Numbers 30
DOYLYMidian captives.] Having overthrown the armies of the Midianites, they fell upon their cities; and, according to the ancient custom in the most bloody wars, they killed only the men, but no women, nor children, Gen. xxxiv. 25; 1 Kings xi. 16. And so the law of God afterwards required them to do, when they took any city, not belonging to the Canaanites, Deut. xx. 13, 14, who under some circumstances were utterly to be destroyed, ver. 16, 17. Bp. Patrick.
Numbers 30:6
6.—them and Phinehas] It is doubted, whether Phinehas was sent to command the troops, or only to perform such sacred offices, as might be required by the general. The office of Phinehas appears to have been to take care of the “holy instruments;” which some suppose to have been the Urim and Thummim; but others more reasonably the ark of the covenant, and its contents, which not long after Joshua ordered to be carried, with priests blowing their trumpets before it, when he surrounded Jericho. It may be however that “the holy instruments” and the trumpets are one and the same. Stackhouse.
Numbers 30:8
8.—they slew the kings of Midian,] Little kings, called princes, Josh. xiii. 21, where they are said to be dukes of Sihon; that is, great men, tributary to Sihon; while he continued king of the Amorites. After he was conquered, they took perhaps the title of kings. Bp. Patrick.
—Balaam also the son of Beor they slew with the sword.] He is here mentioned, because it was he that
of the Midianites: afterward shalt thou be gathered unto thy people.
Numbers 30:13
13.—to afflict the soul,] Such as vows of fasting and abstinence, Lev. xvi. 29. Bp. Kidder. See the note there.
Chap. XXXI. ver. 2. Avenge the children of Israel] Chap. xxv. 17. Moses is commanded here to “avenge the Israelites;” but ver. 3, he requires the people to “avenge the Lord.” The Midianites had brought destruction upon the people of Israel; and had drawn them from God into idolatry; and on both these accounts were obnoxious, as offenders against God, and against Israel. Bp. Kidder.
Numbers 30:17
- Now therefore kill &c.] Moses gave an order that the boys and the women should be put to death, but that the young maidens should be kept alive. This proceeding shews good policy, combined with mercy. The young men might have become dangerous avengers of, what they would esteem, their country’s wrongs; the mothers might have again allured the Israelites to the love of licentious pleasures, and the practice of idolatry, and brought another plague upon the congregation; but the young maidens not being polluted by the flagitious habits of their mothers, nor likely to create disturbance by rebellion, were kept alive. These young women were reserved for the purposes of slavery: a custom, abhorrent from our manners, but every where practised in former times; and still practised in countries, where the benignity of the Christian religion has not softened the ferocity of human nature. Bp. Watson.
Numbers 30:19
- — purify both yourselves] Such purifications were common among the Gentiles, especially the Greeks; with whom it was the custom, when they had killed a man, to wash their hands in water for the purification of the defilement. Bp. Patrick.
Numbers 30:23
- — ye shall make it go through the fire.] This also was a way of purifying among the Gentiles, as old as Homer’s time; but they used sulphur with it. Bp. Patrick.
Numbers 30:28
- And levy a tribute unto the Lord &c.] The soldiers were ordered, out of their half, to deduct a 500th part of every kind of spoil, as an offering to God, in acknow-