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Numbers 31

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The Lord Commands Vengeance on Midian 1–6

1
And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying,
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Avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites: afterward shalt thou be gathered unto thy people. ​
3
And Moses spake unto the people, saying, Arm ye men from among you for the war, that they may go against Midian, to execute Jehovah’s vengeance on Midian. ​
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Of every tribe a thousand, throughout all the tribes of Israel, shall ye send to the war.
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So there were delivered, out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand of every tribe, twelve thousand armed for war.
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And Moses sent them, a thousand of every tribe, to the war, them and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war, with the vessels of the sanctuary and the trumpets for the alarm in his hand. ​

The Battle and the Spoils Taken 7–12

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And they warred against Midian, as Jehovah commanded Moses; and they slew every male. ​
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And they slew the kings of Midian with the rest of their slain: Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian: Balaam also the son of Beor they slew with the sword. ​
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And the children of Israel took captive the women of Midian and their little ones; and all their cattle, and all their flocks, and all their goods, they took for a prey.
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And all their cities in the places wherein they dwelt, and all their encampments, they burnt with fire.
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And they took all the spoil, and all the prey, both of man and of beast.
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And they brought the captives, and the prey, and the spoil, unto Moses, and unto Eleazar the priest, and unto the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the camp at the plains of Moab, which are by the Jordan at Jericho.

Moses Orders Further Execution and Purification 13–24

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And Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and all the princes of the congregation, went forth to meet them without the camp.
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And Moses was wroth with the officers of the host, the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, who came from the service of the war. ​
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And Moses said unto them, Have ye saved all the women alive?
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Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against Jehovah in the matter of Peor, and so the plague was among the congregation of Jehovah. ​
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Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. ​
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But all the women-children, that have not known man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.
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And encamp ye without the camp seven days: whosoever hath killed any person, and whosoever hath touched any slain, purify yourselves on the third day and on the seventh day, ye and your captives. ​
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And as to every garment, and all that is made of skin, and all work of goats’ hair, and all things made of wood, ye shall purify yourselves.
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And Eleazar the priest said unto the men of war that went to the battle, This is the statute of the law which Jehovah hath commanded Moses:
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howbeit the gold, and the silver, the brass, the iron, the tin, and the lead,
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everything that may abide the fire, ye shall make to go through the fire, and it shall be clean; nevertheless it shall be purified with the water for impurity: and all that abideth not the fire ye shall make to go through the water. ​
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And ye shall wash your clothes on the seventh day, and ye shall be clean; and afterward ye shall come into the camp.

The Division of the Spoils 25–47

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And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying,
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Take the sum of the prey that was taken, both of man and of beast, thou, and Eleazar the priest, and the heads of the fathers’ houses of the congregation;
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and divide the prey into two parts: between the men skilled in war, that went out to battle, and all the congregation. ​
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And levy a tribute unto Jehovah of the men of war that went out to battle: one soul of five hundred, both of the persons, and of the oxen, and of the asses, and of the flocks: ​
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take it of their half, and give it unto Eleazar the priest, for Jehovah’s heave-offering.
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And of the children of Israel’s half, thou shalt take one drawn out of every fifty, of the persons, of the oxen, of the asses, and of the flocks, even of all the cattle, and give them unto the Levites, that keep the charge of the tabernacle of Jehovah. ​
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And Moses and Eleazar the priest did as Jehovah commanded Moses.
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Now the prey, over and above the booty which the men of war took, was six hundred thousand and seventy thousand and five thousand sheep,
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and threescore and twelve thousand oxen,
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and threescore and one thousand asses,
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and thirty and two thousand persons in all, of the women that had not known man by lying with him. ​
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And the half, which was the portion of them that went out to war, was in number three hundred thousand and thirty thousand and seven thousand and five hundred sheep:
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and Jehovah’s tribute of the sheep was six hundred and threescore and fifteen.
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And the oxen were thirty and six thousand; of which Jehovah’s tribute was threescore and twelve.
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And the asses were thirty thousand and five hundred; of which Jehovah’s tribute was threescore and one.
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And the persons were sixteen thousand; of whom Jehovah’s tribute was thirty and two persons.
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And Moses gave the tribute, which was Jehovah’s heave-offering, unto Eleazar the priest, as Jehovah commanded Moses.
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And of the children of Israel’s half, which Moses divided off from the men that warred
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(now the congregation’s half was three hundred thousand and thirty thousand, seven thousand and five hundred sheep,
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and thirty and six thousand oxen,
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and thirty thousand and five hundred asses,
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and sixteen thousand persons),
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even of the children of Israel’s half, Moses took one drawn out of every fifty, both of man and of beast, and gave them unto the Levites, that kept the charge of the tabernacle of Jehovah; as Jehovah commanded Moses.

Voluntary Atonement Offering 48–54

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And the officers that were over the thousands of the host, the captains of thousands, and the captains of hundreds, came near unto Moses;
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and they said unto Moses, Thy servants have taken the sum of the men of war that are under our charge, and there lacketh not one man of us. ​
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And we have brought Jehovah’s oblation, what every man hath gotten, of jewels of gold, ankle-chains, and bracelets, signet-rings, ear-rings, and armlets, to make atonement for our souls before Jehovah. ​
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And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of them, even all wrought jewels.
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And all the gold of the heave-offering that they offered up to Jehovah, of the captains of thousands, and of the captains of hundreds, was sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels.
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(For the men of war had taken booty, every man for himself.)
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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, for a memorial for the children of Israel before Jehovah. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Numbers 31

Verse 2

Avenge the children of Israel — Naqam is vengeance, and the order answers Num 25:17–18: 'Vex the Midianites, and smite them', because 'they vex you with their wiles, wherewith they have beguiled you in the matter of Peor'. After it Moses is to be 'gathered unto thy people', the phrase for death used of Abraham (Gen 25:8) and promised to Moses in Num 27:13.

