Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Numbers 31:49
And they said unto Moses, Thy servants have taken the sum of the men of war which [are] under our charge, and there lacketh not one man of us.
49. The officers report the safe return of every single Israelite soldier. No element of success must be absent from the ideal picture of a sacred victory.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
There is no mention of any resistance on the part of the Midianites. The Israelites saw in this and in the preservation of all those engaged, proofs that the Lord had been with them in the work, and hence, the free-will oblation of Num 31:50.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
And they said unto Moses,…. Gave the following relation to him, which is a very surprising one:
thy servants have taken the sum of the men of war which are under our charge; since the war with Midian was over, they had mustered the several companies under their command, such as had thousands, and those that had hundreds:
and there lacketh not one man of us; which is a most amazing and unheard of thing, that in waging war with a whole nation, slaying all their males, sacking and burning so many cities, plundering the inhabitants of their substance, taking and carrying off such a vast number of captives, yet not one should fall by the sword of the enemy, or by any disease or accident whatever, but all to a man should return to the camp of Israel again; this is not to be paralleled in any history.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(49) There lacketh not one man of us.It is obvious from the smallness of the number of the Israelitish warriors, as well as from the reference to those chiefs only of the Midianites who were the vassals of Sihon, and from the strength of the Midianitish nation in the time of Gideon (Judges 6-8), that the attack was made only upon that particular portion of the nation which had been concerned in the seduction of the Israelites to the worship of Baal Peor. The Midianites were probably attacked in an unprepared and defenceless state. After due allowance, however, has been made for all these circumstances, the fact that not a single Israelitish warrior perished can be satisfactorily explained only on the supposition that God vouchsafed to grant to His people miraculous aid and protection.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
THE FREEWILL THANK OFFERING TO JEHOVAH, Num 31:48-54.
49. There lacketh not one man The supernatural element in this campaign is seen in this astonishing report of the officers of the army, that not a man of the twelve thousand who went forth to this war failed to answer to the roll call on their last review before entering the camp. It is remarkable that in all the record of Joshua’s conquest of Western Palestine there is no dead list, save in the case of the defeat before Ai, which was in consequence of unpunished sin in the camp. Joshua 7, notes.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Num 31:49 And they said unto Moses, Thy servants have taken the sum of the men of war which [are] under our charge, and there lacketh not one man of us.
Ver. 49. And there lacketh not one man of us. ] A wonderful work of God; a whole nation cut off with no loss at all. “This was the Lord’s own doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes.” Psa 118:23 Surely, if the Grecians so thankfully acknowledged to their Jupiter that overthrow they gave to the Persians, by Themistocles, and called him E , their deliverer, how much more might these Israelites celebrate the unparalleled goodness of their gracious God in this so unbloody a victory!
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
charge: Heb. hand
lacketh: 1Sa 30:18, 1Sa 30:19, Psa 72:14, Joh 18:9
Reciprocal: 1Sa 30:23 – which the Lord 2Sa 17:22 – there lacked Jer 23:4 – neither