Numbers 31

the Promised Land. On the first day of the fifth month of that fortieth year (33:38), Moses, Aaron, and Eleazar went somewhere on Mount Hor because it was now time for Aaron to die. Moses would say good-bye to a beloved brother and Eleazar to a revered father. Aaron was 123 years old (33:38–39).

However, Aaron’s death didn’t interrupt the ministry of the priesthood, for Eleazar took his place. As John Wesley used to say, “God buries His workmen but His work goes on.” In fulfillment of the law (Ex. 29:29–30), Moses took the holy garments from his brother, Aaron, and put them on Eleazar. He probably anointed him as well for the new office. When Moses and Eleazar returned to the camp without Aaron, and the people saw Eleazar dressed in the robes of the high priest, they knew that Aaron’s life had ended. They mourned for Aaron for thirty days, which takes us now into the sixth month.

Eleazar was the third son of Aaron (Num. 3:2); the first two, Nadab and Abihu, were slain by the Lord for defiling the tabernacle with false fire (Lev. 10). Before becoming high priest, he was the chief leader of the Levites for caring for the tabernacle (Num. 3:32; 4:16). He would assist Moses in taking the census of the new generation (26:1–3) as well as in commissioning Joshua to succeed Moses (27:18–23). When Israel had conquered the land, Eleazar helped Joshua assign each tribe its inheritance (34:17; Josh. 14:1; 19:15).

Moses has experienced two family funerals, two confrontations with critics in the camp, and a personal failure at Kadesh, yet he picks up his rod and goes right back to work. Victorious Christian service, like the victorious Christian life, is a series of new beginnings. No matter what mistakes we’ve made, it’s always too soon to quit.

For forty years, Israel had been moving from place to place, a nomadic people traveling to their

Promised Land. Soon they would enter and conquer that land and establish their own nation, and for this responsibility they had to be prepared. The final chapters of Numbers, along with the book of Deuteronomy, record the Lord’s instructions through Moses, given to prepare the people for this challenging new experience. For Israel to become a holy nation to the glory of God, they had to accept and apply the basic principles Moses enunciated, and these principles still work in communities and nations today.

Though the people of Israel were wrong in getting entangled with the Midianites at Baal Peor, Midian was wrong in following Balaam’s counsel and trying to destroy Israel. Those who curse Israel, God will curse (Gen. 12:1–3), and the time had come for God to punish Midian (25:16–18). This battle would be a “dress rehearsal” for the battles Israel would fight in the land of Canaan. But this would be Moses’ last battle; then he would meet “the last enemy” which is death (1 Cor. 15:26).

The battle (vv. 1–10). This battle was part of a “holy war” that Jehovah had declared against Midian because Midian had led Israel into sin. Certainly Israel was responsible for disobeying God and engaging in idolatry and immorality, and God punished them for it, but Midian was the chief offender, and such offenses must be punished (Matt. 18:7). The church has no mandate from God to engage in “holy wars” (John 18:10–11, 36) because our enemies aren’t flesh and blood (Eph. 6:10ff.) and our weapons are spiritual (2 Cor. 10:1–6). The sword of the Spirit is the only sword we use to advance the cause of Christ (Eph. 6:17–18).

We see here a pattern for the military engagements Israel would experience in Canaan: Israel received their instructions from God and trusted God to go before them and give them victory. We assume that Joshua led the army, but Phinehas, the son of the high priest, was also there with the priests who carried the ark of the covenant and blew the trumpets (Num. 10:1–10). It was Phinehas who had demonstrated great courage and devotion to God when the sin of Baal Peor invaded the camp of Israel (25:7–15).

It was a monumental victory from the Lord, for all the Midianite men were killed but not a single Jewish soldier died in the conflict (31:7, 48–49). Many enemy leaders were killed during the battle, and after the battle Joshua killed five remaining Midianite kings, including Zur, the father of Cozbi, the woman with whom Zimri had sinned in the camp of Israel (25:14–15). Balaam, the architect of the great seduction at Baal Peor, was also killed (31:8, 16). Israel burned the cities and claimed the Midianite territory, later giving it to the tribe of Reuben (Josh. 13:15–23).

The purification (vv. 12–24). In disobedience to God’s command, the soldiers did not exterminate all the Midianites but brought the women and children back as captives. This angered Moses, for the presence of the Midianite women and girls in the camp only gave further opportunity for the sin that had almost destroyed Israel. The nation had won the battle but was now in danger of losing the victory, a mistake that God’s people have made more than once down through the centuries.

Moses commanded that the male children be slain as well as the women and girls who were not virgins. The virgins remaining could be taken by the men to be servants. Since the soldiers had been defiled in battle by touching dead bodies, they had to obey the law of cleansing (19:11–13), and Moses applied this same rule to the female captives who were now expected to obey Jewish law. The great amount of wealth that was taken from Midian also had to be purified, either by fire or by the water of cleansing, and it would take a week for this purification to be completed.

Whether in peace or in war, it was important to Israel that they maintain a holy relationship with the Lord. They had to make a difference between the clean and the unclean, and no compromise was permitted. This week-long period of purification would remind the 12,000 soldiers and the people in the camp that the nations they would face in Canaan were dangerous, not only because they were enemies but they were also unclean sinners who could tempt them and defile them. Moses wanted to prevent another defeat like Baal Peor.

The spoils of battle (vv. 25–47). The people and animals that Israel took as spoils of war were distributed three ways: the soldiers got half, the people in the camp got half, and both the soldiers and the people gave a percentage to the Lord. After all, it was the Lord who gave them the victory. The soldiers were commanded to bring one person or animal out of 500, a total of 840, and the community was to bring one person or animal out of 50, which totaled 8,400. These animals and people were given to Eleazar the high priest to be used for the tabernacle ministry. The women were given tasks to perform to assist the priests and Levites (Ex. 38:8; 1 Sam. 2:22), from whom, we trust, they learned to know and obey the true and living God of Israel.

A special gift (vv. 48–54). Since there were only 12,000 men who attacked Midian (v. 5), there could have been 132 officers at the most who came to Moses with their special gifts to the Lord. However, it’s possible that some commanders of 100 soldiers were in charge of more than one division. When the officers counted their men after the battle, they discovered that not one Israelite soldier had been lost! Only the Lord could have done such a miracle and the officers wanted to show their gratitude to Him. They brought a special gift for the sanctuary of God out of the spoils they themselves had received. It’s one thing to bring offerings to God because it’s our duty, and quite something else because we love Him and appreciate what He’s done for us.

When the officers spoke of “making atonement” for themselves before the Lord (v. 50), they weren’t suggesting that their gift of gold could in any way save their souls (Ps. 49:6–9; 1 Peter 1:18–19). According to Exodus 30:11–16, each time there was a census in Israel (and one had just occurred—Num. 26), the men twenty years and older were each to give a half shekel of silver as an offering to the Lord. This was known as “atonement money” and was originally used to make the sockets for the posts that helped to form the tabernacle frame (Ex. 38:21–28). Realizing that their lives had graciously been spared, the 12,000 soldiers wanted to give extra “atonement money” in thanksgiving to the Lord. Instead of bringing silver, they brought over 400 pounds of gold, which Moses and Eleazar received and put into the sanctuary.