Numbers 31:21-54 - The Disposition Of The Spoils Of War
This law, which subjected the victors to a whole week of separation and to special purification, instead of an immediate welcome into the camp, was intended to wean the Hebrews from the practice of war, giving them a higher standard than that of surrounding nations. Thus God educates us, by placing before us an ever higher standard, as we are able to obey it. It is easy to say hard things against this treatment of Midian, but extermination is sometimes the only way to safety.
For us the lesson is one of rigid separation. Some may be able to stand God's searching fire; but others cannot bear that flame. Yet these may not go altogether free. See Numbers 31:23. As strangers and pilgrims we must abstain from fleshly lusts. God demands our holiness, but discriminates in the method of producing it. [source]
Chapter Summary: Numbers 31
1The Midianites are spoiled, and Balaam slain 13Moses is angry with the officers, for saving the women alive 19How the soldiers, with their captives and spoil, are to be purified 25The proportion in which the prey is to be divided 48The voluntary offering unto the treasure of the Lord
What do the individual words in Numbers 31:53 mean?