Numbers 31:1 says, And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Verse two adds, Avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites: afterward shalt thou be gathered unto thy people. God told Moses that he was to lead the people of Israel to avenge themselves of the Midianites, and then Moses would die. We are to do what God has called us to do as long as we live. Verse three continues, 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. Moses told some the people of Israel that some of them were to arm themselves for war. Not all were going to go and fight, just as we as Christians do not all fight the enemies of God the same way today. They were to fight the Midianites because they had defied God. Verse four states, Of every tribe a thousand, throughout all the tribes of Israel, shall ye send to the war. Every tribe of Israel was to send a thousand to war, no matter the size of the tribe. Verse five adds, So there were delivered out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand of every tribe, twelve thousand armed for war. Twelve thousand men, one for each tribe, were gathered for war with the Midianites. No matter how large or how small we may be as congregation of Christ today, we are all equally responsible for carrying out the sharing of the gospel, and we must be willing to go to war with the world in order to do so. This is a daily battle. Verse six continues, And Moses sent them to the war, a thousand of every 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. In addition to the thousand from each tribe, the twelve thousand total, Moses sent Phineas, Eleazar's son with them as their priest, along with the holy instruments and the trumpet. When we engage in battle with the world today, we must go armed with the whole armor of God and under His direction and power. Verse seven says, And they warred against the Midianites, as the LORD commanded Moses; and they slew all the males. The people of Israel went to war with the Midianites under God's direction, and they slew all the men of the Midianites. Matthew Henry says this was all the men in the army, but that is not what the verse actually says, though in a later verse it seems to be accurate. Though we are not sent to kill the people of the world, we should be ready to go to war with them if they attempt to force us to not follow God, but even then we should do so under the direction of the Holy Spirit. Verse eight adds, 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. They also killed the five kings of Midian, as well as Balaam, the son of Beor. Matthew Henry says it is unclear how Balaam came to be with the Midianites, but it is likely that they had paid him to attempt to cast a spell on Israel, and he paid with his life. If we profess to be Christians only for material gain, we to will ultimately pay the price for doing so. Verse nine continues, And the children of Israel took all the women of Midian captives, and their little ones, and took the spoil of all their cattle, and all their flocks, and all their goods. All the women and children of the Midianites were taken captive, and all their goods were taken as spoils of war. We should not attempt to follow God so we can gain materially from doing so, and this was not why the people of Israel went to war with the Midianites. They went to war to glorify God and defeat those who fought against Him. Verse ten says, And they burnt all their cities wherein they dwelt, and all their goodly castles, with fire. All the cities of the Midianites and their castles were destroyed. Verse eleven adds, And they took all the spoil, and all the prey, both of men and of beasts. Since this verse says that they took men as prey, it would seem to support Matthew Henry in saying only the men in the army were slain. Verse twelve continues, 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. They brought all the captives and the spoils to Moses and Eleazar. They did not attempt to just profit materially from their victory, and neither should we today when we are victorious over the world.
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