2 "Avenge the people of Israel on the Mid'ianites; afterward you shall be gathered to your people."
3 And Moses said to the people, "Arm men from among you for the war, that they may go against Mid'ian, to execute YHVH's vengeance on Mid'ian.
4 You shall send a thousand from each of the tribes of Israel to the war."
5 So there were provided, out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand from each tribe, twelve thousand armed for war.
The word Midianites, in its original Aramaic, means strife and contention. For the searcher of enlightenment, they must be defeated and eliminated. Each of the twelve tribes were called to do battle for they represent all twelve aspects of an individual. And all aspects of an individual must join in this struggle if we are to be successful.
6 And Moses sent them to the war, a thousand from each tribe, together with Phin'ehas the son of Elea'zar the priest, with the vessels of the sanctuary and the trumpets for the alarm in his hand.
Phinehas means spiritual revelation and Eleazar means Help of God. Both of these men are associated with the Temple, or spiritual part of us. These are the spiritual forces which aid the student or seeker to succeed in his battle with the Midianites.
7 They warred against Mid'ian, as YHVH commanded Moses, and slew every male.
8 They slew the kings of Mid'ian with the rest of their slain, Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Mid'ian; and they also slew Balaam the son of Be'or with the sword.
Men or the masculine refers to the intellect or mind. A king would be a ruling or controlling idea. Kings of Midian, these represent the ideas of contentiousness and strife. Killing is the Bible’s way of saying that they were eliminated or overcome. Evi, translated from the Aramaic, means desire, when desire is a Midianite king, it represents desires which are contentious and unjust. Rekem means artistic coloring or decorating. But this cultivation of beauty would be carnal and related to the sensual desires rather than the higher spiritual because of its association with Midian. Zur means rock, precipitous and besieged. In this context it represents an aggressive, warring thought. Hur means white and pure and also black hole and filthy prison. As a king of Midian, it refers to limitation and darkness resulting from strife and contention. Reba means one quarter, encroach or bestiality. This thought is only a small part (1/4) of the Truth, so that it becomes contentious, unbalanced and bestial. The last to be mentioned is Balaam whom we have discussed before. Balaam means lord of the people or destruction of the people; a foreigner. Here, he represents the idea that strife and contentious ideas will be our destruction. They are foreign to the spiritual being.
9 And the people of Israel took captive the women of Mid'ian and their little ones; and they took as booty all their cattle, their flocks, and all their goods.
10 All their cities in the places where they dwelt, and all their encampments, they burned with fire,
11 and took all the spoil and all the booty, both of man and of beast.
12 Then they brought the captives and the booty and the spoil to Moses, and to Elea'zar the priest, and to the congregation of the people of Israel, at the camp on the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho.
13 Moses, and Elea'zar the priest, and all the leaders of the congregation, went forth to meet them outside the camp.
14 And Moses was angry with the officers of the army, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, who had come from service in the war.
15 Moses said to them, "Have you let all the women live?
16 Behold, these caused the people of Israel, by the counsel of Balaam, to act treacherously against YHVH in the matter of Pe'or, and so the plague came among the congregation of YHVH.
17 Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man by lying with him.
18 But all the young girls who have not known man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.
For those who interpret this as history and fact, this is a difficult passage. But from an allegorical interpretation, it is much more acceptable. Women represent the emotions. Children are simply the offspring or consequences of the ideas from which they come. These are the contentious thoughts represented by the Midiantites. Those women and girls who are not virgins, are the emotions which are sensual and carnal in nature. They must be rooted out and eliminated. Those who are virgins, represent the pure emotions.
19 Encamp outside the camp seven days; whoever of you has killed any person, and whoever has touched any slain, purify yourselves and your captives on the third day and on the seventh day.
20 You shall purify every garment, every article of skin, all work of goats' hair, and every article of wood."