How does Numbers 31 distinguish the war against Madian, cleansing after battle, the divided spoil, and the officers’ gold gift?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

The chapter records the campaign and Moses’ commands concerning the captives, then gives separate cleansing rules and two shares of the spoil. It ends with the officers reporting that no fighting man was missing and giving gold so that Moses may pray for them.

Chapter breakdown

The Lord tells Moses first to take revenge for the children of Israel on the Madianites; afterward Moses will be gathered to his people. Moses immediately tells the people to arm men to take the Lord’s revenge on Madian. A thousand men must be chosen from each tribe of Israel. The tribes provide twelve thousand men ready for battle. Moses sends them with Phinees, the son of Eleazar the priest, and gives him the holy vessels and trumpets to sound.

The army fights the Madianites, defeats them, and kills all the men. It kills the five kings, also called princes of the nation: Evi, Recem, Sur, Hur, and Rebe. Balaam, the son of Beor, is killed with the sword. The soldiers take the women and children captive, seize all their cattle and goods, and plunder all their possessions. They burn the cities, villages, and castles. They carry off the spoil, including the people and beasts they have taken, and bring them to Moses, Eleazar the priest, and the whole multitude of Israel. The other things for use are carried to the camp on the plains of Moab, beside the Jordan opposite Jericho.

Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the princes of the assembly go outside the camp to meet the army. Moses is angry with the chief officers, the tribunes and centurions who returned from battle. He asks why they have saved the women. He says these women, through Balaam’s counsel, deceived Israel and led the people to sin against the Lord at Phogor, for which the people were punished. The text does not name the form of punishment here. Challoner’s note separately explains that the sin of Phogor was committed in the worship of Beelphegor.

Moses commands that all males be killed, including male children, and that women who have had sexual relations with men be put to death. He commands that the girls and all women who are virgins be kept for themselves. Challoner’s note on “Of children” says women and children were ordinarily not to be killed in war, citing Deuteronomy 20:14. The note explains this case as an exception ordered by the Lord of life and death in rejection of this people’s wickedness. It says they had sent women among the Israelites, on Balaam’s counsel, to draw them away from God. That explanation belongs to Challoner’s note; it is kept separate from the commands in the verses.

They are told to stay outside the camp seven days. Anyone who killed a man or touched someone killed must be purified on the third and seventh days. Every garment, vessel, or useful object among the spoil made of skins, goat hair, or wood must also be purified. Eleazar addresses the soldiers who fought, giving the ordinance the Lord commanded Moses. He names gold, silver, brass, iron, lead, and tin. Things that can pass through fire must be purified by fire; things that cannot withstand fire must be made holy with the water of expiation, water used for the prescribed cleansing. The admitted verse gives these two treatments for the two kinds of objects; it does not add a water step after the fire treatment. The soldiers must wash their garments on the seventh day. After being purified, they may enter the camp.

The Lord tells Moses to count the captured people and beasts with Eleazar the priest and the princes of the multitude. They must divide the spoil equally between those who fought in the war and the rest of the people. From the fighters’ share, one out of every five hundred persons, oxen, asses, and sheep must be set apart for the Lord. This portion goes to Eleazar because it is the Lord’s firstfruits, the portion set apart for him. From the children of Israel’s half, one out of every fifty persons, oxen, asses, sheep, and all beasts goes to the Levites who keep watch in the charge of the Lord’s tabernacle. Moses and Eleazar do as the Lord commanded.

The army’s spoil totals 675,000 sheep, 72,000 oxen, 61,000 asses, and 32,000 females who have not had sexual relations with men. The fighters receive half: 337,500 sheep, 36,000 oxen, 30,500 asses, and 16,000 persons. The Lord’s portion from that half is 675 sheep, 72 oxen, 61 asses, and 32 persons. Moses delivers these firstfruits to Eleazar the priest as commanded.

The passage turns from the half separated for the fighters to the half that falls to the rest of the multitude. Their share is also 337,500 sheep, 36,000 oxen, 30,500 asses, and 16,000 persons. Moses takes one out of every fifty and gives that portion to the Levites who watch in the Lord’s tabernacle, as the Lord commanded.

