Numbers 31:17 · World English Bible
Numbers 31:17 Meaning Now Therefore Kill Every Male Among
Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man by lying with him.
What does Numbers 31:17 mean?
Inner warfare demands that certain growths be cut off entirely: every young forming thought bred by the mind of contention, and every receptive faculty already joined to that lower nature, must be ended. Midian is the state of strife within a person, and its little males are the small aggressive thoughts still taking shape, spared no room to mature.
From the Esoteric reading below.
Numbers 31:17 through 1 lens
The same verse, read by one tradition.
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ESOTERIC
Esoteric
Inner warfare demands that certain growths be cut off entirely: every young forming thought bred by the mind of contention, and every receptive faculty already joined to that lower nature, must be ended. Midian is the state of strife within a person, and its little males are the small aggressive thoughts still taking shape, spared no room to mature. The woman who has known man is the feeling power that has already coupled with the base mind and cannot be kept clean. Only what remains untouched by that union survives. What reads as slaughter is consciousness rooting out the seeds and unions of its own inner conflict.
The self clears its ground by destroying both the young thoughts of strife and the faculties already wedded to them.
Midian: the inner state of strife and contention within a person Male little ones: the young, still-forming aggressive thoughts bred by that strife Woman that hath known man: the receptive faculty already joined to the lower nature
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Live Numbers 31:17 today
- When the first sharp thought about someone shows up today, let it pass without the second one that builds on it. The first arrives on its own, the rest you have to feed.
- If you find yourself rehearsing an argument with someone before you have even seen them, stop the rehearsal. You are training yourself for a fight that does not exist yet.
- Under stress, when a small annoyance starts pulling in every other grievance you have, cut it there. Deal with the one actual thing in front of you and leave the collection out of it.
What small grudge have I been quietly feeding until it got strong?
The same truth in other traditions
Buddhism · Dhammapada
A small resentment fed daily becomes a settled hatred. Catch the thought while it is still young and it never gets the strength to rule you.
Stoicism · Marcus Aurelius
The story you tell yourself about the offense is the offense. Pull out the judgment and the harm has nothing left to stand on.
Tao Te Ching 64
Deal with the difficulty while it is still small, and handle the matter before it has taken shape. What is left to grow becomes hard to move.
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