Numbers 31: Vengeance on the Midianites
1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2 “Take vengeance on the Midianites for the children of Israel. Afterward you shall be gathered to your people.”
3 So Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Arm some of yourselves for war, and let them go against the Midianites to take vengeance for the Lord on Midian. 4 A thousand from each tribe of all the tribes of Israel you shall send to the war.”
5 So there were recruited from the divisions of Israel one thousand from each tribe, twelve thousand armed for war. 6 Then Moses sent them to the war, one thousand from each tribe; he sent them to the war with Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, with the holy articles and the signal trumpets in his hand.
"This chapter records the war of extermination commanded by God against Midian. It was not a war of personal vengeance, but a war of execution of the wrath of a just God against a people who deliberately became God's enemies and sought by every device they knew to frustrate the Divine purpose with regard to Israel.... It should always be remembered that in this terrible act of vengeance, Israel did not act upon their own behalf at all, but as instruments of God, and upon his express command to do so. As Henry pointed out, they had authority for their actions which no man or nation on earth today can claim. They had Moses to relate to them, ‘what God commanded.’ People today have no such authority.” (Coffman)
"Here we see the fulfillment of that sacred Scripture, which assures us that the judgment of the ungodly lingereth not; for however the LORD may seem slack, as some men count slackness, yet the day of the LORD will come as a thief in the night, in which GOD will recompense his enemies, and the enemies of his people, which are a part of himself, to their face. See 2 Peter 2:3; Malachi 4:1. Ecclesiastes 8:11. The Reader will enter into a proper apprehension of this history, by consulting Nu 22; 23; 24, and Nu 25. But while I beg the Reader to consult those chapters, in order to see the equity and justice of the divine proceeding, in ordering Israel to destroy Midian, which had first tried to curse Israel, and afterwards did tempt and seduce Israel to rebel against the LORD GOD by idolatry; I must request the Reader not to overlook the tenderness of the LORD to Moses. Though the time was arrived, when Moses was to be gathered to his people, yet the LORD will grant his servant to see with his eyes the destruction of Midian before his departure. This victory was a pledge of the conquest of Canaan. And Moses has assurance before he dies. Blessed JESUS! Is it not thus thou dealest with all thy people in the precious confirmation of thy promises. See Psalms 91:8-16.
[One day we will see the vengeance of God executed on the enemies of the Church, not by us nor our patriots in uniform, but by His holy angels.]
I beg the Reader to observe the words of Moses in this verse. In the former verse the LORD had said that the children of Israel should avenge themselves of the Midianites. But Moses varies the precept, and here saith, that the LORD is to be avenged of them. And what doth this teach us but this, that the interests of GOD and his people are one and the same. I remember in the moment I am looking over this scripture thy sweet words, blessed JESUS, in which thou hast left upon record, that whatsoever is done in a way of kindness to one of the least of thy brethren, thou takest as done to thyself. Matthew 25:40; John 17:21-23…. [AND] There is a special mercy in appointing Phineas to this service. He it was whose zeal for GOD'S honour broke forth in a day of affliction to the deliverance of Israel. See Numbers 25:7-13." (Hawker's Poor Man's Commentary)
7 And they warred against the Midianites, just as the Lord commanded Moses, and they killed all the males. 8 They killed the kings of Midian with the rest of those who were killed—Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian. Balaam the son of Beor they also killed with the sword.9 And the children of Israel took the women of Midian captive, with their little ones, and took as spoil all their cattle, all their flocks, and all their goods. 10 They also burned with fire all the cities where they dwelt, and all their forts. 11 And they took all the spoil and all the booty—of man and beast. 12 Then they brought the captives, the booty, and the spoil to Moses, to Eleazar the priest, and to the congregation of the children of Israel, to the camp in the plains of Moab by the Jordan, across from Jericho.
