Pages 5-7: summer 1993

SEXUAL CONDUCT PENTATEUCHAL STYLE

                      Robert Countess, Ph.D.
   
   There are several biblical passages that I consider unambiguous in their 
implications or the inferences that may be drawn from them concerning sexual 
beliefs and practices of the times in which they were written. One is found in 
Numbers 31: "But all the young girls who have not known man by lying with 
him, keep alive for yourselves" (v:18, RSV).

   The context is the overall conquest of the land after the exodus.  Specifi-
cally, chapter 31 treats a war with Midian.  Yahweh required revenge against 
Midian for its previous wrong of Israel (Num. 25).  After this military expe-
dition, Moses was to be gathered to his people (31:1), a euphemism for his 
death.

   Paramount here is Yahweh's  vengeance  (v:3)--not  justice  or
rehabilitation--and this vengeance was to take on the form of a nearly total 
annihilation of men, women, children, and animals.  The cities were to be 
burned also, but we are not told if the fruit and olive trees and the vine-
yards were to be cut down.

   Twelve thousand Israelite men warred against Midian and killed every 
(adult) male (v:7). So far, there was obedience, but we then read that 
captivity rather than destruction was the end result for the women, children, 
animals, and other goods (v:9).  On the return of his army, Moses upbraided 
the officers for sparing "all the women" (v:15), who were of the same nation-
ality as the women who had enticed some 24,000 Israelite men to idolatry and 
sexual relations in an earlier incident (Num. 25).

   Moses ordered that "every male among the little ones" be killed (v:17), 
but he did not enjoin the killing of every Midianite female--only those who 
had had sexual intercourse with men.  The text does not put this command of 
Moses in Yahweh's mouth, but the context implies that Moses was here carry-
ing out Yahweh's word.  So now the warriors killed all women who had had 
sexual experience.

   I find it interesting, even though it might not be all that significant, that 
those spared were not called virgins [bethulah] but simply "the young girls 
who have not known man by lying with him" (v:18). Was the writer implying 
by this that pagan women could not be virginal in a high, ethical sense, but 
that they were only those with a physical qualification called hymen intactus?

   At any rate, the stated purpose for sparing these "intact" females was a 
sort of dative of advantage: "for yourselves."  And according to verse 35, 
there were some 32,000 "intact" females spared.  The formula for dividing up 
this fortuitous bounty was 50:50 for warriors and congregation (v:27). 
Thereupon, Yahweh's portion was 1:500 (v:28) of the 50% that the warriors 
received, whereas the Levites' share was considerably larger: 1:50 of the 50% 
given to the congregation.

   The "intact" females were divided as follows: 16,000 to the warriors (and 
since there had been only 12,000 warriors to begin with, and all had sur-
vived, this balanced out to one and one-third virgins per warrior); 16,000 
for the congregation (how they were distributed to the hundreds of thousands 
of Israelites was left unsaid); then 32 females for Yahweh and 320 for the 
Levites.

   At issue here is the question: For what purpose(s) were these "intact" 
females spared?  What did Yahweh want or need?  And what did he actually 
do with them?  Since the Levites were ministers at the cultic site, it is only 


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logical to conclude that these 32 were turned over to them for use. In the 
context of this story, the answer was apparently one of aposiopesis.  What 
kind of stated answer really could have been given the readers? Here, silence 
is truly golden.

   In the division of the captives, last in the list were the congregation's 
15,680 females. This was the 16,000 less the Levites' 320. Parceling them out 
to the twelve  tribes gave about 306 per tribe and thus not really very many 
to go around.  Again, in the various households to which they did in fact 
go, if used as menials, sexual temptation would certainly ensue for fathers 
and sons.  Question: could these females have ever become full Israelite 
women through marriage?

