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Números 31

VBL · Chapter 31/36

1El Señor le dijo a Moisés,

2“Castiga a los madianitas por lo que le hicieron a los israelitas. Después de eso te unirás a tus antepasados en la muerte”.

3Moisés instruyó al pueblo: “Que algunos de tus hombres se preparen para la batalla, para que puedan ir a atacar a los madianitas y llevar a cabo el castigo del Señor sobre ellos.

4Debes contribuir con mil hombres de cada tribu israelita”.

5Así que se eligieron mil hombres de cada tribu israelita, haciendo doce mil tropas listas para la batalla.

6Moisés los envió a la batalla, mil de cada tribu, junto con Finees, hijo del sacerdote Eleazar. Llevó consigo los objetos sagrados del santuario y las trompetas usadas para dar señales.

7Atacaron a los madianitas, como el Señor le había dicho a Moisés, y mataron a todos los hombres.

8Entre los muertos estaban los cinco reyes de Madián, Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur y Reba. También mataron a Balaam, hijo de Beor, con la espada.

9Los israelitas capturaron a las mujeres y niños madianitas, y tomaron como botín todas sus manadas, rebaños y posesiones.

10Prendieron fuego a todos los pueblos y campamentos madianitas donde habían vivido,

11y se llevaron todo el saqueo y el botín, incluyendo personas y animales.

12Llevaron los prisioneros, el saqueo y el pillaje a Moisés, al sacerdote Eleazar y al resto de los israelitas donde estaban acampados en las llanuras de Moab, junto al Jordán, frente a Jericó.

13Moisés, Eleazar el sacerdote y todos los líderes israelitas salieron del campamento para encontrarse con ellos.

14Moisés estaba enfadado con los oficiales del ejército, los comandantes de miles y los comandantes de cientos, que volvieron de la batalla.

15“¿Por qué dejaste vivir a todas las mujeres?” les preguntó.

16“¡Noten que estas mujeres sedujeron a los hombres israelitas, llevándolos a ser infieles al Señor en Peor, siguiendo el consejo de Balaam! Por eso el pueblo del Señor sufrió la plaga.

17Así que ve y mata a todos los niños y a todas las mujeres que se hayan acostado con un hombre.

18Deja vivir a todas las chicas que son vírgenes. Son tuyas.

19Y todos aquellos que mataron a alguien o tocaron un cadáver deben permanecer fuera del campamento durante siete días. Purifíquense y purifiquen a sus prisioneros al tercer y séptimo día.

20También purifiquen toda su ropa y cualquier cosa hecha de cuero, pelo de cabra o madera”.

21El sacerdote Eleazar dijo a los soldados que habían ido a la batalla: “Estos son los preceptos legales que el Señor ha ordenado llevar a cabo a Moisés:

22Todo lo que esté hecho de oro, plata, bronce, hierro, estaño y plomo,

23todo lo que no se queme, debe ser puesto al fuego para que quede limpio. Pero todavía tiene que ser purificado usando agua de purificación. Todo lo que se quema debe ser pasado por el agua.

24Lava tu ropa en el séptimo día y estarás limpio. Entonces podrás entrar en el campamento”.

25El Señor le dijo a Moisés,

26“Tú, el sacerdote Eleazar, y los líderes de la familia israelita deben tomar un registro de las personas y animales que fueron capturados.

27Luego divídanlos entre las tropas que entraron en batalla y el resto de los israelitas.

28Tomen como contribución al Señor de lo que se asigna a las tropas que fueron a la batalla una de cada quinientas personas, ganado, asnos u ovejas.

29Tomen esto de su media parte y denlo al sacerdote Eleazar como ofrenda al Señor.

30“De los israelitas; la mitad de la parte, toma una de cada cincuenta personas, ganado, asnos u ovejas, u otros animales, y dáselos a los levitas que cuidan del Tabernáculo del Señor”.

31Moisés y el sacerdote Eleazar hicieron lo que el Señor había ordenado a Moisés.

32Esta era la lista de los botines que quedaban y que habían sido saqueados por las tropas: 675.000 ovejas,

3372.000 vacas,

3461.000 burros,

35y 32.000 vírgenes.

36Esta era la mitad de los que habían ido a luchar: 337.500 ovejas,

37con una contribución para el Señor de 675

3836.000 bovinos, con una contribución para el Señor de 72,

3930.500 burros, con una contribución para el Señor de 61,

40y 16.000 personas, con una contribución para el Señor de 32.

41Moisés dio la contribución al sacerdote Eleazar como ofrenda al Señor, como el Señor había ordenado a Moisés.

42La mitad de la parte de los israelitas se fue después de que Moisés diera la mitad de la parte a las tropas que habían ido a luchar,

43consistió en: 337.500 ovejas,

4436.000 vacas,

4530.500 burros,

46y 16.000 personas.

