In this installment of my book report series, I do not ask you to guess the book on which I’m reporting. This time, I want to see if you can guess which warlord ordered his militia to commit these heinous war crimes.
The story begins when a great warlord seeks to execute vengeance against his rivals. He calls his chief general to execute his commands. The warlord ordered his general to form a militia and take up arms against the enemy.
The general formed a militia 12,000 strong. He gave them their marching orders and sent them away to wage war against the enemy. The militia had great success in their campaign. The militia not only killed all five of the rival warlords but also every man that the rivals ruled.
That alone would not be enough to appease their warlord. The militia proceeded to pillage the homes and land of their rivals. They took all the gold, jewels, and other valuables they could find as plunder. They took all of the rivals livestock. They even took captive all of the women and children among their enemies to keep as chattel slaves.
Before returning to their own land, the militia burned down every city in the enemy’s lands. They even burned every home in the rural areas. Then they returned to meet with their great general at the bivouac.
When the general saw what the militia had done, he was incensed with his lieutenants for not thoroughly following the commands. He asked them, “Did you let all of the women live? By doing so, you have violated the orders of our great warlord!” In response, the warlord cursed his people with a plague.
To redeem their trespass against their warlord, the general ordered the militia to kill every male person in the enemy lands, including the children. He also ordered them to kill every woman who was not a virgin. However, he told them that they could keep all of the female virgins for themselves as sex slaves.
Moses. Numbers 31:1-18. Holy Bible. 1400 BCE
The followers of the great warlord would call this a happy ending. But most people recognize the actions of the militia as heinous war crimes. The warlord who ordered the war crimes was named Jehovah (otherwise known as God) and the general who executed them was Moses. You can read the full story in Numbers 31:1-18.
The Progressive Zone 