And Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and all the princes of the congregation, went forth to meet them without the camp.
The verse belongs to Israel's campaign against the Midianites, carried out by God's command to avenge Israel before Moses died. It depicts Moses and Eleazar the priest and all the princes of the congregation going outside the camp to meet the returning army. That meeting was with the force coming back from the war of vengeance, the leaders going forth without the camp to receive them.
When they met, the army had slain all the males and had slain Balaam with the Midianites, but had taken the women and children captive. At that meeting outside the camp Moses was angry with the officers of the army, the captains over thousands and captains over hundreds, for saving all the women alive. The women spared were those who through Balaam's counsel caused Israel to commit trespass against the Lord in the matter of Peor and brought a plague among the congregation, so Moses commanded the men of war to destroy the women and the male children.
Balaam had sold Israel for Balak's reward and promotion and perished with the people whose favor he bought at the cost of twenty-four thousand Israelites. The meeting displays God's right as Maker and Ruler of the world to punish wicked idolatrous nations who scorn Him, despise His righteous people, vex and seduce them into idolatry, and fill up their iniquity, using His people as instruments of His wrath for swift destruction, which is just and not cruel. The campaign was the carrying out of God's judgment, with Israel acting as His instrument from zeal for His glory, not from malice or revenge.
The verse belongs to Israel's campaign against the Midianites, carried out by God's command to avenge Israel before Moses died. It depicts Moses and Eleazar the priest and all the princes of the congregation going outside the camp to meet the returning army. That meeting was with the force coming back from the war of vengeance, the leaders going forth without the camp to receive them.
When they met, the army had slain all the males and had slain Balaam with the Midianites, but had taken the women and children captive. At that meeting outside the camp Moses was angry with the officers of the army, the captains over thousands and captains over hundreds, for saving all the women alive. The women spared were those who through Balaam's counsel caused Israel to commit trespass against the Lord in the matter of Peor and brought a plague among the congregation, so Moses commanded the men of war to destroy the women and the male children.
Balaam had sold Israel for Balak's reward and promotion and perished with the people whose favor he bought at the cost of twenty-four thousand Israelites. The meeting displays God's right as Maker and Ruler of the world to punish wicked idolatrous nations who scorn Him, despise His righteous people, vex and seduce them into idolatry, and fill up their iniquity, using His people as instruments of His wrath for swift destruction, which is just and not cruel. The campaign was the carrying out of God's judgment, with Israel acting as His instrument from zeal for His glory, not from malice or revenge.