47Moisés tomó de la mitad de los israelitas una de cada cincuenta personas y animales y les dio los levitas que cuidan del Tabernáculo del Señor, como el Señor le había ordenado.

48Los oficiales del ejército, los comandantes de millares y los comandantes de centenas, se acercaron a Moisés

49y le dijeron: “Nosotros, tus siervos, hemos comprobado las tropas que mandamos y no falta ni un solo hombre.

50Así que hemos traído al Señor una ofrenda de los objetos de oro que cada hombre recibió: brazaletes, pulseras, anillos, pendientes y collares, para que podamos estar bien ante el Señor”.

51El sacerdote Moisés y Eleazar aceptaron de ellos todos los objetos de oro.

52El oro que los comandantes de miles y cientos de personas dieron como ofrenda al Señor pesaba en total 16.750 siclos.

53(Los hombres que habían luchado en la batalla habían tomado cada uno un botín para sí mismos).

54Moisés y el sacerdote Eleazar aceptaron el oro de los comandantes de miles y cientos y lo llevaron al Tabernáculo de Reunión como ofrenda conmemorativa para los israelitas en presencia del Señor.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

God orders Israel to carry out vengeance against the Midianites for their role in the seduction at Baal-Peor. Israel wins the war, kills the five Midianite kings and Balaam, and after Moses rebukes them for sparing the women, purifies the plunder and divides it between the warriors and the congregation.

Explanation

This particular war against Midian is presented not as an ordinary territorial conquest, but as a response of justice for the spiritual and physical harm caused through the seduction plan revealed as orchestrated by Balaam (v. 16), directly linking this chapter to the events of chapter 25. Moses's order to kill the women who took part in the seduction, though troubling by modern standards, reflects the understanding that the specific threat came from them — this was not general ethnic vengeance, but the elimination of those who had been the direct instrument of Israel's spiritual corruption. The careful and proportional division of the plunder between those who fought and the whole congregation, including a tribute for the priests and Levites, shows an organized system of distributive justice even in wartime.

