Numbers 31:2: “Avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites: afterward shalt thou be gathered unto thy people.”
This news has been filled lately with the recent terrorist attacks in France by radical Islamic groups not only against the Jews but against the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo. The attack on Charlie Hebdo was an act of vengeance against the newspaper for their satirical depiction of Mohammad. Talk radio has been filled with comparisons between Christianity and Judaism where we quote Deuteronomy 32:35 where God says, “Vengeance is mine says the Lord, I will repay.” The art and entertainment community are constantly poking fun at the name of Jesus and of course we Christians would never, ever think of committing any act of violence against these artists. Our response is to pray for them and if there is any vengeance we leave it up to God.
Even in Israeli whenever there is an attack against their nation there will be an act of retaliation not revenge. They hit Israeli, Israeli hits back to let their enemies know that they will fight back but they will not call it revenge only a defensive measure meant solely to discourage any future attacks. We in Judeo Christianity teach that vengeance comes from the hand of God and not from us. Jesus taught us in Matthew 5:44: “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.”
Then what do we do with a passage in Scripture like Numbers 31:2 where God is not only seeking revenge against the Midianites, he is commanding Moses and Israel to be His hit men. Well, we can hide behind our Christian mandate that that is the Old Testament talking and not the New Testament, we live in a new day under the New Testament which commands us to love our enemies. Perhaps, but how do you explain the fact that the Jews who do not accept the New Testament, teach and embrace the Torah, the Old Testament and yet they too teach benevolence, forgiveness and mercy just as much, if not more than we Christians do?
I think the answer lies in a little twist in the Hebrew text which is totally ignored by our Modern Christian English translations. I have found only one modern English translation that addresses the double terminology that is used in the Hebrew text. That word vengeance is repeated naqam naqamath and should be rendered as avenge the vengeance. A standard rule in Semitic languages is that when a word is repeated it is done so to express an emphasis or intensity. Thus, the NSAB renders this as take full vengeance whatever that means.
A standard joke I would use when I introduced my first year Hebrew class while teaching at the Bible College was that we would learn all the rules in the first semester of Hebrew and in the second semester we would study all the exceptions to those rules.
It is true that when a word is repeated in a Semitic language it is done to show emphasis, but not always. There can be any number of reasons for a repetition of a word and many times we just don’t know why the word is repeated. This is why the two words in the Hebrew text naqam naqamath is simply rendered as vengeance and not avenge the vengeance as we just do not understand reason for the double terminology.
Another clue to aid us in attempting to understand this passage is the fact that God is commanding only an act of vengeance against the Midianites. This act of vengeance is in response to an action brought on by the Midianites who sent their daughters among the Israelites to seduce the men into committing adultery and drawing them into the worship of idols. This resulted in the slaying of 24,000 people. Yet, Scripture teaches that the Moabites also had a hand in this treachery, why were they not included in this war of vengeance?
Christian commentaries try to explain this away by saying that two heroines of Israel would come out of the Moabites, Ruth and Naamah (wife of King Solomon). Others say Moab was speared because they only entered into the foray because they were terrified of military might of Israel (Numbers 22:2-6). Again, perhaps this is the case and perhaps this is more of an act of retaliation rather than vengeance as it is today in Israel. Moab was afraid of Israel to begin with so they did not need to have the fear of Israel’s might instilled in them, but Midian was defiant and did not fear Israel so they had to be taught to fear Israel. God could have sent a plague or earthquake to wreak his vengeance but they would not really interpret that as coming from God and would still feel militarily superior to Israel. God had to bring Israel into a war with Midian so they would know and understand you do not mess with a superior military power.
But what about this double terminology naqam naqmath? Why do we not just go ahead and render it literally, avenge the vengeance? Well for one thing that is repaying evil with evil which is clearly contradictory to Proverbs 20:22, “Say not thou, I will recompense evil; [but] wait on the LORD, and he shall save thee.”
The Jewish sages however, see this double terminology as an embodiment of the spiritual essence of Midian. Clearly, the act of Midian was an outright attempt to turn the people away from God. The whole purpose of this act by Midian was to draw the people away from God. This was a spiritual act, an attack by Satan himself, the Midianites were merely the pawns that he used to destroy the spiritual dynamic of Israel. The word vengeance in Hebrew is naqam which comes from an Akkadian word which means vengeance but not in the sense that we think of revenge, getting satisfaction over a wrong done to us. It is a vengeance of vindication, an act to bring out the truth. The Jewish sages teach that this double terminology indicates that before the nation of Midian could be defeated in the natural the spiritual essence, the demonic essence of the nation had to be vanquished. Defeat that enemy, natural war may not be necessary.
Naqam Naqmath falls right in with the teachings of Jesus, not contradictory to it. The sages are teaching that to avenge the vengeance is an Hebraic expression meaning deal with the spiritual first to vindicate the vengeance. If someone makes fun or mocks our Jesus we do not put on ski masks and wreak violence on the ones mocking our Lord, we following the command that God gave Moses naqam naqmath, we must vindicate the vengeance, show that we are not like them. We are to recognize that this is a spiritual battle and we must first pray and love those who mock our Lord. In extreme cases where our very lives are threatened, as with Israel, we must retaliate against the Midianites to protect ourselves as Israel is doing today. But if they are not a threat to our lives or those we care about but only making fun of God we simply pray that their eyes will be opened and that the name of our God will be naqam – vindicated.
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