God commanded Moses to carry out the Lord's justice and vengeance on the Midianites. The Midian women had seduced Israel into sexual immorality and Baal worship. Israel killed all Midianites and Balaam, took the women and children captive, and carried the spoils of war. They took the women as captives disobeying Moses' command, perhaps because the women did not seem to pose a threat to them. But the Midianite women characterized a creeping sin that would soon overtake the weak minds of the Israelites. Taking them home was to invite sin and God's burning judgment. Moses dealt with their sin quickly and absolutely by killing the captives except young girls. Then the spoils of war were divided among the soldiers and the nation at large.

God takes sin seriously to the point of killing his own Son Jesus. We struggle to kill our own sin daily, though our battle has been won by Christ and we became righteous in Him. Still, we are commanded to take no prisoners in our fight against sin. Satan whispers to us to kill the greater sin but tolerate the lesser. But we must strive to remove any stain of sin that will eventually give birth to death.


Application: Lord, help me to combat sin daily. Purify us and our nation and bring people back to you.
One Word: Kill sin