Numbers 31:2
in Numbers 31“Take vengeance on the Midianites for the Israelites. After that, you will be gathered to your people.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites: afterward shalt thou be gathered unto thy people.
KJV
Avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites: afterward shalt thou be gathered unto thy people.
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This verse in Numbers 31
Commentary
6 notes on this verseBut 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.
This site's exposition
the Lord spake unto Moses
on Numbers 31:1-4
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.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites,.... For the injury they had done them, by sending their daughters among them, who enticed them to commit uncleanness with them, and then drew them into the worship of their idols, which brought the wrath of God upon them, and for which 24,000 persons were slain.
God will have us to reckon those our worst enemies that draw us to sin, and to avoid them; and since every man is tempted when he is drawn aside of his own lusts, and these are the Midianites which ensnare us with their wiles, on them we should avenge ourselves, not only make no league with them, but make war upon them by living a life of mortification.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
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.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
The Midianites - The Moabites are not included. It would thus seem that it was the Midianites, and they only, who deliberately set themselves to work the corruption of Israel.
The words behind it
10 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| נְקֹ֗ם | nekom | avenge | H5358 → | |
| נִקְמַת֙ | nikmat | [the] vengeance of | H5360 → | |
| בְּנֵ֣י | benei | [the] people of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל | yisrael | Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
| מֵאֵ֖ת | meet | from with | H854 → | 929 times |
| הַמִּדְיָנִ֑ים | hamidyanim | the Midianites | H4084 → | 7 times |
| אַחַ֖ר | ʾachar | after | H310 → | 715 times |
| תֵּאָסֵ֥ף | teasef | you will be gathered | H622 → | 200 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| עַמֶּֽיךָ׃ | ʾameikha | people<s> your | H5971 → | 1873 times |
נְקֹ֗םavenge
nekomH5358 →
נִקְמַת֙[the] vengeance of
nikmatH5360 →
בְּנֵ֣י[the] people of
beneiH1121 →4930 times
יִשְׂרָאֵ֔לIsrael
yisraelH3478 →2507 times
מֵאֵ֖תfrom with
meetH854 →929 times
הַמִּדְיָנִ֑יםthe Midianites
hamidyanimH4084 →7 times
אַחַ֖רafter
ʾacharH310 →715 times
תֵּאָסֵ֥ףyou will be gathered
teasefH622 →200 times
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
עַמֶּֽיךָ׃people<s> your
ʾameikhaH5971 →1873 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Romans 12:19Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but leave room for God’s wrath. For it is written: “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, says the Lord.”
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 32:35
Vengeance is Mine; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; for their day of disaster is near, and their doom is coming quickly.”
- Hebrews 10:30
For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge His people.”
- Proverbs 24:29
Do not say, “I will do to him as he has done to me; I will repay the man according to his work.”
- Proverbs 20:22
Do not say, “I will avenge this evil!” Wait on the LORD, and He will save you.
- Romans 12:17
Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Carefully consider what is right in the eyes of everybody.
- Deuteronomy 32:35
Through
Revelation 6:10And they cried out in a loud voice, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You avenge our blood and judge those who dwell upon the earth?”
it leads to
- Revelation 19:2
For His judgments are true and just. He has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality. He has avenged the blood of His servants that was poured out by her…
- Psalms 9:12
For the Avenger of bloodshed remembers; He does not ignore the cry of the afflicted.
- Revelation 19:2
Through
Judges 2:10After that whole generation had also been gathered to their fathers, another generation rose up who did not know the LORD or the works that He had done for Israel.
it leads to
- 1 Samuel 2:12
Now the sons of Eli were wicked men; they had no regard for the LORD
- 1 Samuel 2:12
About Numbers
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ambrose of Milan, On the Duties of the Clergy 1.29.139; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.