The battle of Midian is over. Israel won, hands down. In fact, the destruction was so complete, you would have to go back to God’s defeat over the Egyptians in the Red Sea to find such a one-sided affair in Israel’s history.
But…now what?
It’s only right that after an engagement of this size, one of the main questions is what to do with all the war loot. After all, this battle was personal to so many Israelite warriors; who could blame them if they wanted to take some money for their troubles?
It’s telling of both God’s organizational capabilities and His understanding of human nature that He outlines what to do with the spoils so that everyone gets an equal share—combatant and non-combatant alike.
It can be difficult to make sense of these verses; even more difficult is understanding who gets what and why it’s fair.
Essentially, God divides the spoil into two halves—the soldiers who fought the battle and the civilians who stayed in camp. From the soldiers’ half, God decreed that 1/500 of the spoils should go to the the priests (in the care of Eleazar the priest), while the Levites would take 1/50 out of the civilians’ half.
And this wasn’t a one-time thing, either. David duplicates this distribution during his own campaigns in the wilderness running from Saul (1 Samuel 30:21-25).
Seems fair, but think about the reality of these numbers. Only one thousand from each tribe went to battle (Numbers 31:4), whereas the total population of Israel would certainly be over one million by now, including women and children. That’s a huge portion for the warriors, and a much smaller portion for the civilians.
This portion is made even smaller when you double-check the numbers: The Levites were to get two percent of the civilian’s spoils, while the priests received only 0.2%.
It’s made yet smaller after realizing that the soldiers kept the gold and jewelry, too. Numbers 31:28 only mentions a tax on the humans and livestock; Numbers 31:32-35 shows the total amount of those that were taken: 675,000 sheep, 72,000 cattle, 61,000 donkeys, and 32,000 Midianite women.
To their credit, the soldiers did bring a freewill offering of their gold and jewelry (Numbers 31:48-54), so they understood the importance of thanking God as well.
The reason why the soldiers received so much booty should be obvious—they bore the brunt of the danger, so they should receive the bulk of the reward. In fact, the sheer amount of loot recovered shows the size of the force they were up against. Give them as much as they want!
One sticking point remains, though: the Midianite women. They’re mentioned as part of the spoils of war, just like the sheep and cattle.
Certainly God isn’t implying that He views them the same; instead, according to Moses’ decree, these women would marry into Jewish society (Numbers 31:13-20; Deut. 21:10-14). The ones that didn’t would most likely serve as domestic servants.
Why did God design the distribution this way? The most obvious reason is that He wanted to ensure every person that contributed—whether as a fighter or part of the support staff—would get a share in the spoils. No one needed to feel insignificant, no matter what role they played, big or little.
But the other reason is to emphasize that both parties owed their devotion to the direct backing of God. It doesn’t matter if you’re guarding the baggage train or attacking the Midianites, neither of you could do your job without the help of God.
Thanks to the distribution of the spoils, nobody could forget that.