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Text -- Numbers 31:14-54 (NET)
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Strongs On/Off
Context
The Death of the Midianite Women
31:14 But Moses was furious with the officers of the army , the commanders over thousands and commanders over hundreds , who had come from service in the war .
31:15 Moses said to them, “Have you allowed all the women to live ?
31:16 Look , these people through the counsel of Balaam caused the Israelites to act treacherously against the Lord in the matter of Peor – which resulted in the plague among the community of the Lord !
31:17 Now therefore kill every boy , and kill every woman who has had sexual intercourse with a man .
31:18 But all the young women who have not had sexual intercourse with a man will be yours.
Purification After Battle
31:19 “Any of you who has killed anyone or touched any of the dead , remain outside the camp for seven days ; purify yourselves and your captives on the third day , and on the seventh day .
31:20 You must purify each garment and everything that is made of skin , everything made of goat’s hair, and everything made of wood .”
31:21 Then Eleazar the priest said to the men of war who had gone into the battle , “This is the ordinance of the law that the Lord commanded Moses :
31:22 ‘Only the gold , the silver , the bronze , the iron , the tin , and the lead ,
31:23 everything that may stand the fire , you are to pass through the fire , and it will be ceremonially clean , but it must still be purified with the water of purification . Anything that cannot withstand the fire you must pass through the water .
31:24 You must wash your clothes on the seventh day , and you will be ceremonially clean , and afterward you may enter the camp .’”
The Distribution of Spoils
31:25 Then the Lord spoke to Moses :
31:26 “You and Eleazar the priest , and all the family leaders of the community , take the sum of the plunder that was captured , both people and animals .
31:27 Divide the plunder into two parts , one for those who took part in the war – who went out to battle – and the other for all the community .
31:28 “You must exact a tribute for the Lord from the fighting men who went out to battle : one life out of five hundred , from the people , the cattle , and from the donkeys and the sheep .
31:29 You are to take it from their half-share and give it to Eleazar the priest for a raised offering to the Lord .
31:30 From the Israelites ’ half-share you are to take one portion out of fifty of the people , the cattle , the donkeys , and the sheep – from every kind of animal – and you are to give them to the Levites , who are responsible for the care of the Lord’s tabernacle .”
31:31 So Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord commanded Moses .
31:32 The spoil that remained of the plunder which the fighting men had gathered was 675,000 sheep ,
31:33 72,000 cattle ,
31:34 61,000 donkeys ,
31:35 and 32,000 young women who had never had sexual intercourse with a man .
31:36 The half-portion of those who went to war numbered 337,500 sheep ;
31:37 the Lord’s tribute from the sheep was 675 .
31:38 The cattle numbered 36,000 ; the Lord’s tribute was 72 .
31:39 The donkeys were 30,500 , of which the Lord’s tribute was 61 .
31:40 The people were 16,000 , of which the Lord’s tribute was 32 people .
31:41 So Moses gave the tribute , which was the Lord’s raised offering , to Eleazar the priest , as the Lord commanded Moses .
31:42 From the Israelites ’ half-share that Moses had separated from the fighting men ,
31:43 there were 337,500 sheep from the portion belonging to the community ,
31:44 36,000 cattle ,
31:45 30,500 donkeys ,
31:46 and 16,000 people .
31:47 From the Israelites ’ share Moses took one of every fifty people and animals and gave them to the Levites who were responsible for the care of the Lord’s tabernacle , just as the Lord commanded Moses .
31:48 Then the officers who were over the thousands of the army , the commanders over thousands and the commanders over hundreds , approached Moses
31:49 and said to him , “Your servants have taken a count of the men who were in the battle , who were under our authority , and not one is missing .
31:50 So we have brought as an offering for the Lord what each man found : gold ornaments , armlets , bracelets , signet rings , earrings , and necklaces , to make atonement for ourselves before the Lord .”
31:51 Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from them, all of it in the form of ornaments .
31:52 All the gold of the offering they offered up to the Lord from the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds weighed 16,750 shekels .
31:53 Each soldier had taken plunder for himself.
31:54 So Moses and Eleazar the priest received 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 .
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Names, People and Places, Dictionary Themes and Topics
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Names, People and Places:
Dictionary Themes and Topics:
BOOTY |
Moses |
Balaam |
ABEL-SHITTIM |
Wars of the Lord, The Book of the |
Midianites |
Israel |
Armies |
Spoils |
Priest |
SLAVE; SLAVERY |
Servant |
Sanitation |
METALS |
Captive |
TAX; TAXING |
Levites |
Liberality |
Jericho |
TRIBUTE |
more
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expand allCommentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes
NET Notes: Num 31:15 The verb is the Piel perfect of the word חָיָה (khayah, “to live”). In the Piel stem it must here mean ̶...
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NET Notes: Num 31:18 Many contemporary scholars see this story as fictitious, composed by the Jews during the captivity. According to this interpretation, the spoils of wa...
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NET Notes: Num 31:20 These verses are a reminder that taking a life, even if justified through holy war, still separates one from the holiness of God. It is part of the vi...
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NET Notes: Num 31:23 Purification by fire is unique to this event. Making these metallic objects “pass through the fire” was not only a way of purifying (burni...
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NET Notes: Num 31:26 The idiom here is “take up the head,” meaning take a census, or count the totals.
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NET Notes: Num 31:28 The verb is the Hiphil, “you shall cause to be taken up.” The perfect with vav (ו) continues the sequence of the instructions. This ...
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NET Notes: Num 31:35 Here again we encounter one of the difficulties of the book, the use of the large numbers. Only twelve thousand soldiers fought the Midianites, but th...
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NET Notes: Num 31:50 The expression here may include the idea of finding protection from divine wrath, which is so common to Leviticus, but it may also be a thank offering...
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