CONTEXT
PART
7B: An Aside: Justice & Retribution
Ch.31:
[Action] Dealing with the Midianites
•
Vengeance
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FRAMEWORKS:
Numbers 31: Dealing with the Midianites
v.1,2
Command to take Vengeance on the Midianites
v.3-6
An Army Raised
v.7-12
Victory over the Midianites
v.13-18
Anger at only partial obedience
v.19-24
The Need for Purity
v.25-27
Equality in Dividing the Spoils
v.28-30
Parts for the Lord
v.31-41
The Plunder & the Tributes of the Soldiers
v.42-47
The Plunder & the Tributes of the People
v.48-54
The Soldiers Report & Present Gold
[Preliminary
Notes: This chapter raises various difficulties and we
will face them as we go through the chapter.]
v.1,2
Command to take Vengeance on the Midianites
v.1
The
Lord
said to Moses,
v.2
“Take
vengeance on the Midianites for the Israelites. After that, you
will be gathered to your people.”
[Notes:
Although the word ‘vengeance' is used here, it might
be more appropriate to replace it with ‘execute justice' or ‘execute
judgment'. It follows the specific activity of the Midianite women
who purposefully sought to undermine Israel - see chapter 25 and
the comments made there.
v.3-6
An Army Raised
v.3
So
Moses said to the people, “Arm some of your men to go to war against
the Midianites so that they may carry out the Lord
's vengeance
on them.
v.4
Send
into battle a thousand men from each of the tribes of Israel.”
v.5
So
twelve thousand men armed for battle, a thousand from each tribe,
were supplied from the clans of Israel.
v.6
Moses
sent them into battle, a thousand from each tribe, along with
Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, who took with him articles
from the sanctuary and the trumpets for signaling.
[Notes:
In what follows the modern reader will find a temptation
to judge strongly these actions [which ARE horrific] that took
place over three thousand years ago. Apart from being honest about
the extent of our own nations' records in respect of war in the
20 th century, the reader should remember a number of important
points:
i)
Israel is an embryonic nation struggling for survival.
ii)
In war in earlier days, the dictum ‘kill or be killed' prevailed,
often to the extent of including every single person.
iii)
Although modern critics like to use the word genocide, what we
so often fail to appreciate is that part of the struggle to survive
included a spiritual and moral struggle which was at the heart
of the life and example of Israel. The danger of enemy survivors
was that they may come back at some point and seek to bring down
the nation, as had already happened in this very instance with
Midian.
iv)
The record is clearly not complete and numbers sometimes given
are clearly approximations that may be way from accurate.
v)
The name Midianites applies to a nomadic group of people who tended
to be spread over the whole of the Sinai Peninsula south of Canaan
and the fact that Midianites were giving Israel a tough time years
later in Gideon's time (Judg 6) suggests that the truth is that
only part of the Midianite tribes were involved here and so the
descriptions of what happened are in respect of only part of the
total Midianite population.]
v.7-12
Victory over the Midianites
v.7
They
fought against Midian, as the Lord
commanded
Moses, and killed every man.
v.8
Among
their victims were Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur and Reba—the five kings
of Midian. They also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword.
v.9
The
Israelites captured the Midianite women and children and took
all the Midianite herds, flocks and goods as plunder.
v.10
They
burned all the towns where the Midianites had settled, as well
as all their camps.
v.11
They
took all the plunder and spoils, including the people and animals,
v.12
and
brought the captives, spoils and plunder to Moses and Eleazar
the priest and the Israelite assembly at their camp on the plains
of Moab, by the Jordan across from Jericho.
[Notes:
The triumph is extensive (over five kings) and complete
(bearing in mind the comments made above). All men are killed
but all else spared by the fighting force.]
v.13-18
Anger at only partial obedience
v.13
Moses,
Eleazar the priest and all the leaders of the community went to
meet them outside the camp.
v.14
Moses
was angry with the officers of the army—the commanders of thousands
and commanders of hundreds—who returned from the battle.
v.15
“Have
you allowed all the women to live?” he asked them.
v.16
“They
were the ones who followed Balaam's advice and enticed the Israelites
to be unfaithful to the Lord
in the Peor
incident, so that a plague struck the Lord
's people.
v.17
Now
kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man,
v.18
but
save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man.
[Notes:
When they return to camp, Moses & Eleazar see all
the women spared and berate the commanders for sparing the very
ones who had sought to seduce and undermine the men of Israel.
