Because they had spared those who were most criminal, and who by the law of God and of nature were worthy of death. <\/P> <\/p>\n
14-18. And Moses was wroth with theofficers of the host<\/B>The displeasure of the great leader,though it appears the ebullition of a fierce and sanguinary temper,arose in reality from a pious and enlightened regard to the bestinterests of Israel. No order had been given for the slaughter of thewomen, and in ancient war they were commonly reserved for slaves. Bytheir antecedent conduct, however, the Midianitish women hadforfeited all claims to mild or merciful treatment; and the sacredcharacter, the avowed object of the war (Num 31:2<\/span>;Num 31:3<\/span>), made their slaughternecessary without any special order. But why “kill every maleamong the little ones”? It was designed to be a war ofextermination, such as God Himself had ordered against the people ofCanaan, whom the Midianites equalled in the enormity of theirwickedness.<\/P><\/p>\n And Moses was wroth with the officers of the host<\/strong>,…. The general officers who had the command of the army, for there does not appear to be anyone that was one general over the whole, otherwise the displeasure would have fallen upon him:<\/p>\n [with] the captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, which came from the battle<\/strong>; rather “with” should be left out, not being in the text; and these captains only explain who the officers were, and these were one hundred and thirty two, as Aben Ezra observes; twelve who were captains over thousands, and were more properly the general officers; and one hundred and twenty over so many hundreds, into which the whole were subdivided.<\/p>\n 14 And Moses was wroth with the officers. A successful issue usually obtains pardon for any errors in performance, nay, in a manner covers them, so that they are not taken into account; but, although the army brought with it many causes of congratulation, still Moses does not forbear from severely reproving their single fault. By this example we are taught that, whilst we give praise to virtuous actions, we are not to approve of anything which deserves reprehension. The anger of Moses might appear to us inhumane, when he severely reproves his soldiers because they had not treated the female sex with the greatest cruelty; but it is not our business to canvass the judgments of God, before whose tribunal we must all hereafter stand. Although, therefore, they may be repugnant to our own feelings, still we must rest assured that, even where they may seem to be excessive, He nevertheless tempers the most severe punishments with the most perfect equity; yea, that although He may for a time overlook, or at any rate not so severely punish, the same sin in the Moabites which He sorely avenged upon the Midiantes, there is still a most just cause for this distinction, although it may be hidden in His own breast. It is not our part to murmur against Him, lest He should absolve Himself by condemning our blasphemous audacity and temerity. <\/p>\n The Israelites sinned, in that, when they were only the ministers of God’s vengeance, it rested not in their own discretion to relax any part of it. And this is worthy of observation, that those who are armed with the sword, must not go out of the way on either side one tittle, but faithfully execute whatever God prescribes. By the praise which: is given to the anger of Moses, the imagination of the Stoics is refuted, with whom indifference (207) ( ἀπάθεια) is the highest of virtues. But rather are we to labor that all our affections should proceed from a good motive, and that they should be kept under such restraint, that they may contain no ebullition of carnal passion, but that spiritual zeal may preside in them. Moses, however, gives the reason why the women were no more to be spared than the men, viz., because they had prostituted themselves in order to lay deadly snares for the Israelites. As regards the little ones, the same reasoa did not affect them, inasmuch as they were guilty of no crime; yet is it not doubtful but that God justly desired that the very name of this wicked and irrecoverable nation should be utterly blotted out; just as He afterwards gave over to destruction the nations of Canaan, together with their offspring. The question, however, arises by what means the women, who “had not known a man,” were to be distinguished from virgins. The Jews, according to their custom, invent a fable (208) in reply, whereas it is probable that the decision was only come to on the ground of their age. <\/p>\n (207) “De n’avoir nulle passion;” to be without any passion. — Fr. <\/p>\n (208) “(Eleazar) made them pass before the plate, (i.e., the golden plate engraved like a signet, Exo 28:36<\/span>,) and the face of her who was suited for marriage grew yellow as a crocus.” — See R. Sal. Jarchi, in loco. Ed. Breithaupt. p. 1270. <\/p>\n 14<\/strong>. <\/strong> Moses was wroth <\/strong> The meekest man on earth was, (Num 12:3<\/span>, note,) under personal abuse, often angry in the interest of justice. The more Godlike a man is, the more capable he is of indignation against sin. Plato compares the man who is not angry against injustice to one who has a withered muscle. Mar 3:5<\/span>, note.<\/p>\n Num 31:14<\/span><\/em><\/strong>. <\/strong>And Moses was wroth with the officers<\/em><\/strong><\/strong> The Israelites obeyed the order in general; but, with a false pity, saved the lives of those Midianitish women whom they ought to have treated with the utmost rigour. They did not look upon them with that horror which they ought to have had for such seducers, but rather with a complacence, owing, perhaps, to a remembrance of their past criminal pleasures. This very justly provoked the spirit of Moses, by whose peremptory command sentence was immediately passed on all those women who had committed fornication with the Israelites, and all the male children which proceeded from that infamous commerce. The women children, <\/em>Num 31:18<\/span> who were too young to be corrupted by unchastity or idolatry, were to be kept alive for themselves, <\/em>either to be employed as servants, or, in case they turned proselytes, to marry with themselves, after the preparations required, Deu 21:11<\/span>; Deu 21:23<\/span>. Moses, I doubt not, followed some particular order which God had given him in this matter. But if this were not the case, the Israelites ought to have believed, that what was most odious in the sight of God in the whole country of Midian, was these impure and idolatrous women, who had seduced them to impurity and idolatry. They ought to have known, that the best use they could make of the sword which God had put into their hands, was to turn it against such notorious offenders. Thus the guilt of this people was so highly aggravated, that they were punished more severely than any other nations with whom they were at war, except those of Canaan; the like execution was, indeed, performed in after-times. See Jdg 21:11<\/span>. Saurin as above, and Virgil, AEn. ii. ver. 584, &c. <\/p>\n Num 31:14 And Moses was wroth with the officers of the host, [with] the captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, which came from the battle.<\/p>\n Ver. 14. And Moses was wroth.<\/strong> ] For all the joy he could not but be zealous for the Lord of hosts, when he saw the train. Zeal is the cream of all the affections.<\/p>\n wroth. Moses meek in his own matters, but not in Jehovah’s. In these there was a “godly jealousy”. <\/p>\n battle. Hebrew battle of the war = “the [battle] array (or host) of the war”, or martial host. <\/p>\n wroth: Num 12:3, Exo 32:19, Exo 32:22, Lev 10:16, 1Sa 15:13, 1Sa 15:14, 1Ki 20:42, 2Ki 13:19, Eph 4:26 <\/p>\n battle: Heb. host of war <\/p>\n Reciprocal: Gen 41:34 – officers Deu 1:15 – captains over thousands Deu 20:5 – the officers 1Ch 15:25 – captains Jer 48:10 – Cursed Jer 50:21 – and do<\/p>\n And Moses was wroth with the officers of the host, [with] the captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, which came from the battle. Because they had spared those who were most criminal, and who by the law of God and of nature were worthy of death. Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Numbers 31:14”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4687"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4687\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible <\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"