3/31/11
Numbers 31-32
War against Midian
Numbers 31:1 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Avenge the Israelites on the Midianites; afterward you shall be gathered to your people.” 3 So Moses said to the people, “Arm some of your number for the war, so that they may go against Midian, to execute the Lord’s vengeance on Midian. 4 You shall send a thousand from each of the tribes of Israel to the war.” 5 So out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand from each tribe were conscripted, twelve thousand armed for battle. 6 Moses sent them to the war, a thousand from each tribe, along with Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest, with the vessels of the sanctuary and the trumpets for sounding the alarm in his hand. 7 They did battle against Midian, as the Lord had commanded Moses, and killed every male. 8 They killed the kings of Midian: Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian, in addition to others who were slain by them; and they also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword. 9 The Israelites took the women of Midian and their little ones captive; and they took all their cattle, their flocks, and all their goods as booty. 10 All their towns where they had settled, and all their encampments, they burned, 11 but they took all the spoil and all the booty, both people and animals. 12 Then they brought the captives and the booty and the spoil to Moses, to Eleazar the priest, and to the congregation of the Israelites, at the camp on the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho.
Return from the War
13 Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the leaders of the congregation went to meet them outside the camp. 14 Moses became angry with the officers of the army, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, who had come from service in the war. 15 Moses said to them, “Have you allowed all the women to live? 16 These women here, on Balaam’s advice, made the Israelites act treacherously against the Lord in the affair of Peor, so that the plague came among the congregation of the Lord. 17 Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known a man by sleeping with him. 18 But all the young girls who have not known a man by sleeping with him, keep alive for yourselves. 19 Camp outside the camp seven days; whoever of you has killed any person or touched a corpse, purify yourselves and your captives on the third and on the seventh day. 20 You shall purify every garment, every article of skin, everything made of goats’ hair, and every article of wood.”
21 Eleazar the priest said to the troops who had gone to battle: “This is the statute of the law that the Lord has commanded Moses: 22 gold, silver, bronze, iron, tin, and lead— 23 everything that can withstand fire, shall be passed through fire, and it shall be clean. Nevertheless it shall also be purified with the water for purification; and whatever cannot withstand fire, shall be passed through the water. 24 You must wash your clothes on the seventh day, and you shall be clean; afterward you may come into the camp.”
Disposition of Captives and Booty
25 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 26 “You and Eleazar the priest and the heads of the ancestral houses of the congregation make an inventory of the booty captured, both human and animal. 27 Divide the booty into two parts, between the warriors who went out to battle and all the congregation. 28 From the share of the warriors who went out to battle, set aside as tribute for the Lord, one item out of every five hundred, whether persons, oxen, donkeys, sheep, or goats. 29 Take it from their half and give it to Eleazar the priest as an offering to the Lord. 30 But from the Israelites’ half you shall take one out of every fifty, whether persons, oxen, donkeys, sheep, or goats—all the animals—and give them to the Levites who have charge of the tabernacle of the Lord.”
31 Then Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord had commanded Moses:
32 The booty remaining from the spoil that the troops had taken totaled six hundred seventy-five thousand sheep, 33 seventy-two thousand oxen, 34 sixty-one thousand donkeys, 35 and thirty-two thousand persons in all, women who had not known a man by sleeping with him.
36 The half-share, the portion of those who had gone out to war, was in number three hundred thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep and goats, 37 and the Lord’s tribute of sheep and goats was six hundred seventy-five. 38 The oxen were thirty-six thousand, of which the Lord’s tribute was seventy-two. 39 The donkeys were thirty thousand five hundred, of which the Lord’s tribute was sixty-one. 40 The persons were sixteen thousand, of which the Lord’s tribute was thirty-two persons. 41 Moses gave the tribute, the offering for the Lord, to Eleazar the priest, as the Lord had commanded Moses.