The army commanders, tribunes, and centurions come to Moses. They report that they have counted the fighting men under their charge and not one is missing. Therefore they offer the gold each could find in the spoil: garters, tablets, rings, bracelets, and chains. Their stated purpose is that Moses may pray to the Lord for them. The unusual names “garters” and “tablets” are kept from the source’s list of gold objects; the passage does not describe their form. It does not give a further account of the officers’ feelings or motives.

Moses and Eleazar the priest receive the gold in its different forms. It weighs 16,750 sicles, the source’s unit of weight, and comes from the tribunes and centurions. What each person took in the spoil was his own. They bring the received gold into the tabernacle of the testimony as a memorial of the children of Israel before the Lord. The chapter records the gift’s receipt and destination, without describing a further use for the gold.

The story inside

The officers’ gold gift comes after the commanded division of the captured people and animals. Those shares have stated rules: half for the fighters, half for the rest of the people, with one in five hundred from the fighters’ half for Eleazar and one in fifty from the other half for the Levites. The final episode is different. The commanders report that no fighting man under their charge is missing. They then offer gold from the spoil and ask Moses to pray to the Lord for them. The chapter also says that each person’s spoil was his own. Moses and Eleazar receive 16,750 sicles of gold from the tribunes and centurions and bring it into the tabernacle as a memorial before the Lord. This is a recorded report, gift, and receipt, rather than an invented choice among alternative uses. Their stated request for prayer is retained without adding feelings of gratitude, guilt for bloodshed, or a promised spiritual outcome.

Lessons worth keeping

1
Keep the cleansing rules distinct. Those who killed or touched the killed are purified on the third and seventh days. Objects that withstand fire are purified by fire; objects that cannot withstand it use the water of expiation. The admitted passage does not prescribe both treatments for the fire-resistant items.
2
An equal division has different portions set apart from each half. The fighters and the rest of the people receive matching halves, but one in five hundred from the fighters’ half goes to Eleazar and one in fifty from the other half goes to the tabernacle Levites.
3
Use the officers’ stated reason for the gold gift. After reporting that no fighting man was missing, they offer gold so that Moses may pray for them. The recorded destination is a memorial in the tabernacle; no further motive or use is supplied.

