Numbers 31:26
Take the sum of the prey that was taken, both of man and of beast, thou, and Eleazar the priest, and the chief fathers of the congregation: Take the sum of the prey that was taken, both of man and of beast, thou, and Eleazar the priest, and the chief fathers of the congregation:
Numbers 31:26 stands within the record of Israel's war against Midian. That war was an act of judgment upon those who had drawn Israel into sin. The command to count the captured people and animals stands in that setting without further explanation.