   Precedent supports an affirmative answer on the analogy of the "mixed 
multitude" that accompanied Israel out of Egypt, even though the matter can 
be treated only indirectly from the texts.  More directly might be the prece-
dent in which Moses, having taken a Cushite woman to wife (LXX: aithiops, 
the common Greek term for "burnt faced" peoples, that is, Hamitic types). 
Although Miriam and Aaron were highly critical of this marriage (even though 
their explicit reason was not given), Yahweh's siding with his servant Moses 
supports the inference that a foreign woman could become as legitimate a 
member of Israel as any other (Num. 12).

   On the other hand, because of the immediate association of these Midianite 
females, it seems unlikely that they would have been regarded fit for mar-
riage. Hence, the interpretation that I deem most genial with the context's 
"for yourselves" (v:18) is that these virgins were for whatever general 
disposition that comported with the Yahwistic milieu.  Namely, that they could 
be handled sexually.  Analogy for this is Leviticus 19:20-22, which made 
provisions for an Israelite to lie sexually with a female slave even though she 
was betrothed to another man (slave?). The two of them were not to be put 
to death, since "she has not been freed" (RSV).  Thus, I construe that 
Israelite men could have similarly related to these Midianite females.

   CONCLUSION: The thesis question for this study, assuming only the 
Pentateuch for guidance,  asks about both content and practice for us today. 
As for belief content, we might hold that sexual relations on a somewhat 
casual basis are acceptable as long as the female is (1) intact, (2) not idola-
trous, and (3) not married, even though perhaps betrothed.  We can be (1) 
warriors, (2) laymen, (3) priests, (4) married, and, inferentially, (5) 
Yahweh himself.  The latter is most shocking to the sensibility, but we are to 
remember that Yahweh was directing Israelite life in great detail during this 
period, and, secondly, the people were called upon to be followers, that is, 
emulators of Yahweh.  For interpretations that seek to give adequate emphasis 
to the tribal significance of Yahweh, my inference cannot seem too far-
fetched.

   APPLICATION: Were I, as chaplain, to have taken Numbers 31 for my 
sermon text and spoken to a combat arms unit on the eve of a battle, say, in 
Vietnam, and further, say, My Lai, Vietnam, I might have said the following:

        Men, you have read with me this chapter of God's word to 
     Israel just before attacking the Midianites.  Let me reemphasize 
     the salient points.  When you go into battle, you will, with 
     success, reach a village called on our maps My Lai, and you are 
     to utterly destroy it with napalm and explosives.  Kill every male 
     without regard to age, even those sucking at the breasts of their 
     mothers.  Kill the mothers too.  Kill also every female who is not 
     a virgin.  Our medics will provide clinical direction about those in 
     doubt as to their intact status.

        You are free to take spoils of sheep, donkeys, and cattle as 
     you have opportunity, as well as any valuables you come across. 


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     After this battle is over--and I pray that all of you will return 
     safely--our commander will divvy up the virgins and the spoils on 
     an equitable basis.  The virgins will be for yourselves.  You who 
     are married, I'm sure, have understanding wives, because, after 
     all, it is our God who has outlined our mission and its execution.

        After it's all over, men and women (of our all- volunteer, 
     nonsexist army), I'll lead you in a postvictory chapel service of 
     praise and thanksgiving to Yahweh.  May God go with you all! 
     Amen.

   As distasteful and even ludicrous as the above scenario might sound, I 
believe that what I have inferred and reconstructed is an accurate reflection 
mutatis mutandis when placed within the context of the thesis of this article. 
Perhaps in no other way can we enter into the Old Testament  milieu and see 
what it might have been like to have lived in a certain slice of that era. One 
may call my approach "heuristic" in the sense of our trying to emulate the oft 
repeated dictum: "Follow the scriptures."  Are avid preachers of that dictum 
really willing to follow this example?

   (Dr. Robert Countess is a former army chaplain, who holds the Ph.D. in 
NT Greek text and is a history adjunct at Alabama A & M University in 
Huntsville.  His address is 120 Sagewood Circle, Toney, AL 35773.)                 

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