42 As for the Israelites’ half, which Moses separated from that of the troops, 43 the congregation’s half was three hundred thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep and goats, 44 thirty-six thousand oxen, 45 thirty thousand five hundred donkeys, 46 and sixteen thousand persons. 47 From the Israelites’ half Moses took one of every fifty, both of persons and of animals, and gave them to the Levites who had charge of the tabernacle of the Lord; as the Lord had commanded Moses.
48 Then the officers who were over the thousands of the army, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, approached Moses, 49 and said to Moses, “Your servants have counted the warriors who are under our command, and not one of us is missing. 50 And we have brought the Lord’s offering, what each of us found, articles of gold, armlets and bracelets, signet rings, earrings, and pendants, to make atonement for ourselves before the Lord.” 51 Moses and Eleazar the priest received the gold from them, all in the form of crafted articles. 52 And all the gold of the offering that they offered to the Lord, from the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, was sixteen thousand seven hundred fifty shekels. 53 (The troops had all taken plunder for themselves.) 54 So Moses and Eleazar the priest received the gold from the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it into the tent of meeting as a memorial for the Israelites before the Lord.
Conquest and Division of Transjordan (Deut 3.12—22)
Numbers 32:1 Now the Reubenites and the Gadites owned a very great number of cattle. When they saw that the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead was a good place for cattle, 2 the Gadites and the Reubenites came and spoke to Moses, to Eleazar the priest, and to the leaders of the congregation, saying, 3 “Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and Beon— 4 the land that the Lord subdued before the congregation of Israel—is a land for cattle; and your servants have cattle.” 5 They continued, “If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants for a possession; do not make us cross the Jordan.”
6 But Moses said to the Gadites and to the Reubenites, “Shall your brothers go to war while you sit here? 7 Why will you discourage the hearts of the Israelites from going over into the land that the Lord has given them? 8 Your fathers did this, when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to see the land. 9 When they went up to the Wadi Eshcol and saw the land, they discouraged the hearts of the Israelites from going into the land that the Lord had given them. 10 The Lord’s anger was kindled on that day and he swore, saying, 11 ‘Surely none of the people who came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, because they have not unreservedly followed me— 12 none except Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua son of Nun, for they have unreservedly followed the Lord.’ 13 And the Lord’s anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them wander in the wilderness for forty years, until all the generation that had done evil in the sight of the Lord had disappeared. 14 And now you, a brood of sinners, have risen in place of your fathers, to increase the Lord’s fierce anger against Israel! 15 If you turn away from following him, he will again abandon them in the wilderness; and you will destroy all this people.”
16 Then they came up to him and said, “We will build sheepfolds here for our flocks, and towns for our little ones, 17 but we will take up arms as a vanguard before the Israelites, until we have brought them to their place. Meanwhile our little ones will stay in the fortified towns because of the inhabitants of the land. 18 We will not return to our homes until all the Israelites have obtained their inheritance. 19 We will not inherit with them on the other side of the Jordan and beyond, because our inheritance has come to us on this side of the Jordan to the east.”
20 So Moses said to them, “If you do this—if you take up arms to go before the Lord for the war, 21 and all those of you who bear arms cross the Jordan before the Lord, until he has driven out his enemies from before him 22 and the land is subdued before the Lord—then after that you may return and be free of obligation to the Lord and to Israel, and this land shall be your possession before the Lord. 23 But if you do not do this, you have sinned against the Lord; and be sure your sin will find you out. 24 Build towns for your little ones, and folds for your flocks; but do what you have promised.”
25 Then the Gadites and the Reubenites said to Moses, “Your servants will do as my lord commands. 26 Our little ones, our wives, our flocks, and all our livestock shall remain there in the towns of Gilead; 27 but your servants will cross over, everyone armed for war, to do battle for the Lord, just as my lord orders.”