Boys should not be spared [as they will grow into enemy warriors]
nor the mature women. Young women can be spared. There is hope
for them. It is not wholesale genocide but a self-preserving action.]
v.19-24
The Need for Purity
v.19
“Anyone
who has killed someone or touched someone who was killed must
stay outside the camp seven days. On the third and seventh days
you must purify yourselves and your captives.
v.20
Purify
every garment as well as everything made of leather, goat hair
or wood.”
v.21
Then
Eleazar the priest said to the soldiers who had gone into battle,
“This is what is required by the law that the Lord
gave Moses:
v.22,23
Gold,
silver, bronze, iron, tin, lead and
anything else that can withstand fire must be put through the
fire, and then it will be clean. But it must also be purified
with the water of cleansing. And whatever cannot withstand fire
must be put through that water.
v.24
On
the seventh day wash your clothes and you will be clean. Then
you may come into the camp.”
[Notes:
In the laws in respect of the red heifer (Num 19) touching
a dead body was a primary cause for cleansing to take place. Here
it is reiterated in respect of the soldiers.]
v.25-27
Equality in Dividing the Spoils
v.25
The
Lord
said to Moses,
v.26
“You
and Eleazar the priest and the family heads of the community are
to count all the people and animals that were captured.
v.27
Divide
the spoils equally between the soldiers who took part in the battle
and the rest of the community.
[Notes:
The Lord establishes a rule that plunder from battle
should be shared with the whole community and not merely all taken
by the soldiers.
v.28-30
Parts for the Lord
v.28
From
the soldiers
who fought in the battle, set apart as tribute for the Lord
one out of
every five hundred, whether people, cattle, donkeys or sheep.
v.29
Take
this tribute from their half share and give it to Eleazar the
priest as the Lord
's part.
v.30
From
the Israelites' half,
select one out of every fifty, whether people, cattle, donkeys,
sheep or other animals. Give them to the Levites, who are responsible
for the care of the Lord
's tabernacle.”
[Notes:
When the plunder is divided between both soldiers and
people, both halves are to pay as ‘tribute' – giving honour or
respect - to God. If people are taken (in this case only young
women) they will become Israel's servants, with a very small number
(see below) given to the Levites to help work with the Tabernacle.]
v.31-41
The Plunder & the Tributes of the Soldiers
v.
31
So
Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord
commanded
Moses.
v.
32 The
plunder remaining from the spoils that the soldiers took
was 675,000 sheep, v.
33-35 72,000
cattle, 61,000
donkeys and 32,000 women who had never slept with a man.
v.
36 The
half share of those who fought in the battle was: 337,500
sheep,
v.
37 of
which the tribute for the Lord
was 675;
v.
38 36,000
cattle, of which the tribute for the Lord
was 72;
v.
39 30,500
donkeys, of which the tribute for the Lord
was 61;
v.
40 16,000
people, of whom the tribute for the Lord
was 32.
v.
41
Moses
gave the tribute to Eleazar the priest as the Lord
's part, as
the Lord
commanded Moses.
[Notes:
In this account, commentators accept there are doubts
over the large numbers (especially of young women) and among causes
proposed are inaccurate work of the scribes. We simply cannot
explain these. It is of course possible that the numbers of Midianites
were extensive and so the numbers taken will match.]
v.42-47
The Plunder & the Tributes of the People
v.42-46
The
half belonging to the Israelites, which Moses
set apart from that of the fighting men—the community's half—was
337,500 sheep, 36,000
cattle, 30,500 donkeys and 16,000 people.
v.47
From
the Israelites' half, Moses selected one out of every fifty people
and animals, as the Lord
commanded
him, and gave them to the Levites, who were responsible for the
care of the Lord's
tabernacle.
[Notes:
Similar comments apply to the above.]
v.48-54
The Soldiers Report & Present Gold
v.48
Then
the officers who were over the units of the army—the commanders
of thousands and commanders of hundreds—went to Moses
v.49
and
said to him, “Your servants have counted the soldiers under our
command, and not one is missing.
v.50
So
we have brought as an offering to the Lord
the gold articles
each of us acquired—armlets, bracelets, signet rings, earrings
and necklaces—to make atonement for ourselves before the Lord.”
v.51
Moses
and Eleazar the priest accepted from them the gold—all the crafted
articles.
v.52
All
the gold from the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds
that Moses and Eleazar presented as a gift to the Lord
weighed 16,750
shekels.
v.53
Each
soldier had taken plunder for himself.
v.54
Moses
and Eleazar the priest accepted the gold from the commanders of
thousands and commanders of hundreds and brought it into the tent
of meeting as a memorial for the Israelites before the Lord.
[Notes:
The gold that was taken in the plunder was handed over
to Moses and stored in the Holy Place.]