Many Israelite men went chasing after their daughters, and responded the the invitation to their feast at Baal-peor. The followed after the Midianites heathen deity. then following the seduction of many of Israel into following Baal, God brought a plague on the children of Israel. God spoke to Moses, and told him to single out those that were bending a knee to Baal-peor, and stone and kill them, every last one of them, and then hand their dead bodies on a cross for an example to everyone else in the camp. So this is what followed after this plague came to the camp, and the heathen worshippers were killed and hung.

Numbers 31:1 "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,"

It is time for some Midianites to be vexed; Numbers 25:17, 18 "Vex the Midianites, and smite them:" [17] "For they vex you with their wiles, wherewith they have beguiled you in the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of a prince of Midian, their sister, which was slain in the day of the plague for Peor's sake." [18] So this establishes exactly why God is going to command Moses to come against the Midianites and destroy them.

"Beguiled" in the same manner that Satan beguiled Eve in the garden of Eden, and a son was born out of that sexual union, that son's name was Cain, the father of the Kenites. However here the Midianite women, through their actions drew the men and women of Israel to the mount Peor, and they became the whores, the prostitutes to the Midianites in the temple of Baal. Many of the Israelites followed these Midianite women up on the mount to take part in this heathen form. It is payback time by the Lord.

Numbers 31:2 "Avenge the children of the Israel: afterward shalt thou be gathered unto thy people."

God is telling Moses that his time here on earth is coming to an end, but first it is time to pay back the Midianites for what they had done to the children of Israel.

Numbers 31:3 "And Moses spake unto the People, saying, "Arm some of yourselves unto the war, and let them go against the Midianites, and avenge the Lord of Midian."

Our God is a very jealous God, and these Midianites cause this sex god to come between Israel and their God YHVH. When so many out of the camp of Israel went whoring up on mount Peor, playing the harlot to Baal, God became very jealous over the matter, and there will be a heavy price to pay by these Midianites.

Numbers 31:4 "Of every tribe a thousand, throughout all the tribes of Israel, shall ye send to the war." 

Instead of coming against Midian with the entire army, God is telling Moses to take one thousand from each tribe. The full army of the Israelites numbered over 601,000 men, but God will fight these Midianites with just 12,000 men; one thousand from each tribe. Remember that God will get the credit for the victories that are won here.

Numbers 31:5 "So there were delivered out of the thousand of Israel, a thousand of every tribe, twelve thousand armed for war."

So these 12,000 armed Israelites will do battle with about 35,000 Midianites.

Numbers 31:6 "And Moses sent them to the war, a thousand of ever tribe, them and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war, with the holy instruments, and the trumpets to blow in his hand."

Under normal conditions, the High priest would be sent with the troops to the battle, but remember it was Phinehas that ran the sword through the pregnant Midianite woman that whored with a prince of one of the tribes of Israel, who was taking part in this physical and spiritual fornication. Phinehas killed both of them right in their bedroom. When they died, God lifted the plague that hung over the encampment of the children of Israel. Phinehas will take with him the vessels of the tabernacle, and the silver trumpets that would blow to sound the alarm in battle.

Numbers 10:9 "And if ye go to war in your land against the enemy that oppresseth you, then ye shall blow an alarm with the trumpets; and ye shall be remembered before the Lord your God, and ye shall be saved from your enemies."

So Moses is carrying out that command from God, making ready for the battle against God's enemy, and the enemy of the children of Israel.

Numbers 31:7 "And they warred against the Midianites, as the Lord commanded Moses; and they slew all the males."

These Midianites were nomadic people, and were not great warriors, and that is why only 12,000 men were called to battle. They almost killed all the males, for the males that were to young to go to battle were spared, right along with all the women and children.

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."

Notice that right along with the kings of these families of the Midianites, there is Balaam the son of Peor, in the middle of the Midianites. When he was finished with the Balak king of the Moabites, he went to collect from the Midianites, for his was our for all the money that he could get. When the Israelites came across Balaam, they run the sword through his fat carcass right along with the rest of the Midianite army. This false prophet, and hireling's money didn't help him much when it came time for God to make things right.

These hirelings in modern day churches that lead their congregations into Satan's camp will also fine their end just as Balaam did before the Israelites, at the coming of the Lord. Balaam stated in Numbers 13:10 "Who can count the dust of Jacob, And the number of the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, And let my last be like his!" When Balaam caused God's children to go whoring after Baal-peor, he brought the wrath of God down on him, and Balaam was slew with the sword. The reason for his death will be discussed in verse sixteen.

Numbers 31:9 "And the children of Israel took all the women of Midian captive, and their little ones, and took the spoil of all their cattle, and all their flocks, and all their goods."

