Numbers 31:19

19 "¹And you, camp outside * the camp seven days; whoever has killed any person and whoever has touched any slain, purify yourselves, you and your captives, on the third day and on the seventh day.

Numbers 31:19 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 31:19

And do ye abide without the camp seven days.
&c.] Which was the time that anyone that touched a dead body remained unclean, ( Numbers 19:11 ) ,

whosoever hath killed any person;
as most of them if not all must have done; all the males of Midian that fell into their hands being slain by them, that were men grown:

and whosoever hath touched any slain;
as they must to strip them of their garments, and take their spoil from them:

purify both yourselves and your captives, on the third and on the
seventh day;
which were the days appointed for the purification of such that were polluted by touching dead bodies, ( Numbers 19:11 ) and their captives, which were the female little ones; (for as for the women, and males among the little ones, they were ordered to be slain;) though they were Heathens, yet inasmuch as they were to be for the service of the Israelites, and to be brought up in their religion, they were to be purified also; to which purpose is the note of Jarchi;

``not that the Gentiles receive uncleanness and need sprinkling, but as ye are the children of the covenant, so your captives, when they come into the covenant, and are defiled, need sprinkling.''

Numbers 31:19 In-Context

17 "Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man intimately .

18 "But all the girls who have not known man intimately , spare for yourselves.

19 "And you, camp outside the camp seven days; whoever has killed any person and whoever has touched any slain, purify yourselves, you and your captives, on the third day and on the seventh day.

20 "You shall purify for yourselves every garment and every article of leather and all the work of goats' hair, and all articles of wood."

21 Then Eleazar the priest said to the men of war who had gone to battle, "This is the statute of the law which the LORD has commanded Moses:

Cross References

• 1. Numbers 19:11-22