfare is sometimes used.

In this instance in ancient times seduction and fornication were used for essentially military advantage.

Copied with permission www.christianthinktank.com
[Their bolding]

[quot ...[text shortened]... ss, by seducing it to idolatry, and thus leading it into apostasy from its God.” [KD:1:203
[/quote]

The post that was quoted here has been removed

@russ said
@Shallow-Blue

This will be the case.

Delete will be available at anytime, but it will show who posted and the post will remain in place - with the content deleted.

@fmf said
But I am not superstitious in the way you are, I don't believe in your god figure, I am not a member of your religion, and this is not a website dedicated to your particular religion. Talking about not being a member of your religion as if it's "tragic" smacks of preaching to the choir and religionists stroking each other or posturing for each other. "Tragic"? There is no consequence for me for not being a Christian ~ let alone anything "tragic" about it.