THE EXTERMINATION OF THE MIDIANITES. This story of a war of extermination, waged to avenge the wiles practised on Israel by Midian (as described in Numbers 25:6) is marked by various fanciful elements, such as (_a)_ the huge number massacred (for if the girls and unmarried women amounted to 32,000,... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PURIFICATION OF THE ISRAELITE ARMY AFTER THE SLAUGHTER. The purification of warriors after a battle, practised in antiquity as by savage peoples to-day, was due, not to any desire for physical cleanliness, but to the dread of the mystery involved in spilt blood and in dead bodies: those who had... [ Continue Reading ]
THE DIVISION OF THE BOOTY. The principle of equal division between those who went forth to fight, and those who remained in the camp was observed by David (1 Samuel 30:22), who seems to have been the first to establish such a rule. The tax of ⅟? 500 of the combatants'share for the priests and of ⅟?... [ Continue Reading ]