Numbers 31:17-18

31:17 Now therefore kill every boy, ¹  and kill every woman who has had sexual intercourse with a man. ²  31:18 But all the young women ³  who have not had sexual intercourse with a man ⁴  will be yours. ⁵ 

Numbers 31:35

31:35 and 32,000 young women who had never had sexual intercourse with a man. ⁶ 

[31:17]  ¹ tn Heb “every male among the little ones.”

[31:17]  ² tn Heb “every woman who has known [a] man by lying with a man.”

[31:18]  ³ tn Or “girls.” The Hebrew indicates they would be female children, making the selection easy.

[31:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “who have not known [a] man by lying with a man.”

[31:18]  ⁵ sn Many contemporary scholars see this story as fictitious, composed by the Jews during the captivity. According to this interpretation, the spoils of war here indicate the wealth of the Jews in captivity, which was to be given to the Levites and priests for the restoration of the sanctuary in Jerusalem. The conclusion drawn from this interpretation is that returning Jews had the same problem as the earlier ones: to gain a foothold in the land. Against this interpretation of the account is a lack of hard evidence, a lack which makes this interpretation appear contrived and subjective. If this was the intent of a later writer, he surely could have stated this more clearly than by making up such a story.

[31:35]  ⁵ sn 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 they brought back this amount of plunder, including 32,000 girls. Until a solution for numbers in the book can be found, or the current translation confirmed, one must remain cautious in interpretation.