Numbers 31:19-24

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Numbers 31:19-20

Numbers 31:19-20. Abide without the camp seven days According to the law, Leviticus 15:13. Purify yourselves With the water of sprinkling, Numbers 19:9. Your raiment Namely, your spoil and prey. All work All which had contracted some ceremonial uncleanness, either from the dead bodies which wore them, or the tents or houses where they were, in which such dead bodies lay, or from the touch of the Israelitish soldiers, who were legally defiled by the slaughters they made. read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Numbers 31:1-54

Judgment on Midian (31:1-54)God now sent Israel to carry out his judgment on the Midianites (and Balaam with them) for the evil they did to Israel at Peor (see 25:1-9,14-17). Since it was a ‘holy’ war, the person who led the Israelite forces was not the army general Joshua, but the priest Phinehas (see 25:10-13). The Israelites were to destroy the Midianite fighting forces and burn their settlements. All captives and goods seized in battle were to be given to God, represented by the high... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Numbers 31:19

person = soul. Hebrew. nephesh ( App-13 ). read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Numbers 31:21

went = came, or had come ordinance = statute. read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Numbers 31:22

the. Some codices, with Samaritan Pentateuch, The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate, read "and the" in each of these three instances, making the Figure of speech Polysyndeton . iron. Found in Egypt as early as 2800 B.C. read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Numbers 31:23

water of separation. See Numbers 19:0 . read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Numbers 31:21

"And Eleazar the priest said unto the men of war that went to the battle, This is the statute of the law which Jehovah hath commanded Moses: howbeit the gold, and the silver, the brass, the iron, the tin, and the lead, everything that may abide the fire, ye shall make to go through the fire, and it shall be clean; nevertheless it shall be purified with the water for impurity: and all that abideth not the fire ye shall make to go through the water. And ye shall wash your clothes on the seventh... read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Numbers 31:19

Numbers 31:19. And do ye abide without the camp seven days— The whole army were to stay without the camp seven days; and such of them as had stained their hands in blood, or touched a dead body, were to purify themselves by the water of separation, ch. Numbers 19:9. For, though it was lawful to kill men in a just war; yet, because of the common affinity which subsists between all mankind, and to preserve sentiments of humanity, it was thought fit and decent to oblige all who had shed blood, as... read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Numbers 31:20

Numbers 31:20. Purify all your raiment, and all that is made of skins— La Roque, says the author of the Observations, mentions, as part of the common Arab's furniture, hair sacks, and trunks, and baskets covered with skin, to put up and carry their things in, which are kettles or pots, great wooden bowls, hand-mills, and pitchers; with these they content themselves, and they are all their furniture in common, or nearly so. I mention them distinctly, because this account seems to me to explain,... read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Numbers 31:21-24

Numbers 31:21-24. And Eleazar—said—This is the ordinance of the law— i.e. "This is a law to be observed hereafter by all who go to war." The law before was, that he, who touched a dead body should be purified with water; but nothing had been hitherto said of him who killed a man in war; nor of the spoil, concerning which Moses here prescribes two sorts of purifications, the fire for metals, and the water for all combustible matters. Purifying by water was a rite of the earliest antiquity, (see... read more

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