Numbers 31

1 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,

2 Avenge the children of Israel upon the Midianites; afterwards shalt thou be gathered unto thy peoples.

3 And Moses spoke to the people, saying, Arm from amongst you men for military service, that they go against Midian to execute Jehovah's vengeance upon Midian.

4 Of every tribe a thousand, of all the tribes of Israel, shall ye send to the war.

5 And there were levied out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand by tribe, twelve thousand armed for war.

6 And Moses sent them to the war, a thousand by the tribe, them and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war, and the holy instruments, even the alarm-trumpets in his hand.

7 And they warred against Midian, as Jehovah had commanded Moses, and slew all the males.

8 And they slew the kings of Midian, besides the others slain, Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, five kings of Midian; and Balaam the son of Beor they slew with the sword.

9 And the children of Israel took the women of Midian captives, and their little ones, and took for a spoil all their cattle and all their flocks and all their goods;

10 and all their cities in their settlements and all their encampments they burned with fire.

11 And they took all the booty, and all the prey, of man and of cattle;

12 and they brought to Moses and Eleazar the priest, and to the assembly of the children of Israel, the captives and the prey and the booty, to the camp in the plains of Moab, which are by the Jordan of Jericho.

13 And Moses and Eleazar the priest and all the princes of the assembly went forth to meet them outside the camp.

14 And Moses was wroth with the officers of the army, with the captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds, who came from the service of the war;

15 and Moses said to them, Have ye saved all the women alive?

16 Lo, these, through the counsel of Balaam, caused the children of Israel to commit sin against Jehovah in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague on the assembly of Jehovah.

17 And now slay every male among the little ones, and slay every woman that hath known man by lying with him,

18 but all the children among the women that have not known lying with a man, keep alive for yourselves.

19 And encamp outside the camp seven days; whoever hath killed a person, and whoever hath touched any slain; ye shall purify yourselves on the third day, and on the seventh day, you and your captives.

20 And every garment, and every vessel of skin, and all work of goat's hair, and every utensil of wood shall ye purify.

21 And Eleazar the priest said to the men of war that had gone to the battle, This is the statute of the law which Jehovah hath commanded Moses.

22 Only the gold, and the silver, the copper, the iron, the tin, and the lead,

23 everything that passeth through the fire, ye shall make it go through the fire, and it shall be clean; only it shall be purified with the water of separation; and everything that cannot pass through the fire ye shall make go through the water.

24 And ye shall wash your garments on the seventh day, and ye shall be clean; and afterwards ye may come into the camp.

25 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,

26 Take the sum of the prey that was taken, of man and of cattle, thou, and Eleazar the priest, and the chief fathers of the assembly;

27 and divide the prey into halves, between them that conducted the war, who went out to the battle, and the whole assembly.

28 And thou shalt levy a tribute for Jehovah of the men of war who went out to the army, one soul of five hundred of the persons, and of the oxen, and of the asses, and of the small cattle.

29 Of their half shall ye take it, and give it unto Eleazar the priest, for a heave-offering of Jehovah.

30 And of the children of Israel's half, thou shalt take one portion of fifty, of the persons, of the oxen, of the asses, and of the small cattle, of every [kind of] beasts, and thou shalt give them unto the Levites, who keep the charge of the tabernacle of Jehovah.

31 And Moses and Eleazar the priest did as Jehovah had commanded Moses.

32 And the prey, the rest of the spoil, which the men of war had taken, was six hundred and seventy-five thousand sheep,

33 and seventy-two thousand oxen,

34 and sixty-one thousand asses,

35 and of human persons, of the women that had not known lying with a man, all the persons were thirty-two thousand.

36 And the half, the portion of them that had gone out to the war, was in number three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep,

37 and the tribute for Jehovah of the sheep was six hundred and seventy-five;

38 and the oxen were thirty-six thousand, and the tribute thereof for Jehovah, seventy-two;

39 and the asses were thirty thousand five hundred, and the tribute thereof for Jehovah, sixty-one;

40 and the human persons were sixteen thousand, of whom the tribute for Jehovah was thirty-two persons.

41 And Moses gave the tribute of Jehovah's heave-offering to Eleazar the priest, as Jehovah had commanded Moses.

42 And of the children of Israel's half, which Moses had divided, [taking it] from the men that served in the war,

43 (now the half belonging to the assembly was of the sheep, three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred,

44 and thirty-six thousand oxen,

45 and thirty thousand five hundred asses,

46 and sixteen thousand human persons,)

47 ... of the children of Israel's half, Moses took one portion of fifty, of man and of cattle, and gave them to the Levites who kept the charge of the tabernacle of Jehovah; as Jehovah had commanded Moses.

48 And the officers who were over the thousands of the host, the captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds, came near to Moses,

49 and they said to Moses, Thy servants have taken the sum of the men of war who were under our hand, and there is not one man of us lacking.

50 So we present the offering of Jehovah, that which each one hath found, jewels of gold, chains, and bracelets, rings, earrings, and necklaces, to make atonement for our souls before Jehovah.

