Numbers 31:7

_AND THEY WARRED AGAINST THE MIDIANITES, AS THE LORD COMMANDED MOSES; AND THEY SLEW ALL THE MALES._ They slew all the males. This was in accordance with a divine order in all such cases (Deuteronomy 20:13). But the destruction appears to have been only partial-limited to those who were in the neighbourhood of the Hebrew camp, and who had been accomplices in the villanous plot of Baal-peor, while a large portion of the Midianites were absent on their pastoral wanderings, or had saved themselves by flight (cf. Judges 6:1)....

7._And they warred against the Midianites. _It was a signal example of obedience, that 12,000 men did not refuse to engage in a war which was full of danger, when it was reasonable for them to object that it was not right for them to be exposed to butchery, as it were, whilst the people sat idly in the camp, who by their great numbers and with little trouble would have routed and overcome the enemy. It was therefore no common proof of piety, that they obeyed God’s command, and sought for no pretext to cover their cowardice. God, too, shewed by the result that He did not rashly expose His servants to danger; for it is in His power to rescue those whom He takes under His protection, from a hundred deaths. From hence also we are taught that there is no surer means of safety than to follow whither He leads. What Moses afterwards adds, tends to render praise to their perseverance, with one ex...

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....

AND THEY WARRED AGAINST THE MIDIANITES, AS THE LORD COMMANDED MOSES,.... Whether the Midianites came out against them with an army, and there was a pitched battle between them, is not certain; however the Israelites committed acts of hostility upon them, by entering their cities, plundering their houses, and slaying the inhabitants of them; the Targum of Jonathan is, "they warred against Midian, and surrounded it in the three corners of it, as the Lord commanded Moses;'' for, as Maimonides b observes from tradition, "when they besiege a city to take it, they do not surround it in the four corners of it, but in the three corners of it, and leave a place to flee out, that everyone that would might escape for his life, as it is said, "and they warred against Midian, as the Lord commanded Moses"; by report, or from tradition, it is learnt that so he commanded him;'' that is, in such a ma...

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....

AS. according as....

_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.