28 So Moses gave command concerning them to Eleazar the priest, to Joshua son of Nun, and to the heads of the ancestral houses of the Israelite tribes. 29 And Moses said to them, “If the Gadites and the Reubenites, everyone armed for battle before the Lord, will cross over the Jordan with you and the land shall be subdued before you, then you shall give them the land of Gilead for a possession; 30 but if they will not cross over with you armed, they shall have possessions among you in the land of Canaan.” 31 The Gadites and the Reubenites answered, “As the Lord has spoken to your servants, so we will do. 32 We will cross over armed before the Lord into the land of Canaan, but the possession of our inheritance shall remain with us on this side of the Jordan.”
33 Moses gave to them—to the Gadites and to the Reubenites and to the half-tribe of Manasseh son of Joseph—the kingdom of King Sihon of the Amorites and the kingdom of King Og of Bashan, the land and its towns, with the territories of the surrounding towns. 34 And the Gadites rebuilt Dibon, Ataroth, Aroer, 35 Atroth-shophan, Jazer, Jogbehah, 36 Beth-nimrah, and Beth-haran, fortified cities, and folds for sheep. 37 And the Reubenites rebuilt Heshbon, Elealeh, Kiriathaim, 38 Nebo, and Baal-meon (some names being changed), and Sibmah; and they gave names to the towns that they rebuilt. 39 The descendants of Machir son of Manasseh went to Gilead, captured it, and dispossessed the Amorites who were there; 40 so Moses gave Gilead to Machir son of Manasseh, and he settled there. 41 Jair son of Manasseh went and captured their villages, and renamed them Havvoth-jair. 42 And Nobah went and captured Kenath and its villages, and renamed it Nobah after himself.
Devotionals, Videos and more ...
by Bill Federer
Queen Ka’ahumanu served as regent-prime minister of Hawaii after the death of her husband, King Kamehameha. Together with her son, King Kamehameha II, they ended all idolatry and human sacrifice on the islands. On this date, March 31, 1820, the first missionaries, led by Hiram Bingham, arrived in Hawaii on the ship, Thaddeus. The Queen received Christ and helped spread the Gospel throughout the islands. Just prior to her death, Queen Ka’ahumanu was presented with the newly completed version of the New Testament in the Hawaiian language. Her last words were: “I am going where the mansions are ready.”
Federer, B. (2003). American minute. St. Louis, MO.: Amerisearch, Inc.
by D.H. Stern
The clever see trouble coming and hide;
the simple go on and pay the penalty.
The reward for humility is fear of ADONAI,
along with wealth, honor and life.
Stern, D. H. (1998). Complete Jewish Bible-OE
: An English version of the Tanakh (OT) and
B'rit Hadashah (NT) (1st ed.). Clarksville, Md.: Jewish
New Testament Publications.
by Oswald Chambers
Heedfulness v. hypocrisy in ourselves
If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and He shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. --- 1 John 5:16. Chambers, O. (1993). My Utmost for His Highest
If we are not heedful of the way the Spirit of God works in us, we shall become spiritual hypocrites. We see where other folks are failing, and we turn our discernment into the gibe of criticism instead of into intercession on their behalf. The revelation is made to us not through the acuteness of our minds, but by the direct penetration of the Spirit of God, and if we are not heedful of the source of the revelation, we shall become criticizing centres and forget that God says—“… he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death.” Take care lest you play the hypocrite by spending all your time trying to get others right before you worship God yourself.
One of the subtlest burdens God ever puts on us as saints is this burden of discernment concerning other souls. He reveals things in order that we may take the burden of these souls before Him and form the mind of Christ about them, and as we intercede on His line, God says He will give us “life for them that sin not unto death.” It is not that we bring God into touch with our minds, but that we rouse ourselves until God is able to convey His mind to us about the one for whom we intercede.
Is Jesus Christ seeing of the travail of His soul in us? He cannot unless we are so identified with Himself that we are roused up to get His view about the people for whom we pray. May we learn to intercede so whole-heartedly that Jesus Christ will be abundantly satisfied with us as intercessors.
the Poetry of R.S. Thomas
Sarn Rhiw
So we know
she must have said something
to him - What language,
life? Ah, what language?
