CHAPTER 31

(1452 B.C.)

MIDIANITES

¹And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying,

²Avenge the Children of Israel of the Midianites: afterward shall you be gathered unto your people. (In effect, the Lord is telling Moses here that his work on Earth was not done so long as the Midianites remained unpunished. The sin of Chapter 25 occasioned this war. Christians make wars for themselves by forming fellowships with the world. The warfare to which we are actually called to accomplish is that of Ephesians 6, and our wisdom and our obedience is to pass through this world as strangers and pilgrims, having no relations whatsoever, except those of Gospel testimony and natural sympathy, with those whom we must necessarily meet as we journey.

However, if, because of that forbidden union, war results, God gives a complete victory; provided that which did the seducing be utterly destroyed Williams.)

³And Moses spoke unto the people, saying, Arm some of yourselves unto the war, and let them go against the Midianites, and avenge the LORD of Midian. (In seducing the people of the Lord, the Midianites had insulted and injured the majesty of God Himself.)

⁴Of every Tribe a thousand, throughout all the Tribes of Israel, shall you send to the war (the Lord selected the number).

⁵So there were delivered out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand of every Tribe, twelve thousand armed for war.

⁶And Moses sent them to the war, a thousand of every Tribe, them and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the Priest, to the war, with the holy instruments, and the trumpets to blow in his hand. (If it is to be noted, Joshua, who normally would have been sent to fight this battle, has, in his place, Phinehas, the son of the High Priest, Eleazar. This tells us that this was a war that Israel would not have had to wage if she had not forsaken the road of obedience to the Word of God, as outlined in Chapter 25.)

⁷And they warred against the Midianites, as the LORD commanded Moses; and they killed all the males.

⁸And they killed the kings of Midian, beside the rest of them who were slain: namely, Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, five kings of Midian: Balaam also the son of Beor they slew with the sword. (Balaam did not die the death of the righteous, but perished fighting against the People of God. Money was his downfall.)

⁹And the Children of Israel took all the women of Midian captives, and their little ones, and took the spoil of all their cattle, and all their flocks, and all their goods.

¹⁰And they burnt all their cities wherein they dwelt, and all their goodly castles, with fire.

¹¹And they took all the spoil, and all the prey, both of men and of beasts.

¹²And they brought the captives, and the prey, and the spoil, unto Moses, and Eleazar the Priest, and unto the congregation of the Children of Israel, unto the camp at the plains of Moab, which are by Jordan near Jericho.

¹³And Moses, and Eleazar the Priest, and all the Princes of the congregation, went forth to meet them without the camp.

¹⁴And Moses was angry with the officers of the host, with the captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, which came from the battle.

¹⁵And Moses said unto them, Have you saved all the women alive? (Evidently, orders had been given by Moses that all were to be killed, men, women, and children. Many may object to this, thinking it exceedingly cruel; however, it must be remembered that it is God Who gave these instructions, and not Moses. This tells us two things: 1. Those who oppress Gods People will ultimately be destroyed. But we must always remember that vengeance belongs to the Lord, and not man. In other words, we are to let the Lord do the doing [Rom. 12:19]; and, 2. As well, these people had become so depraved that their continued existence could have greatly hindered civilization. The Lord giving such instructions was the same as a cancer being removed from a patient in order that the patient might live.)

¹⁶Behold, these caused the Children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD (back when that sin was committed some months before).

¹⁷Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man by lying with him.

¹⁸But all the women children, who have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves (not for immoral purposes, as some have claimed, but for domestic service; in fact, upon reaching the age of accountability, she could become a member of the Family of Israel, and claim her freedom, after one to seven years, if she so desired).

¹⁹And you must abide without the camp seven days: whosoever has killed any person, and whosoever has touched any slain, purify both yourselves and your captives on the third day, and on the seventh day (death has always been the ultimate result of original sin).

²⁰And purify all your raiment, and all that is made of skins, and all work of goats hair, and all things made of wood.

²¹And Eleazar the Priest said unto the men of war which went to the battle, This is the Ordinance of the Law which the LORD commanded Moses;

²²Only the gold, and the silver, the brass (copper), the iron, the tin, and the lead.

