I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading. I had been using One Year Bible Online, but it was time for a change.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Numbers 30-31.

    A short time after the Moabite plot to seduce Israelite men into worship of Baal of Peor the Israelites went to war against the Midianites in retaliation. There are some who are confused by this transition from Moabites to Midianites. However, there are two things which make clear what was going on here. First, before Balak sent for Balaam he consulted with the elders of Midian. Second, this passage records that when the Israelites defeated the Midianites they killed Balaam. Balaam’s presence among the Midianites lends support to the statement by Paul in the New Testament that Balaam advised Balak to have the women seduce the Israelites into Baal worship. Finally, Moses command after the battle to kill all of the women who were not virgins supports the idea that the plague which struck the Israelites was a sexually transmitted disease. A final point which supports the idea that there was significant disease among the Midianites was that all of the men who went into the battle, all of their captives, and all of the plunder needed to be washed with the “water of purification” (which was either soapy water or lye water–lye dissolved in water…the ritual for preparing water of purification would result in one or the other, I am not sure which).