Numberschapter 31
54 verses · Moses, by tradition · 15th to 13th century BC · The Law
Key verse
“Take vengeance on the Midianites for the Israelites. After that, you will be gathered to your people.”
It stands in A thousand from every tribe against Midian, verses 1 to 12.
The chapter
Chapter summary
War with Midian, at the LORD's command. Vengeance for Baal-peor. A thousand from every tribe, twelve thousand armed for war. The five kings of Midian slain; the cities burnt. Balaam son of Beor is killed with the sword. Moses is angry that the women. The very cause of the plague at Peor. Have been kept alive; he commands their death (the female children innocent) and the purification of soldiers and spoil. Spoil divided: half to the warriors, half to the congregation; a levy to the LORD. The officers bring a heave offering of jewels, confessing that not one of their thousand-man bands was missing. A heave offering of gratitude.
Context
Law · Moses · Numbers overview
The world behind this chapter
Numbers 31The history
The chapter is the LORD's word to Moses and the last campaign Moses orders, which verse 2 says by tying it to his own death. It stands in the fortieth year, in the camp on the plains of Moab. The occasion is named inside the chapter rather than left to the reader. Verse 16 points back to the plague at Peor of Numbers 25, and says the Midianite women drew Israel into it through the counsel of Balaam. That is the ground of the campaign, and verse 8 records that Balaam died in it. A first hearer knew who the Midianites were. They were a people of the northwest Arabian desert and the country east of the Gulf of Aqaba, moving with their herds along the caravan roads. Moses had married into them and had kept sheep for a Midianite priest for forty years. He also knew what the purification of verses 19 to 24 was for, since it applies the ordinance of the red heifer of Numbers 19 to an army. The division of the spoil runs half to the men who fought and half to the congregation, with a tribute to the priest and to the Levites.
The rest of the history, and what it meant to them
What it meant to them
The chapter reads to them as the settling of an account the book had left open. Peor had cost twenty-four thousand lives according to Numbers 25:9, and the counsel that caused it is answered here by name. The officers' offering in verses 48 to 54 carries the other half of it. They report that every man under their command came back, and they bring the gold as atonement. That says they took the outcome of the battle as given to them rather than won.
Sources cited
- Jacob Milgrom, Numbers , The JPS Torah Commentary, 1990
- Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments , 1832 to 1869, on Numbers 31
- John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews and Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament , 2000
Where the chapter sits
Numbers 31 falls in Second census and preparations (chapters 26–36). A new generation numbered; inheritance laws; Joshua commissioned; cities of refuge and tribal boundaries.
Before it: Approach to Moab, chapters 21–25.
The whole shape of Numbers→The structure of this chapter
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
A. A thousand from every tribe against Midian
1. (vv. 1-4)
Numbers 31:1
“And the Lord spake unto Moses,.... After the plague upon Israel for their fornication and idolatry, into which they were drawn by the daughters of Moab and Midian, and after the sum of the people was taken in the plains of Moab, and various laws given or repeated, and a little before the death of Moses: saying; as follows.”
Numbers 31:2
“But a deeper vengeance is taken on fiercer foes and on those that are false as well as on those who have done greater wrongs, as was the case with the Midianites. For they had made many of the Jewish people to sin through their women. For this reason the anger of the Lord was poured out upon the people of our fathers. Thus it came about that Moses when victorious allowed none of them to live.”
Ambrose of Milan· written before 397· On the Duties of the Clergy 1.29.139patristic
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 31:2
“Gathered unto thy people - Where? Not in the grave surely. Moses was gathered with none of them, his burial-place no man ever knew. “But being gathered unto one’s people means dying.” It does imply dying, but it does not mean this only. The truth is, God considers all those who are dead to men in a state of conscious existence in another world.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Numbers 31:3
“Avenge the Lord of Midian - The war against the Midianites was no ordinary war. It was indeed less a war than the execution of a divine sentence against a most guilty people. Doubtless there were many among the Midianites who were personally guiltless as regards Israel. But the rulers deliberately adopted the counsel of Balaam against Israel, and their behests had been but too readily obeyed by their subjects. The sin therefore was national, and the retribution could be no less so.”
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 31:3
“Arm some of yourselves--This order was issued but a short time before the death of Moses. The announcement to him of that approaching event [Nu 31:2] seems to have accelerated, rather than retarded, his warlike preparations.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Numbers 31:4
“Of every tribe a thousand,.... So that the whole number of those that were armed were 12,000 as after given: throughout all the tribes of Israel; this is observed, as Jarchi thinks, to comprehend the tribe of Levi, which in some cases was left out of the account: shall ye send to the war; to fight with Midian.”
