Num 31.1-54 will tell us that God instructs Moses to make war on Midian, and afterward he would be gathered to his people; how they were to go out; the ritual purification of the warriors; and how to divide the spoil. MIdian tried to influence the people with Baal, and got into a fight that wasn’t theirs. It was Moab who had a legitimate fear. In their polytheistic religion, Baal was the son of Dagon (a son of God) so they misrepresented the true Son of God. Moses will carry this out without delay, even though he knows he will die soon after the war is over. He overlooks any personal advantages. Ha Satan has tried to pollute the story of the Son of God coming, the redemption and the resurrection, going all the way back to Babylon. Every pagan culture has it at its root. They will not go out against Midian with all of the army, which was 600,000 plus. One thousand from each tribe will go out, for a total of 12,000. God didn’t need any warriors to defeat Midian, so the number is significant in other ways. The number alludes to the 144,000 who will go and occupy the land in Rev 7.4, and they will “make war” on the the false religions in the land during the birth-pains.
v 1…Then the Lord said to Moses, saying,
v 2…”Take full vengeance (retribution/punishment) for the sons of Israel (for sending their daughters to commit pagan uncleanness and idolatry, and for the death of 24,000 Israelites) on the Midianites, afterward you (Moses) will be gathered to your people.”
v 3…And Moses spoke the people,saying, “Arm men from among you for the war, that they may go against Midian, to execute the Lord’s vengeance on MIdian (the cause of Israel is the cause of Yehovah).
v 4…A thousand from each tribe of all the tribes of Israel you shall send to the war.”
v 5…So there were furnished (placed at the disposal) from the thousands of Israel, a thousand from each tribe, twelve thousand armed for war.
v 6…And Moses sent them, a thousand from each tribe, to the war, and Pinchas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war with them (a type of the warrior Messiah), and the holy vessels (possibly the ark) and the trumpets for the alarm in his hand (at his disposal-Num 10.9).
v 7…So they made war against Midian, just as the Lord had commanded Moses, and they killed every male (these 12,000 did what a whole nation couldn’t do in Num 13).
v 8…And they killed the kings of Midian along with the rest of their slain: Evi (my desire) and Rekem (friendship) and Zur (rock, father of Cosbi who Pinchas killed-Num 25.15) and Hur (white) and Reba (connect), the five kings of Midian; they also killed Balaam the son of Beor with the sword (he either went home and then cmae back, or on his way home he stayed with the Midianites).
v 9…And the sons of Israel captured (many of) the women of Midian and their little ones; and all their cattle abd all their flocks and all their goods, they plundered.
v 10…Then they burned all their cities where they lived and all their camps with fire.
v 11…And they took all their spoil and all the prey (the livestock; both of man and of beast.
v 12…And they brought the captives and the prey and the spoil to Moses and to Eleazar the priest and to the congregation of the sons of Israel, to the camp at the plains of Moab, which are by the Jordan opposite of Jericho.
v 13…And Moses and Eleazar the priest and all the leaders (princes) of the congregation went out to meet them outside the camp (they were unclean).’
v 14…And Moses was angry with the leaders of the army, the captains of the thousands and the captains of the hundreds, who had come from service in the war.
v 15…And Moses said to them, “Have you spared all the women?”
v 16…Behold, these caused the sons of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to trespass against the Lord in the matter (idolatry) of Peor, so the plague was among the congregation of the Lord.
v 17…Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known a man intimately (either by examination of revelation).
v 18…But all the girls (among the little ones) who have not known man intimately, spare for yourselves (domestic servants, or for marriage and become a follower of Yehovah).
v 19…And you, camp outside the camp seven days; whoever has killed any person, and whoever has touched any slain, purify yourselves (with the red heifer-Num 19.11-12), you and your captives on the third and on the seventh day.
v 20…And you shall purify for yourselves every garment and every article of leather and all the work of goats hair, and all the articles of wood.”
v 21…Then Eleazar the priest said to the men of war who had gone to battle, ‘This is the statute of the law which the Lord has commanded Moses (in Num 19):
v 22…only the gold and the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin and the lead,
v 23…everything that can stand the fire, you shall pas through the fire and it shall be clean, but it shall purified with water for impurity (red heifer-Num 19.9). But whatever cannot stand the fire you shall pass through the water (this process alludes to the judgment of God; the vessels are the people. The first judgment was with water, but later they will “pass through the fire” of the birth-pains).
