The disposition of the spoils of war. Num 31:21-54
INTRODUCTION TO THE OLD TESTAMENT13
The Experiences in the Wilderness
II. FROM SINAI TO THE JORDAN, Numbers 10:11-22:1
5. The Conquest of Midian, Num_31:1-54
42. How were the people taught not to make the spoils of war their personal booty?
VENGEANCE ON MIDIAN
Then Eleazar the priest said to the men of war who had gone to battle, “This is the statute of the law which the LORD has commanded Moses:
only the gold, the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin, and the lead,
everything that can stand fire, you shall pass through fire, and it shall be clean. Nevertheless, it shall also be purified with the water of purification [to remove its impurity]; and all that cannot stand fire [such as fabrics] you shall pass through water.
And you shall wash your clothes on the seventh day and be clean, and afterward you may come into the camp.”
Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
“You and Eleazar the priest and the leaders of the fathers’ households of the congregation are to take a count of the spoil of war that was captured, both people and livestock.
Divide the spoil into two [equal] parts between those who were involved in the war, that is, those who went out to battle and all [the rest of] the congregation.
Levy a tax for the LORD from the warriors who went to battle, one in five hundred of the persons, the oxen, the donkeys, and the flocks.
Take this tribute from the warriors’ half and give it to Eleazar the priest as an offering to the LORD.
From the Israelites’ half [of the spoil] you shall take one out of every fifty of the persons, the oxen, the donkeys, the flocks, and of all the livestock, and give them to the Levites who are in charge of the tabernacle of the LORD.”
Moses and Eleazar the priest did just as the LORD had commanded Moses.
The plunder that remained from the spoil of war which the warriors had taken, was 675,000 sheep,
and 72,000 cattle,
and 61,000 donkeys,
and 32,000 persons in all, of the [Midianite] women who were virgins.
The half share, the portion of those who went to war, was 337,500 sheep in number,
and the LORD’S levy (tax) of the sheep was 675;
the cattle were 36,000, from which the LORD’S levy was 72;
the donkeys were 30,500, from which the LORD’S levy was 61;
the persons were 16,000, from whom the LORD’S levy was 32 persons.
Moses gave the levy which was the LORD’S offering to Eleazar the priest, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.
As for the Israelites’ half, which Moses separated from that of the warriors–
now the congregation’s half was 337,500 sheep,
and 36,000 cattle,
and 30,500 donkeys,
and 16,000 people–
and from the Israelites’ half, Moses took one out of every fifty, both of persons and animals, and gave them to the Levites, who were in charge of the tabernacle of the LORD, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.
Then the officers who were over the thousands of the army, the commanders of thousands and hundreds, approached Moses,
and they said to him, “Your servants have counted the warriors under our command, and not one man of us is missing.
So we have brought as an offering to the LORD what each man obtained–articles of gold, armlets, bracelets, signet rings, earrings, necklaces–to make atonement for ourselves before the LORD.”
Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from them, all the handmade articles.
All the gold of the offering which they presented to the LORD from the commanders of thousands and of hundreds was 16,750 shekels.
For the men of war had taken plunder, every man for himself.
So Moses and Eleazar the priest received the gold from the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it into the Tent of Meeting (tabernacle) as a memorial for the sons of Israel before the LORD.
Comments by
F.B.Meyer
On
Numbers 31:21-54
THE DISPOSITION OF THE SPOILS OF WAR
This law, which subjected the victors to a whole week of separation and to special purification, instead of an immediate welcome into the camp, was intended to wean the Hebrews from the practice of war, giving them a higher standard than that of surrounding nations. Thus God educates us, by placing before us an ever higher standard, as we are able to obey it. It is easy to say hard things against this treatment of Midian, but extermination is sometimes the only way to safety.
For us the lesson is one of rigid separation. Some may be able to stand God’s searching fire; but others cannot bear that flame. Yet these may not go altogether free. See Num_31:23. As strangers and pilgrims we must abstain from fleshly lusts. God demands our holiness, but discriminates in the method of producing it.
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