An Evil God by Hoku Lani – Non-Fiction

An Evil God

In Numbers 31:15-18, after his soldiers had killed all of the men among the Midianites, Moses ordered his army officers to kill all of the male children, kill all of the nonvirgin females but to save alive all of the virgin girls for his troops.

Prior to this, the Israelites had taken all of the animals and goods of the Midianites and then burned all of their towns. If genocide or “ethnic cleansing” is a war crime, then this act of Moses was clearly a war crime … What possible reason could Moses have given in order to justify this horrendous act of genocide? After all, wasn’t he the great “law giver”?

He claimed that Yahweh, the God of Israel, ordered him to do this, because the Midianites worshiped a deity named Baal Peor. The Midianites felt that Baal Peor was nature’s god, the creator of the universe, whereas the Israelites believed that their god Yahweh was the creator.

So, in effect, what we have here is a demonization of those people who refer to the creator by a different name. These people are accused of worshiping a false god.