to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Moses
מֹשֶׁ֥הmo.Sheh
H4872
Mosheh · proper noun, a man's name
saying
לֵּאמֹֽרle.Mor
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Commentary
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Numbers 31:25
Take the sum of the prey that was taken--that is, of the captives and cattle, which, having been first lumped together according to ancient usage (Exo 15:9; Jdg 5:30), were divided into two equal parts: the one to the people at large, who had sustained a common injury from the Midianites and who were all liable to serve: and the other portion to the combatants, who, having encountered the labors and perils of war, justly received the largest share. From both parts, however, a certain deduction was taken for the sanctuary, as a thank offering to God for preservation and for victory. The soldiers had greatly the advantage in the distribution; for a five-hundredth part only of their half went t…
And the Lord spake unto Moses,.... After the purification of the soldiers, their captives, and spoil:
saying; as follows.
John Calvin on Numbers 31:25-27
And the Lord spake unto Moses. A most equitable distribution of the booty is here described, in which the law of proportion was so well observed that, whilst the soldiers were not defrauded of the reward of their labor, at the same time some advantage accrued to the rest of the people in whose name the war was carried on. The share of the multitude was indeed small, for the same proportion was awarded to the 12,000 as to the remaining 600,000. But, since the booty had been already won by the soldiers in right of their victory, it ought not to have been a cause of complaint to the people who had not borne arms, that they received an honorary gift, although it might be of little value. And ass…
Distribution of the Booty. - God directed Moses, with Eleazar and the heads of the fathers' houses ("fathers" for "fathers' houses:" see at Exo 6:14) of the congregation, to take the whole of the booty in men and cattle, and divide it into two halves: one for the men of war (המּלחמה תּפשׂי, those who grasped at war, who engaged in war), the other for the congregation, and to levy a tribute upon it (מכס = מכסה, computatio, a certain amount: see Exo 12:4) for Jehovah. Of the half that came to the warriors, one person and one head of cattle were to be handed over to Eleazar the priest out of every 500 (i.e., one-fifth per cent.), as a heave-offering for Jehovah; and of the other half that was s…
The Church Fathers
Therefore, by the command of the Lord, the wars against the Midianites were carried through by the sons of Israel; abundant spoils are brought back from them, an immense weight of gold and silver and of the other movable goods, a very great number of beasts and of captives. But since among the Israelites all these things are reckoned unclean, a purification suited to each several thing is applied; and those things indeed which consist of metals, fire purifies, but those which are more fragile and do not bear the fire are commanded to be purified by water. Therefore from all the spoils two equal parts are made, that one may be of those who had gone forth to war and the other of those who had remained in the camps. They are also commanded to offer from these into the gifts of God: those indeed who had gone forth to war, one head out of five hundred; but those who had remained in the camps, one out of fifty; and the number of all, collected together into one, is reported. This is the tenor of the history.
But let us see what the spiritual sense indicates in these things. In the people of God there are certain ones, as the Apostle says, who serve God as soldiers — those without doubt who do not entangle themselves in secular affairs; and these are they who go forth to war and fight against the enemy nations and against the spiritual wickednesses on behalf of the rest of the people and on behalf of those who are weaker, whether by age or by sex or by resolve. And these fight with prayers and fastings, with righteousness and piety, with meekness and chastity and all the virtues of continence, fortified as with weapons of war; and when they have returned to the camps as victors, even the unwarlike enjoy their labors, and those who either are not called to the fight or cannot go out. Yet it must be known that all things that are taken from these nations are unclean; and perhaps everything whatsoever is taken up in this world or captured in battle is unclean and needs purification; and certain of these things will pass through fire, but for others the purification of water will suffice. And there are taken up from the battle even men and beasts, when every understanding is taken captive to obey Christ. For unless we fight in the word of God, we shall not be able to take captive the understanding of those who think differently from Christ, and to lead them to the obedience of Christ. Yet few are they who can fight and carry through these battles; out of six hundred thousand and more armed men who seem to serve God as soldiers, only twelve thousand are chosen; the rest are left in the camps. Behold for me now the people of God that is in the Church, how many there are of those who can fight for the truth, who can resist those who contradict, who know how to handle the wars of the word. Blessed are these, who can fight for the whole people and defend the people of God and bring back abundant spoils from the enemy. Yet the remaining part of the people also, which seems unwarlike, if it reside quietly in the camps, if it act in silence and depart not from Moses but remain in the law of God, will itself also receive a part of the spoils. For an equal portion shall be made — not indeed by number, but as much as is given to all the rest of the people, so much also to those twelve thousand, by whose conquering the spoils were taken. Who, hearing these things, is not…
Dictionary and topics
Priest — The Heb. kohen, Gr. hierus, Lat. sacerdos, always denote one who offers sacrifices. At first every man was his own priest, and presented his own sacrifices before God. Afterwards that office devolved…
Wars of the Lord, The Book of the — (Num. 21:14, 15), some unknown book so called (comp. Gen. 14:14-16; Ex. 17:8-16; Num. 14:40-45; 21:1-3, 21-25, 33-35; 31. The wars here recorded might be thus designated).
Desert, Journey Of Israel Through The · Midianites destroyed and Balaam slain — Midianites destroyed and Balaam slain
Spoils · inc — inc
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
The plunder was divided into two equal parts, with half going to those who fought against the Midianites and half going to the Israelites who stayed behind (cp. 1 Sam 30:21-25). In this sense, everyone participated in the armed conflict, but the relatively small number of warriors each received a larger portion than the much larger number of those who stayed behind.
Rashi on Numbers 31:24
אל המחנה [YE SHALL BE CLEAN, AND AFTERWARDS] YE MAY COME INTO THE CAMP — into the camp where is the Divine Presence (מחנה שכינה), because a person unclean by reason of a corpse does not require expulsion from the camp of the Levites and the camp of the Israelites, (but only from the camp of the Shechina, and consequently the permission to come into the camp after purification must mean into the מחנה שכינה; Pesachim 67a; cf. Rashi on 5:2).