Thousands of years later
I inhabit a house
whose stone is the language
of its builders. Here
by the sea they said little.
But their message to the future
was: Build well. In the fire
of an evening I catch faces
staring at me. In April,
when light quickens and clouds
thin, boneless presences
flit through my room.
Will they inherit me
one day? What certainties
have I to hand on
like the punctuality
with which, at the moon's
rising, the bay breaks
into a smile, as though meaning
were not the difficulty at all?
Thomas, R. S.
Sukkah 25a–b
Most of us have received mailings from organizations that ask us for money to support a worthy cause. Sometimes, the request is fairly straightforward and the cause seems worthy (even if these examples are fictitious):
Anti-Semitism Is on the Rise! Support the Museum for Jewish Self-Respect, a new center for the education for non-Jews and the re-establishment of positive feelings among Jews.
At times, the cause seems worthy but we may wonder about the need for another organization and an additional acronym:
Jews Delegitimize Other Jews. The fragmentation of the Jewish community cannot continue unabated. We must put an end to the tension between one Jew and another. Join MAFTIR, the Movement Against Fragmented Tendencies In Religion.
And then, there are groups that seem to be part of the very problem they are fighting:
Too Many Jewish Organizations & Not Enough Money! Are you sick and tired of a new organization for every cause? Then it’s time for you to support GAINOJG (Yiddish for “enough”): The Group Against the Increasing Number Of Jewish Groups.
While these examples are either apocryphal or humorous, the phenomenon is actual and serious.
Often, these requests come from organizations that seem worthy and that promise to accomplish much for the community. Often, there is a need for such groups. At times, though, they are repetitive of other institutions, duplicating what already has a structure and what similar organizations have done.
Perhaps most disturbing is that established groups that have been working within the community for years go wanting for funds. More than one institution has had to close its doors because of lack of financial support. This is not to say that every established group serves a worthy purpose or that each new association is unnecessary and repetitive. It is a reminder, though, of our limited resources.
Some say “Money is tight.” It is likely that, except for some brief periods in history, money has always been tight. The Gemara, in positing that “the Torah worries about Israel’s money,” is reminding us that Judaism cares about our scarce resources. We have to use them wisely. Had God required the Israelites to use gold fire pans throughout the year, they would have. Yet God—and the Rabbis who interpreted God’s laws—were concerned that Israel not spend too much of its funds on gold pans, leaving less for other worthy causes. If the Torah worries about Israel’s money, then the implication is that we, too, must worry about money, seeing to it that our limited resources are spent wisely.
(Rest Stop) They set out from Marah and came to Elim. There were twelve springs in Elim and seventy palm trees, so they encamped there. (Numbers 33:9)
Words of Torah are compared to water … as it says: “Ho, all who are thirsty, come for water” [Isaiah 55:1].… Just as water purifies a person of uncleanliness, as it says: “I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean” [Ezekiel 36:25], so too, Torah cleanses the impure from impurity, as it says: “The words of the Lord are pure words” [Psalms 12:7]. (Song of Songs Rabbah 1, 3)
There is a story of a learned man who came to visit a rebbe. The scholar was no longer a young man—he was close to thirty—but he had never before visited a rebbe.
“What have you done all your life?” the master asked him.
“I have gone through the whole of the Talmud three times,” answered the learned man.
“Yes, but how much of the Talmud has gone through you?” the rebbe inquired.
(The Earth Is the Lord's: The Inner World of the Jew in Eastern Europe (A Jewish Lights Classic Reprint)
)A Further Introduction to Seder Moed
SEDER MOED, CONTINUED
The tractates of a seder, or Order, are arranged according to their size. Thus, the tractates, or masekhtot, of Moed do not follow the Jewish calendar and the order of the year, as we might expect. Rather, the tractate with the largest number of chapters of Mishnah is first. Hence, the tractate Shabbat, with twenty-four chapters of Mishnah, is the first masekhet of Moed, followed by Eruvin and Pesaḥim, with ten chapters each, and Yoma with eight. We have divided our study of Seder Moed into two because of its eighty-eight total chapters and therefore large number of entries in this book. This allowed for the preceding Rest Stop in Seder Moed. The entries from the remaining seven tractates of Moed follow.
