30 And of the children of Israel's half, thou shalt take one portion of fifty, of the persons, of the oxen, of the asses, and of the small cattle, of every [kind of] beasts, and thou shalt give them unto the Levites, who keep the charge of the tabernacle of Jehovah.
31 And Moses and Eleazar the priest did as Jehovah had commanded Moses.
32 And the prey, the rest of the spoil, which the men of war had taken, was six hundred and seventy-five thousand sheep,
33 and seventy-two thousand oxen,
34 and sixty-one thousand asses,
35 and of human persons, of the women that had not known lying with a man, all the persons were thirty-two thousand.
36 And the half, the portion of them that had gone out to the war, was in number three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep,
37 and the tribute for Jehovah of the sheep was six hundred and seventy-five;
38 and the oxen were thirty-six thousand, and the tribute thereof for Jehovah, seventy-two;
39 and the asses were thirty thousand five hundred, and the tribute thereof for Jehovah, sixty-one;
40 and the human persons were sixteen thousand, of whom the tribute for Jehovah was thirty-two persons.
41 And Moses gave the tribute of Jehovah's heave-offering to Eleazar the priest, as Jehovah had commanded Moses.
42 And of the children of Israel's half, which Moses had divided, [taking it] from the men that served in the war,
43 (now the half belonging to the assembly was of the sheep, three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred,
44 and thirty-six thousand oxen,
45 and thirty thousand five hundred asses,
46 and sixteen thousand human persons,)
47 ... of the children of Israel's half, Moses took one portion of fifty, of man and of cattle, and gave them to the Levites who kept the charge of the tabernacle of Jehovah; as Jehovah had commanded Moses.
48 And the officers who were over the thousands of the host, the captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds, came near to Moses,
49 and they said to Moses, Thy servants have taken the sum of the men of war who were under our hand, and there is not one man of us lacking.
50 So we present the offering of Jehovah, that which each one hath found, jewels of gold, chains, and bracelets, rings, earrings, and necklaces, to make atonement for our souls before Jehovah.
51 And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of them, all manner of wrought jewels.
52 And all the gold of the heave-offering that they offered to Jehovah was sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels, from the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Numbers 31
Commentary on Numbers 31 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 31
This chapter belongs to "the book of the wars of the Lord,' in which it is probable it was inserted. It is the history of a holy war, a war with Midian. Here is,
Num 31:1-6
Here,
Num 31:7-12
Here is,
Num 31:13-24
We have here the triumphant return of the army of Israel from the war with Midian, and here,
Num 31:25-47
We have here the distribution of the spoil which was taken in this expedition against Midian. God himself directed how it should be distributed, and Moses and Eleazar did according to the directions, and thus unhappy contests among themselves were prevented and the victory was made to turn to the common benefit. It was fit that he who gave them the prey should order the disposal of it. All we have is from God, and therefore must be subject to his will.
Num 31:48-54
Here is a great example of piety and devotion in the officers of the army, the colonels, that are called captains of thousands, and the inferior officers that were captains of hundreds; they came to Moses as their general and commander-in-chief, and, though he was now going off the stage they very humbly and respectfully addressed themselves to him, calling themselves his servants; the honours they had won did not puff them up, so as to make them forget their duty to him. Observe in their address to them,