It seems that there is a distinction in these verses. "And they warred against the Midianites, just as the Lord commanded Moses." (7) These were likely the warriors of the country who were killed by the Israelites in battle. But verse eight turns to a judicial execution. They killed the kings with the other men, but took the women and their children captive. Also: "The destruction of all the men of Midian means, no doubt, all that were then in Midian; for probably some of the subjects of Midian might be from home, or in Moab. And the wars which Israel had with Midian afterwards, confirm this. See Judges 6:3.” (Hawker's Poor Man's Commentary)
“The failure of some people today to understand what happened here is due to their failure to take into account God's total abhorrence of sin, and of his eternal anger against arrogant and wicked men who rebel against God's authority. The record of the deluge is a record of God's destruction of the whole human race (except for a remnant), because of their incurable wickedness, so great that the family of Adam at that point had become a cancer upon the earth itself. God's destructions of nations and cities as extensively revealed in the Bible are but other facets of this same characteristic of the Eternal Justice, and our evil world has by no means seen the last of it. Is it right, just, or moral, for God to do this? Certainly! Because of its application in this very chapter, we are impelled to repeat again our illustration of the derail switches near Moffatt Tunnel, Colorado, where once the intercontinental railroad climbed the mighty switchbacks over the continental divide. A traveler asked the old station master at the village lying at the base of the great divide, what the derail switches were for at the apex of each switchback. He said, ‘In case a train got out of control, it would have been thrown into a canyon, for it could not have been saved. The loss of the train would have spared the ruination of the whole switchback complex and the village also.’ If people can understand that, they should have no trouble with God's throwing the derail switch on any city, nation, or civilization, hopelessly given over to wickedness and violence.’ … Whitelaw was of the opinion, based upon the context, and the separate mention of the five kings, and Zur, and Balaam, that, ‘They were slain, not in battle, but as the context implies, by way of judicial execution. (See Num. 25 and also Josh. 13:22.’ [Thomas Whitelaw, op. cit., p. 400].” (Coffman Commentary)
The death of Balaam- "Reader! pause over the death of this wretched character, and remark the sure destruction of the ungodly. The man whose eyes he confessed were open, but whose heart never was influenced by grace. Devils are of this stamp. They cannot but believe, because they know who CHRIST is; but never love, and therefore tremble. James 2:19." (Hawker's Poor Man's Commentary) It takes more than head ascent; the heart must be moved, yea the whole body must turn to Christ-- “faith without works is dead?” (James 2:19)
On another note, do not overlook in this relation the corruption of our nature, in the Israelites sparing the women. "Had they remembered themselves, or had they felt conscious shame in the remembrance of their transgressions against GOD, they would have known that the daughters of Moab and Midian had caused their idolatry. But alas! we spare our corruptions in the day of inquisition, under the cover of infirmities, and the like; so deceitful the heart of man! Romans 3:9.” (Hawker's Poor Man's Commentary) These sons of Jacob also took the cattle and the flocks and the goods of the Midianites on their own initiative, not by command of the Lord. Thus to the world and many in their own camp, the message was lost. "The world and its inhabitants will one day be destroyed by fire! Do not cling to the the things of the world." They should have done like their father Abraham and refused to take anything, lest others say that they profited from the war with them; see Genesis 14:21.
Numbers 31: Judgment Executed on Women and Children
13 And Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the leaders of the congregation, went to meet them outside the camp. 14 But Moses was angry with the officers of the army, with the captains over thousands and captains over hundreds, who had come from the battle. 15 And Moses said to them: “Have you kept all the women alive? 16 Look, these women caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to trespass against the Lord in the incident of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the Lord. 17 Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and . 18 But keep alive for yourselves all the young girls who have not known a man intimately.
Most people are willing to quickly write off Yahweh, God of the Old Testament, as the product of the unenlightened minds of the children of Israel. Not me. Gotta take it all as true and inspired by the Holy Spirit. So, I'm going to search the Scriptures and heed His invitation-
“‘Come now, and let us reason together,’ says the LORD, ‘though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool. If you consent and obey, You will eat the best of the land…’” (Isaiah 1:18-19)
Some of my thoughts, even my deeds, will be burned up in that great and awful day of the Lord's wrath but some will make it through the fire with the other precious metals... Yet I expect to be saved. (1 Cor 3:12-15) There are often righteous and wicked in every camp. It was true for the house of Jacob, and it might have been true of the Midianites. Consider Moses's father-in-law, who was a Midianite but joined himself to Israel. Surely there were others who were still in the camp of Midian but in the process of coming out- like righteous Lot in the walls of Sodom in Abrahams’s day. And innocents are always killed in collateral damage during war, and surely even in Israel's judicial system. But peace comes in the knowledge that there are two deaths spoken of in the Bible, the first and the second. The first one is temporal and appointed for all mankind to die. The second one is eternal and will only be appropriated to the wicked- after the judgment (Heb 9:27). At the last day, the wicked will be awakened only to be judged and to experience death again- this time by fire; whereas all of the righteous of every nation and will awaken to eternal life. And I also believe that those who have not reached the age of accountability will have a lot in the kingdom of Israel, even if their wicked parents were leading them astray.
Moses was wroth with the officers of the army, with the captains over thousands and captains over hundreds because they kept ALL of the woman and children alive and where intending to bring them into the camp of Israel. They had failed to execute judicial judgment on them, according to the Command.
