1And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, 2Execute the vengeance of the sons of Israel against the Midianites. Afterward you shall be gathered to your people. 3And Moses spoke to the people, saying, Some men of you be armed for the army, and they shall be against Midian, to give the vengeance of Jehovah on Midian; 4you shall send to the army a thousand for a tribe as to all the tribes of Israel. 5And a thousand for a tribe were given out of the thousands of Israel, twelve thousand armed ones of the army. 6And Moses sent them to the army, a thousand for a tribe, them and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest to the army. Also he sent the holy vessels, and the trumpets to sound in his hand. 7And they warred against Midian, as Jehovah had commanded Moses, and killed every male. 8And they killed the kings of Midian, besides the rest of their slain: Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, five kings of Midian. They also killed Balaam the son of Beor with the sword. 9And the sons of Israel took the women of Midian captive, and their infants, and all their livestock, and all their possessions. And they plundered all their wealth. 10And they burned all their cities with fire, their homes, and all their towers. 11And they took all the spoil, and all the prey, among man and among animal. 12And they brought it to Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and to the congregation of the sons of Israel; the captives, and the prey, and the spoil, to the camp, to the plains of Moab which are by Jordan, near Jericho. 13And Moses and Eleazar the priest, and all the rulers of the congregation went out to meet them outside the camp. 14And Moses was angry with the officers of the army, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds who came from the service of the war. 15And Moses said to them, Have you saved all the women alive? 16Behold, these through the counsel of Balaam became to the sons of Israel a deliverance of treachery against Jehovah in the matter of Peor; and the plague was on the company of Jehovah. 17And now kill every male among the infants; yea, you shall kill every woman having known a man by lying with a male. 18And you shall keep alive for yourselves all the female children who have not known a man by lying with a male. 19And encamp outside the camp seven days. Whoever has killed any person, and whoever touched a pierced one, purify yourselves on the third day and on the seventh day, you and your captives. 20And as to every garment, and all that is made of skin, and all work of goats' hair, and all things made of wood, you shall purify them. 21And Eleazar the priest said to the men of war who went to battle, This is the statute of the law which Jehovah has commanded Moses: 22only the gold, the silver, the copper, the iron, the tin, and the lead, 23everything that passes through the fire, you shall make it go through the fire; and it shall be clean. Only it shall be purified with the water for impurity. And every thing that cannot go through the fire, you shall make go through the water. 24And you shall wash your clothes on the seventh day, and you shall be clean. And afterwards you shall come into the camp. 25And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, 26Lift the heads of the prey of the captives, among man and among beast, you and Eleazar the priest, and the heads of the fathers of the congregation. 27And you shall divide the prey between those skilled in war, that went out to battle, and all the congregation. 28And you shall levy a tribute to Jehovah from the men of war who went out to the battle: one body out of five hundred, of men, and of the herd, and of the asses, and of the flock, 29you shall take from their half, and you shall give to Eleazar the priest as the heave offering of Jehovah. 30And from the sons of Israel's half, you shall take one portion out of fifty, of man, and of the herd, and of the asses, and of the flock, of all the livestock, and you shall give them to the Levites keeping the charge of the tabernacle of Jehovah. 31And Moses and Eleazar the priest did as Jehovah had commanded Moses. 32And the prey, the rest of the spoil which the people of the army plundered, was six hundred and seventy five thousand sheep, 33and seventy two thousand oxen, 34sixty one thousand of the asses; 35and of human beings, of the women who had not known a man by lying with a male, the persons were thirty two thousand. 36And the half, the portion of those who went out to the war, the number of the flock was three hundred and thirty seven thousand, five hundred. 37And the tribute to Jehovah of the sheep was six hundred and seventy five, 38and the oxen, thirty six thousand; and their tribute to Jehovah, seventy two; 39and the asses thirty thousand, five hundred; and their tribute to Jehovah, sixty one; 40and the human beings sixteen thousand; and their tribute to Jehovah, thirty two persons. 41And Moses gave the tribute, the heave offering of Jehovah, to Eleazar the priest, as Jehovah had commanded Moses. 