Numbers 31:14

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.

Numbers 31:2

31:2 “Exact vengeance ¹  for the Israelites on the Midianites ²  – after that you will be gathered to your people.” ³ 

Numbers 11:11-12

11:11 And Moses said to the Lord, “Why have you afflicted ⁴  your servant? Why have I not found favor in your sight, that ⁵  you lay the burden of this entire people on me? 11:12 Did I conceive this entire people? ⁶  Did I give birth to ⁷  them, that you should say to me, ‘Carry them in your arms, as a foster father ⁸  bears a nursing child,’ to the land which you swore to their fathers?

Numbers 11:2

11:2 When the people cried to Moses, he ⁹  prayed to the Lord, and the fire died out. ¹⁰ 

Numbers 34:12

34:12 Then the border will continue down the Jordan River ¹¹  and its direction will be to the Salt Sea. This will be your land by its borders that surround it.’”

Nehemiah 11:9

11:9 Joel son of Zicri was the officer in charge of them, and Judah son of Hassenuah was second-in-command over the city.

¹ tn The imperative is followed by its cognate accusative to stress this vengeance. The Midianites had attempted to destroy Israel with their corrupt pagan practices, and now will be judged. The accounts indicate that the effort by Midian was calculated and evil.

² sn The war was commanded by the Lord and was to be divine vengeance on the Midianites. So it was holy war. No Israelites then could take spoils in this – it was not a time for plunder and aggrandizement. It was part of the judgment of God upon those who would destroy or pervert his plan and his people.

³ sn This would be the last major enterprise that Moses would have to undertake. He would soon die and “be gathered to his people” as Aaron was.

⁴ tn The verb is the Hiphil of רָעַע (ra’a’, “to be evil”). Moses laments (with the rhetorical question) that God seems to have caused him evil.

⁵ tn The infinitive construct with the preposition is expressing the result of not finding favor with God (see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 12-13, §57). What Moses is claiming is that because he has been given this burden God did not show him favor.

⁶ sn The questions Moses asks are rhetorical. He is actually affirming that they are not his people, that he did not produce them, but now is to support them. His point is that God produced this nation, but has put the burden of caring for their needs on him.

⁷ tn The verb means “to beget, give birth to.” The figurative image from procreation completes the parallel question, first the conceiving and second the giving birth to the nation.

⁸ tn The word אֹמֵן (’omen) is often translated “nurse,” but the form is a masculine form and would better be rendered as a “foster parent.” This does not work as well, though, with the יֹנֵק (yoneq), the “sucking child.” The two metaphors are simply designed to portray the duty of a parent to a child as a picture of Moses’ duty for the nation. The idea that it portrays God as a mother pushes it too far (see M. Noth, Numbers [OTL], 86-87).

⁹ tn Heb “Moses.”

¹⁰ sn Here is the pattern that will become in the wilderness experience so common – the complaining turns to a cry to Moses, which is then interpreted as a prayer to the Lord, and there is healing. The sequence presents a symbolic lesson, an illustration of the intercession of the Holy Spirit. The NT will say that in times of suffering Christians do not know how to pray, but the Spirit intercedes for them, changing their cries into the proper prayers (Rom 8).

¹¹ tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.