Verse 3

avenge the LORD of Midian — The Hebrew puts it as giving the LORD's vengeance on Midian (nathan, to give; nekamah, vengeance), so the cause is the LORD's, the 'matter of Peor' of v.16. Moses asks for 'some of yourselves' rather than the whole camp, and v.4 fixes the number at a thousand from every tribe.

Verse 6

the trumpets to blow in his hand — Phinehas, who 'hath turned my wrath away' at Peor (Num 25:11), carries the trumpets, which Num 10:8 gives to the priests: 'ye shall blow an alarm with the trumpets; and ye shall be remembered before the LORD your God' (Num 10:9). 'Blow' is teruah, the alarm of Num 29:1.

Verse 7

as the LORD commanded Moses — The war carries out the order of v.2. The first act reported is that 'they slew all the males' (zakar); the women and little ones appear as captives in v.9, and Moses' question about them fills vv.14–18. The troops come back with none missing (v.49).

Verse 8

Balaam also the son of Beor — After his oracles Balaam 'returned to his place' (Num 24:25); here he is among the slain, and Josh 13:22 calls him 'the soothsayer'. Zur, one of the five kings, was the father of Cozbi, who was slain at Peor (Num 25:15, 18), and Josh 13:21 calls the five 'dukes of Sihon'. Rev 2:14 speaks of 'the doctrine of Balaam'.

Verse 14

Moses was wroth — Qatsaph, to be angry. His anger falls on the officers, 'captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds' (the rulers appointed in Ex 18:25), who are the same men that report in v.48 that none was lost. The cause is given in his question of v.15, 'Have ye saved all the women alive?'

Verse 16

through the counsel of Balaam — 'Counsel' is davar, a word or matter, the same word as in 'the matter of Peor'. Num 25 tells of Peor without naming Balaam; this verse gives his part, and Rev 2:14 says he 'taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel'. 'Trespass' is maal, unfaithfulness; 'twenty and four thousand' died in the plague (Num 25:9).

Verse 17

every woman that hath known man — Vv.15–16 give the reason: these women had caused Israel's trespass at Peor. The line is drawn at those who had 'known man by lying with him'; girls 'that have not known a man by lying with him' (v.18) are kept alive, 32,000 of them (v.35). Judg 21:11–12 uses almost the same words of Jabesh-gilead, where four hundred young virgins were spared.

Verse 19

purify both yourselves and your captives — The rule is that of Num 19:11–12: whoever touches a dead body 'shall be unclean seven days', and 'shall purify himself with it on the third day, and on the seventh day he shall be clean'. The verb is chata, to cleanse from sin, as in Num 19:12. It covers whoever 'hath killed any person', whoever 'hath touched any slain', and the captives.

Verse 23

the water of separation — Niddah is the water kept from the ashes of the heifer, 'a purification for sin' (Num 19:9). The metals of v.22 that could 'abide the fire' went through the fire and then were purified with this water, and whatever could not abide the fire went 'through the water'. The verb for purified is chata, as in v.19.

Verse 27

divide the prey into two parts — Half went to 'them that took the war upon them' and half to the congregation (the halves are counted in vv.36 and 43). David applied the same rule after recovering the Amalekites' spoil: 'they shall part alike', and he 'made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel unto this day' (1 Sam 30:24–25).

Verse 28

levy a tribute — Mekes, a levy, is a word found only in this chapter (vv.28, 37–41). It was one 'soul of five hundred' from the soldiers' half, and the figures follow exactly: 675 of 337,500 sheep, 72 of 36,000 beeves, 61 of 30,500 asses and 32 of 16,000 persons (vv.37–40). It is given to Eleazar 'for an heave offering of the LORD' (v.29).

Verse 30

one portion of fifty — The congregation's half gave a larger share than the soldiers' half, one in fifty against one in five hundred. It went to the Levites, 'which keep the charge of the tabernacle' (Num 3:7–8). Paul draws on the same arrangement: 'they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple' (1 Cor 9:13).

Verse 35

thirty and two thousand persons — The count of the booty in vv.32–35 is 675,000 sheep, 72,000 beeves, 61,000 asses and 32,000 persons, the last being nephesh adam, human souls. They are the girls kept alive under v.18, and they were divided evenly, 16,000 to each half (vv.40, 46), with 32 given as the LORD's tribute.

Verse 49

there lacketh not one man of us — The officers are the captains of v.14. 'Taken the sum' is the census wording of Ex 30:12, and 'lacketh' is paqad, the numbering verb of that verse. Twelve thousand went out (v.5), all are accounted for, and the offering of v.50 follows the count.

Verse 50

to make an atonement for our souls — These are the words of the census money: 'a ransom for his soul' (Ex 30:12) and 'to make an atonement for your souls' (Ex 30:15). The oblation (qorban) is gold, 'chains, and bracelets, rings, earrings, and tablets'; 'tablets' (kumaz) occurs only here and in Ex 35:22.

Verse 54

for a memorial — Zikkaron, a reminder, is the purpose given to the census atonement money: 'that it may be a memorial unto the children of Israel before the LORD, to make an atonement for your souls' (Ex 30:16). The gold, sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels (v.52), is brought into 'the tabernacle of the congregation'.