Numbers 31

Numbers 31
Numbers 31
	Women of Midian led captive by Israelite soldiers. Watercolour by James Tissot (c. 1900).
Book	Book of Numbers
Hebrew Bible part	Torah
Order in the Hebrew part	4
Category	Torah
Christian Bible part	Old Testament
Order in the Christian part	4

Numbers 31 is the 31st chapter of the Book of Numbers, the fourth book of the Pentateuch (Torah), the central part of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), a sacred text in Judaism and Christianity. Scholars such as Israel Knohl and Dennis T. Olson name this chapter the War against the Midianites.^[1]^[2]

Set in the southern Transjordnian regions of Moab and Midian, it narrates the Israelites waging war against the Midianites, commanded by Phinehas and Moses. They killed the men, including their five kings and Balaam, burnt their settlements and took captive the women, children and livestock. Moses commanded the Israelites to kill the boys and women who had sex with men and spare the virgin girls for themselves.The spoils of war were then divided between Eleazar, the Levitical priesthood, soldiers and Yahweh.^[3]^{[note 1]}

Much scholarly and religious controversy exists surrounding the authorship, meaning and ethics of this chapter of Numbers.^[3] It is closely connected to Numbers 25.^[4]^: 69

^ Cite error: The named reference Knohl was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Olson, Dennis T. (2012). "Numbers 31. War against the Midianites: Judgment for Past Sin, Foretaste of a Future Conquest". Numbers. Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press. pp. 176–180. ISBN 9780664238827. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
^ ^a ^b Shectman, Sarah (2009). Women in the Pentateuch: A Feminist and Source-critical Analysis. Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press. pp. 158–166. ISBN 9781906055721. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
^ Cite error: The named reference Brown was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

Cite error: There are <ref group=note> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=note}} template (see the help page).

[Knohl-1] Cite error: The named reference Knohl was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[Olson-2] Olson, Dennis T. (2012). "Numbers 31. War against the Midianites: Judgment for Past Sin, Foretaste of a Future Conquest". Numbers. Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press. pp. 176–180. ISBN 9780664238827. Retrieved 14 March 2021.

[Shectman-3] Shectman, Sarah (2009). Women in the Pentateuch: A Feminist and Source-critical Analysis. Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press. pp. 158–166. ISBN 9781906055721. Retrieved 14 March 2021.

[Brown-5] Cite error: The named reference Brown was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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