Division of the Spoils

(Book of Numbers 31:25 - 31:54)
Jehovah told Moses, "You, Eleazar the priest, and the clan leaders from each tribe are to take an inventory of all the livestock and human captives so that you can divided them equally between the soldiers who took part in the war and the rest of the community.  From the share of the plunder given to the fighting men you should set aside as tribute to Jehovah one out of every 500 of the human captives, cattle, donkeys, sheep, or goats.  The tribute from their share should be given to Eleazar the priest as an offering to Jehovah.  From the half share that is granted to the people of Israel, set aside one out of every 50 of the human captives, cattle, donkeys, sheep, goats, and other livestock.  These should be turned over to the Levites who are in charge of maintaining Jehovah's Tabernacle."

Moses and Eleazar the priest did as they were instructed by Jehovah.

The spoils remaining from that plundered by the soldiers consisted of: 675,000 sheep and goats, 72,000 cattle, 61,000 donkeys, and 32,000 virgins.

The half-share given to the soldiers that took part in the war was 337,500 sheep, with 675 allotted to Jehovah, 36,000 cattle, with 72 allotted to Jehovah, 30,500 donkeys, with 61 allotted to Jehovah, and 16,000 virgins, with 32 allotted to Jehovah.

Moses turned over Jehovah's share to Eleazar the priest, as Jehovah had instructed him.

Half of the plunder belonged to the Israelite people, and so Moses separated it from the share belonging to the soldiers.  It consisted of 337,500 sheep and goats, 36,000 cattle, 30,500 donkeys, and 16,000 virgins.  From this half-share given to the Israelite people, Moses gave to the Levites responsible for the maintenance of the Tabernacle one out of every 50 of the animals and human captives, in accordance with the commands given to him by Jehovah.

The generals and captains came to Moses and reported, "We, your servants, have accounted for all the men who went into battle under our command -- and not one of them is missing!  Therefore, we are bringing as an offering to Jehovah all the articles of gold we took as booty, armlets and bracelets, signet rings and earrings, necklaces and pendants -- in order that we may make atonement with Jehovah."

Moses and Eleazar received from the military commanders all manner of jewelry and crafted articles of gold.  The gold offered to Jehovah by the generals and captains amounted to 16,750 shekels worth (after every soldier had taken his share of the booty).  Moses and Eleazar the priest accepted the articles of gold from the generals and captains and displayed them in the Tabernacle before Jehovah's altar as a memorial.

Notes
1. The amount of livestock plundered by the Israelites seems considerable, as well as the number of captive virgins.  How wonderful that it was all recorded so precisely and deemed important enough to pass down hundred and hundreds of years so that the chroniclers of the Bible could include it in their narrative, which, on the other hand, gives no description at all about the military engagements that must have been a part of the Israelite-Midianite War.   Surprisingly, there is no account of the number of Midianites killed in battle or the captive women and boys who were liquidated.  All in all, though, it was the total destruction of a society, a complete genocide, save that Midianite DNA would be passed down through the children of the captive and soon-to-be-no-longer virgins.  Ancient man had no concept of genetics, and it was a commonly held belief that a child was derived from the father alone.  While this is contrary to even superficial observation -- children take after their mothers as much as their fathers -- this belief supported the view that the extermination of a tribe or nation could be accomplished merely by killing all its male members.  It never seemed to dawn upon conquerors that when they were raping and having children by the women of the people they had conquered they were continuing the blood line of their enemy, even if the mixed offspring that resulted from such liaisons would be accepted and reared as a member of the father's ethnic group.

2. The fate of the captive virgins is not mentioned.  Would they all become slaves or maybe concubines, even wives?  Those given as tribute to the misogynistic Jehovah, were they to become servants to the priests or did a grimmer fate await them -- human sacrifices?

3. The Israelites were enriched exceedingly by their war with the Midianites.  Since they were basically nomadic herdsman wandering in areas that were mostly deserts, the Israelites could have had little opportunity to increase their wealth.  They were engaged in no manufacture and little trade.  Their society and its mentor, Jehovah, did nothing to encourage the pursuit of knowledge, the acquisition of new crafts, even constructive relationships with their neighbors, so really the only way they could acquire wealth was to steal it from the people they would kill or conquer.

4. The army commanders gratefully donate to Jehovah all the gold they have looted, since during the war they have suffered no fatalities.  Really!  Their untrained army of tribal recruits killed every last Midianite and yet loss not one of their number?  You would have thought that even one of Jethro's now aged daughters could have managed to dispatch at least one Israelite!

5. The gold, 16,750 shekels, amounted to 420 pounds, and since it was all in crafted articles, pieces of jewelry and so forth it would have greater value than just its weight in gold.  It is not entirely clear, but it seems that the common soldiers kept their share of the loot, while the officers denoted their share of gold artifacts to Jehovah.