Increasing Learning
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Books
  • Speaking
  • Free Resources
  • Contact Us

God's Solution for Pandemics

3/27/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
Nearly 3,500 years ago, the nation of Israel faced a pandemic so deadly that it killed 23,000 men in a single day.  That was 4% of the total population of Israel.  All of those who contracted this disease did so by committing a capital crime, and the initial defeat of the disease was accomplished by sentencing all of the survivors to death.  But that's not the end of the story. 

The disease had been introduced into Israel intentionally.  The Midianites had sent infected women into the camp of the Israelites to seduce Israeli men into sleeping with them and to transmit the disease to the men of Israel.  This intentional use of a harmful biological agent was an act of war, and God instructed Israel to retaliate by declaring war against Midian.  Of course, many of the Midianites were infected with the same disease that they had transmitted to the Israelites, so God gave the Israeli soldiers a specific set of instructions to prevent the disease from being reintroduced into the general population of the nation. 

I gave a lesson on this episode in Israel's history as part of my Forgotten Battles of the Bible series.  I've copied the outline here for those who would like to compare God's instructions to the way that our governments have responded to the coronavirus.  God's solution to a deadly pandemic was to completely quarantine those who had been exposed to the disease, but many of our state and local governments in America have chosen to partially quarantine everyone.  I don't know about you, but I'm inclined to think that God's solution is better.

  1. Vengeance against Midian – Num 31
    1. The Participants – vs. 1-3
      1. The Good Guys: Israel
      2. The Bad Guys: Midian
        1. Descendants of Abraham through his second wife, Keturah – Gen 25:1-2
        2. Lived just north of Egypt and was the place where Moses fled after killing the Egyptian – Ex 2:15
        3. Moses’ wife was a Midianite – Ex 2:16, 21
        4. The Midianites knew the true God
          1. They had a priest of God, Jethro – Ex 3:1, 18:9-12
          2. And a prophet of God, Balaam – Num 22:5
        5. Joined with Balak the Moabite to hire Balaam to curse Israel
        6. When Balaam could not curse Israel, he told the Midianites to send the women of Midian into the camp to seduce the men of Israel and draw them into worshipping idols – Num 31:16, Rev. 2:14
    2. The Location
      1. In the plains of Moab just across the river from Jericho – Num 22:1
      2. In the city of Shittim – Num 25:1
      3. Balaam had looked on the children of Israel from three mountains
        1. Kirjath-huzoth – Num 22:39
        2. Pisgah – Num 23:13-14
        3. Peor – Num 23:27-28
    3. The Reason
      1. Vengeance against Midian – Num 25:17-18
        1. The Midianites had intentionally sent their women into the camp of the Israelites to seduce them into fornication and idolatry – Num 31:16
        2. 24,000 Israelite men had died as a result of the plague brought by the Midianites – Num 25:9
          1. These were all the men who had slept with the Midianite women – Deut 4:3-4
          2. 23,000 of these men died in a single day – I Cor 10:8
          3. Apparently, the Midianites were infected with some kind of STD that eventually produced a sudden death in the Israelites who contracted it
          4. The Bible describes these men as eating “the sacrifices of the dead” – Psalm 106:28-29
      2. Elimination of a dangerous disease
        1. A plague was introduced in Israel through the Midianite women – Num 25:9
        2. After the Israelites defeated Midian, God commanded that all the non-virgin women and all the male children be killed. This is the only time that God ever gave such a command – Num 31:15-17
        3. God commanded that all the spoils captured from the Midianites be cleaned with either fire or water before being brought back into the camp of the Israelites – Num 31:22-23
        4. God commanded that every soldier who killed a Midianite and every captive spend seven days in isolation with at least two baths before coming back to the camp – Num 31:19-20
        5. These unusual commands only make sense if the Midianites were carriers of a disease, and the means by which the disease was introduced into Israel indicates that it was a sexually transmitted disease that was also passed to all the males through the mothers.
    4. The Battle
      1. Only required 12,000 of the 601,730 men of Israel – Num 31:4-5
        1. Indicates that the Midianite population was being depleted by the plague as well
        2. Probably also sent in such a small force because of the quarantine procedure
      2. Killed all the males including all five of the kings of Midian – Num 31:7-8
      3. Killed Balaam as well – Josh 13:22
    5. The Aftermath
      1. The Book of Deuteronomy was written – Deut 1:3-5, 4:3-4
        1. Could have been written after the plague but before the battle
      2. Created one of the greatest moral challenges to the Bible
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    Bill Fortenberry is a Christian philosopher and historian in Birmingham, AL.  Bill's work has been cited in several legal journals, and he has appeared as a guest on shows including The Dr. Gina Show, The Michael Hart Show, and Real Science Radio.

    Contact Us if you would like to schedule Bill to speak to your church, group, or club.

    "Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning." (Proverbs 9:9)

    Search


    Topics

    All
    Abortion
    American History
    Apologetics
    Archaeology
    Atonement
    Benjamin Franklin
    Bible
    Bible Contradiction
    Buddhism
    Calvinism
    Children
    Christmas
    Citizenship
    Coaching
    Context
    Covid
    Creation
    Debate
    Doctrine
    Evolution
    Geography
    Government
    Homosexuality
    Immigration
    Islam
    James Wilson
    John Adams
    Marriage
    Masks
    Meditation
    Morality
    Mormonism
    Open Theism
    Parenting
    Politics
    Sacrifice
    Sam Harris
    Science
    Self Defense
    Self-Defense
    Slavery
    Solon
    Soteriology
    Strategy
    Tactical Faith
    Textual Criticism
    The KJV
    Theology
    Vaccines
    Video

    Archives

    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    June 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    April 2023
    February 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    April 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    April 2019
    February 2019
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014

    RSS Feed

  • Home
  • Blog
  • Books
  • Speaking
  • Free Resources
  • Contact Us