Numbers 31:8

_AND THEY SLEW THE KINGS OF MIDIAN, BESIDE THE REST OF THEM THAT WERE SLAIN; NAMELY, EVI, AND REKEM, AND ZUR, AND HUR, AND REBA, FIVE KINGS OF MIDIAN: BALAAM ALSO THE SON OF BEOR THEY SLEW WITH THE SWORD._ The kings of Midian - so called because each was possessed of absolute power within his own city or district; called also dukes or princes of Sihon (Joshua 13:21), having been probably subject to that Amorite ruler, as it is not uncommon in the East to find a number of governors or pachas tributary to one great king. ZUR - father of Cozbi (Numbers 25:15). BALAAM ALSO ... THEY SLEW WITH THE SWORD. This unprincipled man, on his dismissal from Balak, set out for his home in Mesopotamia ...

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....

Verse Numbers 31:8. _BALAAM - THEY SLEW WITH THE SWORD._] This man had probably committed what St. John calls _the sin unto death _- a sin which God punishes with temporal death, while at the same time he extends mercy to the soul. Numbers 24:25....

AND THEY SLEW ... WERE SLAIN ... - Render: And the kings of Midian they put to death, beside those that fell in the battle; namely, etc. From which it would seem that beside these five, put to death after the battle, there were other Midianite kings who perished fighting. The five chieftains here mentioned were vassals of Sihon the Amorite Joshua 13:21....

AND THEY SLEW THE KINGS OF MIDIAN, BESIDE THE REST OF THEM THAT WERE SLAIN,.... Besides the males of the common people, they slew their kings, who were petty kings or princes, perhaps under the king of Moab, or had reassumed their titles and government after the death of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who, in his time, were called dukes of Sihon, Joshua 13:21, namely, EVI, AND REKEM, AND ZUR, AND HUR, AND REBA, FIVE KINGS OF MIDIAN; the Targum of Jonathan says of Zur, this is Balak, which is not probable; it is more likely, what Aben Ezra observes, that he was the father of Cosbi, whom Phinehas slew, Numbers 25:15. BALAAM ALSO, THE SON OF BEOR, THEY SLEW WITH THE SWORD; so that he died not a natural death, but a violent one, not such an one as he desired, the death o

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....

EVI. Compare Joshua 13:21. FIVE KINGS: called princes or dukes of Sihon, Joshua 13:21. BALAAM. Compare Joshua 13:22. SLEW. Balaam thus did not "die the death of the righteous". Compare Numbers 23:10....

_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