42And of the sons of Israel's half, which Moses divided from the men who warred: 43even the congregation's half was three hundred and thirty seven thousand, five hundred of the flock; 44and of the oxen, thirty six thousand; 45and thirty thousand, five hundred asses; 46and sixteen thousand human beings. 47Moses took from the sons of Israel's half the one portion from the fifty of man and of animal. And he gave them to the Levites keeping the charge of the tabernacle of Jehovah, as Jehovah had commanded Moses. 48And the officers who were over the thousands of the army, heads of the thousands and heads of the hundreds, drew near to Moses. 49And they said to Moses, Your servants have lifted the heads of the men of war who were with us, and not a man of us is missing. 50And we bring near Jehovah's offering, each what he has found, vessels of gold, chains, and bracelets, rings, earrings, and jewels, to atone for ourselves before Jehovah. 51And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from them, all crafted things. 52And all the gold of the heave offering which they lifted up to Jehovah was sixteen thousand, seven hundred and fifty shekels, from the heads of thousands and from the heads of hundreds, 53men of the army who had each taken spoil for himself. 54And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from the heads of the thousands and of the hundreds. And they brought it into the tabernacle of the congregation, a memorial for the sons of Israel before Jehovah.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 THE MIDIANITES SPOILED AND BALAAM SLAIN. (Num. 31:1-54)
the Lord spake unto Moses, Avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites--a semi-nomad people, descended from Abraham and Keturah, occupying a tract of country east and southeast of Moab, which lay on the eastern coast of the Dead Sea. They seem to have been the principal instigators of the infamous scheme of seduction, planned to entrap the Israelites into the double crime of idolatry and licentiousness [
Num 25:1-
Num 25:3,
Num 25:17-
Num 25:18] by which, it was hoped, the Lord would withdraw from that people the benefit of His protection and favor. Moreover, the Midianites had rendered themselves particularly obnoxious by entering into a hostile league with the Amorites (
Josh 13:21). The Moabites were at this time spared in consideration of Lot (
Deut 2:9) and because the measure of their iniquities was not yet full. God spoke of avenging "the children of Israel" [
Num 31:2]; Moses spoke of avenging the Lord [
Num 31:3], as dishonor had been done to God and an injury inflicted on His people. The interests were identical. God and His people have the same cause, the same friends, and the same assailants. This, in fact, was a religious war, undertaken by the express command of God against idolaters, who had seduced the Israelites to practise their abominations.
3 Arm some of yourselves--This order was issued but a short time before the death of Moses. The announcement to him of that approaching event [
Num 31:2] seems to have accelerated, rather than retarded, his warlike preparations.
5 there were delivered--that is, drafted, chosen, an equal amount from each tribe, to prevent the outbreak of mutual jealousy or strife. Considering the numerical force of the enemy, this was a small quota to furnish. But the design was to exercise their faith and animate them to the approaching invasion of Canaan.
6 Moses sent . . . Eleazar the priest, to the war--Although it is not expressly mentioned, it is highly probable that Joshua was the general who conducted this war. The presence of the priest, who was always with the army (
Deut 20:2), was necessary to preside over the Levites, who accompanied the expedition, and to inflame the courage of the combatants by his sacred services and counsels.
holy instruments--As neither the ark nor the Urim and Thummim were carried to the battlefield till a later period in the history of Israel, the "holy instruments" must mean the "trumpets" (
Num 10:9). And this view is agreeable to the text, by simply changing "and" into "even," as the Hebrew particle is frequently rendered.
7 they slew all the males--This was in accordance with a divine order in all such cases (
Deut 20:13). But the destruction appears to have been only partial--limited to those who were in the neighborhood of the Hebrew camp and who had been accomplices in the villainous plot of Baal-peor (
Num 25:1-
Num 25:3), while a large portion of the Midianites were absent on their pastoral wanderings or had saved themselves by flight. (Compare
Judg 6:1).
8 the kings of Midian--so called, because each was possessed of absolute power within his own city or district; called also dukes or princes of Sihon (
Josh 13:21), having been probably subject to that Amorite ruler, as it is not uncommon in the East to find a number of governors or pachas tributary to one great king.
Zur--father of Cozbi (
Num 25:15).
