WORD STUDY – VINDICATE THE
VENGENCE ‫נקם נקמת‬
Numbers 31:2:
“Avenge the children of Israel of the
Midianites: afterward shalt thou be gathered unto thy people.”
This news has been filled lately with the recent terrorist
attacks in France by radical Islamic groups not only against
the Jews but against the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo.
The attack on Charlie Hebdo was an act of vengeance against
the newspaper for their satirical depiction of Mohammad. Talk
radio has been filled with comparisons between Christianity
and Judaism where we quote Deuteronomy 32:35 where God says,
“Vengeance is mine says the Lord, I will repay.” The art and
entertainment community are constantly poking fun at the name
of Jesus and of course we Christians would never, ever think
of committing any act of violence against these artists. Our
response is to pray for them and if there is any vengeance we
leave it up to God.
Even in Israeli whenever there is an attack against their
nation there will be an act of retaliation not revenge. They
hit Israeli, Israeli hits back to let their enemies know that
they will fight back but they will not call it revenge only a
defensive measure meant solely to discourage any future
attacks. We in Judeo Christianity teach that vengeance comes
from the hand of God and not from us. Jesus taught us in
Matthew 5:44: “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless
them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray
for them which despitefully use you.”
Then what do we do with a passage in Scripture like Numbers
31:2 where God is not only seeking revenge against the
Midianites, he is commanding Moses and Israel to be His hit
men. Well, we can hide behind our Christian mandate that that
is the Old Testament talking and not the New Testament, we
live in a new day under the New Testament which commands us to
love our enemies. Perhaps, but how do you explain the fact
that the Jews who do not accept the New Testament, teach and
embrace the Torah, the Old Testament and yet they too teach
benevolence, forgiveness and mercy just as much, if not more
than we Christians do?
I think the answer lies in a little twist in the Hebrew text
which is totally ignored by our Modern Christian English
translations.
I have found only one modern English
translation that addresses the double terminology that is used
in the Hebrew text.
That word vengeance is repeated naqam
naqamath and should be rendered as avenge the vengeance. A
standard rule in Semitic languages is that when a word is
repeated it is done so to express an emphasis or intensity.
Thus, the NSAB renders this as take full vengeance whatever
that means.
A standard joke I would use when I introduced my first year
Hebrew class while teaching at the Bible College was that we
would learn all the rules in the first semester of Hebrew and
in the second semester we would study all the exceptions to
those rules.
It is true that when a word is repeated in a Semitic language
it is done to show emphasis, but not always. There can be any
number of reasons for a repetition of a word and many times we
just don’t know why the word is repeated. This is why the two
words in the Hebrew text naqam naqamath is simply rendered as
vengeance and not avenge the vengeance as we just do not
understand reason for the double terminology.
Another clue to aid us in attempting to understand this
passage is the fact that God is commanding only an act of
vengeance against the Midianites. This act of vengeance is in
response to an action brought on by the Midianites who sent
their daughters among the Israelites to seduce the men into
committing adultery and drawing them into the worship of
idols. This resulted in the slaying of 24,000 people. Yet,
Scripture teaches that the Moabites also had a hand in this
treachery, why were they not included in this war of
vengeance?
Christian commentaries try to explain this away by saying that
two heroines of Israel would come out of the Moabites, Ruth
and Naamah
(wife of King Solomon).
Others say Moab was
speared because they only entered into the foray because they
were terrified of military might of Israel (Numbers 22:2-6).
Again, perhaps this is the case and perhaps this is more of an
act of retaliation rather than vengeance as it is today in
Israel. Moab was afraid of Israel to begin with so they did
not need to have the fear of Israel’s might instilled in them,
but Midian was defiant and did not fear Israel so they had to
be taught to fear Israel. God could have sent a plague or
earthquake to wreak his vengeance but they would not really
interpret that as coming from God and would still feel
militarily superior to Israel. God had to bring Israel into a
war with Midian so they would know and understand you do not
mess with a superior military power.
But what about this double terminology naqam naqmath? Why do
we not just go ahead and render it literally, avenge the
vengeance? Well for one thing that is repaying evil with evil
which is clearly contradictory to Proverbs 20:22, “Say not
thou, I will recompense evil; [but] wait on the LORD, and he
shall save thee.”
The Jewish sages however, see this double terminology as an
embodiment of the spiritual essence of Midian. Clearly, the
act of Midian was an outright attempt to turn the people away
from God. The whole purpose of this act by Midian was to draw
the people away from God. This was a spiritual act, an attack
by Satan himself, the Midianites were merely the pawns that he
used to destroy the spiritual dynamic of Israel.
The word
vengeance in Hebrew is naqam which comes from an Akkadian
word which means vengeance but not in the sense that we think
of revenge, getting satisfaction over a wrong done to us. It
is a vengeance of vindication, an act to bring out the truth.
The Jewish sages teach that this double terminology indicates
that before the nation of Midian could be defeated in the
natural the spiritual essence, the demonic essence of the
nation had to be vanquished. Defeat that enemy, natural war
may not be necessary.
Naqam Naqmath falls right in with the teachings of Jesus, not
contradictory to it. The sages are teaching that to avenge the
vengeance is an Hebraic expression meaning deal with the
spiritual first to vindicate the vengeance. If someone makes
fun or mocks our Jesus we do not put on ski masks and wreak
violence on the ones mocking our Lord, we following the
command that God gave Moses naqam naqmath, we must vindicate
the vengeance, show that we are not like them. We are to
recognize that this is a spiritual battle and we must first
pray and love those who mock our Lord. In extreme cases where
our very lives are threatened, as with Israel, we must
retaliate against the Midianites to protect ourselves as
Israel is doing today. But if they are not a threat to our
lives or those we care about but only making fun of God we
simply pray that their eyes will be opened and that the name
of our God will be naqam – vindicated.