"13 Moses and Eleazar the priest and all the chiefs of the congregation went to meet them outside the camp. 14 And Moses was 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 let all the women live? 16 Behold, these, on Balaam's advice, caused the people of Israel to act treacherously against the Lord in the incident of Peor, and so 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 man by lying with him. 18 But all the young girls who have not known man by lying with him keep alive for yourselves. 19 Encamp outside the camp seven days. Whoever of you has killed any person and whoever has touched any slain, purify yourselves and your captives on the third day and on the seventh day. 20 You shall purify every garment, every article of skin, all work of goats' hair, and every article of wood."
Numbers 31:13-20
The second point, concerning Midian, is that Midian, an implacable enemy of Israel down her history, at that time constituted a threat to Israel's very existence as a spiritual peo- ple. Balaam had shown the way to corrupt this people and the ugly incidents recorded in chapter 25 are enough to show just what a demoralising power this became in the life of Is- rael. We must always bear in mind the overall divine strategy in choosing Israel and bringing them into the Land redemption was the culminating concern, and the bringing forth of the promised Seed. And the corrupting influences of Midian were threatening the very existence of the line of promise. It had to be exterminated.
But what are we to say about the harsh barbarities committed the slaughter of the women and the children? The usual answer that is given is simply to say that 'of course a good deal of the Old Testament is subChristian, and we could never hold with many of the things such as this that are written in the history books and the Psalms. These were primitive times, and they did not know any better.' But this is not only too simple a conclusion to come to; it is also silly as a moment or two's reflection will show, and it raises far more serious problems than it solves. For what such an approach does is to dismiss certain portions of Scripture, saying they are not inspired by God. But this is to make one's own moral judgment the sole criterion of what is inspired in the Scriptures and what is not. And that is claiming inspiration for oneself. And another man may apply his judgment in other directions, and soon there will be nothing but a Bible of shreds and patches. But there is still another objection to this viewpoint, and we shall look at it now.