2a“Take vengeance on the Midianites for the children of Israel. Afterward you shall bbe 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 aMidian.
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 athe signal trumpets in his hand.
7 And they warred against the Midianites, just as the Lord commanded Moses, and athey killed all the bmales.
8 They killed the kings of Midian with therestof those who were killed—aEvi, Rekem, bZur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian. cBalaam 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 athey took all the spoil and all the booty—of man and beast.
Return from the War
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, acrossfrom Jericho.
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 aall the women alive?
16 Look, athese women caused the children of Israel, through the bcounsel of Balaam, to trespass against the Lord in the incident of Peor, and cthere was a plague among the congregation of the Lord.
17 Now therefore, akill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known a man intimately.
18 But keep alive afor yourselves all the young girls who have not known a man intimately.
19 And as for you, aremain outside the camp seven days; whoever has killed any person, and bwhoever 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 the1 ordinance of the law which the Lord commanded Moses:
22 Only the gold, the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin, and the lead,
THE MIDIANITES SPOILED AND BALAAM SLAIN. (Num. 31:1-54)
the Lord spake unto Moses, Avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites—a semi-nomad people, descended from Abraham and Keturah, occupying a tract of country east and southeast of Moab, which lay on the eastern coast of the Dead Sea. They seem to have been the principal instigators of the infamous scheme of seduction, planned to entrap the Israelites into the double crime of idolatry and licentiousness [Numbers 25:1-3, Numbers 25:17-18] by which, it was hoped, the Lord would withdraw from that people the benefit of His protection and favor. Moreover, the Midianites had rendered themselves particularly obnoxious by entering into a hostile league with the Amorites (Joshua 13:21). The Moabites were at this time spared in consideration of Lot (Deuteronomy 2:9) and because the measure of their iniquities was not yet full. God spoke of avenging "the children of Israel" [Numbers 31:2]; Moses spoke of avenging the Lord [Numbers 31:3], as dishonor had been done to God and an injury inflicted on His people. The interests were identical. God and His people have the same cause, the same friends, and the same assailants. This, in fact, was a religious war, undertaken by the express command of God against idolaters, who had seduced the Israelites to practise their abominations.
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