Test your recall

Why do the officers say they are offering gold, and what do they ask Moses to do for them?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 17769–17789
Numbers Chapter 31 The Madianites are slain for having drawn the people of Israel into sin. The dividing of the booty. 31:1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 31:2. Revenge first the children of Israel on the Madianites, and so thou shalt be gathered to thy people. 31:3. And Moses forthwith said: Arm of you men to fight, who may take the revenge of the Lord on the Madianites. 31:4. Let a thousand men be chosen out of every tribe of Israel to be sent to the war. 31:5. And they gave a thousand of every tribe, that is to say, twelve thousand men well appointed for battle. 31:6. And Moses sent them with Phinees the son of Eleazar the priest, and he delivered to him the holy vessels, and the trumpets to sound.
Lines 17791–17811
31:7. And when they had fought against the Madianites and had overcome them, they slew all the men. 31:8. And their kings Evi, and Recem, and Sur, and Hur, and Rebe, five princes of the nation: Balaam also the son of Beor they killed with the sword. 31:9. And they took their women, and their children captives, and all their cattle, and all their goods: and all their possessions they plundered: 31:10. And all their cities, and their villages, and castles, they burned. 31:11. And they carried away the booty, and all that they had taken both of men and of beasts. 31:12. And they brought them to Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and to all the multitude of the children of Israel. But the rest of the things for use they carried to the camp on the plains of Moab, beside the Jordan over against Jericho.
Lines 17813–17825
31:13. And Moses and Eleazar the priest and all the princes of the synagogue went forth to meet them without the camp. 31:14. And Moses being angry with the chief officers of the army, the tribunes, and the centurions that were come from the battle, 31:15. Said: Why have you saved the women? 31:16. Are not these they, that deceived the children of Israel by the counsel of Balaam, and made you transgress against the Lord by the sin of Phogor, for which also the people was punished? The sin of Phogor.... The sin committed in the worship of Beelphegor.
Lines 17827–17837
31:17. Therefore kill all that are of the male sex, even of the children: and put to death the women, that have carnally known men. Of children.... Women and children, ordinarily speaking, were not to be killed in war, Deut. 20.14. But the great Lord of life and death was pleased to order it otherwise in the present case, in detestation of the wickedness of this people, who by the counsel of Balaam, had sent their women among the Israelites on purpose to draw them from God. 31:18. But the girls, and all the women that are virgins save for yourselves:
Lines 17839–17858
31:19. And stay without the camp seven days. He that hath killed a man, or touched one that is killed, shall be purified the third day and the seventh day. 31:20. And of all the spoil, every garment, or vessel, or any thing made for use, of the skins, or hair of goats, or of wood, shall be purified. 31:21. Eleazar also the priest spoke to the men of the army, that had fought, in this manner: This is the ordinance of the law, which the Lord hath commanded Moses: 31:22. Gold, and silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin, 31:23. And all that may pass through the fire, shall be purified by fire, but whatsoever cannot abide the fire, shall be sanctified with the water of expiation: 31:24. And you shall wash your garments the seventh day, and being purified, you shall afterwards enter into the camp.
Lines 17860–17880
31:25. And the Lord said to Moses: 31:26. Take the sum of the things that were taken both of man and beast, thou and Eleazar the priest and the princes of the multitude: 31:27. And thou shalt divide the spoil equally, between them that fought and went out to the war, and between the rest of the multitude. 31:28. And thou shalt separate a portion to the Lord from them that fought and were in the battle, one soul of five hundred as well of persons as of oxen and asses and sheep. 31:29. And thou shalt give it to Eleazar the priest, because they are the firstfruits of the Lord. 31:30. Out of the moiety also of the children of Israel thou shalt take the fiftieth head of persons, and of oxen, and asses, and sheep, and of all beasts, and thou shalt give them to the Levites that watch in the charge of the tabernacle of the Lord. 31:31. And Moses and Eleazar did as the Lord had commanded.
Lines 17882–17906
31:32. And the spoil which the army had taken, was six hundred seventy-five thousand sheep, 31:33. Seventy-two thousand oxen, 31:34. Sixty-one thousand asses: 31:35. And thirty-two thousand persons of the female sex, that had not known men. 31:36. And one half was given to them that had been in the battle, to wit, three hundred thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep: 31:37. Out of which, for the portion of the Lord, were reckoned six hundred seventy five sheep. 31:38. And out of the thirty-six thousand oxen, seventy-two oxen: 31:39. Out of the thirty thousand five hundred asses, sixty-one asses: 31:40. Out of the sixteen thousand persons, there fell to the portion of the Lord, thirty-two souls. 31:41. And Moses delivered the number of the firstfruits of the Lord to Eleazar the priest, as had been commanded him,
Lines 17908–17922
31:42. Out of the half of the children of Israel, which he had separated for them that had been in the battle. 31:43. But out of the half that fell to the rest of the multitude, that is to say, out of the three hundred thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep, 31:44. And out of the thirty-six thousand oxen, 31:45. And out of the thirty thousand five hundred asses, 31:46. And out of the sixteen thousand persons, 31:47. Moses took the fiftieth head, and gave it to the Levites that watched in the tabernacle of the Lord, as the Lord had commanded.
Lines 17924–17932
31:48. And when the commanders of the army, and the tribunes and centurions were come to Moses, they said: 31:49. We thy servants have reckoned up the number of the fighting men, whom we had under our hand, and not so much as one was wanting. 31:50. Therefore we offer as gifts to the Lord what gold every one of us could find in the booty, in garters and tablets, rings and bracelets, and chains, that thou mayst pray to the Lord for us.
Lines 17934–17946
31:51. And Moses and Eleazar the priest received all the gold in divers kinds, 31:52. In weight sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty sicles, from the tribunes and from the centurions. 31:53. For that which every one had taken in the booty was his own. 31:54. And that which was received they brought into the tabernacle of the testimony, for a memorial of the children of Israel before the Lord.