The twelve thousand men from Israel took the spoils of war. Notice that they took these Midianite women, the same ones that cause the men of Israel to go whoring after Baal gods, and their children back to the camp of the Israelites..

Numbers 31:10 "And they burnt all their cities wherein they dwelt, and all their goodly castles, with fire."

The Israelite army under the leading of YHVH our Heavenly Father burnt all their cities, and goodly castles. This is the same judgment that will come down on those today that cause God children to go astray. Burnt, as in the lake of fire. These cities would have been their nomadic villages, and fortified places. These would not have been fortified by the Midianites, but by the Moabites that occupied the land near them. So when the Ammorites and Moabites bound themselves with these Medianites, it broke the restriction for protection of these sons of lot that God placed on the Israelites, as to now going to war with them.

Numbers 31:11 "And they took all the spoil, and all the prey, both men and beasts."

This would have been not only the gold and silver, but the livestock that these people had. When it refers to "men" it is referring to the women and children.

Numbers 31:12 "And they brought the captives, and the prey, and the spoil, unto Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and unto the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the camp at the plains of Moab, which are by Jordan near Jericho."

When the battle was over, the men in arms brought back to the encampment of the children of Israel all the wealth of the Midianites, along with these women and children of the Midianites. Notice that they brought this stuff and captives "unto" not into, for each of these fighting men were unclean because of the dead people that they had been around. So outside the camp the judgment will take place.

Numbers 31:13 "And Moses and Eleazar the priest, and all the princes of the congregation, went forth to meet them without the camp."

Notice that when the army was returning home, Moses, the High priest, and all the leaders of the tribes and families went outside [without] the camp to meet them. Most of the army at this time had been defiled by death.

Numbers 31:14 "And Moses was wroth with the officers of the host, with the captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, which came from the battle."

As the army came near to the camp, Moses saw the many women and children that were with the men, and he became very wroth, or upset. Moses was very meek most of the time, but when he saw these Midianite woman standing before him, he became very upset.

Numbers 31:15 "And Moses said unto them, "Have ye saved all the women alive?"

It is obvious why Moses stated this, for it was these women of the Midianites that turned many of the Israelite men and women into the prostitutes for Baal worship of both the Midianites and the Moabites. These women were the tools that Balaam used to cause to the Children of Israel to go chasing after heathen religions.

Numbers 31:16 "Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the Lord in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the Lord."

Moses spells it out here, where there can be no doubt. These women caused your brethren of the children of Israel, through the counsel, or doctrine of Balaam, to commit their trespass sin against the Lord. This same thing will face Christians in their church houses in these end times, as we read in Revelation 2:12-17, concerning the church at Pergamos. In verse 14 we read; "But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balack to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication."

Remember that of the tribes of Israel 24,000 people were killed by the plague because they allowed this doctrine into their camp. This doctrine of Balaal is here in these end times.

Numbers 31:17 "Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him."

By killing all the males among these people, it would effective kill off the Midianites in the future from being a nation. So not only did they kill off all the male babies, but even the women that had been with a man up to that date in time. There would be no woman that would be able to bear a male child that would in the future, so only the virgin girls would be spared from death. Those that had not lay with a man, of course would not have been part of the seduction of the men of Israel.

Numbers 31:18 "But all the women children, that have not know a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves."

These small girls would be raised as slaves at this point in time. God is the one that is giving the command to carry out this judgment, and He does not look lightly on anyone that causes his children to go chasing after heathen doctrine, such as the doctrine Balaam was peddling, and those traditions that are being peddled that go against His Word. Spiritual seduction is a serious crime against our Lord, and these modern day times it is teaching false doctrine and presenting it as being from God's Word. Those that are doing this with their rapture doctrines, teaching God's children to go whoring after the false god, and flying out of here before the true Christ returns, are in serious trouble with the Lord.

How do you think that Jesus will feel when He returns at the seventh trumpet, and finds most of his children have been taken in marriage by a bunch of whores of Satan's camp. Sure they will look so spiritual, and sing their beautiful sons but to the wrong Christ. That will be their stumbling block, they don't know the true Christ from the false Christ. Moses reaction to seeing his pack of heathen Midianite whores that his army has taken captive and brought back to the camp site, will be exactly as stated in Revelation 2:14, God is not going to accept any part of those that have given themselves over to false doctrine and chased after Satan.

Moses answer to the problem was to kill off every last one of them that could have even participated in the heathen practice of Baal worship. Remember that it was the dealing with the sexual union, as a form of Baal worship. That means that the ones that would not be killed would be the little girls [to young for sex], for that was the form of worship of all the people at the time.

Numbers 31:19 "And do ye abide without the camp seven days: whosoever hath killed any person, and whosoever hath touched any slain, purify both yourselves and your captives on the third day, and on the seventh day."

