Bible Synapse
Was Moses the meekest of men, when he ordered the Midianite captives killed?
Hard question · The law of Moses · raised by 4 of the lists sceptics circulate
See the passages joined in the interactive mapThe passages
When Miriam and Aaron speak against Moses, the narrator adds that he was ‘very meek, above all the men’ on earth.
And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman. And they said, Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us? And the Lord heard it. (Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.)
At Peor Israel is drawn into idolatry and immorality, a Midianite woman is brought into the camp, and a plague kills 24,000.
And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods. And Israel joined himself unto Baal–peor: and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. And the Lord said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the Lord against the sun, that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel. And Moses said unto the judges of Israel, Slay ye every one his men that were joined unto Baal–peor. And, behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. …
The Lord tells Moses to avenge Israel on the Midianites; Moses calls it avenging ‘the Lord of Midian’.
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites: afterward shalt thou be gathered unto thy people. And Moses spake unto the people, saying, Arm some of yourselves unto the war, and let them go against the Midianites, and avenge the Lord of Midian.
Moses is angry that the officers have kept the women alive, since they led Israel into sin at Peor; he orders every boy and every woman who has lain with a man to be killed, and the girls kept alive.
And Moses was wroth with the officers of the host, with the captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, which came from the battle. And Moses said unto them, Have ye saved all the women alive? Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the Lord in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the Lord. Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.
The objection
Numbers 12:3 calls Moses “very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth”. Yet in Numbers 31 the same Moses is angry with his officers for sparing the Midianite women, and orders every boy and every woman who was not a virgin to be killed. That hardly sounds like the meekest man alive.
The answer
The Hebrew word in Numbers 12:3 is ‘anav (Strong’s H6035), ‘humble, lowly’; modern versions have “very humble” (WEB). The verse stands where Miriam and Aaron challenge Moses’ authority, and it explains why Moses said nothing in his own defence and God himself answered them (12:4-9). It describes a man who did not stand up for his own honour. It does not mean he never acted firmly. Gill notes that Moses was seldom angry, and that when he was, it was generally for God’s honour, not his own. The same chapter shows his meekness: he prays for the sister who had attacked him (12:13).
Numbers 31 is not a personal quarrel. The Lord commanded the campaign as a judgment on Midian (31:1-3; 25:16-18), because Midianite women, on Balaam’s advice, had drawn Israel into the idolatry and immorality of Peor, and a plague had killed 24,000 (25:1-9). Moses’ anger was that the officers had spared the very women who had done this: “Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the Lord” (31:16). Carrying out a hard sentence that he believed God had given is not pride or bad temper. In the Bible meekness is humility before God, and Jesus, who called himself “meek and lowly in heart” (Matthew 11:29), also spoke and acted sternly against sin. The two passages describe different things, and both can be true of the same man.
Other answers Christians give
A note by a later hand
Gill allows that Numbers 12:3 may have been added under inspiration by a later writer such as Joshua or Ezra, which would explain why Moses is praised in the third person. That bears on who wrote the verse, not on whether it is true.
Still open
The killing of the Midianite boys and women is among the hardest commands in the Old Testament. The war is presented as the Lord’s vengeance for Peor (31:1-3); the order to kill the boys and the women is given by Moses (31:14-17), and the text does not criticise it. Christians differ on how to understand such killings beside the teaching of Jesus. This entry asks only whether the order contradicts Moses’ meekness.
From the classic commentators
being seldom angry, and when he was, it was generally, if not always, when the honour of God was concerned, and not on account of his own person and characterJohn Gill, Exposition of the Bible: Numbers 12 (1746–1763), at Bible Hub
This revenge is called the ‘revenge of Jehovah’ in Numbers 31:3 , because the seduction had violated the divinity and honour of Jehovah.C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament: Numbers 31, at Bible Hub
Sources
- John Gill, Exposition of the Bible: Numbers 12, at Bible Hub
- Keil and Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament: Numbers 31, at Bible Hub
- John Gill, Exposition of the Bible: Numbers 31, at Bible Hub