One who is doing one mitzvah is freed from doing another mitzvah.
Text / Mishnah (2:4): Those who are sent to do a mitzvah are exempt from the Sukkah.
Gemara: Where are these words from? As our Rabbis have taught: “[Recite them] when you stay at home” [Deuteronomy 6:7]. This excludes one who is doing a mitzvah.… Does the principle “One who is doing one mitzvah is freed from doing another mitzvah” come from here? It comes from there, as it has been taught: “But there were some men who were unclean by reason of a corpse” [Numbers 9:6]. Who were those men? Those who carried the coffin of Joseph, according to Rabbi Yosé ha-G’lili. Rabbi Akiva says: “They were Mishael and Elzaphan who were busy with [the bodies of] Nadav and Avihu.”
Context / You shall live in booths seven days; all citizens in Israel shall live in booths, in order that future generations may know that I made the Israelite people live in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I the Lord your God. (Leviticus 23:42–43)
Moses instructed the Israelites to offer the passover sacrifice; and they offered the passover sacrifice in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at twilight, in the wilderness of Sinai. Just as the Lord had commanded Moses, so the Israelites did. But there were some men who were unclean by reason of a corpse and could not offer the passover sacrifice on that day. Appearing that same day before Moses and Aaron, those men said to them, “Unclean though we be by reason of a corpse, why must we be debarred from presenting the Lord’s offering at its set time with the rest of the Israelites?” (Numbers 9:4–7)
The Mishnah begins by telling us that someone engaged in a mitzvah (such as going to free hostages held in captivity) during the festival of Sukkot is exempt from the commandment of building and dwelling in a Sukkah. The Gemara looks for the basis of this exemption in the Torah. Two possibilities are offered. First, the words of the Sh’ma (Deuteronomy 6:4–9) are to be recited “when you stay at home.” That implies that if a person was away from home engaged in another mitzvah, then he is exempt from this mitzvah. The second prooftext comes from the story of the men who wanted to celebrate Pesaḥ by offering the sacrifice, but were unable to because they had been in physical contact with a dead body. Sacrifices could be offered only by those who were ritually clean; contact with a corpse rendered a person ritually unclean. The Rabbis assume that because these men were engaged in a mitzvah (burying the dead), they therefore are exempt from the performance of another mitzvah (offering the Passover sacrifice at the proper time).
It is interesting to note that the Torah itself does not state explicitly which body the men were dealing with. Trying to identify the anonymous individuals mentioned, and thus turning an ambiguous situation into a specific one, is a common rabbinic way of reading the Bible. Rabbi Yosé believes the men were those carrying the body of Joseph from Egypt on its way to burial in Israel. Rabbi Akiva identifies them as Mishael and Elzaphan, cousins of Aaron, who are called upon to remove the bodies of Aaron’s sons Nadav and Avihu after their sudden death in the sanctuary (Leviticus 10:4).
Katz, M., & Schwartz, G. (1998). Swimming in the Sea of Talmud: Lessons for Everyday LIving
. Philadelphia, PA: The Jewish Publication Society.by Diana Wallis
You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.… In the same way, let your light shine before men. --- Matthew 5:14, 16
Religion brings to life principles that are ultimately to have the ascendancy in the soul. It calls up dormant powers—urges to conflict with the powers of darkness and bids us grapple with invisible and mighty foes. Let Christians contemplate the situation in which we are placed, and then let us ask whether this organization does not intend that our piety will be developed.
What is religion? It intends the subjugation of our natural propensities, the overcoming of our evil passions, the purification of our corrupt hearts, the discipline of wayward and rebellious minds. It demands that chastened and serious feeling should take the place of frivolity; prayer, the place of thoughtlessness; the love of God, the place of the love of fashion; and delight in devotion, the place of delight in amusement and ostentation. The nature of godliness is to stamp our lives in letters indelible, legible to all.