God says avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites, and Moses passing the order on says avenge the Lord of Midian. The text sets the two objects side by side and explains neither. The same sentence ties the errand to the end of Moses, afterward shalt thou be gathered unto thy people, which repeats what was already said to him at 27:13. The levy is a thousand from every tribe alike, though the census five chapters back had run from twenty two thousand two hundred in Simeon to seventy six thousand five hundred in Judah.
2. (vv. 5-12)
Numbers 31:5
“So they were delivered out of the thousands of Israel,....”
Numbers 31:6
“A thousand of every tribe - Twelve thousand men in the whole. And Phinehas, the son of Eleazar; some think he was made general in this expedition, but this is not likely. The ark and its contents must proceed to this battle, because the battle was the Lord’s, and he dwelt between the cherubim over the ark; and Phinehas, who had before got a grant in the eternal priesthood, was chosen to accompany the ark in place of his father Eleazar, who was probably now too far advanced in years to undergo the fatigue. Who then was general?”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 31:6
“He therefore took with him the holy instruments or vessels, probably the breast-plate of judgment, by which God might he consulted in any emergency. Though he was not yet the high priest, yet he might be delegated pro hac vice--for this particular occasion, to bear the urim and thummim, as 1 Sam. xxiii.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Numbers 31:7
“But the destruction appears to have been only partial--limited to those who were in the neighborhood of the Hebrew camp and who had been accomplices in the villainous plot of Baal-peor (Nu 25:1-3), while a large portion of the Midianites were absent on their pastoral wanderings or had saved themselves by flight.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Numbers 31:8
“Balaam - they slew with the sword - This man had probably committed what St. John calls the sin unto death - a sin which God punishes with temporal death, while at the same time he extends mercy to the soul. See the remarks at Num 24:25 (note).”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Numbers 31:9
“And the children of Israel took all the women of Midian captives,....”
Numbers 31:11
“And they took all the spoil,.... In their cities and castles; and all the prey, both of men and of beasts; all sorts of cattle, oxen, sheep, and asses.”
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 31:11
“The “prey” refers to the captives and live-stock: the “spoil” to the ornaments and other effects.”
Numbers 31:12
“The women and children, who were the captives, and the beasts which were the prey, and the gold, silver, &c. which were the spoil: unto Moses and Eleazar the priest, and unto the congregation of the children of Israel; that is, they were bringing the above persons things unto them, returning from the war with Midian: unto the camp at the plains of Moab, which are by Jordan near Jericho: see Num 22:1, but they were stopped, and were not admitted into the camp until seven days after.”
Twelve thousand men go out, and Phinehas goes with them carrying the holy instruments and the trumpets, which Numbers 10:9 had appointed for war so that Israel would be remembered before the Lord. Phinehas is the man who stopped the plague at Peor in chapter 25, and Balaam falls in this battle among the five kings of Midian. Joshua 13:21-22 lists the same five as princes of Midian who were dukes of Sihon, and names Balaam the soothsayer slain with the sword among them. The narrative had last left him at 24:25, rising up and returning to his place.
B. Moses angry over those who were spared
1. (vv. 13-16)
Numbers 31:13
“Moses, and Eleazar the priest, . . . went forth to meet them without the camp--partly as a token of respect and congratulation on their victory, partly to see how they had executed the Lord's commands, and partly to prevent the defilement of the camp by the entrance of warriors stained with blood.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Numbers 31:14
“And Moses was wroth with the officers of the host,....”
Numbers 31:15
“It is just that they should die. The law in case of whoredom was, The adulterer and adulteress should surely be put to death. God had put to death the adulterers of Israel by the plague, and now it was fit that the adulteresses of Midian, especially since they had been the tempters, should be put to death by the sword.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
The army is met outside the camp with the women of Midian alive among the captives, and Moses is angry with the officers. Verse 16 supplies what chapters 22 to 24 never said, that these women acted through the counsel of Balaam in the matter of Peor. Chapter 25 had told the seduction without naming its author, and the New Testament follows this verse rather than the narrative at 2 Peter 2:15, Jude 11 and Revelation 2:14, where Balaam is the man who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel.
2. (vv. 17-18)
Numbers 31:17
“Kill every male among the little ones - 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 safely said, their lives were forfeited by their personal transgressions; and yet even in this case there can be little doubt that God showed mercy to their souls.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 31:17
“But why "kill every male among the little ones"? It was designed to be a war of extermination, such as God Himself had ordered against the people of Canaan, whom the Midianites equalled in the enormity of their wickedness.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Numbers 31:18
“But all the women children,.... The females among the little ones: that have not known a man by lying with him; which might be pretty clear, and easily concluded, from their age: keep for yourselves; either to be handmaids to them, or to be married among them when grown up, and become proselytes, and initiated into their religion.”
