Numbers 31:4

_OF EVERY TRIBE A THOUSAND, THROUGHOUT ALL THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL, SHALL YE SEND TO THE WAR._ No JFB commentary on this verse....

1-6 All who, without commission from God, dare to execute private revenge, and who, from ambition, covetousness, or resentment, wage war and desolate kingdoms, must one day answer for it. But if God, instead of sending an earthquake, a pestilence, or a famine, be pleased to authorize and command any people to avenge his cause, such a commission surely is just and right. The Israelites could show such a commission, though no persons now can do so. Their wars were begun and carried on expressly by Divine direction, and they were enabled to conquer by miracles. Unless it can be proved that the wicked Canaanites did not deserve their doom, objectors only prove their dislike to God, and their love to his enemies. Man makes light of the evil of sin, but God abhors it. This explains the terrible executions of the nations which had filled the measure of their sins....

OF EVERY TRIBE A THOUSAND,.... So that the whole number of those that were armed were 12,000 as after given: THROUGHOUT ALL THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL; this is observed, as Jarchi thinks, to comprehend the tribe of Levi, which in some cases was left out of the account: SHALL YE SEND TO THE WAR; to fight with Midian....

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....

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

OF EVERY TRIBE A THOUSAND— Six thousand of the Midianites taken prisoners in the war (see the following verses) give us a sufficient proof of the strength of that nation, and that the laws of prudence required a numerous army to attack them; but a people favoured by heaven, and led on by the God of hosts, had a method of fighting superior to all human prudence. It pleased God, that Moses should command but a small army in this expedition, that the victory might appear owing to him, and not to man. A body of twelve thousand men was sent against Midian, (Numbers 31:5.) being a detachment of one thousand out of every tribe. Phinehas (Numbers 31:6.) was probably their general; at least, the words of Moses seem to suggest this opinion. Besides, the commission of revenging the injury done to the Israelites could not

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.

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....

THE OLD TESTAMENT BOOK OF NUMBERS IN THE DESERT NUMBERS _MARION ADAMS_ CHAPTER 31 *ISRAEL’S WAR AGAINST THE COUNTRY CALLED MIDIAN – NUMBERS 31:1-12 V1 The *LORD said to Moses, V2 ‘Punish the *Midianites. Punish them for what they did to *Israel. After you have done this, you will die.’ V3 Moses said to the *Israelites, ‘Prepare some of your men for a war. The *LORD wants to punish the *Midianites. V4 Each *tribe must send 1000 men to fight them in a battle.’ V5 Each