Numb. xxxi. 48 — 50. And the officers tvhich were over thou- sands of the host, the captains of thousands and captains of hundreds, came near unto Moses : 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. We have therefore brought an oblation for the Lord, ivhat every man hath gotten, of jewels of gold, chains, and bracelets, rings, ear-rings, and tablets, to make an atonement for our souls before the Lord.
NUMBERJLESS are the occasions on which we are led to admire the condescension of God towards
his chosen servants : and one of considerable import- ance occurs in the chapter before us. He had doomed Moses to die in the wilderness without ever setting his foot upon the promised land : and the time was nearly come for the execution of the sen- tence upon him. But God graciously determined to give him an earnest of those blessings which were shortly to be poured out on the surviving generation. He therefore directed Moses to " avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites, before he should be ga- thered unto his people." Moses gives immediate orders to carry into effect the divine command : but he remarkably alters the language which Jehovah had used. God had said, " Avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites : " and he says, " Avenge the Lord of Midian." The Lord marked his tender con- cern for Israel's good ; but Moses shewed a para- mount concern for the glory of his Goda. Thus it is that the condescension and kindness of God should ever be received : and whilst He seeks the best inte- rests of his people, we should seek his glory above every other consideration : to that every interest of ours should be subordinated.
The order being issued, a thousand from every tribe went forth to battle : (for, when God was with them, it was alike easy to subdue their enemies with many or with few :) and Phinehas, who had displayed his zeal for God in the matter of Zimri and Cozbi, was sent with them to animate their exertions. We have no particular account of the engagement ; but the consequences of it are minutely detailed, and may, not unprofitably, be distinctly considered. We notice, I. Their victory over Midian —
[This was most complete. All the five kings who came out against them were slain ; and all their forces destroyed. That all Midian did not come to the battle, appears from this, that in two hundred years afterwards they were again a power- ful nation : but all who engaged in this conflict were destroyed, their cities also were taken, and their fortresses demolished. " Balaam also," who, though foiled in his former endeavours, had returned to them, " was slain amongst them with the sword."
a Compare ver. 2 and 3.