Numbers 31:13

Num 31:13 And Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and all the princes of the congregation, went forth to meet them without the camp.

Ver. 13. Went forth to meet them.] As Melchisedec went forth to meet Abraham returning with victory; {Gen 14:18} as Archbishop Hubert met our Richard I returning from the Holy Land, (as they called it,) both of them first falling to the earth, rose again and ran into each other’s arms, comforting themselves with mutual embraces, and weeping with joy. {a}

{a} Speed, Hist., fol. 540.

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.

Num 31:13-14. Went forth to meet them — Partly to put respect upon them, and congratulate them on their happy success; and partly to prevent the pollution of the camp by the untimely entrance of the warriors into it.

Moses was wroth with the officers — Because they had spared those who were most criminal, and who, by the law of God, were worthy of death, as idolaters, and as persons who had seduced God’s people to idolatry, Num 25:6; Num 25:17-18.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

TREATMENT OF THE PRISONERS, Num_31:13-18.

13. Went forth to meet them — As Melchizedek, king and priest, met Abram after the slaughter of the kings, (Gen_14:18,) to bless the victor and receive tithes. Moreover, the law required the cleansing of the soldiers after a battle before entering the holy camp of Israel. Num_5:2-3; Num_19:11-18, notes.

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

31:13 outside the camp: Probably to keep from contaminating the Tabernacle and all of the people, the returning troops were subjected to purification rituals because of their contact with corpses (31:19-24).

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

Moses, and Eleazar the priest, . . . went forth to meet them without the camp--partly as a token of respect and congratulation on their victory, partly to see how they had executed the Lord's commands, and partly to prevent the defilement of the camp by the entrance of warriors stained with blood.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

And Moses was wroth with the officers of the host,.... 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:

with the captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, which came from the battle; 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.

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

Camp. They had sent news of their victory, and of the plunder which they were bringing to the camp, (Haydock) to be divided equally among their fellow soldiers, when they were met by Moses, &c., who came to congratulate with them, and to examine how they executed their commission, as well as to admonish them to be purified before they entered the camp, ver. 19. (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 put respect upon them, and congratulate with them for their happy success; and partly to prevent the pollution of the camp by the untimely entrance of the warriors into it.

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

Without the camp - Partly to put respect upon them, and congratulate with them for their happy success; and partly to prevent the pollution of the camp by the untimely entrance of the warriors into it.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Treatment of the Prisoners. - When Moses went out to the front of the camp with Eleazar and the princes of the congregation to meet the returning warriors, he was angry with the commanders, because they had left all the women alive, since it was they who had been the cause, at Balaam's instigation, of the falling away of the Israelites from Jehovah to worship Peor; and he commanded all the male children to be slain, and every woman who had lain with a man, and only the young girls who had hitherto had no connection with a man to be left alive. החיל פּקוּדי, lit., the appointed persons, i.e., the officers of the army, who were then divided into princes (captains) over thousands and hundreds. - "Which came from the battle," i.e., who had returned. The question in Num 31:15, "Have ye left all the women alive?" is an expression of dissatisfaction, and reproof for their having done this. למסר־מעל...היוּ, "they have become to the Israelites to work unfaithfulness towards Jehovah," i.e., they have induced them to commit an act of unfaithfulness towards Jehovah. The word מסר, which only occurs in this chapter, viz., in Num 31:5 and Num 31:16, appears to be used in the sense of giving, delivering, and then, like נתן, doing, making, effecting. On the fact itself, see Num 25:6. The object of the command to put all the male children to death, was to exterminate the whole nation, as it could not be perpetuated in the women. Of the female sex, all were to be put to death who had known the lying with a man, and therefore might possibly have been engaged in the licentious worship of Peor (Num 25:2), to preserve the congregation from all contamination from that abominable idolatry.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

The Manner of Dealing with the Captives

v. 13. And Moses and Eleazar, the priest, and all the princes of the congregation went forth to meet them without the camp, full of eagerness to see the evidence of God’s avenging justice.

v. 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.

v. 15. And Moses said unto them, Have ye saved all the women alive? It was a decided expression of disapproval at this course of action.

v. 16. Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the Lord, they had given the Israelites occasion to become unfaithful to Jehovah, in the matter of Peor, in the immoral service of this idol, Numbers 25, and there was a plague among the congregation of the Lord.

v. 17. Now, therefore, kill every male among the little ones, to prevent the reestablishment of the nation, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him, in carnal intercourse, for there was the danger that any one of these women may have been engaged in the shameless practices connected with the service of Peor and that the children of Israel would thus be contaminated by these women.

v. 18. But all the women children that have not known a man by lying with him keep alive for yourselves, as slaves or handmaids, for marriage with such was not forbidden. The great God is terrible in His judgments, a fact which should teach us to fear His wrath and not act contrary to His commandments.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

the commanders of thousands and the captains of hundreds

Possible meanings are 1) these numbers represent the exact amount of soldiers that these commanders and captains led. AT: "the commanders of 1,000 soldiers and the captains of 100 soldiers" or 2) the words translated as "thousands" and "hundreds" do not represent exact numbers, but are the names of larger and smaller military divisions. AT: "the commanders of large military divisions and the captains of smaller military divisions" (See: Numbers)

Have you let all the women live?

The law was explicit on who would be permitted to live. The army violated the law by allowing all the women and children to live. This was a rebuke to the army leaders. (See: Rhetorical Question)

translationWords

commander

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

ויצאו משה ואלעזר הכהן AND MOSES AND ELEAZAR THE PRIEST WENT FORTH, because they saw the young men of Israel going out to snatch the spoil (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.