Genocide or Judgment?

Numbers 31 contains one of the first stories of the entire destruction of a nation. Not only are all of the Midianites in the Moab valley destroyed, but Moses commands the death of all the captives save the youngest girls who have never had relations with a man.

These passages of scripture often cause people to snap to the judgment that God is unjust in such action. In this sermon we consider whether this is a model for warfare or an example of judgment, and what difference it makes to how we perceive the events described here.