The order is given in plain words, and the ground the chapter offers is the verse before it, the matter of Peor and the plague that followed. Barnes reads the campaign as a sentence carried out on a national sin rather than an ordinary war, because the rulers of Midian took the counsel and their people acted on it. Clarke writes on this verse that the author of life may dispose of it, and he holds out mercy for the souls of those killed. The girls kept alive are read by Gill as taken into Israelite households, and Deuteronomy 21:10-14 gives the law that governs a captive woman taken to wife.
3. (vv. 19-20)
Numbers 31:19
“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.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Numbers 31:20
“And purify all your raiment,....”
Numbers 31:19-25
Winning the battle exempts no one from the law of the dead. Every man who killed or touched a body waits outside seven days and is purified on the third day and the seventh with the water of separation, which is the red heifer ordinance of chapter 19 put to work. Eleazar rather than Moses states the law here, and he adds a rule chapter 19 did not give, that metal able to bear fire goes through fire and what cannot bear it goes through water. The captives are purified along with the soldiers.
C. Through the fire and through the watervv. 21-24
Numbers 31:21
“And Eleazar the priest said unto the men of war, which went to the battle,.... To all the soldiers, officers, and common men: this is the ordinance of the law, which the Lord commanded Moses; concerning the purification of unclean persons and things, hereby confirming what Moses had said.”
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 31:21
“These things had been use by Midianites, and, having now come into the possession of Israelites, it was fit that they should be sanctified to the service of that holy nation and the honour of their holy God. To us now every thing is sanctified by the word and prayer, if we are sanctified by the Spirit, who is compared both to fire and water.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Numbers 31:22
“Brass - Render copper. See Gen 4:22 note. The verse is curious as illustrating the variety of metals in use at this early date for domestic purposes. All these metals were common in Egypt centuries before the date of the Exodus.”
Numbers 31:23
“The water of separation - The water in which the ashes of the red heifer were mingled; See Num 8:7 (note), Num 19:2 (note), etc. Garments, whether of cloth or skins, were to be washed. Gold, silver, brass, iron, tin, and lead, to pass through the fire, probably to be melted down.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Numbers 31:24
“And ye shall wash your clothes on the seventh day,.... As the leper did, Lev 14:9, and ye shall be clean, and afterward ye shall come into the camp; into the camp of Israel, into the camp of the Levites, and into the camp of God, the tabernacle.”
D. Dividing the spoil, and the LORD's tribute
1. (v. 25)
Numbers 31:25
“And the Lord spake unto Moses,.... After the purification of the soldiers, their captives, and spoil: saying; as follows.”
2. (vv. 26-31)
Numbers 31:26
“Take the sum of the prey that was taken, both of man and beast,.... The number of the females that were taken captive and spared, and of the cattle, the sheep, oxen, and asses: thou, and Eleazar the priest, and the chief fathers of the congregation; who were all men of authority and character, and fit to be employed in such service, and of whose capacity and fidelity there could be no doubt.”
Numbers 31:27
“And divide the prey into two parts,.... Into two equal parts, both the number of the people and of the cattle, when taken: between them that took the war upon them, and went out to battle; the soldiers; and by this it appears that they went voluntarily and cheerfully: and between all the congregation; so that the part of them that went to battle, and of those that stayed in the camp, were alike, and which in process of time became a statute and ordinance, 1Sa 30:24.”
Numbers 31:28
“And levy a tribute unto the Lord - one soul of five hundred, etc. - 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, Num 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.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Numbers 31:29
“An heave-offering - Render simply an offering, and compare Num 18:24. The verb from which the word here rendered “heave-offering” is derived, is rightly translated “levy” in Num 31:28.”
Numbers 31:30
“And of the children of Israel's half, thou shall take one portion of fifty,....”
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 31:30
“50 We have therefore brought an oblation for the L ORD , what every man hath gotten, of jewels of gold, chains, and bracelets, rings, earrings, and tablets, to make an atonement for our souls before the L ORD .”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Numbers 31:31
“And Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord commanded Moses. Took an account of the booty, divided it equally between the soldiers and the congregation of Israel, and levied a part out of each as a tribute for the Lord, which was given to the priests and Levites.”
The prey is halved between the men who fought and the congregation that stayed behind, and David later makes that principle a statute at 1 Samuel 30:24-25, that the man who tarries by the stuff parts alike with the man who goes down to the battle. The two halves are then taxed at different rates. The soldiers give one of every five hundred to Eleazar and the congregation gives one of every fifty to the Levites, so the levy on those who stayed is ten times the levy on those who went.
