Numbers 31:3

3 Moses spoke to the people, saying, "Arm yourself from among your men for the battle, so that they will {go} against Midian to mete out the vengeance of Yahweh on Midian.

Numbers 31:3 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 31:3

And Moses spake unto the people, saying
In obedience to the divine command; this must be supposed to be spoken to the heads or princes of the tribes:

arm some of yourselves unto the war:
not the whole body of the militia, 600,000 men and upwards, only some of them, and these choice and select men; and, according to the Jewish writers, good men, who, detesting the sins of lewdness and idolatry, would more strictly and severely avenge themselves on the Midianites for drawing their brethren into those sins, whereby they fell; and so Jarchi calls them righteous men:

[and] let them go against the Midianites, and avenge the Lord of
Midian:
what the Lord calls the vengeance of the Israelites, Moses calls the vengeance of the Lord, because they were the Lord's people, and his cause and theirs the same: and because the sins they were drawn into by the Midianites were not only against themselves, and to their prejudice, but against the Lord and to the dishonour of his name.

Numbers 31:3 In-Context

1 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

2 "Seek vengeance for the {Israelites} on the Midianites; afterward you will be gathered to your people."

3 Moses spoke to the people, saying, "Arm yourself from among your men for the battle, so that they will {go} against Midian to mete out the vengeance of Yahweh on Midian.

4 A thousand from each tribe of every tribe of Israel you will send to battle."

5 So theywere assigned from the thousands of Israel, a thousand from each tribe, twelve thousand equipped for battle.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "be"