I am having a hard time with this chapter. I 'd it possible that we are all looking for a meaning behind this chapter when there may not really be one? It is simply telling us what was going on at that time. However I dint understand why God would tell Moses to have all these people killed especially the children.
The lesson in this chapter is about what happens when we disobey God. To save us form our own weakness and bring us back into harmony with Him after we disobey usually causes heartache. I am sure it was hard for the soldiers to have to kill the women and children but if it were not done worse consequences would have resulted.
Remember Genesis 3, when man sinned? For man's sake we read that God moved him out of the garden and the earth was "cursed". Man had to eek out a living the hard way... God didn't really curse the earth himself, it was a natural result of the consequences of sin. This is a hard concept for us to understand. God was uttering what he knew would happen, its God's foreknowledge. Not predestination.
Israel was never to go to was to enter the promised land. God had "appointed" hornets to drive out the people ( natural disaster I interpret it as ( Ex. 23:38 And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee and Deuteronomy 7:20
Moreover, the LORD your God will send the hornet against them until all the survivors and those hiding from you have perished.)..
The earth itself revolts against us because of our sin. We do things that upsets the balance of nature - like climate change. And all the mining and drilling for oil etc... upsets the equilibrium of the earth and causes problems (which scientist never tell us about).
So Israel's disobedience disrupted God's plan and set in train a series of unfortunate events that resulted in Israel having to go to war - because they believed that was the only way to conquer. They did not trust God's way.
In this case, Moses told the men these adult women caused a plague among you before and many die. You want that to happen again? They had to die. The male offspring would become warriors to avenge their fathers who Israel killed - they had to die too (consider Moses himself re killing the Egyptian). The other females would become servants.
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Remember Genesis 3, when man sinned? For man's sake we read that God moved him out of the garden and the earth was "cursed". Man had to eek out a living the hard way... God didn't really curse the earth himself, it was a natural result of the consequences of sin. This is a hard concept for us to understand. God was uttering what he knew would happen, its God's foreknowledge. Not predestination.
Israel was never to go to was to enter the promised land. God had "appointed" hornets to drive out the people ( natural disaster I interpret it as ( Ex. 23:38 And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee and Deuteronomy 7:20
Moreover, the LORD your God will send the hornet against them until all the survivors and those hiding from you have perished.)..
The earth itself revolts against us because of our sin. We do things that upsets the balance of nature - like climate change. And all the mining and drilling for oil etc... upsets the equilibrium of the earth and causes problems (which scientist never tell us about).
So Israel's disobedience disrupted God's plan and set in train a series of unfortunate events that resulted in Israel having to go to war - because they believed that was the only way to conquer. They did not trust God's way.
In this case, Moses told the men these adult women caused a plague among you before and many die. You want that to happen again? They had to die. The male offspring would become warriors to avenge their fathers who Israel killed - they had to die too (consider Moses himself re killing the Egyptian). The other females would become servants.
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