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Mousetrails - The First Holy War - Page 20

All Bible quotes are from the Douay-Catholic Bible

GOD"S ARMY
God knew the Jews were not a war-like people when He led them out of Egypt so He took them the long way around.

HE KNEW THEY WOULDN"T FIGHT FROM THE VERY BEGINNING!

This chapter shows how He taught them to fight and win, and deals with battles that were fought with the help of, or at the direct order of God himself. He now had the manpower to attack and obliterate whole cities. With His help and direction, the Jews occupied much land and took many, many, lives. But at this point, the land was important to God, only because He had promised it to Israel so many times. What was important to Him was the gold, silver, precious stones, and, of course, the virgins. In this chapter I keep track of the number of human beings that died because of the army of the God of the Jews.

In one of Israel's first battles, we are told that,

If you use cold, hard, numbers, they get almost unbelievable from the very beginning. In a census of Jewish men old enough to fight, we find,

Moses told Josue,

Since the soldiers were hand picked, and I wish to leave no room for argument, let's cut the number in God's army in half. Amalec obviously had time to look at the situation, and came out without provocation to do battle. He must have thought he could win, so he would have to have had at least as many soldiers as the
Israelites. Now, not only did Josue kill all of Amalec's soldiers, he mowed down the people too. Since Amalec's army must also have been 300,275 men, when you add one wife, and two children to each soldier, a great number of people died. 1,201,100 people died, and this number does not include any Israelite soldiers, because although they surely had some, the Bible doesn't mention them.
1,201,100 died.

War Holy The Mousetrails

All Bible quotes are from the Douay-Catholic Bible

When Israel came out of Egypt as freed slaves, they were not aggressive people. They had never fought a war, or killed in great numbers. After they heard the next passage, they would not have suspected that they would ever have to. God told them he would use hornets to drive out the present inhabitants. He said he would do it gradually, so even the wild beasts wouldn't harm his chosen people.

Another, "I don't remember this in Sunday school." passage. The first time I added these numbers to the concept that each of these men likely had a wife and at least three children, I was dumfounded.

I had always pictured two or three thousand people being led out of Egypt, but 603,550 men, plus wives, and children. Actually multiple wives, and many children,
was the custom of the day. But, so there can be no room for argument, I"ll use the numbers of one wife, and three children. Now multiply 5 times 603,550. You come up with a number of 3,017,750 men, women, and children being led across the desert!

When Israel asked to peacefully pass through the country of the Amorrites, their king came out to fight.

Verse 25 says Israel seized all the towns, and settled there. There is no information given on the number of towns, so I"ll use only the towns named. Hesbon, Jazer, Moab, Chamos, Dibon, Ar and Medaba are the cities mentioned,
verse 24 thru 31. Although the usual death toll is not given here, the next passage leaves no doubt as to what happened to seven cities with 12,000 people in each city.
84,000 died.

Mousetrails - The First Holy War Revealed Bible The

All Bible quotes are from the Douay-Catholic Bible

Now Israel had a taste of blood, so instead of staying in the land they had just occupied, they went looking for more, WITH GOD"S BLESSING!

Would it be fair to guess that King Og lost at least as many people as were slaughtered when they took King Sehon?
84,000 died.

Now, Israel was experienced in the art of war, so God ordered
vengeance on the Madianites.

The Madianite women were killed for prompting unfaithfulness, but it was alright
to save the VIRGIN Madianite women. There were 32,000 virgins, (Numbers 31:35) that came out of this battle. Each one of these virgins had a father that died in battle, another 32,000. Then you must count the mothers of these virgins, another 32,000. Now to keep the number as low as possible, let's guess that only 25% of these virgins had brothers. ( male children, 8000 ) Then add five
Madianite kings and the son of Beor.
72,006 died.

