War against Midian
31
And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 📚“Take vengeance 📖 on the Midianites for the children of Israel; after that you will be gathered to your people”. 3 📚And Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Some of you are to be armed for war, and go against the Midianites and take vengeance on Midian for the LORD. 4 📚You shall send to the battle a thousand from each tribe, for all the tribes of Israel”. 5 So from the thousands of Israel, a thousand men from each tribe were selected, twelve thousand armed for battle. 6 📚And Moses sent them to the war, a thousand from each tribe. He sent them and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war, with the holy instruments, and trumpets in his hand to sound the alarm.
7 📚And they fought against the Midianites, just as the LORD commanded Moses, and killed all the males. 8 📚And they killed the kings of Midian, besides the rest of those who were killed, namely, Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, five kings of Midian. They also killed Balaam the son of Beor with the sword.
31:8 God’s vengeance came on Balaam too. He once spoke for God, but betrayed God’s people for reward.⚜
9 📚And the children of Israel took captive all the women of Midian and their little ones, and plundered all their cattle and all their flocks and all their goods. 10 📚And they burned all their cities where they lived and all their camps, with fire. 11 📚And they took all the plunder and all the prey, both of man and animal. 12 📚And they brought the captives, and the prey and the plunder, to Moses and Eleazar the priest, and to the congregation of the children of Israel, at the camp on the plains of Moab, which are by the Jordan near Jericho.
13 📚And Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and all the leaders of the congregation, went to meet them outside the camp. 14 📚And Moses was angry with the officers of the army, with the captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, who came from the battle.
15 📚And Moses said to them, “Have you kept all the women alive? 16 📚Look, through the counsel of Balaam these caused the children of Israel to act treacherously against the LORD in the affair of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD. 17 📚Therefore now kill every boy among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known a man through intercourse with him.
31:14-17 The women of Midian were at least as guilty as the men and vengeance must be taken on them too.⚜
18 📚But keep alive for yourselves all the female children who have not known a man through intercourse with him.
19 📚“And stay outside the camp for seven days. Any of you who has killed any person, and anyone who has touched anyone who was killed, must purify both yourselves and your captives on the third day, and on the seventh day. 20 📚And purify all your clothing and everything that is made of skins and everything made of goats’ hair and everything made of wood”.
21 📚And Eleazar the priest said to the men of war who went to the battle, “This is the regulation of the law which the LORD commanded Moses: 22 you shall put through fire only the gold and the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin, and the lead, 23 📚everything that can stand fire, and it will be clean; but it must be purified with the water for impurity; and everything that cannot stand fire you must put through water. 24 📚And you shall wash your clothes on the seventh day, and you will be clean; and after that you may come into the camp”.
25 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 26 “You and Eleazar the priest and the heads of the fathers’ households of the congregation must count the prey that was taken; 27 📚and divide the prey between the soldiers who went out to battle, and the whole congregation,
31:27 The spoils were to be shared by everyone alike (Josh 22:8; 1 Sam 30:22-25). The Lord Jesus divides with His believers all the spoils He has won in His victory over Satan (Rom 8:17; Gal 4:7; Eph 3:6).⚜
28 📚and levy a tax for the LORD from the soldiers who went to battle: one in five hundred of the persons and of the cattle and of the donkeys and of the sheep. 29 📚Take it from their half and give it to Eleazar the priest as a lifted up offering for the LORD. 30 📚And from the half of the children of Israel you shall take one in fifty of the persons, of the cattle, of the donkeys, and of the flocks, of each kind of animal, and give them to the Levites who are in charge of the tabernacle of the LORD”.
31:28-30 The priests also must have their share. God did not forget His servants in the tabernacle even if they could not go to the battle.⚜
31 And Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the LORD commanded Moses.
32 And the plunder that remained of the prey which the soldiers had taken was six hundred and seventy-five thousand sheep, 33 and seventy-two thousand cattle, 34 and sixty-one thousand donkeys, 35 and altogether thirty-two thousand persons, women who had not known a man through intercourse with him.
36 And the half which was the portion of the soldiers by number was this: three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep; 37 and the LORD’s tax of the sheep was six hundred and seventy-five. 38 And there were thirty-six thousand cattle, of which the LORD’s tax was seventy-two. 39 And there were thirty thousand five hundred donkeys; of which the LORD’s tax was sixty-one. 40 And there were sixteen thousand persons; of whom the LORD’s tax was thirty-two persons.
41 📚And Moses gave the tax, which was the LORD’s lifted up offering, to Eleazar the priest, as the LORD commanded Moses.
42 And the half for the children of Israel which Moses separated from the soldiers, 43 the half that belonged to the congregation was three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep, 44 and thirty-six thousand cattle, 45 and thirty thousand five hundred donkeys, 46 and sixteen thousand persons. 47 📚And from the half for the children of Israel Moses took one in fifty, both of man and of animal, and gave them to the Levites who were in charge of the tabernacle of the LORD, just as the LORD commanded Moses.
48 And the officers who were over thousands in the army, the captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds, came near to Moses, 49 📚and they said to Moses, “Your servants have taken a census of the soldiers who are under our command, and not one man of us is missing.
31:49 Not one man of Israel fell in battle in this amazing victory. When God, not man, takes vengeance it will work out perfectly.⚜
50 📚Therefore we have brought an offering for the LORD, what each man has gotten, ornaments of gold, chains, and bracelets, rings, earrings, and necklaces, to make atonement for our souls in the LORD’s presence”.
51 📚And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from them, all the crafted ornaments. 52 And all the gold of the offering that they offered to the LORD from the captains of thousands and from the captains of hundreds was sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels 📖. 53 📚For the soldiers had taken plunder, each man for himself.
54 📚And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it into the tabernacle of the congregation as a memorial for the children of Israel before the LORD.