Did God Really Tell Moses to Do That?

A Hard Look at Numbers 31

Let’s be honest about something that makes a lot of people uncomfortable: the Old Testament wasn’t written by God. It was written by men—specifically, by a group of religious elites who claimed to be God’s chosen people. And just like political and religious leaders throughout history, they used that claim to justify power, war, and control.

From the very beginning, this group positioned themselves above everyone else. They didn’t just say they were different—they said they were better. Favored. Chosen. Everyone else? Outsiders. Enemies. Worthless. And those beliefs show up clearly in the way their scriptures were written.

What we see in many Old Testament passages isn’t divine justice—it’s tribalism, racism, and human vengeance, all wrapped in the name of God. They wrote laws that benefitted themselves. They wrote stories that justified taking land, wealth, and even people. And to make it unquestionable, they stamped it all with “God said so.”

Nowhere is that more obvious than in Numbers 31—a chapter that many believers either ignore or try to explain away. But it’s there. And it’s brutal.

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The Command to Slaughter

In Numbers 31:1–2, we’re told that God instructs Moses to take vengeance on the Midianites.
Not justice—vengeance.

“Take vengeance on the Midianites for the Israelites. After that, you will be gathered to your people.”

Okay, so the Israelites go out and do exactly that. In verse 7, they kill all the Midianite men.
Then in verse 9, they capture the women and children. They also take livestock and loot.

But it gets worse.

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What Moses Orders Next

In Numbers 31:14–18, Moses gets angry that his army spared the women. Then he gives this order:

• Kill all the male children

• Kill every woman who has slept with a man

• Spare only the virgin girls

Read that again.

Spare only the virgin girls? Why? What were they kept alive for?

Let’s be honest—this sounds a lot less like holy justice and a lot more like ancient warlords taking revenge, wealth, and young girls as property. Does that really sound like something the God of love and justice would command?

Or is it more likely that Moses claimed it was God’s command to justify his own rage, greed, and power?

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Ask the Hard Questions

If God wanted to destroy the Midianites, why not do it Himself? Why command humans to carry out this kind of brutal slaughter? Why allow the taking of young virgin girls?

This isn’t me being rebellious or denying the Bible. This is me asking questions. Real questions that too many are afraid to ask.

Because if we’re just going to blindly follow everything written by ancient religious elites—who also used those texts to claim they were God’s favorites while everyone else was disposable—then we’re no better than the people we criticize for being asleep and obedient to corrupt systems.

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Final Thought

Faith is one thing. Blind obedience is another.

You don’t get closer to God by refusing to think. And just because someone in the Bible said, “God told me to do this,” doesn’t automatically mean He did.

Start asking questions. God isn’t afraid of your doubt—only controlling people are.

And yes—Numbers 31 happens after Moses received the Ten Commandments. So by the time he gave the order to kill men, women, and children, he had already stood before the people with the tablets that said, “Thou shalt not kill.” Did that mean just don’t kill each other while killing everyone else outside the tribe was permitted?

So ask yourself this: would God hand Moses a commandment forbidding killing… and then turn around and tell him to lead a mass slaughter?

Or is it more likely that men wrote these stories to justify their own violence—and just claimed it came from God?