Numbers 31:49

49 and said, “We, your servants, have accounted for all the men who went out to battle under our command; not one of us is missing!

Numbers 31:49 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 31:49

And they said unto Moses
Gave the following relation to him, which is a very surprising one: thy servants have taken the sum of the men of war which are under our
charge;
since the war with Midian was over, they had mustered the several companies under their command, such as had thousands, and those that had hundreds: and there lacketh not one man of us;
which is a most amazing and unheard of thing, that in waging war with a whole nation, slaying all their males, sacking and burning so many cities, plundering the inhabitants of their substance, taking and carrying off such a vast number of captives, yet not one should fall by the sword of the enemy, or by any disease or accident whatever, but all to a man should return to the camp of Israel again; this is not to be paralleled in any history.

Numbers 31:49 In-Context

47 From the half-share given to the people, Moses took one of every fifty prisoners and animals and gave them to the Levites, who maintained the LORD ’s Tabernacle. All this was done as the LORD had commanded Moses.

48 Then all the generals and captains came to Moses

49 and said, “We, your servants, have accounted for all the men who went out to battle under our command; not one of us is missing!

50 So we are presenting the items of gold we captured as an offering to the LORD from our share of the plunder—armbands, bracelets, rings, earrings, and necklaces. This will purify our lives before the LORD and make us right with him. ”

51 So Moses and Eleazar the priest received the gold from all the military commanders—all kinds of jewelry and crafted objects.