Hello Eric
First let me say that I don’t mean to suggest that you are not a Catholic or anything like that. I really don’t like it when people say things like that. Oh you don’t believe X therefore you are not a Catholic! I mean sure there are limits but I think we both agree these are difficult passages.
My basis Catholic teaching tells us God would not command us to do evil is in part this:
“God is in no way, directly or indirectly, the cause of moral evil.”
http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p1s2c1p4.htm (see para 311)
The church teaches that killing unborn children is evil and I am sure you would agree that also applies to children who are born.
Saying the passages in question are not to be taken literally does not mean there was in fact no conquest of the promised land. If I write a non literally true story about a kid who made it to the nba from New York that does not mean no kids from New York ever made it to the NBA.
The reason I ask why you think the author intended his writing to be literal is because sometimes the author makes that clear. For example at the end of the Gospel of John he tells us he wrote about the miracles so that we would believe.
“Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe[a] that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”
Accordingly we know he meant us to take his statement of at least some of these miracles literally. Likewise Luke by referring to his sources coming from eyewitnesses suggests he intends what he tells us to be taken as something people actually saw. Not just a story with a message.
We don’t always have that with the Old Testament so the intent is not so clear. This is just the reality we are dealt.
One might ask well then how should we interpret this passage? Before I give my thoughts, I would say I think it is always fair to say I just don’t know what the Holy Spirit is trying to communicate. Perhaps different people find different meanings at different times. But that does not mean every phrase is going to convey what is mean for everyone who reads it every time. I have read scripture and understood different meanings several times. Just about every time I attend mass I understand scripture in a new way because I often don’t see everything that is explained in the Homily.
But let me ask this what would the Holy Spirit be trying to tell us if this actually happened? What is the purpose of relating this? To tell the truth? Sure it would then be telling us the truth. But there are lots of truths of history that are not recorded in scripture right? Why God want us to know he commanded his people to kill children and enslave women? I mean even if it is interpreted literally it is hard to see the purpose of preserving this in scripture.
But anyway here is my take on one of these difficult verses say for example Numbers 31.
Numbers 31 - Vengeance on the Midianites - The LORD - Bible Gateway
Go ahead and read it. Its about as difficult as any in the bible.
I think the bible itself gives us some hints. 1 Peter 19-21 says:
“After being made alive,d he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits—to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God.”
It is saying the waters of the flood symbolize the water of baptism. What did the water of the flood wash away? People with evil behavior. What does baptism wash away? Sins. So the people that are eliminated are stand ins for sinful behavior. And the emphasis is the extraordinary repentance God demands. It is a profound changing in our outlook. Your old ways and views must all die.
The women in Numbers 31 are the inclinations of sin as it says they were the ones tempting men. . They were the ones who lead the Jews astray. God says destroy them. What about children? Seeds of sinful behavior? They must perish as well. But there are Some girls who survive. Right? The pure. These would be our behaviors that were in fact pure before our change. But even these must be treated carefully. Cut off their hair, to be sure it is not sinful attachments.
And what about the bit about the jewels and metals and purifying them through fire? Indeed that reminds us of how Paul talks about how we will be put through fire in purgatory. 1 Corintians 3:11-15. Again everything from our old life needs to be either completely destroyed or brought over into the new only after extreme care. The passages are purposely extreme and demonstrate how we will be extremely reluctant to do it. Again I read these passages as suggesting the extreme changes God wants from us in turning away from sin and living a new life.
But I really see no purpose in God thinking it is important that we learn he command people to literally kill children. It doesn’t fit with our Catholic teaching or the majority of our scripture.
I am not sure if you agree with this interpretation or not. But hopefully it is some food for thought.