Fun facts

  • Balaam's death in this battle (v. 8) clarifies his final fate after all his earlier oracles — despite having blessed Israel by God's command, he perished among the Midianites because of the treacherous counsel he gave, showing narrative coherence between chapters 22-24 and 31.
  • The process of purifying metal objects captured in war through fire, and other materials through water (v. 21-24), demonstrates a practical understanding that different materials required different methods of ritual purification, adapting the general principle to the physical reality of the objects.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Números 31:1The LORD speaks to Moses, launching the war against Midian, already announced back in chapter 25 as a response to the episode at Baal-peor.
  2. Números 31:2God orders a war against the Midianites as retaliation for the episode at Baal-peor in chapter 25, in which Midianite women had drawn the people into another cult. It is presented as a specific act of vengeance for that event, not a war of territorial conquest like the earlier ones.
  3. Números 31:3Moses passes the order on to the people: some men were to arm themselves to carry out this specific act of the LORD’s vengeance against the Midianites.
  4. Números 31:4The call asks for a thousand men from each tribe of Israel to form the army for this war.
  5. Números 31:5In total, twelve thousand armed men are gathered, a thousand from each of the twelve tribes.
  6. Números 31:6Moses sends this army to war along with Phinehas, son of Eleazar, carrying the sacred objects and the trumpets for sounding the alarm.
  7. Números 31:7They fight against the Midianites exactly as the LORD had commanded, killing all the men.
  8. Números 31:8Among the dead were five kings of Midian, and also Balaam, son of Beor — the same prophet who had refused to curse Israel, but who apparently stayed nearby and ended up caught up in the Baal-peor scheme.
  9. Números 31:9The Israelites capture the Midianite women and children, as well as taking all the cattle, flocks, and goods as spoils of war.
  10. Números 31:10All the Midianite cities, dwellings, and encampments are burned completely.
  11. Números 31:11Israel gathers up all this plunder, both people and animals, to bring back with them.
  12. Números 31:12The captives and the plunder are brought to Moses, Eleazar, and the whole congregation, at the camp in the plains of Moab.
  13. Números 31:13Moses, Eleazar, and the leaders of the congregation go out to meet the army outside the camp itself.
  14. Números 31:14Moses becomes furious with the army officers, the commanders of thousands and of hundreds who were returning from the war.
  15. Números 31:15He asks the commanders directly: why did you let all the women live?
  16. Números 31:16Moses explains the reason for his anger: it was precisely these women who, following Balaam’s advice, led Israel into sin in the episode at Baal-peor, causing the plague that killed thousands.
  17. Números 31:17After the victory, Moses orders the killing of every boy and every woman who had already been with a man, but sparing the young virgin girls. It is a shocking order by today’s standards; the text ties these women specifically to the episode at Baal-peor, treating them as responsible for drawing Israel into another cult, but there is no softening the harshness of the measure itself.
  18. Números 31:18Even with the harsh order in the previous verse, the girls who had not yet been with any man could be spared.
  19. Números 31:19The soldiers who had killed someone or touched a dead body had to stay seven days outside the main camp, going through a purification process before they could return. It was the same logic as other laws in the book: contact with death, even in war, left a person temporarily unclean.
  20. Números 31:20After the war, it was also necessary to purify clothing, leather goods, goat-hair items, and wooden articles, all contaminated by contact with death.
  21. Números 31:21Eleazar explains to the soldiers that this purification was part of a specific law the LORD had already given to Moses.
  22. Números 31:22The rule lists the metals captured as plunder: gold, silver, bronze, iron, tin, and lead.
  23. Números 31:23Anything that could withstand fire had to go through fire to become clean, and then also go through the water of purification; whatever could not withstand fire had to go through the water alone.
  24. Números 31:24The soldiers themselves still had to wash their clothes on the seventh day before they could finally return to the camp.
  25. Números 31:25The LORD speaks to Moses once more, now to explain how to divide all the captured plunder.
  26. Números 31:26The instruction is to take a full count of everything captured, people and animals, with the help of Eleazar and the family leaders.
  27. Números 31:27Once counted, the plunder was to be divided into two equal halves: one for the soldiers who went to war, the other for the rest of the congregation.
  28. Números 31:28A portion of what was taken in the war, both people and animals, was set apart as a tribute to the LORD, given to the priests and the Levites. It was a way of acknowledging that the victory came from God, dividing the spoils of war formally between those who had fought and the rest of the people.
  29. Números 31:29From the soldiers’ half, a specific portion was to be set apart and given to Eleazar, as a heave offering to the LORD.
  30. Números 31:30From the half that stayed with the rest of the people, the proportion was smaller: one out of every fifty, given to the Levites responsible for the tabernacle.
  31. Números 31:31Moses and Eleazar carry out this division exactly as the LORD had commanded.
  32. Números 31:32The total plunder captured by the soldiers came to 675,000 sheep.
  33. Números 31:33These 72,000 cattle are part of the plunder taken from the Midianites, along with sheep, donkeys, and captives — all later divided in half between the soldiers and the rest of the people.
  34. Números 31:34The 61,000 donkeys complete the list of plunder from Midian, together with cattle and an even larger number of sheep — 675,000 in all, according to this chapter’s account.
  35. Números 31:35Among the captured women, 32,000 were girls who had not yet been with any man.
  36. Números 31:36The half set aside for the soldiers who went to war totaled 337,500 sheep.
  37. Números 31:37From that half of the sheep, the tribute set apart for the LORD was 675 animals.
  38. Números 31:38The cattle in that half totaled 36,000, with a tribute of 72 for the LORD.
  39. Números 31:39Of the 30,500 donkeys, 61 went as tribute to the LORD — one out of every five hundred, the same proportion applied to everything that fell to the soldiers.
  40. Números 31:40The captured people totaled 16,000, with a tribute of 32 for the LORD.
  41. Números 31:41Moses hands over this specific tribute to Eleazar, exactly as the LORD had commanded.
  42. Números 31:42Moving now to the other half, set aside for the rest of the people who did not go to war,
  43. Números 31:43This half belonging to the congregation totaled 337,500 sheep — the same number as the soldiers’ half, since the division had been made in equal parts.
  44. Números 31:44These 36,000 cattle are exactly half of the 72,000 captured — the other half went to the soldiers who fought in the war; this half belonged to the rest of the people.
  45. Números 31:4530,500 is half of the 61,000 donkeys taken as plunder, set aside for the rest of the congregation — the other half went to those who actually fought against Midian.
  46. Números 31:46And the captured people totaled 16,000 — identical numbers to the other half.
  47. Números 31:47From this half belonging to the people, Moses sets apart one out of every fifty and gives it to the Levites, exactly as the LORD had commanded.
  48. Números 31:48The army commanders, in charge of the thousands and hundreds of soldiers, present themselves before Moses.
  49. Números 31:49They report that they took a count of the men under their command and that not a single soldier had been lost in the battle.
  50. Números 31:50Because of this, they bring an extra offering to the LORD: gold jewelry that each man found as plunder, offered as a way of making atonement for their own lives.
  51. Números 31:51Moses and Eleazar receive this gold, all of it already crafted into pieces.
  52. Números 31:52The total gold offered by the commanders came to 16,750 shekels.
  53. Números 31:53The text notes that, apart from this extra offering, each soldier had already kept his own personal plunder from the war.
  54. Números 31:54Moses and Eleazar bring this gold to the tent of meeting, keeping it as a permanent reminder before the LORD on behalf of the people of Israel.

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