Numbers 31:10

_AND THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL TOOK ALL THE WOMEN OF MIDIAN CAPTIVES, AND THEIR LITTLE ONES, AND TOOK THE SPOIL OF ALL THEIR CATTLE, AND ALL THEIR FLOCKS, AND ALL THEIR GOODS._ The children of Israel took ... The taking captive the women and children, seizing the cattle and effects as booty, and reducing to a heap of ruins the towns and habitations of a conquered enemy, was the usual style of ancient warfare, (2 Kings 25; 26). х_ TIYROTAAM_ (H2918), their castles, Bedouin fortresses, the strongholds of a nomadic tribe (Stanley); nomadic encampments, usually enclosing a space in which the cattle were secured (Genesis 25:16; 1 Chronicles 6:54;...

7-12 The Israelites slew the Kings of Midian. They slew Balaam. God's overruling providence brought him thither, and their just vengeance found him. Had he himself rightly believed what he had said of the happy state of Israel, he would not have thus herded with the enemies of Israel. The Midianites' wicked wiles were Balaam's projects: it was just that he should perish with them, Hosea 4:5. They took the women and children captives. They burnt their cities and castles, and returned to the camp....

GOODLY CASTLES - Rather, both here and in Genesis 25:16, hamlets. The word is derived from a word טוּר _ṭûr_,) signifying “a row” or “range” (compareEzekiel 46:23); and probably indicates those collections of rude dwellings, made of stones piled one on another and covered with tent-cloths, which are used by the Arabs to this day; and which are frequently mentioned as douars in narratives of the French campaigns in Algeria. These dwellings would be formed usually in a circle. See the word “Hazeroth,” in Numbers 11:35....

AND THEY BURNT ALL THEIR CITIES WHEREIN THEY DWELT, c. So far as they went into the country, which, perhaps, might not be the whole land of Midian: AND ALL THEIR GOODLY CASTLES WITH FIRE which were either the palaces of their princes and nobles, or such like great personages; or they were fortified places, for the security of their cities and country: the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan interpret them of their houses of worship, their temples, and their altars....

7. THE WAR AGAINST THE MIDIANITES CHAPTER 31 _ 1. The command to fight Midian (Numbers 31:1)_ 2. The war (Numbers 31:7) 3. The cleansing (Numbers 31:13) 4. The spoil taken (Numbers 31:25) 5. The oblation of the officers (Numbers 31:48) War is commanded next by the Lord. The Lord said to Moses, “Avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites; afterward shalt thou be gathered to thy people.” This is, therefore, the last thing in the official life of Moses. This war against Midian had been com

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....

BURNT. burnt up, or down. Hebrew. _saraph._ App-43. The same judgment is in store for spiritual fornication. Revelation 17:16; Revelation 18:8. CASTLES. fortified places....

_The utter destruction of every Midianite_, with the exception of the virgins who are to be kept as spoil....

AND THEY WARRED AGAINST THE MIDIANITES, &C.— The twelve thousand men chosen out by Moses marched against the Midianites. The battle they gave them was less an ordinary combat, than an execution of justice upon criminals; and, being performed by the immediate direction of God, can certainly never be brought into example to warrant a similar conduct. All the males of _Midian,_ and _five kings, i.e. princes_ or _governors,_ Judges 13:21 were slain with the edge of the sword. _Balaam_ also underwent the same punishment. It is not certain how this prophet (of whom the historian says, that _he went and returned to his place, or country, i.e._ Mesopotamia, chap. Numbers 24:25 where see the note) happened to come again into Midian.—The Jews are of opinion, that he thought the defeat of

IV. THE LAST EVENTS IN TRANS-JORDAN (NUMBERS 31; NUMBERS 32; NUMBERS 33:1-42) A. ATTACK UPON THE MIDIANITES vv. 1-12 TEXT Numbers 31:1. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 2. Avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites: afterward shalt thou be gathered unto thy people. 3. And Moses spake unto the people, saying, Arm some of yourselves unto the war, and let them go against the Midianites, and avenge the Lord of Midian. 4. Of every tribe a thousand, throughout all the tribes of Israel, shall ye send to the war. 5. So there were delivered out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand of every tribe, twelve thousand armed for war. 6.