Confront yourself with this story, and really ask if you support what was done here.

In Numbers 25:6, the Israelite man Zimri brings the Midianite woman Kozbi to the Israelite camp, after which the Israelites are said to have been hit by a plague that left 24,000 dead. Phinehas, the Isrealite general, kills Zimri and Kozbi, ending the plague. Yahweh claimed that Kozbi brought this plague upon the Israelites and told them to “treat the Midianites as enemies and kill them”.

So in Numbers 31 an army of Israelite soldiers commanded by Phinehas starts a war of eradication to ethnicaly clense the Midianites from the land. What follows is barbaric – each Midianite town is torched, all the males (including children and babies) were murdered, while the livestock, women and girls were taken as slaves.

Moses arrives on scene (v13) – “Moses was furious with the army officers – “What’s this! You’ve let these women live! … Finish the job: kill all the boys. Kill every woman who has slept with a man. The younger girls who are virgins you can keep alive for yourselves…”

The plunder from the Midianite campaign was “[cattle, donkeys, gold] and 32,000 virgin girls.”

Yahweh instructed Moses to divide these spoils between the Israelites. Yahweh demanded a 0.1% share of the plunder for himself.

It is not clear what happened to Yahweh’s 0.1% share of the spoils of war, including 808 animals and 32 human virgin girls, who are entrusted to the Priests. Two Hebrew terms are used to indicate they are a ‘tribute’ that is ‘offered’ to Yahweh.

Some scholars have concluded that these 32 young girls are to be sacrificed to Yahweh as a burnt offering along with the animals. vis. Jephthah’s daughter in Judges 11.

Pluger (1995) cited Exodus 17, Numbers 31, Deuteronomy 13 and 20 as examples of human sacrifice demanded by Yahweh.

Before the 7th-century BCE reforms of king Josiah (who tried to end the practice of child sacrifice), it appears to have been commonplace in Israelite military culture, as it was in the surrounding cultures. This is consistant with the practice being condemed by late biblical writers such as Jeremiah and Ezekiel.

The Historical Accuracy of this event is discussed in a seperate post.