Look, these women caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to trespass against the Lord in the incident of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the Lord… ”The sword of war should spare women and children; but the sword of justice should know no distinction, but that of guilty or not guilty. This war was the execution of a righteous sentence upon a guilty nation, in which the women were the worst criminals.” (Matthew Henry Commentary)
“By their antecedent conduct, however, the Midianitish women had forfeited all claims to mild or merciful treatment; and the sacred character, the avowed object of the war (Nu 31:2, 3), made their slaughter necessary without any special order." (Jamieson, Faussett, and Brown)
Kill every woman who has known a man intimately. It is noted that only some of these women seduced Israel, but of the others- perhaps the women who had slept with the native men were accounted as one with them. So, they would be slain with them. Yet, surely some innocents of the particular sin mentioned were also killed; yet, unless they were redeemed by the God of Israel- they were still under His condemnation. All the slain woman would sleep in the earth until they were awakened for the final and eternal Judgment of God. In contrast, it could be certain that virgins did not transgress with the sons of Israel. For Israel's government everything was established by two or three witnesses (Deuteronomy 19:15). So only the young women who were proven to be virgins would be kept alive, being granted probation until a yet future day.
YET, their young male counterparts would be slain. "The object of the command to put all the male children to death, was to exterminate the whole nation, as it could not be perpetuated in the women." (Keil & Delitzsch Commentary)
"For this action I account simply on the principle that God, who is the author and supporter of life, has a right to dispose of it when and how he thinks proper; and the Judge of all the earth can do nothing but what is right. Of the women killed on this occasion it may be [fairly] safely said, their lives were forfeited by their personal transgressions…” (Adam Clarke)
19 And as for you, remain outside the camp seven days; whoever has killed any person, and whoever has touched any slain, purify yourselves and your captives on the third day and on the seventh day. 20 Purify every garment, everything made of leather, everything woven of goats’ hair, and everything made of wood.” 21 Then Eleazar the priest said to the men of war who had gone to the battle, “This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord commanded Moses: 22 Only the gold, the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin, and the lead, 23 everything that can endure fire, you shall put through the fire, and it shall be clean; and it shall be purified with the water of purification. But all that cannot endure fire you shall put through water. 24 And you shall wash your clothes on the seventh day and be clean, and afterward you may come into the camp.”
Nothing that defiles could be allowed into the camp of Israel for it was to be the place for instructions in righteousness at the tabernacle. Everything allowed to enter must first be cleansed by the purifying water mixed with ashes of the red heifer. "Abide without the camp seven days: whosoever hath killed any person... purify both yourselves and your captives--Though the Israelites had taken the field in obedience to the command of God, they had become defiled by contact with the dead. A process of purification was to be undergone, as the law required (Le 15:13; Nu 19:9-12), and this purifying ceremony was extended to dress, houses, tents, to everything on which a dead body had lain, which had been touched by the blood-stained hands of the Israelitish warriors, or which had been the property of idolaters. This became a standing ordinance in all time coming (Le 6:28; 11:33; 15:12).” (Adam Clarke)
But we have a better cleansing through blood of Jesus made effective by being mixed with the waters of baptism.
"When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior." (Isaiah 43:2-3)
And we have a broader field. “Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, as so many, peddling the word of God; but as of sincerity, but as from God, we speak in the sight of God in Christ. (2 Corinthians 2:14-17)
Numbers 31: The Spoils of War Divided Among Israel
25 Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 26 “Count up the plunder that was taken—of man and beast—you and Eleazar the priest and the chief fathers of the congregation; 27 and divide the plunder into two parts, between those who took part in the war, who went out to battle, and all the congregation. 28 And levy a tribute for the Lord on the men of war who went out to battle: one of every five hundred of the persons, the cattle, the donkeys, and the sheep; 29 take it from their half, and give it to Eleazar the priest as a heave offering to the Lord. 30 And from the children of Israel’s half you shall take one of every fifty, drawn from the persons, the cattle, the donkeys, and the sheep, from all the livestock, and give them to the Levites who keep charge of the tabernacle of the Lord.” 31 So Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord commanded Moses.
32 The booty remaining from the plunder, which the men of war had taken, was six hundred and seventy-five thousand sheep, 33 seventy-two thousand cattle, 34 sixty-one thousand donkeys, 35 and thirty-two thousand persons in all, of women who had not known a man intimately. 36 And the half, the portion for those who had gone out to war, was in number three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep; 37 and the Lord’s tribute of the sheep was six hundred and seventy-five. 38 The cattle were thirty-six thousand, of which the Lord’s tribute was seventy-two. 39 The donkeys were thirty thousand five hundred, of which the Lord’s tribute was sixty-one. 40 The persons were sixteen thousand, of which the Lord’s tribute was thirty-two persons. 41 So Moses gave the tribute which was the Lord’s heave offering to Eleazar the priest, as the Lord commanded Moses.
