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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Numbers 31:25 - 31:25
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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 (הַמִּלְחָמָה תֹּפְשֵׂי, those who grasped at war, who engaged in war), the other for the congregation, and to levy a tribute upon it (מֶכֶס = מִכְסָה, 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 set apart for the children of Israel, i.e., for the congregation, one out of every fifty (i.e., 2 per cent.) was to be taken for the Levites. אָחֻז, laid hold of, i.e., snatched out of the whole number during the process of counting; not seized or touched by the lot, as in 1Ch 24:6, as there was no reason for resorting to the lot in this instance. The division of the booty into two equal halves, one of which was given to the warriors, and the other to the congregation that had taken no part in the war, was perfectly reasonable and just. As the 12,000 warriors had been chosen out of the whole congregation to carry on the war on their behalf, the congregation itself could properly lay claim to its share of the booty. But as the 12,000 had had all the trouble, hardships, and dangers of the war, they could very properly reckon upon some reward for their service; and this was granted them by their receiving quite as much as the whole of the congregation which had taken no part in the war-in fact, more, because the warriors only gave one-fifth per cent. of their share as a thank-offering for the victory that had been granted them, whilst those who remained at home had to give 2 per cent. of their share to Jehovah for the benefit of the priests and Levites. The arrangement, however, was only made for this particular case, and not as a law for all times, although it was a general rule that those who remained at home received a share of the booty brought back by the warriors (cf. Jos 22:8; 1Sa 30:24-25; 2 Macc. 8:28, 30).