v 24…And you shall wash your clothes on the seventh day and be clean, and afterward you may enter the camp.”
v 25…Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
v 26…”You and Eleazar the priest and the heads of the fathers’ households of the congregation, take a count of the booty that was captured, both of man and of animals (this also alludes to how things will be done when Yeshua returns (Isa 53.12; Zech 14.14);
v 27…and divide the booty (we need to remember this in our walk; we will have rewards and we should expect them) between the warriors who went out to battle and all the congregation (half and half).
v 28…And levy a tax for the Lord from the men of war who went out to battle, one in five hundred (1/500) of the persons (women-v 35) and of the cattle and of the donkeys and of the sheep (the warriors did the work),
v 29…take it from their half (the other half going to the people) and give it to Eleazar the priest as an offering to the Lord.
v 30…And from the the sons of Israel’s half, you shall take the one drawn out of every fifty (12,000 of the 600,000 went to war) of the persons (of the women to be servants, etc-v 35; this was the origin of the Nethanim, or temple servants), of the cattle, of the donkeys and of the sheep from all the animals, and give them to the Levites who keep charge of the tabernacle of the Lord (a tithe).”
v 31…And Moses and Eleazar the priest did just as the Lord had commanded Moses.
v 32…Now the booty that remained from the spoil (the rest of the goods from the war after what was eaten in their return and the seven days outside the camp, etc) which the men of war had plundered was 675,000 sheep,
v 33…and 72,000 cattle,
v 34…and 61,000 donkeys,
v 35…and of human beings, of the women who had not known man intimately, all the persons were 32,000.’
v 36…And the half, the portion of those who went to war, was as follows: the number of sheep was 337,500,
v 37…and the Lord’s levy (tribute) of the sheep was 675,
v 38…and the cattle were 36,000 from which the Lord’s levy was 72.
v 39…And the donkeys were 30,500, from which the Lord’s levy was 61.
v 40…And of the human beings were 16,000, from whom the Lord’s levy was 32 persons (as caregivers for the Mishkan; helpers and servants for the Levites).
v 41…And Moses gave the levy which was he Lord’s offering to Eleazar the priest, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.’
v 42…As for the sons of Israel’s half which Moses separated from the men who had gone to war-
v 43…now the congregation’s half was 337,000 sheep.
v 44…and 36,000 cattle,
v 45…and 30,500 donkeys,
v 46…and the human beings (women) were 16,000-
v 47…and from the son’s of Israel’s half, Moses took one drawn out out of every fifty, both of men and of animals, and gave them to the Levites, who kept charge of the tabernacle of the Lord, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.
v 48…Then the officers who were over the thousands of the army, the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, approached Moses,
v 49…and they said to Moses, “Your servants have taken a census of men of war who in our charge, and no man of us is missing (unheard of in history).
v 50…So we brought as an offering to the Lord what each man found, articles of gold, armlets and bracelets, signet rings, earrings and necklaces, to make atonement (temporary atonement or restoration of a covering, none of these are sufficient to ransom a person from eternal debt, only the blood of Yeshua is) for ourselves before the Lord (in thanksgiving for having been spared; for any sin they were guilty of in going to war; for sparing the women that Moses was angry about, etc; this is a case of a bloodless atonement).
v 51…And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from them, all kinds of wrought articles.’
v 52…And all the gold of the offering which they offered up to the Lord, from the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, was 16,750 shekels (63,144.8 pounds).
v 53…The men of war had taken booty, every man for himself (and contributed his quota for this offering).
v 54…So Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from the captains of the thousands and the captains of the hundreds, and brought it to the tent of meeting as a memorial for the sons of Israel before the Lord (Our “spoil” or rewards are eternal life, a new body, forgiveness, insight, knowledge, discernment, gifts, gold, homes and a land. We should be motivated to get a reward from the Lord, just like we get motivated for a raise on our job in this life. In our walk with the Lord, rewards are important. If it’s anything else, then we have missed it. The 144,000 will be the same. One thing we know from the Scriptures is you don’t mess with them. They are committed and sealed by God and are not there to play around. No “religious games” with them. One of their objectives will be to take the land for the Lord, and that includes the whole earth this time.
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