Vengeance. Does God Have a Wart?

Numbers 31:1-7 

“The Lord said to Moses, “Take vengeance on the Midianites for the Israelites … and they killed every man.”

I don’t know what to do with Numbers 31. It smells bad. I would like to put it out with the garbage. But here it is in the bible confronting me.

How are we to face this chapter (and others like it)?

My humanist friends say: “Toss your bible away”. Chapters like this, they argue, are like mouldy spots on bread. You wouldn’t eat festering bread, why would you swallow the ideas in this book. They would highlight verse 17 and a handful of others like it. I am embarrassed!

My biblicist friends say the opposite: “God said it, I believe it, that settles it.” Yes, but … I’m still having trouble. I feel unsettled, not settled.

Bible Scholar Raymond Brown says: “Rather than begin with an adverse judgment, we must patiently try … to understand precisely what it is saying to us in the early twenty first century.” Setting my problem aside (after wrestling very fairly with the issue), he explores some wonderful deeper insights in the passage. Themes of justice, holiness, obedience, promise, protection and uniqueness spill out like perfume. BUT, none of it abates the stink of verse 1. Sorry, I’m just saying. (Brown p266)

Calvin says: “When God’s judgements surpass our understanding, we should in sober humility give glory to his secret”. He reminds me that God is big and I am small, that I can understand neither justice nor judgement. He concludes: “People who seek to know more than is fitting, elevate themselves too high”. He's not wrong. (Brown p274)

My old Sunday School teacher said: “I don’t know.” To be honest I have never gotten a better response. I have read, written and preached more complex attempts, but never a more truthful answer.

There is much good in this cacophony of opinions. But there is no satisfying conclusion and I have nothing better to add. Except the important point that God is not the one with the problem, it's me. He is not asking for a defense, I am asking for an explanation.

Please don’t misunderstand me, I love God. I can give myself a pretty good lecture on God’s holy justice, his sovereign right to rule and his higher ways which are beyond finding out. But I still reject genocide, feel sick at the thought of male infanticide and am offended by the way this chapter addresses female virginity. I can’t reconcile it. And I don't like it.

The Wart

My mother has a small growth on her gentle radiant face. Only strangers and small children ever notice it. When my daughter was just a child, sitting nose-to-nose with her Grammie, she asked the obvious question, "But why is it there?". Mum replied, with sage wisdom: “Oh it’s just a part of me”. My daughter stared at it, touched it, puzzled over it and then looking again at Grammie’s whole smiling face, she forgot about it. It is still there. It is still part of her. There are probably dermatological and genetic reasons I am sure, but Mum’s answer is best.

Numbers 31 is a blemish, a wart. I ask God, “Why is it there?” But all I get in reply is, “It’s part of me”. That will have to be enough. And as long as I look at his face, his whole face – it is!

Questions

• How do you handle bible passages you don't understand?
• What other parts of the bible put light on this chapter?
• Leave a comment.

Good Anger, Bad Anger: 8 Tests

Numbers 20:10

Moses said to them, “Listen, you rebels, must we bring water out of this rock?” Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice …”

Moses was a hot-head. I am aware of at least eight times he responded in anger (see below)*. In the end it seems to have brought him unstuck. Anger certainly helped him to be a great leader but it also hurt his leadership.

There are two challenges with anger as I experience it. What fuels it and what comes of it? I think of it as anger inputs and outputs.

Anger Inputs. Anger can be wrong from the start. Sometimes the thing that makes me angry is not right. I might be thinking too much about myself or focused on something that is really small or just misinformed about what is truly the case. If I start wrong, the whole thing is wrong.

Here are four ways I try to test my anger inputs:

• My Mentor. Can I image Jesus getting angry about this? What would it look like if he did?
• Reversal. If the tables were turned, would I accept someone else being similarly angry with me?
• Power. Whose loss of power is at stake here? Mine, my group, my tradition? Or the underdog, the weak, and the needy?
• Self. Am I really just being selfish?

Anger Outputs. Anger can go wrong along the way. I might start out all right, but then anger makes me do something wrong. I over-react or I fail to read the situation correctly and take a bad action. I speak too quickly or too harshly. I act without love.

Four ways I try to test my anger outputs:

• Pause. Have I taken enough time for reflection between my angry impulse and my angry response?
• Feelings. Am I personally hurt? Is my thinking clouded by wounded emotions?
• Future. Will the action I am contemplating bring long term justice or injustice? For whom? At what cost?
• God. Will the action I am contemplating please God? Will it serve God’s Kingdom?

Good anger has both good inputs and good outputs. It has righteous reasons and results and therefore helps me live a more Godly life. Good anger is anger without sin, anger that is slow and anger that gives no ground to evil. (Eph. 4:26-27)

Moses' Anger

On most occasions Moses’ anger was good. It usually mirrored the hurts and hopes of God. When he stormed out of Pharaoh’s palace he was acting out the displeasure of God. And when he broke the Commandment Tablets in the presence of the golden calf he was displaying God’s heart (Ex. 11:8, 32:19).

