Numbers 31:10

Num 31:10 And they burnt all their cities wherein they dwelt, and all their goodly castles, with fire.

Ver. 10. And they burnt all their cities.] For the same reason, perhaps, that our Henry VIII demolished so many monasteries, saying, Corvorum nidos esse penitus disturbandos, ne iterunt ad cohibitandum convolent, That the crows’ nests were to be utterly, destroyed, lest they should make further use of them again another time. {a} Or rather, lest sloth or covetousness should draw any of the Israelites to hide themselves in these nests, and neglect the Promised Land. See Jdg 6:1.

{a} Diruendi sunt etiam ipsi ciconiarum nidi ne redeant, - said Zisca Lavat. in Deuter. Sander. Schism. Anglic., lib. i.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

31:10 towns and villages: These were larger settlements and smaller unfortified encampments.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Or, palaces and gorgeous buildings.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

(10) All their cities wherein they dwelt.—Better, all their cities in their dwelling-places. This expression is explained by a reference to Jos_13:21, from which it appears that the five kings or chiefs of the Midianites who are mentioned in Num_5:8 dwelt in the territory which Sihon, king of the Amorites, had wrested from the Moabites. The Midianites were a nomad people, and were not likely to have built cities for themselves.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10. their encampments] A word specially used to denote the circular encampment of a nomad tribe: cf. Gen_25:16.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And they burnt all their cities wherein they dwelt, &c. ) So far as they went into the country, which, perhaps, might not be the whole land of Midian:

and all their goodly castles with fire; which were either the palaces of their princes and nobles, or such like great personages; or they were fortified places, for the security of their cities and country: the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan interpret them of their houses of worship, their temples, and their altars.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Goodly castles - Rather, both here and in Gen 25:16, hamlets. The word is derived from a word טוּר ṭûr,) signifying “a row” or “range” (compare Eze 46:23); and probably indicates those collections of rude dwellings, made of stones piled one on another and covered with tent-cloths, which are used by the Arabs to this day; and which are frequently mentioned as douars in narratives of the French campaigns in Algeria. These dwellings would be formed usually in a circle. See the word “Hazeroth,” in Num 11:35.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Castles. Hebrew tiroth, means also, "palaces, or shepherds’ huts." (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Partly, to blot out the name and memory of so lewd and vile a people; partly, lest any of the Israelites should be tempted to settle there, and so be discouraged in their progress to Canaan; and partly, lest they should be possessed by other people who might prove as bad neighbours to them as these would have been.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

10. Cities wherein they dwelt — Literally, towns in their dwellings. These were not built by the Midianites a nomad race, but probably by the Moabites who had been dispossessed by the Amorites under Sihon. This country was allotted to Reuben. Jos_13:15-23.

Goodly castles — Not modern castles, but “encampments,” (R.V.,) rude dwellings made of stone walls surmounted by a canvass or skin covering. These, arranged in a circle, constituted a pastoral hamlet such as are found today among the Arabs and in Algeria.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Their goodly castles. Septuagint, epauleiv . This word, which occurs only here and in Gen_25:16, no doubt signifies the pastoral villages, constructed partly of rude stone walls, partly of goats-hair cloth, which the nomadic tribes of that country have used from time immemorial. Probably these were the proper habitations of the Midianites; the "cities" would have belonged to the previous inhabitants of the land.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

טירתם means the place of their scribes (notarii) — a term which is denoting the dwelling-place of their priests, those well acquainted with their laws (cf. Siphre). Another explanation is that it means the place of their princes, just as “the lords of the Philistines” (I Samuel 6:4) is translated in the Targum by “the טורני of the Philistines” (Sifrei Bamidbar 157:5).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.