The reason for this staying out side the camp, was because of the killing that went on during the war. The woman and males of the Midianites would have been all killed off also, and the only captives remaining would be those little girls that Moses command would have spared. This purification to take place is from Numbers 19, that had the ashes of the red heifer. Remember that death is the embodiment of sin, for that is what that nineteenth chapter was all about.

Of course the only thing that atones for sin today, is the blood of Jesus Christ.

Numbers 31:20 "And purify all your raiment, and all that is made of skins, and all work of goats' hair, and all things made of wood."

Clean up all your clothing and those implements and vessels that are made of skin and wood before you enter back into the camp. Everything that could not pass through fire and survive must be cleaned.

Numbers 31:21 "And Eleazar the priest said unto the men of war which went to the battle, "This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord commanded Moses;"

Numbers 31:22 "Only the gold, and the silver, the brass, the iron, the tin, and the lead,"

These are the things of metal that could pass though fire and last, or have some value that could be saved from the battle.

Numbers 31:23 "Every thing that may abide the fire, ye shall make it go through the fire, and it shall be clean: nevertheless it shall be purified with the water of separation: and all that abideth not the fire ye shall make go through the water."

You purify everything either by fire, or by using the water of separation, to make it clean.

Numbers 31:24 "And ye shall wash your clothes on the seventh day, ye shall be clean, and afterward ye shall come into the camp." 

This is the method of purification that was laid out by God and given to Moses and the people in Numbers 19, for purfication when one came in contact with the dead, or contact with leprosy. Each of those, death and Leprosy were to be kept outside the camp.

Numbers 31:25 "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,"

So this next part of Numbers dealt with the dividing of the spoils of war.

Numbers 31:26 "Take the sum of the prey that was taken, both of man and of beast, thou, and Eleazar the priest, and the chief fathers of the congregation:"

The first thing that must be done was to count up the spoils, both the spoils in beast and those girls, as well as all the wealth, the gold and silver, and such that was taken.

Numbers 31:27 "And divide the prey into two parts; between them that took the war upon them, who went out to battle, and between all the congregation:"

Then divide the booty into two parts, one half to those that went to war, and the rest of the booty to the rest of the Israelites.

Numbers 31:28 "And levy a tribute unto the Lord of the men of war which went out to battle; one soul of five hundred, both of the persons, and of the beeves [animal used for plowing or work], and of the asses, and of the sheep:"

This tribute deals with the portion of that gain of wealth that belongs to YHVH. It was a levy based on the censes, or count that was taken. Everything is considered here and is part of this count. Then what the fighting men get is what is given here. Notice that the Lord's tribute portion of this amount is just .02 percent of the overall among

Numbers 31:29 "Take it of their half, and give it unto Eleazar the priest, for an heave offering of the Lord."

Then Eleazar the priest and all the Levites will have their portion. This then is a thanks offering for the victory that God gave them in battle.

Numbers 31:30 "And of the children of Israel's half, thou shalt take on portion of fifty, of the persons of the Beeves, of the asses, and of the flocks, of all manner of beasts, and give them unto the Levites, which keep the charge of the tabernacle of the Lord."

The contribution of the portion that the rest of the people were to give came to 2 percent, and ten time higher amount over those that went to battle to win the war. By flocks, it is referring to both goats and sheep, however it will state that the Midianites did not have any goats. These sheep went to the tabernacle for use in the sanctuary, and for the priest's and Levite's families. In Leviticus 27 tells us how all these clean animals had to be sacrificed, and the unclean animals and the persons had to be redeemed. The amounts for the people to be redeemed were set, as to whether they were male or female, and the age of the person.

Numbers 31:31 "And Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord commanded Moses."

Eleazar was the one that took the censes, and therefore knew who exactly what each was entitled to. Notice also that the entire congregation shared in booty and prey. from the war. Later on it would be established by law as a statute that all would share from the booty from war, as recorded in I Samuel 30:24, 25. In today's life, we are all part of the many membered body of Christ, and each are given gifts to be used in the service of our Lord. We are judged as to whether we used those gifts rightly, or wasted them away, but for those that are faithful to what the Lord called them to do, all will share equally with the rewards that our Lord will give.

Numbers 31:32 "And the booty, being the rest of the prey which the men of war had caught, was six hundred thousand and seventy thousand and five thousand sheep."

675,000 sheep was the number taken from the Midianites.

Numbers 31:33 "And threescore and twelve thousand beeves,"

The "beeves" were the work animals, either oxen or bulls, to pull the plow and do the work in the fields. There were 72,600 of these animals in this portion.

Numbers 31:34 "And threescore and one thousand asses,"

This is 61,000 asses.