3. (vv. 32-40)
The totals come to six hundred and seventy five thousand sheep, seventy two thousand beeves, sixty one thousand asses and thirty two thousand women, and the chapter halves each figure and works the tribute at one in five hundred. The sums balance to the last head, six hundred and seventy five sheep out of three hundred and thirty seven thousand five hundred, and seventy two beeves out of thirty six thousand. Clarke stops at the tribute of persons to reject an old reading that the thirty two women were offered in sacrifice, and takes them as given to service at the sanctuary. Verse 32 calls the booty the rest of the prey, which leaves room for what verse 53 says the men kept.
4. (vv. 41-47)
Moses hands the tribute from the men of war to Eleazar, and the congregation's half is then written out again inside a parenthesis, the same sheep and beeves and asses and persons a second time. Its levy of one in fifty goes to the Levites who kept the charge of the tabernacle, which rests on the arrangement of Numbers 18:21-24, where the Levites hold no inheritance and live on what Israel brings in. The phrase as the Lord commanded Moses falls four times in this chapter, at verses 7, 31, 41 and 47, and half of those fall in the accounting of the spoil.
E. Not one man missing: gold for a memorial
1. (vv. 48-50)
Numbers 31:48
“And the officers which were over thousands of the host,.... Over the twelve thousand, of which the host or army consisted: namely, the captains of thousands, and the captains of hundreds, came near unto Moses; of their own accord, without being sent, or required to do what they did.”
2 more voices on this verse
Numbers 31:48
“6 And 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. The Lord of hosts gives orders to Moses to make war upon the Midianites, and his commission no doubt justified this war, though it will not serve to justify the like without such commission.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Numbers 31:48
“The holy instruments - The holy breast-plate, wherein was the Urim and Thummim, which was easily carried, and very useful in war upon many emergent occasions. All the males - Namely all who lived in those parts, for colonies of them, were sent forth to remoter places, which therefore had no hand either in their former sin, or in this present ruling.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Numbers 31:49
“There is no mention of any resistance on the part of the Midianites. The Israelites saw in this and in the preservation of all those engaged, proofs that the Lord had been with them in the work, and hence, the free-will oblation of Num 31:50.”
Numbers 31:50
“We have - brought an oblation for the Lord - So it appears there was a great deal of booty taken which did not come into the general account; and of this the soldiers, of their own will, made a very extensive offering to God, because he had preserved them from falling in battle. That not one man should have been slain is a most extraordinary circumstance, and powerfully marks the peculiar superintendence of God’s especial providence. The Midianites must certainly have made some resistance; but that was ineffectual, because it was against the Lord.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The officers come to Moses without being sent for, having taken the sum of their men, and they report that there lacketh not one man of us. Barnes observes that the chapter records no resistance from Midian at all, and the officers read that outcome as the reason for the gift they bring. What they call the gift is an atonement for our souls, which is the language of Exodus 30:12, where taking the sum of Israel required a ransom for every man numbered so that there be no plague among them. That camp had buried twenty four thousand in the plague of 25:9.
2. (vv. 51-54)
Numbers 31:51
“And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of them,.... For it seems the several things before mentioned were all of gold: even all wrought jewels; or "vessels of work" (h) or wrought vessels, or instruments, "chains, bracelets", &c. which were all of gold, and curiously wrought. (h) כלי מעשה "vas operis", Montanus.”
Numbers 31:52
“And all the gold of the offering that they offered up to the Lord,.... The whole amount, weight, and value of it put together: even of the captains of thousands, and the captains of hundreds, and perhaps of every common soldier, who might contribute his part, though it is not mentioned, but included in the oblation of the officers: was 16,750 shekels; which, according to the calculation of a very learned man (i), were 7,780 ounces, four drachms, two scruples, and thirty five grains. (i) Scheuchzer. Physica Sacr. vol. 2. p. 399.”
Numbers 31:53
“For the men of war had taken spoil, every man for himself. And which he kept for himself, and did not deliver in with the prey or booty, which was brought to Moses and Eleazar, the sum of which was taken by them; and this seems to confirm what has been hinted, that, as each soldier had taken spoil for himself, so everyone contributed his quota towards this freewill offering to the Lord.”
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 31:53
“This verse seems to imply that the soldiers, as distinct from the officers (compare Num 31:49), did not make any offering from their plunder. Of course besides the gold there would be much spoil of less precious materials; see Num 31:20, Num 31:22.”
Numbers 31:54
“And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of the captains of thousands and of hundreds,....”
The gold weighs sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels, brought by the captains of thousands and of hundreds. Verse 53 adds in a parenthesis that the men of war had taken spoil every man for himself, and readers divide over it, with Barnes taking it that the common soldiers made no offering and Gill taking it that every man contributed out of what he had kept. The gold is carried into the tabernacle for a memorial for the children of Israel before the Lord, which is the use Exodus 30:16 gave for the atonement money of a people numbered.
This page carries no textual note on Numbers 31. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.