Numbers 31:1-18

The Extermination of the Midianites. This story of a war of extermination, waged to avenge the wiles practised on Israel by Midian (as described in Numbers 25:6) is marked by various fanciful elements, such as (a) the huge number massacred (for if the girls and unmarried women amounted to 32,000, the married women and the males of all ages must have been three times as many); (b) the vast quantity of spoil taken; (c) the complete immunity of the Israelite force from all loss of life. If any war with Midian occurred at this time, it certainly did not result in the extermination of the people, who were a powerful tribe in the period of the Judges (Judges 6). The real object of the story (whether it has any basis in fact or not) is to illustrate by means of an ostensibly historical occurrence the laws relating to purification, and the division of booty taken in war.

Numbers 31:5. delivered: i.e. to Moses. But LXX has numbered.

Numbers 31:6. the vessels of the sanctuary: this possibly means the Ark (see 1 Samuel 4:3 f, and cf. Numbers 14:44), but it is an unusual phrase for it. Some render, the holy garments (for the Heb. cf. Deuteronomy 22:5).

Numbers 31:8. The Midianite kings are represented in Joshua 13:21 as princes of Sihon the Amorite; and as slain when he was killed. The association here of Balaam with Midian differs from the conception of him in Numbers 22-24, where he is brought into relation with Moab.

Numbers 31:16. Since the reference to Balaam's advice comes in abruptly, probably some account of it once preceded Numbers 25:6. The reference to Peor is due to confusion with the story of the Moabite women in Numbers 25:1 (cf. Numbers 25:18).