Numbers 31:32

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30 And from the children of Israel’s half you shall take ^aone of every fifty, drawn from the persons, the cattle, the donkeys, and the sheep, from all the livestock, and give them to the Levites ^bwho 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’s¹ 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, ^aas 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 ^afrom 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.

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.

Commentaries:

Barnes' Notes

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Numbers 31:32

Compare Numbers 31:11, and render "And the prey" (i. e., the live prey) "in addition to the spoil which the men of war seized, etc." The "spoil" is described in Numbers 31:50.

The number of sheep, beeves, asses, and persons taken is given in this and following verses in round thousands. Hence, the Lord' s tribute (Numbers 31:29, Numbers 31:37-38, etc.), being the 500th part of the half, comes out also in round numbers. The enormous amount both of live stock and of personal ornament was characteristic of the Midianites. When they invaded Israel in the days of the Judges, their wealth was still of the same kind (Judges 6:5; Judges 8:24 ff). The Bedouins, notwithstanding their wild nomadic life, retain their ancestral love of finery to the present day.

**Other Barnes' Notes entries containing Numbers 31:32:**

Judges 6:1
Judges 8:10

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Numbers 31:33 >>

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