Balaam also . . . they slew with the sword--This unprincipled man, on his dismissal from Balak, set out for his home in Mesopotamia (
Num 24:25). But, either diverging from his way to tamper with the Midianites, he remained among them without proceeding farther, to incite them against Israel and to watch the effects of his wicked counsel; or, learning in his own country that the Israelites had fallen into the snare which he had laid and which he doubted not would lead to their ruin, he had, under the impulse of insatiable greed, returned to demand his reward from the Midianites. He was an object of merited vengeance. In the immense slaughter of the Midianitish people--in the capture of their women, children, and property and in the destruction of all their places of refuge--the severity of a righteous God fell heavily on that base and corrupt race. But, more than all others, Balaam deserved and got the just reward of his deeds. His conduct had been atrociously sinful, considering the knowledge he possessed, and the revelations he had received, of the will of God. For any one in his circumstances to attempt defeating the prophecies he had himself been the organ of uttering, and plotting to deprive the chosen people of the divine favor and protection, was an act of desperate wickedness, which no language can adequately characterize.
13 Moses, and Eleazar the priest, . . . went forth to meet them without the camp--partly as a token of respect and congratulation on their victory, partly to see how they had executed the Lord's commands, and partly to prevent the defilement of the camp by the entrance of warriors stained with blood.
14 And Moses was wroth with the officers of the host--The displeasure of the great leader, though it appears the ebullition of a fierce and sanguinary temper, arose in reality from a pious and enlightened regard to the best interests of Israel. No order had been given for the slaughter of the women, and in ancient war they were commonly reserved for slaves. By their antecedent conduct, however, the Midianitish women had forfeited all claims to mild or merciful treatment; and the sacred character, the avowed object of the war (
Num 31:2-
Num 31:3), made their slaughter necessary without any special order. But why "kill every male among the little ones"? It was designed to be a war of extermination, such as God Himself had ordered against the people of Canaan, whom the Midianites equalled in the enormity of their wickedness.
19 abide without the camp seven days: whosoever hath killed any person . . . purify both yourselves and your captives--Though the Israelites had taken the field in obedience to the command of God, they had become defiled by contact with the dead. A process of purification was to be undergone, as the law required (
Lev 15:13;
Num 19:9-
Num 19:12), and this purifying ceremony was extended to dress, houses, tents, to everything on which a dead body had lain, which had been touched by the blood-stained hands of the Israelitish warriors, or which had been the property of idolaters. This became a standing ordinance in all time coming (
Lev 6:28;
Lev 11:33;
Lev 15:12).
25 Take the sum of the prey that was taken--that is, of the captives and cattle, which, having been first lumped together according to ancient usage (
Exod 15:9;
Judg 5:30), were divided into two equal parts: the one to the people at large, who had sustained a common injury from the Midianites and who were all liable to serve: and the other portion to the combatants, who, having encountered the labors and perils of war, justly received the largest share. From both parts, however, a certain deduction was taken for the sanctuary, as a thank offering to God for preservation and for victory. The soldiers had greatly the advantage in the distribution; for a five-hundredth part only of their half went to the priest, while a fiftieth part of the congregation's half was given to the Levites.
32 the booty, being the rest of the prey which the men of war had caught--Some of the captives having been killed (
Num 31:17) and part of the cattle taken for the support of the army, the total amount of the booty remaining was in the following proportions:
Prey Total Amount Half to Soldiers Deducted to God Half to Congregation Deducted to Levites
Sheep 675,000 337,500 675 337,500 6,750
Beeves 72,000 36,000 72 36,000 720
Asses 61,000 30,500 61 30,500 610
Persons 32,000 16,000 32 16,000 320
48 officers . . . said . . . there lacketh not one man of us--A victory so signal, and the glory of which was untarnished by the loss of a single Israelitish soldier, was an astonishing miracle. So clearly betokening the direct interposition of Heaven, it might well awaken the liveliest feelings of grateful acknowledgment to God (
Ps 44:2-
Ps 44:3). The oblation they brought for the Lord "was partly an atonement" or reparation for their error (
Num 31:14-
Num 31:16), for it could not possess any expiatory virtue, and partly a tribute of gratitude for the stupendous service rendered them. It consisted of the "spoil," which, being the acquisition of individual valor, was not divided like the "prey," or livestock, each soldier retaining it in lieu of pay; it was offered by the "captains" alone, whose pious feelings were evinced by the dedication of the spoil which fell to their share. There were jewels to the amount of 16,750 shekels, equal to Ł87,869 16s. 5d. sterling.