Division of the Booty
25 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 26 “You and Eleazar the priest and the heads of the fathers’ households of the congregation take a count of the booty [l]that was captured, both of man and of animal; 27 and divide the booty between the warriors who went out to battle and all the congregation. 28 Levy a tax for the Lord from the men of war who went out to battle, one [m]in five hundred of the persons and of the cattle and of the donkeys and of the sheep; 29 take it from their half and give it to Eleazar the priest, as an [n]offering to the Lord. 30 From the sons of Israel’s half, you shall take one drawn out of every fifty of the persons, of the cattle, of the donkeys and of the sheep, from all the animals, and give them to the Levites who keep charge of the tabernacle of the Lord.” 31 Moses and Eleazar the priest did just as the Lord had commanded Moses.
32 Now the booty that remained from the spoil which the [o]men of war had plundered was 675,000 sheep, 33 and 72,000 cattle, 34 and 61,000 donkeys, 35 and of human beings, of the women who had not known man [p]intimately, all the persons were 32,000.
36 The half, the portion of those who went out to war, was as follows: the number of sheep was 337,500, 37 and the Lord’s levy of the sheep was 675; 38 and the cattle were 36,000, from which the Lord’s levy was 72; 39 and the donkeys were 30,500, from which the Lord’s levy was 61; 40 and the human beings were 16,000, from whom the Lord’s levy was 32 persons. 41 Moses gave the levy which was the Lord’s offering to Eleazar the priest, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.
42 As for the sons of Israel’s half, which Moses [q]separated from the men who had gone to war— 43 now the congregation’s half was 337,500 sheep, 44 and 36,000 cattle, 45 and 30,500 donkeys, 46 and the human beings were 16,000— 47 and from the sons of Israel’s half, Moses took one drawn out of every fifty, both of man and of animals, and gave them to the Levites, who kept charge of the tabernacle of the Lord, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.
48 Then the officers who were over the thousands of the army, the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, approached Moses, 49 and they said to Moses, “Your servants have taken a census of men of war who are in our charge, and no man of us is missing. 50 So we have brought as an offering to the Lord what each man found, articles of gold, armlets and bracelets, signet rings, earrings and necklaces, to make atonement for ourselves before the Lord.” 51 Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from them, all kinds of wrought articles. 52 All the gold of the offering which they offered up to the Lord, from the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, was 16,750 shekels. 53 The men of war had taken booty, every man for himself. 54 So Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it to the tent of meeting as a memorial for the sons of Israel before the Lord.
The most important part here is tucked in right at the very end. This was “…a reminder to the Lord that the people of Israel belong to him.” Or more accurately, a reminder to the people that they belong to God, and are His chosen people.
How else do you explain 12,000 soldiers going in and defeating an entire people group, led by five enemy kings? We aren’t told how many actual defenders there were, but it seems obvious that God did not want the army to think they had done this on their own strength.
Additionally, the amount of plunder that they brought back is somewhat incredible. It’s so much that they give fully half of it to the rest of the tribes, along with some given to Eleazar the high priest. Certainly, the families in those day were prolific in children, but to capture 32,000 virgin girls seems pretty big.
At any rate, God used this battle to remind the Israelites that they belonged to Him. From the odds in battle, to the sharing of the plunder, it was all a reminder. Add on to that, the very reason for waging war on the Midianites, was because the Midianites had attempted to lead them astray in worshiping other gods.
God gives us reminders all the time, we belong to Him, we are not the same as those of this world, though they desperately need the good news that we know. Remember always to whom you belong.