Numbers 31:36

_AND THE HALF, WHICH WAS THE PORTION OF THEM THAT WENT OUT TO WAR, WAS IN NUMBER THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND AND SEVEN AND THIRTY THOUSAND AND FIVE HUNDRED SHEEP:_ No JFB commentary on these verses....

25-47 Whatever we have, God justly claims a part. Out of the people's share God required one in fifty, but out of the soldiers' share only one in five hundred. The less opportunity we have of honouring God with personal services, the more should we give in money or value....

Numbers 31:32....

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 DIVISION OF THE BOOTY. The principle of equal division between those who went forth to fight, and those who remained in the camp was observed by David (1 Samuel 30:22), who seems to have been the first to establish such a rule. The tax of ⅟? 500 of the combatants'share for the priests and of ⅟? 50 of the residue for the Levites is not elsewhere mentioned. NUMBERS 31:50. ANKLE CHAINS: the use of these made the steps of the wearers short and tripping (Isaiah 3:16 *, Isaiah 3:20). But some translate bracelets (_cf._ 2 Samuel 1:10),

TO WAR. to, or, for the host....

_The apportionment of the spoil_. Those who fought and those who remained behind were to receive equal shares. This was an ancient custom, which was traced to the action of David (1 Samuel 30:24 f.). But before the appropriation by individuals, a religious tax was to be paid. The fighters were to pay from their share 1/500th to the priests, and the others 1/50th to the Levites. Such a tax is not mentioned elsewhere in the O.T., but perhaps, like the foregoing regulation, it had an ancient custom behind it. Mohammed, whose religion was ultimately based on the O.T., enjoined a similar tax of 1/5th (_Koran_viii. 42, cited by Gray)....

D. DIVISION OF THE BOOTY vv. 25-54 TEXT Numbers 31:25. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 26. Take the sum of the prey that was taken, both of man and of beast, thou, and Eleazar the priest, and the chief fathers of the congregation: 27. And divide the prey into two parts; between them that took the war upon them, who went out to battle, and between all the congregation. 28. And levy a tribute unto the Lord of the men of war which went out to battle: one soul of five hundred, both of the persons, and of the beeves, and of the asses, and of the sheep: 29. Take it of their half, and give it unto Eleazar the priest, for a heave offering of the Lord. 30. And of the children of Israel's half, thou shalt take one portion of fifty, of the persons, of the beeves, of the asses, and of the flocks, of all manner of beasts, and given them unto the Levites, Which keep the charge of the tabe

31:36 sheep, (b-25) Strictly, 'small cattle,' sheep and goats....

WAR AGAINST MIDIAN This chapter contains an account of the fulfilment of the decree of extermination passed upon the Midianites as being the occasion of Israel's apostasy in the plains of Moab: see on Numbers 25:16....