Numbers 31

God commands Israel to carry out judgment on Midian, the nation that drew Israel into idolatry and immorality at Peor. Israel wins without losing a man, then must purify the soldiers, the captives and the goods. The plunder is divided fairly, with a portion set apart for the LORD, and the officers bring a gold offering in thanks for their preservation. It is a hard chapter. It shows both how seriously God takes sin that leads His people astray and how carefully holiness is guarded.

Numbers 31:1-2

God gives Moses his last assignment before he dies: deal with Midian. Midian had seduced Israel into sin and ruin at Peor. The judgment is described as the LORD’s own act, not private revenge. Afterward Moses will die, so this is his final act for his people.

BSA: vengeance (“to avenge or punish”): The word means justice carried out for a wrong done, not a burst of personal anger. gathered (“to gather, bring together”): Death is pictured as being brought together with one’s people, a quiet hope beyond the grave.

Hebrew: נִקְמַת (niqmat, H5360) — “vengeance, redress.” This is the language of a court putting a wrong right. Here God Himself is the one who calls for it.

See also: Numbers 25:16-18; Numbers 27:12-13.

Numbers 31:3-4

Moses does not send the whole nation. He calls for one thousand men from each tribe. That makes the campaign a shared act of all Israel, and it keeps the army small and under God’s direction. The war is described as carrying out the LORD’s judgment, not as a land grab.

BSA: Arm (“equip for war, prepare for battle”): The men were to be properly readied, not sent out carelessly. execute (“carry out, bring to pass”): Israel is the instrument through which God’s judgment is carried out.

Numbers 31:5-6

Twelve thousand men go out, equally from every tribe. Moses sends Phinehas, the priest, with them, carrying the holy vessels and the signal trumpets. Phinehas is the man who took a stand for the LORD at Peor. His presence shows this is a holy war under God’s direction, not an ordinary raid.

BSA: recruited (“delivered, set apart”): The men were chosen and set apart for this task, not simply volunteers. trumpets (“instruments for signaling, for shouting”): The trumpets called Israel to act and reminded them that God was with them.

See also: Numbers 25:7-8; Numbers 10:9.

Numbers 31:7-8

Israel does as the LORD commanded. The five Midianite kings die, and so does Balaam, the prophet who had earlier been hired to curse Israel. He had failed to curse them, yet he had found another way to bring them down. He now meets the end of those who lead God’s people astray.

BSA: Balaam (“a prophet, son of Beor”): Though called a prophet, he used his gift for gain and ended under judgment.

See also: Joshua 13:22; 2 Peter 2:15.

Numbers 31:9-11

The soldiers take the women, children, livestock and goods, and they burn the towns and camps. Spoil of this kind was normal in ancient war. Notice that nothing is left to rebuild their way of life. Midian’s power is broken, though Midianites appear again in later generations.

BSA: plundered (“violently took, seized as spoil”): The word shows a forceful seizure, the ordinary result of defeat in ancient war.

See also: Judges 6:1-6.

Numbers 31:12-13

The army comes back to the camp on the plains of Moab, with Jericho and the Jordan in sight. The leaders go out to meet them beyond the camp boundary. This is a welcome, but it is also the first step toward cleansing, since men who have shed blood cannot simply walk in.

BSA: outside (“beyond the boundary, in the open”): The returning soldiers must stay beyond the camp’s edge until they are made clean.

Numbers 31:14-16

Moses is furious that the women were spared. They were not innocent bystanders. Through Balaam’s advice they were the means by which Israel was led to betray the LORD at Peor, and a plague killed thousands. Moses is guarding the people from a repeat of that disaster.

BSA: angry (“wroth, intensely furious”): Moses burns with zeal, because to him the danger to Israel’s faith is still very real. turn unfaithfully (“commit trespass, act treacherously”): The sin was not mere weakness but a betrayal of Israel’s covenant with the LORD.

Hebrew: מַעַל (ma’al, H4604) — “unfaithfulness, treachery.” It is the word for breaking faith with someone to whom you owe loyalty. Peor was a betrayal, like adultery against the LORD.

See also: Numbers 25:1-9; Revelation 2:14.

Numbers 31:17-18

This is the hardest passage in the chapter. Moses orders that the boys and the women who had been with men be put to death, but the young girls are spared to live among Israel. The command rests on Midian’s specific part in the sin at Peor. Believers still wrestle with it, and the chapter does not hide its severity.

See also: Deuteronomy 20:10-18.

Numbers 31:19-20

Even in a war God commanded, taking life leaves a mark. Anyone who killed or touched a corpse must stay outside the camp for a week. They are purified on the third and seventh days, along with the captives and all their cloth, leather and wooden things. Death is never treated as trivial.