Numbers 31:35 "And thirty and two thousand persons in all, of women that had not know man by lying with him."

There were 32,000 young virgin girls that had not been with a man, old enough to partake in their religious practices of Baal worship.

Remember that there is another time coming when Jesus Returns for his virgin bride, those that remained faithful to Him and did not take Satan as their husband. This is talking spiritually, for and is in reference to bowing and worshipping Satan as the true Christ. Remember what the Midianites did to take the men of Israel away from God? They seduced them and by their religious practice had sex with them, and made them prostitutes in their temple to Baal, this heathen god. The point here is that each of us remain a virgin spiritually, and true to Christ. The reason that these young girls were spared was that they were to young to have taken part in any form of that heathen religious practice.

Numbers 31:36 "And the half, which was the portion of them that went out to war, was in number three hundred thousand and seven and thirty thousand and five hundred sheep:"

So the portion of the booty that went out to war, stated here was 337,500 sheep, which was half of the total count of sheep.

Numbers 31:37 "And the Lord's tribute of the sheep was six hundred and three score and fifteen."

The portion of the sheep that was given to the Levites for the use in the offering sacrifices of the Tabernacle was 675 sheep.

Numbers 31:38 "And the beeves were thirty and six thousand; of which the Lord's tribute was threescore and twelve."

Of the 36,000 work animals, the bulls and oxen to plow the fields, the tribute to the priests and Tabernacle in the work of the Lord was 72 animals.

Numbers 31:39 "And the asses were thirty thousand and five hundred; of which the Lord's tribute was threescore and one."

The number of asses were 30,500 asses, of which 61 went to the Lord to pay the tribute to the sanctuary.

Numbers 31:40 "And the persons were sixteen thousand; of which the Lord's tribute was thirty and two persons."

Of the 16,000 young girls, thirty two went to the Levites to be servants of their families.

Numbers 31:41 "And Moses gave the tribute, which was the Lord's heave offering, unto Eleazar the priest, as the Lord commanded Moses."

This tribute that Eleazar the high priest received were required by law, as God set the amounts of the tribute.

Numbers 31:42 "And of the children of Israel half, which Moses divided from the men that warred,"

The first half of the booty of war went to only those that fought the battles, but now notice that verses 43 to 46 were all added and not in the original text, to explain how many would have been left over to divide amongst the rest of the camp of Israel.

Numbers 31:43 "(Now the half that pertained unto the congregation was three hundred thousand and thirty thousand, and seven thousand and five hundred sheep,"

Numbers 31:44 "And thirty and six thousand beeves,"

Numbers 31:45 "And thirty thousand asses and five hundred,"

Numbers 31:46 "And sixteen thousand persons;)"

Numbers 31:47 "Even of the children of Israel's half, Moses took one portion of fifty, both of man and of beast, and gave them unto the Levites, which kept the charge of the tabernacle of the Lord; as the Lord commanded Moses."

Before the portion was distributed to the people Moses took one portion of fifty of both the animals, and the girls, and gave them to the Levites for their portion. These would be used in the service of duties around the tabernacle, but not in the service within the tabernacle.

Numbers 31:48 "And the officers which were over thousand of the host, the captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds, came near unto Moses:"

Now after all the booty was handed out, the officers of the men that went to war, came to Moses, to present what the men wanted to give in thanks to the Lord.

Numbers 31:49 "And they said unto Moses, "Thy servants have taken the sum of the men of war which are under our charge, and thee lacketh not one man of us."

Numbers 31:50 "We have therefore brought an oblation for the Lord, what every man hath gotten of Jewels of gold, chains, and bracelets, rings, earrings, and tablets, to make an atonement for our souls before the Lord." "

When the men saw what each of their portion was from the battle, they wanted to give a portion of all of it to God, for remember that the rest of the people were required to give 2 percent, while they were required 0.2 percent in tribute to the Lord.

Numbers 31:51 "And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of them, even all wrought jewels."

This gold that was given to the Lord would be used in the service of the tabernacle, for remember all of the animals that had to be sacrificed in the offerings, and the upkeep of the priest's and Levite's families had to be provided for.

Numbers 31:52 "And all the gold of the offering that they offered up to the Lord, of the captains of thousand, and of the captains of hundreds, was sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels."

Numbers 31:53 "(For the men of war had taken spoil, every man for himself.)"

The men knew that each of them had taken some of the spoils that were not counted in the overall booty.

Numbers 31:54 "And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of the captains of thousands and of the hundreds, and brought it into the tabernacle of the congregation, for a memorial for the children of Israel before the Lord."

The one point that I would like to close this chapter out with, is the fact that twelve thousand went into battle, just prior to entering into the promise land, and there was not one that lost his life, for God had protected each and ever one of them.