In the account in Numbers 31, how would the Israelite soldiers have known which women had had sex and which women did not?

Question

The text records Moses as having said,

"Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him." Numbers 31:17

The implication is that the women who had had sex were the ones who had engaged in the orgies with the men of Israel. This makes sense, since the Israelites were attacking only a group of Midianites, as indicated by the fact that there were Midianites who interacted with the Israelites after this event. But how would the Israelites have known which women had had sex and which women did not?

Thank you.

Answer 1

The words describing the women are וְכָל־אִשָּׁ֗ה יֹדַ֥עַת אִ֛ישׁ. The word יֹדַעַת is a participle, so a more literal translation might be every woman knowing a man. This doesn't imply that the woman actually had intercourse, but that she potentially could have.

A similar construction with the participle is Deuteronomy 22:8, which says כִּֽי־יִפֹּ֥ל הַנֹּפֵ֖ל מִמֶּֽנּוּ, literally for the falling one will fall from it, where someone is already called a "falling one" only because he can potentially fall. Similarly, the redeemer (גֹאֵל) of Ruth 3-4 is called a redeemer because he was a potential redeemer, not because he actually ended up redeeming the field. And in Amos 9:1, he says that a fleeing person (נָס) won't be able to flee; since he won't be able to flee, describing him as a fleeing person is only appropriate since he could potentially flee.

What the verse is saying is not to kill the young girls who aren't at the age to have had intercourse (Numbers 31:18). The older women were killed based on their potential to have had intercourse, and not because they specifically had intercourse.

Answer 2

The answer may be as simple as a visible cultural indicator like a ring, band, piercing, or tattoo which indicates the female is "off the market", or no longer available for virgin marriage.