51 And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of them, all manner of wrought jewels.

52 And all the gold of the heave-offering that they offered to Jehovah was sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels, from the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds.

53 (The men of war had taken spoil each one for himself.)

54 And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it into the tent of meeting, as a memorial for the children of Israel before Jehovah.

Numbers 31 Commentary

Chapter 31

War with Midian. (1-6) Balaam slain. (7-12) Those slain who caused sin. (13-38) Purification of the Israelites. (39-24) Division of the spoil. (25-47) Offerings. (48-54)

Verses 1-6 All who, without commission from God, dare to execute private revenge, and who, from ambition, covetousness, or resentment, wage war and desolate kingdoms, must one day answer for it. But if God, instead of sending an earthquake, a pestilence, or a famine, be pleased to authorize and command any people to avenge his cause, such a commission surely is just and right. The Israelites could show such a commission, though no persons now can do so. Their wars were begun and carried on expressly by Divine direction, and they were enabled to conquer by miracles. Unless it can be proved that the wicked Canaanites did not deserve their doom, objectors only prove their dislike to God, and their love to his enemies. Man makes light of the evil of sin, but God abhors it. This explains the terrible executions of the nations which had filled the measure of their sins.

Verses 7-12 The Israelites slew the Kings of Midian. They slew Balaam. God's overruling providence brought him thither, and their just vengeance found him. Had he himself rightly believed what he had said of the happy state of Israel, he would not have thus herded with the enemies of Israel. The Midianites' wicked wiles were Balaam's projects: it was just that he should perish with them, ( Hosea 4:5 ) . They took the women and children captives. They burnt their cities and castles, and returned to the camp.

Verses 13-18 The sword of war should spare women and children; but the sword of justice should know no distinction, but that of guilty or not guilty. This war was the execution of a righteous sentence upon a guilty nation, in which the women were the worst criminals. The female children were spared, who, being brought up among the Israelites, would not tempt them to idolatry. The whole history shows the hatefulness of sin, and the guilt of tempting others; it teaches us to avoid all occasions of evil, and to give no quarter to inward lusts. The women and children were not kept for sinful purposes, but for slaves, a custom every where practised in former times, as to captives. In the course of providence, when famine and plagues visit a nation for sin, children suffer in the common calamity. In this case parents are punished in their children; and for children dying before actual sin, full provision is made as to their eternal happiness, by the mercy of God in Christ.

Verses 19-24 The Israelites had to purify themselves according to the law, and to abide without the camp seven days, though they had not contracted any moral guilt, the war being just and lawful, and commanded by God. Thus God would preserve in their minds a dread and detestation of shedding blood. The spoil had been used by Midianites, and being now come into the possession of Israelites, it was fit that it should be purified.

Verses 25-47 Whatever we have, God justly claims a part. Out of the people's share God required one in fifty, but out of the soldiers' share only one in five hundred. The less opportunity we have of honouring God with personal services, the more should we give in money or value.

Verses 48-54 The success of the Israelites had been very remarkable, so small a company overcoming such multitudes, but it was still more wonderful that not one was slain or missing. They presented the gold they found among the spoils, as an offering to the Lord. Thus they confessed, that instead of claiming a reward for their service, they needed forgiveness of much that had been amiss, and desired to be thankful for the preservation of their lives, which might justly have been taken away.

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit. 'be.'
• [b]. Or 'instruments of the sanctuary.'
• [c]. Or 'and.'
• [d]. Lit. 'captivity.'
• [e]. Lit. 'word.' Dabar. See Note, Ps. 119.11.
• [f]. Strictly, 'unfaithfulness,' 'perfidy,' as Lev. 5.15.
• [g]. Lit. 'soul.'
• [h]. See ch. 19.12.
• [i]. See ch. 19.12.
• [j]. Lit. 'that which enters into.'
• [k]. Strictly, 'small cattle,' sheep and goats.
• [l]. Corban, Lev. 1.2.
• [m]. Lit. 'heaved,' as ch. 18.19; Lev. 22.15.

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO NUMBERS 31

This chapter contains an order to make war upon Midian, which was accordingly done, Nu 31:1-12, but Moses was wroth, because they saved the women alive, who, through the counsel of Balaam, had been the cause of sin, and of the plague for it in Israel, and therefore orders them, and the male children, to be slain, Nu 31:13-18, and then directs to the purification of the soldiers, their captives and spoil, Nu 31:19-24, and by the command of God an account is taken of the prey, and a division of it made between the soldiers and the congregation, and out of each part a tribute is levied for the Lord, Nu 31:25-31 and the sum of the whole booty is given, Nu 31:32-35 and of the part which belonged to the soldiers, and of the tribute given to the Lord, Nu 31:36-41 and of the part which belonged to the children of Israel, Nu 31:42-47 and besides the above tribute to the Lord, the officers made a voluntary oblation out of their spoil, both by way of gratitude for sparing their lives, and to make atonement for their souls, Nu 31:48-54.