There is enough human opposition to all that is pure and humble to make it indispensable that a line be distinctly drawn between the friends and the foes of God. Christians have been a little band—a remnant amid humanity’s tribes. We tread a world in possession of the enemies of God. Our very presence is a rebuke on human pursuits, our views a rejection of the opinions of others, our lives a living reminder of human folly and crime. There is not a single principle of your religion that the people of the world do not at heart hate. There is opposition enough to test Christian character and show what we are. It may meet you in the family—the eye of a father will criticize you for being a Christian, or the tongue of a brother will deride you for your serious piety. It may meet you in the circle of friends—the voice of professed affection will speak of you as superstitious for your regard for God. It may meet you in public and political life and subject the soul to a daily and constant test whether there is strength of devotion sufficient to avow the despised doctrines of the cross and to make them the governing principle of your life.
“Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim. 3:12), and one design of persecution is to develop the strength of the Christian principle. --- Albert Barnes
(27). Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications.Expectation: Numbers 26–36
The old generation was gone now, the last of them carried away in the plague of Baal Peor. Some 600,000 men are numbered: the new generation matched in number the numbers of their fathers, who by now had fallen in the wilderness (26:64–65).
With the old generation gone, a new spirit infused Israel. In fellowship with God, sure of divine protection, and confident that they would choose what was right, the new generation looked forward to victory with optimism and hope.
This is shown strikingly in Numbers 27. Before a single battle had been fought in Palestine, five women approached Moses. Their father had died in the wilderness, and they had no brothers. They felt it would be unfair for their family to have no possession in the land, even though no son was alive to inherit.
What a striking faith! They never doubted the ultimate victory of Israel. They looked beyond the warfare to the time when the land would be divided among God’s people, and believed so confidently that they treated inheritance as a present possession.
God’s protected people had a right to this kind of confidence.
We too can look forward with complete assurance to victories that will surely be ours.
The census (Num. 26). All the first generation was now dead, their bodies scattered in the wilderness Israel had wandered for 38 years (vv. 64–65). The census established the number of Israel’s fighting men at 601,730 (not counting the 23,000 Levites who were set aside to serve the Lord).
The census was important. On the journey, if the deaths were averaged across the years, there would have been some 200 funerals a day! The new census established the fact that there was no loss of strength. The new generation numbered within a few thousand of the generation that had left Egypt!
How faithful God is, even in the years that we must wait for Him to act.
Zelophehad’s daughters (Num. 27). The five daughters of Zelophehad not only demonstrated faith, but they helped to establish the rights of women in Israel. The command that “if a man dies and leaves no son, turn his inheritance over to his daughter” (v. 8), is not reflected in the law codes of other peoples of that era.
Offerings (Num. 28–29). The offerings to be made on Israel’s special feast and festival days are reviewed. For the significance of the religious year, see Study Guide 15.
Vows (Num. 30). In both Testaments a “vow” is a pledge or a promise that is made to God, never to other persons. Vows were, as in this chapter, expressions of special devotion or commitment, and were usually voluntary.
There was a limitation placed on women, whose vow could be overruled by a husband or father. This is because in the Old Testament era the men were legally responsible for their wives and their children.
One special vow described in Numbers 6 is that of the Nazirite, which was a vow of separation.
The Old Testament views faithfulness in keeping vows as an indication of the piety and faithfulness of God’s people (cf. Pss. 50:14; 56:12; 76:11; Isa. 19:21; Jer. 44:25; Jonah 2:9; Nahum 1:15).
Transjordan tribes (Num. 32). Two of the Israelite tribes, who had very large herds and flocks, noted that the lands east of the Jordan were suitable for livestock. So they requested permission to settle in those lands, which had been taken in battle.
Permission was granted on the condition that the men fit for war go with their brothers to battle for the Promised Land, which lay beyond the Jordan River.