42 And from the children of Israel’s half, which Moses separated from the men who fought— 43 now the half belonging to the congregation was three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep, 44 thirty-six thousand cattle, 45 thirty thousand five hundred donkeys, 46 and sixteen thousand persons— 47 and from the children of Israel’s half Moses took one of every fifty, drawn from man and beast, and gave them to the Levites, who kept charge of the tabernacle of the Lord, as the Lord commanded Moses.
After the spoils of war were cleansed, they were distributed to to everyone. “The warriors shared the booty equally with the Israelites who remained in the camp. They were no privileged class nor did they receive a special reward for their actions. They simply served one function and the other Israelites served another in carrying out the will of God (cf. 1 Samuel 30:24-25). From the warriors’ share 1/500 went to the priests and from the congregation’s share 1/50 went to the Levites (cf. Numbers 18:26).” (Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable)
A division was made even of the Midianite women kept alive. “The person to be employed in the Lord's service, under the Levites - the cattle either for sacrifice, or for the use of the Levites, Numbers 31:30. Some monsters have supposed that one out of every five hundred of the captives was offered in sacrifice to the Lord! but this is abominable. When God chose to have the life of a man, he took it in the way of justice, as in the case of Midianites above, but never in the way of sacrifice.” (Clarke) They were not slaves but proselytes to be guided in the way of righteousness.
The division of spoils was founded on this precept (Hawker) — "By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?” (1 John 3:16-17)
48 Then the officers who were over thousands of 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 count of the men of war who are under our command, and not a man of us is missing. 50 Therefore we have brought an offering for the Lord, what every man found of ornaments of gold: armlets and bracelets and signet rings and earrings and necklaces, to make atonement for ourselves before the Lord.” 51 So Moses and Eleazar the priest received the gold from them, all the fashioned ornaments. 52 And all the gold of the offering that they offered to the Lord, from the captains of thousands and captains of hundreds, was sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels. 53 (The men of war had taken spoil, every man for himself.) 54 And Moses and Eleazar the priest received the gold from the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it into the tabernacle of meeting as a memorial for the children of Israel before the Lord.
“A victory so signal, and the glory of which was untarnished by the loss of a single Israelitish soldier, was an astonishing miracle. So clearly betokening the direct interposition of Heaven, it might well awaken the liveliest feelings of grateful acknowledgment to God (Ps 44:2, 3).” (Jamieson-Fausset-Brown) This was a free will offering. "Reader! do observe; they did not ascribe the victory to their own sword, but they saw the hand of the LORD in it; and therefore to him gave all the glory. There is a similar example of this, Psalms 44:1-8. But this was not all. They beheld the preservation of themselves and their people from all danger, in the accomplishing this victory, as the peculiar interposition and mercy of GOD. And to be sure, nothing could be more decisive in confirmation of it, for when they came to muster up the people, there was not a single man wanting. Never perhaps, in the annals of the world, was there ever known such an instance. They saw, therefore, as a saint of GOD did upon another occasion, that this was the LORD'S doing, and marvellous in their eyes. Psalms 118:23. But when the Reader hath duly pondered over the natural and religious sense of this event, I would beg him to consider again the spiritual meaning, whether this first battle in the conquest of the promised land, in which not a soul was lost, was not typical of JESUS'S conquest of the eternal Canaan, concerning which he himself remarked, of them which thou hast given me have I lost none. John 18:9. The offering of the officers to the LORD is a delightful testimony from whom they consider the blessing of victory came, and to whom therefore ought to be returned the tribute of praise. What a sweet and precious example is this for all military characters.
REFLECTIONS- PAUSE, my soul, over the perusal of this whole Chapter, and duly contemplate in the case of Balak and Balaam's confederacy against Israel, and the event which here so soon after followed, in the destruction of Midian, the truth of that Scripture, The lamp of the wicked shall be put out. And again: Yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be; thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.
[But the righteous shall endure forever.]
In the contemplation of the holy war of Israel, behold, my soul, the figure and similitude of that war in which thou art engaged. LORD, help me to go forth to every conflict in thy strength, making mention of thy righteousness, even thine only. Let not mine eye spare any of those lusts, in my corrupt members, which war against my soul; but do thou blessed JESUS, as the great captain of my salvation, go before, and by the precious influences of thine HOLY SPIRIT, drive them out before me, until they are utterly consumed. And grant, gracious GOD, that when returning from the slaughter, I may have so fully learnt the song of salvation to GOD and the LAMB, that the blood of JESUS may be my oblation for the atonement of the sin of my soul. Of my soul may it be said, as it is and shall ever be of all the redeemed in the holy army of the LORD, They overcame by the blood of the LAMB, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death." (Hawker's Poor Man's Commentary) Worship will surely continue in the world to come.