Numbers 31:21

Numbers 31:21 says, 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;  Eleazar the priest told the men who who had gone onto battle what God had told Moses was His ordinance or the law was.  We as followers of Christ go into battle against sin daily, and we need to know what God says that we are to do.  Verse twenty-two adds, Only the gold, and the silver, the brass, the iron, the tin, and the lead,  Verse twenty-three continues, 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.  All the metals that had been taken in the war that would last through the fire, from gold down to lead, were to be put in a fire to be cleansed and then it was to be purified by the water of separation.  If they would not last through the fire, they were to be cleansed by the water.  Either way, they had to be purified to be used by God, and so must we today, and this can only happen by being purified by the blood of Christ.   Verse twenty-four states, And ye shall wash your clothes on the seventh day, and ye shall be clean, and afterward ye shall come into the camp.  The men who had gone to war were to remain out side the camp of the Israelites for seven days, then wash their clothes, and then they would be clean spiritually and could come into the camp.  There is no physical act that can cleanse us spiritually today, but only accepting Jesus Christ can, and when we do we will be spiritually clean.  Until we do, we will remain outside the kingdom of God, and once we do, we are immediately a part of His kingdom.  Verse twenty-five says, And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,  Verse twenty-six adds, 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:  God instructed Moses that Eleazar, the heads of the tribes, and he were to number the people and the animals taken as prey, or spoils of war.  Verse twenty-seven continues, 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:  The prey was to be divided into two parts, between those who went to war and those who didn't.  All were to share in the spoils of war, but not all would share equally.   We as Christians all share in the spiritual reward of salvation, but we may not all share equally in the material rewards.  Matthew Henry points out that only the people and animals were to be thus divided and not the metals and jewelry, since the people and animals could be used to populate the land, and the other things could not.  We too often want the riches of the world more than we want to reach the lost for the kingdom of God, it often seems.  Verse twenty-eight states,  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, and of the asses, and of the sheep:  A tribute to God was to be levied on the men and animals that the men who went to war had been given.  They were to give one of every five hundred as a tribute to God.  We must always remember to give God His tribute of all that we have as followers of Christ.  Verse twenty-nine adds, Take it of their half, and give it unto Eleazar the priest, for an heave offering of the LORD.  This was to be given to Eleazar as a heave offering to God.  Verse thirty continues,  And of the children of Israel’s half, thou shalt take one 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 half given to the rest of the people of Israel were to have one of every fifty, the people and animals, given to the Levites, who were in charge of God's tabernacle.  We need to always make sure that we support God's work and those who are doing it.  Verse thirty-one concludes, And Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the LORD commanded Moses.  Moses and Eleazar did what God had commanded Moses to do, and so must we do what God commands us to do today.