BSA: purify (“make ceremonially clean, cleanse from sin”): The cleansing was a ritual one, yet it carried the idea of being freed from defilement before God.

Hebrew: תִּתְחַטְּאוּ (tit’chatte’u, H2398) — “you shall purify yourselves, literally ‘de-sin’ yourselves.” The verb is built on the common Hebrew word for sin. It pictures taking uncleanness away, so that the person is fit again to stand among God’s people.

See also: Numbers 19:11-12.

Numbers 31:21-24

Eleazar passes on God’s rule for the goods. Metals that survive fire must go through the fire, and then also be cleansed with the water of purification. Everything else is simply washed in water. On the seventh day the men wash their clothes and may re-enter the camp. Holiness reaches even the plunder.

BSA: withstand (“endure, abide in”): What can bear the fire is refined by it, while what cannot is cleansed by water.

See also: Numbers 19:9; Hebrews 9:13-14.

Numbers 31:25-27

The LORD tells Moses how to share the spoil. A careful count is taken, led by Moses, Eleazar and the family heads. Then the captives and goods are divided into two halves, one for the soldiers who fought and one for the rest of the community who stayed behind. Both groups share in the victory.

BSA: count (“sum, tally”): Everything was reckoned honestly, so that the division could be fair.

See also: 1 Samuel 30:24-25.

Numbers 31:28-30

From each half a portion is given to God’s servants. From the soldiers’ half, one in five hundred goes to Eleazar the priest. From the people’s half, one in fifty goes to the Levites who care for the tabernacle. The soldiers, who risked the most, give the smaller share.

BSA: tribute (“tax, offering”): It was both owed and freely given, a recognition that the victory belonged to the LORD. offering (“contribution, heave offering”): It was lifted up and set apart for the LORD before it went to the priest.

Hebrew: תְּרוּמָה (terumah, H8641) — “a lifted-up offering, a contribution.” The word comes from ’to lift up’. It pictures a portion raised before God and given to Him.

See also: Numbers 18:26-28.

Numbers 31:31-35

Moses and Eleazar obey exactly. The total spoil is listed: 675,000 sheep, 72,000 cattle, 61,000 donkeys and 32,000 young women. The numbers show the scale of the victory. They also show the weight of what was handed to Israel, and the duty to handle it as God directed.

BSA: plunder (“spoils of war, booty”): The word marks this as what the army had taken in war and now had to account for.

Numbers 31:36-41

The soldiers’ half is exactly half of each total: 337,500 sheep, 36,000 cattle, 30,500 donkeys and 16,000 people. From each the LORD’s portion is taken, one in five hundred. The exact sums show that God’s share was carefully counted and not skipped. Moses hands it to Eleazar as the LORD commanded.

BSA: tribute (“tax, offering”): It was a fixed, measured share handed to the priest on God’s behalf.

Hebrew: מֶכֶס (mekes, H4371) — “a levy, a tribute.” This rare word means a fixed portion levied from the spoil. Here it is the LORD’s due, not the soldiers’ choice.

Numbers 31:42-47

The people’s half matches the soldiers’ half exactly in number. From it Moses takes one in fifty and gives it to the Levites, as the LORD commanded. The ones who serve at the tabernacle are provided for from the victory, so that worship is supported by everyone.

BSA: persons (“men and women, human beings”): The captives were counted among the spoils, with their lives in the hands of Israel.

Numbers 31:48-50

The commanders report a remarkable fact: of all twelve thousand soldiers, not one is missing. Moved by this, they bring the gold ornaments each had taken as a gift to the LORD. They know their safety was God’s mercy, and they offer it as atonement for themselves before Him.

BSA: missing (“lacking, absent”): Not a single man was lost, which the officers saw as God’s doing. atonement (“to cover, to coat”): The gold was given as a covering, a ransom that acknowledged their need of mercy.

Hebrew: לְכַפֵּר (lekapper, H3722) — “to make atonement, to cover.” The root means to cover or ransom. The soldiers admit that, even after a victory, their lives were not their own.

See also: Exodus 30:12-16.

Numbers 31:51-54

Moses and Eleazar receive the gold, 16,750 shekels in all, from the commanders. The other soldiers kept their own plunder. The offering is brought into the Tent of Meeting as a reminder before the LORD. The chapter ends not with the victory but with gratitude and with a memorial of God’s mercy.

BSA: memorial (“a reminder, a token of remembrance”): The gold keeps before God, and before Israel, how He preserved every man.

Hebrew: זִכָּרוֹן (zikkaron, H2146) — “a memorial, a remembrance.” It is a lasting reminder placed before the LORD. Israel’s gift speaks of what He did long after the day itself has passed.