²³Every thing that may abide the fire, you shall make it go through the fire, and it shall be clean (clothing, of course, would be burned in the fire, and so could not be kept): nevertheless it shall be purified with the water of separation (from the red heifer, Chapter 19): and all who abide not the fire you shall make go through the water (the soldiers themselves, having killed or having touched the dead, must go through a purification process, which pertained to the water of separation).

²⁴And you shall wash your clothes on the seventh day, and you shall be clean, and afterward you shall come into the camp (speaking to the soldiers who had participated in this conflict).

DIVIDING THE SPOILS

²⁵And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying,

²⁶Take the sum of the prey that was taken, both of man and of beast, you, and Eleazar the Priest, and the chief fathers of the congregation:

²⁷And divide the prey into two parts; between them who took the war upon them, who went out to battle, and between all the congregation:

²⁸And levy a tribute unto the LORD of the men of war which went out to battle: one soul of five hundred, both of the persons, and of the beeves, and of the asses, and of the sheep:

²⁹Take it of their half, and give it unto Eleazar the Priest, for an Heave Offering of the LORD (part was to be given to the Priests).

³⁰And of the Children of Israels half, you shall take one portion of fifty, of the persons, of the beeves, of the asses, and of the flocks, of all manner of beasts, and give them unto the Levites, which keep the charge of the Tabernacle of the LORD. (As the soldiers were to give a tithe, so to speak, to the Priests, they were, as well, to give a tithe unto the Levites, although the amounts were different.)

³¹And Moses and Eleazar the Priest did as the LORD commanded Moses.

³²And the booty, being the rest of the prey which the men of war had caught, was six hundred thousand and seventy thousand and five thousand sheep (675,000).

³³And threescore and twelve thousand beeves (72,000 cattle),

³⁴And threescore and one thousand asses (61,000),

³⁵And thirty and two thousand persons in all, of women who had not known man by lying with him.

³⁶And the half, which was the portion of them who went out to war, was in number three hundred thousand and seven and thirty thousand and five hundred sheep (337,500):

³⁷And the LORDs tribute of the sheep was six hundred and threescore and fifteen (675).

³⁸And the beeves were thirty and six thousand; of which the LORDs tribute was threescore and twelve (72).

³⁹And the asses were thirty thousand and five hundred; of which the LORDs tribute was threescore and one (61).

⁴⁰And the persons were sixteen thousand; of which the LORDs tribute was thirty and two persons.

⁴¹And Moses gave the tribute, which was the LORDs Heave Offering, unto Eleazar the Priest, as the LORD commanded Moses.

⁴²And of the Children of Israels half, which Moses divided from the men who warred,

⁴³(Now the half that pertained unto the congregation was three hundred thousand and thirty thousand and seven thousand and five hundred sheep,

⁴⁴And thirty and six thousand beeves,

⁴⁵And thirty thousand asses and five hundred,

⁴⁶And sixteen thousand persons:)

⁴⁷Even of the Children of Israels half, Moses took one portion of fifty, both of man and of beast, and gave them unto the Levites, which kept the charge of the Tabernacle of the LORD; as the Lord commanded Moses (thus the Priests and the Levites were maintained as well).

⁴⁸And the officers which were over thousands of the host, the captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds, came near unto Moses:

⁴⁹And they said unto Moses, Your servants have taken the sum of the men of war which are under our charge, and there lacks not one man of us. (Williams says, Through this great conflict the twelve thousand came through without the loss of one man, and through the greater conflict of Rev., Chpts. 7 through 14, the 144,000 [12,000 times 12] will also triumphantly come, and stand, not one missing, with the Lamb upon Mount Zion.)

⁵⁰We have therefore brought an oblation for the LORD, what every man has gotten, of jewels of gold, chains, and bracelets, rings, earrings, and tablets, to make an atonement for our souls before the LORD (it seems they kept nothing of these precious metals, etc.).

⁵¹And Moses and Eleazar the Priest took the gold of them, even all wrought jewels.

⁵²And all the gold of the Offering that they offered up to the LORD, of the captains of thousands, and of the captains of hundreds, was sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels (worth approximately $1.5 million in 2004 currency).

⁵³(For the men of war had taken spoil, every man for himself.)

⁵⁴And Moses and Eleazar the Priest took the gold of the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it into the Tabernacle of the congregation, for a memorial for the Children of Israel before the LORD.