But Moses crossed a line in the desert of Zin. He got frustrated and acted foolishly putting himself in the spotlight instead of God. He called the people “rebels” and then God declared him a rebel. Bad-anger cost Moses his ticket into the Promised Land (Numb. 20:10-12, 24; Deut. 32:51; Ps. 106:32-33).

Anger is a powerful emotion. It can do good, it can do bad. It can motivate God’s work or make us blind to it (Mk. 3:5, 11:12-19; Lk 15:28). If its input and output is righteous it can do an eternity of good. But if the reason and the result of anger is anything else – if it is really man’s anger – then expect only trouble (James 1:19-20).

Questions

• How do you control anger? How do you keep it righteous?
• Do you have a story of "good anger" serving a good purpose?

*Here are eight examples of Moses’ anger: He murders an Egyptian (Ex. 2); storms out of Pharaoh’s presence “hot with anger” (Ex. 11:8); goes off at the Israelites for not listening to his instructions (Ex. 11:8); smashes the stone tablets when he sees the golden calf (Ex. 32:19); gets angry about a failed tabernacle ritual and then changes his mind when he hears Aaron out (Lev. 10:16, 20); gets livid when his right to lead is unfairly challenged (Numb. 16:15); fumes at the army officers for not following orders (Numb. 31:14); gets annoyed at everyone’s grumbling and makes it personal losing privilege with God (Numb. 20:10-12).

Is Your Mirror Lying?

Number 13:32-33

“All the people we saw there are of great size ... we seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes and we looked the same to them.”

How do I see myself? How do I imagine others see me? Does it matter? 

These sound like psychology questions but in this context they are also theological questions. They are questions about trusting God. Questions Caleb learned to answer better than most people.

Moses sent twelve spies to investigate the Promised Land. Ten in the group returned depressed. They convinced nearly everyone that taking the Land God had promised them was actually impossible. Only Caleb and Joshua gave a positive report. And if you look closely they are the only ones with a healthy self understanding. (Read the whole story in Numb. 13:1-14:45)

All twelve saw the same thing with their physical eyes. But, the group of ten and the group of two saw different things with their hearts.

Ten focused on giants who would surely defeat them. And so they saw themselves as “grasshoppers” certain to be stepped on. Their mirrors told them to run away.

Two focused on a God who would deliver them. So when they looked in the mirror, they saw mighty men about to pummel the unprotected Anakites (giants). Their lives are an inspiration!

I want Caleb’s mirror. Four questions help me to see my life as he learned to see his.

Who’s Eyes am I looking through? There are three points of view for each spy in this story. (a) Israelite eyes, (b) Anakite eyes and (c) Divine eyes. Caleb was not interested in the first two perspectives. He was only interested in seeing the situation from God’s point of view. This changes everything.

My life is very different through God’s eyes. Your view of me is inadequate and I need to worry less about it. What I see is partial and I need perspective. Faith in God yield’s a much higher, wider and wiser view of my life. Who's eyes? God's eyes.

What Emotions Are in Me? Fear is a huge inhibitor. When angels turn up in the bible the first thing they usually say is “Don’t be afraid.” Caleb says it twice in his speech. (Numb 14:9) We need to call fear out, confront it and defuse it. When we see fear for what it is we are better placed to obey God.

I will confront my fear by naming it and then turning to God. The only “fear” that leads to wisdom is a fear of God. Fear of people, unknown adventures, personal failure, aging, losses or hurts will only cripple my life. What emotion? Trust in God.

What Conversation is in My Head? Caleb together with Joshua speaks positively. “We can certainly do it” he tells everyone. “The land is exceedingly good” they declare. “If God is pleased with us, he will … give it to us.” This is the talk of bold faith. It is anchored in God’s promise and a wonderful story of divine faithfulness.

Israel has taken a long walk to get to this moment. They left Egypt with a promise from God. As they travelled they saw God part the Red Sea and rain manna from heaven. Now they need to retell that story and shout their obedience to it. The best way to face fortified cities and very large enemies is to do so while talking about the power of God.

Ten of these spies have the wrong conversation in their heads. They aren't thinking about what God has done so they don't speak about what God could do. Caleb and Joshua are different!

I purpose to tell God’s story not mine. What conversation? God Can, God Will!

What Spirit Motivates Me? I want Caleb’s spirit. It was different from the others. He “followed God wholeheartedly”. (Numb. 14:24). From this inner strength he acted and spoke differently. He challenged popularity poles and stood against the crowd.

I will seek to be filled with God’s Holy Spirit, the very source of Caleb’s difference. I want to walk in step with the Spirit. What spirit? The Holy Spirit.

My Mirror

So, I keep working on my view of self. It is important that my mirror doesn't lie to me. When it does, I risk failing God. Good questions help me to see, feel, talk and respond from God’s perspective and not just my own.

Don’t call me a grasshopper. God is with me and I am much more than you can see.

Questions

• Do you agree that self-image is important in your walk of faith?
• What inhibits healthy self-image? What fosters a good self-image?
• How healthy is your self-image?

Leave a comment.