Page 20 War Holy The Mousetrails

All Bible quotes are from the Douay-Catholic Bible

The next step was to devide the booty. God told Moses to count the humans (virgins) and the beasts. Then devide them evenly, giving half to the warriors that fought the battle, and half to the rest of the community. As usual, God didn't miss the opportunity to levy a tax. From the warrior's half, he wanted,

And from the people's half, he wanted,

So the warriors animals were divided, and also

Then the people divided their spoils, and

16,000 virgins divided by fifty, is 320. So God had the priests take charge of 352 virgins. Why did God need 7425 sheep, 792 oxen, 671 asses, and 352 virgins? I don't see this God as a sheep herder. In my wildest dreams I can't imagine Him working behind a pair of oxen, or riding an a s s. And what in the world would God want with 352 virgins? Yes. Yes, I know, they were given to the priest. All right, same question. What in the world are the priests going to do with 352 virgins? What unbelievable numbers on this slaughter. No, the word massacre fits better here, because Israel did not loose a man. (Numbers 31:49)

After the long march across the desert, Israel finally reached Chanaan and were sent to scout the land. They returned with reports of giants inhabiting the land, because they thought the people they had seen were too strong for them. So God proceeded to have a temper fit. He told them

Thirty eight years passed as Israel wandered in the desert. And as God had threatened

603,550 men died, but the women aged also. Add 603,550 wives to the count.
1,207,100 died.

Edited: mousetrails on 21st May, 2008 - 9:15pm

War Holy The Mousetrails

All Bible quotes are from the Douay-Catholic Bible

The king of Hesebon didn't want Israel passing through his land, so God

Three cities were mentioned. Aroer, city in the wadi, and Galaad. No doubt there
were more, but again, I will not guess for the sake of argument. Three cities, times 12,000 people, equals 36,000.
36,000 died.

The next passage holds some really big numbers that assure me the number 36,000 is a gross underestimate for the previous passage about the killing in Hesebon. It is a little long, but read it carefully, paying close attention to the numbers of cities and towns.

60 cities x 12,000 = 720,000 Here I will underestimate the number of small towns. Let's say 6 towns with 1/4 the population of a city, total 18,000.
738,000 died.

Mousetrails - The First Holy War

All Bible quotes are from the Douay-Catholic Bible

As Israel fought one battle after another, their "warrior" God assured them over and over, that because He was with them, they were assured of victory.

Until this time, God and his Israelite army have fought only the battles necessary to gain a foothold in Chanaan. When they became established, He gave them specific instructions. He sent them into lands they were not going to occupy, just for the sake of plunder alone. He told them what tactics to use, what to do with the slaves, who to kill, who to save, and what to do with the spoils.

But God had a much different set of rules for his army in the lands He did intend Israel to occupy. He wanted to occupy the land with a clean slate.

God ordered the GENOCIDE of most of the descendants of Noe. (Genesis 9:18 / 10:18) The Hethites, Amorrites, Chanaanites, Hevites and Jebusites are named as direct descendants of Noe.

Mousetrails The Holy War - Page 20

All Bible quotes are from the Douay-Catholic Bible

At last we come to the most famous battle in the Bible. The battle of Jericho is one of my earliest religious memories. In Sunday school and church, and even in popular music, "Joshua fit the Battle of Jericho." The story starts with Israel having Jericho under siege, ... so that no one left or entered. Then the God of the Jews told them how many times to march around the city, when to blow the horns, and when to shout, and WHAT NOT TO TAKE! And Josue reminded the people again, not to take in their greed, anything under God's ban. And what was it God put under a ban because He wanted it all?

12,000 died.

After this great victory, Israel became over confident. Josue sent men to reconnoiter the land. They returned to tell him it would be an easy battle, only three thousand men would be needed to take the city of Hai,

The next day, Josue showed his army, then ran away.

He had the king of Hai hanged on a tree until evening; (Josue 8:29) 36 Jewish warriors, 12,000 people of the city, and 1 king.
12,037 died.

Mousetrails The Holy War The Bible Revealed - Page 20

All Bible quotes are from the Douay-Catholic Bible

When five Amorrite kings lay siege to a city allied with Israel, the men of Gabaon sent a message to Josue. "Do not abandon your servants. Come up here quickly and save us." God told Josue,

God himself

When the battle was over, Josue took time to deal with the five kings.

(1 Kings 6:19) Gives the number of a great slaughter as 50,000 humans. Add the five kings.
50,005 died.

Now, as you have before, bear with me through this long reading. We are going on a rampage, a blood bath where no one is spared. Israel, WITH THE HELP OF THEIR GOD, annihilated men, women, and children in a complete genocide.