Numbers chapter 31 records the massacre of the Midianites. At the onset, it would appear that the Lord had commanded His people (the Israelites) to slaughter the Midianites for no reason. This obviously is not the character of a holy God. A closer reading and understanding of the whole would show that the Lord was executing a righteous justice upon the Midianites (including the women) for their sin. If one recalls, the Midianties had teamed up with the Moabites to curse the Israelites. Also, the Midianite women were brought specifically in the picture a few chapters back when they sought to seduce the Israelite men into serving their idols. These men were dealt with also for their sin.
With this in mind, we see then that the Lord was not tasking soldiers to take captive innocent women as slaves for no purpose. Rather, the Lord knew that the woman who had had sex would have been involved in the sin of seducing the Israelites and thus justice was made by the Israelite army.
This recollection of this historical event reminds me that sin will always catch up and find you out. There is no sin that can be hidden from a Holy God. The Lord is just that: righteous. Our sin is not to be taken lightly!
We are not doomed; however. The GREAT news of the Gospel is that God sent His Son, Jesus Christ to die on the cross for all our sins. So, we are able to confess our sins to God so that He will forgive us.
The last thing that struck me when reading and mulling over today's passage is the giving back that the people did. God had given the Midianites over to the Israelites and they plundered quite a bit of loot. However, they were willing and ready to give to the Lord, even though it all was His. This same principle still applies today.
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