Holding Faith Through the Battle

GOD spoke to Moses, saying, “Avenge the Israelite people on the Midianites; then you shall be gathered to your kin.” Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Let troops be picked out from among you for a campaign, and let them fall upon Midian to wreak GOD’s vengeance on Midian. You shall dispatch on the campaign a thousand from every one of the tribes of Israel.” So a thousand from each tribe were furnished from the divisions of Israel, twelve thousand picked for the campaign. Moses dispatched them on the campaign, a thousand from each tribe, with Phinehas son of Eleazar serving as a priest on the campaign, equipped with the sacred utensils and the trumpets for sounding the blasts. They took the field against Midian, as GOD had commanded Moses, and slew every male. Along with their other victims, they slew the kings of Midian: Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian. They also put Balaam son of Beor to the sword. The Israelites took the women and other noncombatants of the Midianites captive, and seized as booty all their beasts, all their herds, and all their wealth. And they destroyed by fire all the towns in which they were settled, and their encampments. They gathered all the spoil and all the booty, human and animal, and they brought the captives, the booty, and the spoil to Moses, Eleazar the priest, and the whole Israelite community, at the camp in the steppes of Moab, at the Jordan near Jericho. Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the chieftains of the community came out to meet them outside the camp. Moses became angry with the commanders of the army, the officers of thousands and the officers of hundreds, who had come back from the military campaign. Moses said to them, “You have spared every female! Yet they are the very ones who, at the bidding of Balaam, induced…limsor uncertain. the Israelites to trespass against GOD in the matter of Peor, so that GOD’s community was struck by the plague. Now, therefore, slay every male among the noncombatants, and slay also every woman who has known a man carnally; but spare every female noncombatant who has not had carnal relations with a man. “You shall then stay outside the camp seven days; every one among you or among your captives who has slain a person or touched a corpse shall cleanse himself on the third and seventh days. You shall also cleanse every cloth, every article of skin, everything made of goats’ hair, and every object of wood.” Eleazar the priest said to the troops who had taken part in the fighting, “This is the ritual law that GOD has enjoined upon Moses: Gold and silver, copper, iron, tin, and lead— any article that can withstand fire—these you shall pass through fire and they shall be pure, except that they must be cleansed with water of lustration; and anything that cannot withstand fire you must pass through water. On the seventh day you shall wash your clothes and be pure, and after that you may enter the camp.” GOD said to Moses: “You and Eleazar the priest and the family heads of the community take an inventory of the booty that was captured, human and animal, and divide the booty equally between the combatants who engaged in the campaign and the rest of the community. You shall exact a levy for GOD: in the case of the warriors who engaged in the campaign, one item in five hundred, of persons, oxen, donkeys, and sheep, shall be taken from their half-share and given to Eleazar the priest as a contribution to GOD; and from the half-share of the other Israelites you shall withhold one in every fifty human beings as well as cattle, donkeys, and sheep—all the animals—and give them to the Levites, who attend to the duties of GOD’s Tabernacle.” Moses and Eleazar the priest did as GOD commanded Moses. The amount of booty, other than the spoil that the troops had plundered, came to 675,000 sheep, 72,000 head of cattle, 61,000 donkeys, and a total of 32,000 human beings, namely, the females who had not had carnal relations. Thus, the half-share of those who had engaged in the campaign [was as follows]: The number of sheep was 337,500, and GOD’s levy from the sheep was 675; the cattle came to 36,000, from which GOD’s levy was 72; the donkeys came to 30,500, from which GOD’s levy was 61. And the number of human beings was 16,000, from which GOD’s levy was 32. Moses gave the contributions levied for GOD to Eleazar the priest, as GOD had commanded Moses. As for the half-share of the other Israelites, which Moses withdrew from those who had taken the field, that half-share of the community consisted of 337,500 sheep, 36,000 head of cattle, 30,500 donkeys, and 16,000 human beings. From this half-share of the Israelites, Moses withheld one in every fifty humans and animals; and he gave them to the Levites, who attended to the duties of GOD’s Tabernacle, as GOD had commanded Moses. The commanders of the troop divisions, the officers of thousands and the officers of hundreds, approached Moses. They said to Moses, “

Numbers 31:1–20 records Israel's campaign against Midian under God's command. Faith here is not passive trust but active, costly obedience: a thousand from every tribe, led by Phinehas the priest, carrying the sacred utensils and trumpets. The episode exposes what happens when the people waver (the Peor incident Balaam incited), and what trust looks like when Israel finally responds in faithfulness.