7 And they war against Midian, as Jehovah hath commanded Moses, and slay every male;
8 and the kings of Midian they have slain, besides their pierced ones, Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, five kings of Midian; and Balaam son of Beor, they have slain with the sword.
9 And the sons of Israel take captive the women of Midian, and their infants; and all their cattle, and all their substance, and all their wealth they have plundered;
10 and all their cities, with their habitations, and all their towers, they have burnt with fire.
11 And they take all the spoil, and all the prey, among man and among beast;
12 and they bring in, unto Moses, and unto Eleazar the priest, and unto the company of the sons of Israel, the captives, and the prey, and the spoil, unto the camp, unto the plains of Moab, which `are' by Jordan, `near' Jericho.
13 And Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and all the princes of the company, go out to meet them, unto the outside of the camp,
14 and Moses is wroth against the inspectors of the force, chiefs of the thousands, and chiefs of the hundreds, who are coming in from the host of the battle.
15 And Moses saith unto them, `Have ye kept alive every female?
16 lo, they -- they have been to the sons of Israel, through the word of Balaam, to cause a trespass against Jehovah in the matter of Peor, and the plague is in the company of Jehovah.
17 `And now, slay ye every male among the infants, yea, every woman known of man by the lying of a male ye have slain;
18 and all the infants among the women, who have not known the lying of a male, ye have kept alive for yourselves.
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,