What faith the men of these tribes exhibited! They were willing to build cities for their families and flocks, and then leave them unprotected as they traveled across the river to fight! God would take care of their families while they were away. They would do their duties, and trust Him.
Cities of refuge (Num. 35). This chapter establishes a very important feature in Israel’s legal justice system. To sense their significance, we need to understand how criminal justice was to be handled under Old Testament Law. The Expository Dictionary of Bible Words gives this summary:
The Mosaic Law established a system in which responsibility to deal with criminal matters was distributed throughout the society. Each community was to have its own panel of elders who would serve as judges in civil and criminal matters. The Old Testament emphatically enjoins the judges to show no partiality and to accept no bribes (Deut. 16:18–20). Rules of evidence were established for serious cases (17:1–7; 19:15) and a “supreme court” of priests was established to inquire of the Lord in cases “too difficult” for the judges. Later, when the monarchy was established, the king became the chief judicial officer. In biblical times, all governing functions were considered to be located in the king as the head of the nation. But the king, like the lower courts, was to be subject to God. The law itself established the standards according to which the ruler must judge.
How were criminal matters dealt with? The Old Testament justice system, unlike our own, did not rely heavily on imprisonment to punish criminals. The Old Testament does report a number of cases of imprisonment—many of them under foreign jurisdiction (Gen. 39:20–22; 40:3, 5, 14; 42:16, 19; Jdg. 16:21, 25; 2 Kings 17:4; 25:27, 29; Jer. 52:11, 31, 33; Ezek. 19:9) and some under rulers in Israel and Judah (1 Kings 22:27; 2 Chron. 16:10; 18:26). Confinement could involve simply restriction to one’s residence or city (1 Kings 2:36), but in other instances it seems to have been in a room or pit in some official’s residence (Jer. 20:2; 32:2; 37:4, 15, 18; 38:6).
The Old Testament justice system relied more on restitution than on imprisonment. A person who was responsible for another’s loss was to reimburse the value of the property destroyed (Ex. 22:1–15). Property that was stolen or obtained illegally had to be returned, and a penalty of one to four times its value was added. Murder and accidental homicide were special cases with a distinct code to govern how they were to be judged.
Other penalties were prescribed for various personal injury and civil violations, including provisions for covering a person’s loss of income if an injury prevented work.
With many such guiding principles provided in the Mosaic Law, local judging elders were to call on witnesses within the community to establish the facts of a case and to supervise payment of the appropriate restitution or penalty.
The Old Testament justice system relied heavily on the existence of a community in which individuals were responsive to God and to His laws. History shows that, with few exceptions, God’s kind of justice was not administered during the Old Testament era.
The Numbers chapter dealing with homicide and establishing the cities of refuge must be understood in the context of the total system found in Old Testament Law.
The family “avenger of the blood” in this chapter is neither a vigilante nor an ancient Hatfield setting out to rid the world of a McCoy. Justice in Israel was a community responsibility, and there was no police force. Thus the one with primary responsibility to execute a murderer was the one in the community most affected by that crime: a member of the murdered person’s family. Should such a person kill a murderer, he did not murder him but rather served as the executioner appointed by the Law to purify the holy community.
At the same time, this passage makes a distinction between intentional, hostile killing, which is murder, and what we would call accidental homicide. The cities of refuge were established for the protection of a person who killed another accidentally. These were cities scattered throughout the land where such a person could flee an overzealous relative whose motives might involve a desire for revenge, even if the death was an accident.
The elders of the home city of the killer were to hear the arguments of the accused and the avenger, and to “judge between” the one accused of murder and the “avenger of blood” according to rules established in this chapter. If the accused was judged to have killed accidentally, “the assembly must protect” him, and see him safely to one of the cities of refuge where he would live in safety until the high priest died, and he could return home. By then the anger of the avenger might have died, and the accidental killer would receive the full protection of law. Should he then be attacked by a family avenger, the avenger himself is to be put to death.
(323). Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books.