In the 17th verse of the thirty-first chapter of Numbers, Moses commanded that “every male among the little ones, and every woman who had known a man,” should be killed, even after they had been taken to the Israelitish camp; and that none should be reserved for slaves, except female children, of whom, it appears, there were thirty-two thousand. The booty taken in this war, was distributed by Moses, in conformity to the especial direction of God himself, as follows:—(Verse 25,) “And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, (verse 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, (verse 28,) and levy a tribute unto the Lord of the men of war which went out to battle: one soul of five hundred, _both_ of the PERSONS, and of the beeves, and of the asses, and of the sheep: (verse 29,) Take it of their half, and give it unto Eleazar the priest, _for_ a heave-offering of the Lord. (Verse 30,) And of the children of Israel’s half, thou shalt take one portion of fifty of the PERSONS, of the beeves, of the asses, and of the flocks, of all manner of beasts, and give them to the Levites which keep the charge of the tabernacle of the Lord. (Verse 31,) And Moses and Eleazar did as the Lord commanded Moses.” Houbigant, in his commentary upon this chapter, has given us the following _Table of the distribution of the booty of this war_: Sheep 675,000 { To the Soldiers 337,500 To the Lord 675 { ” People 337,500 ” Levites 6,750 Beeves 72,000 { ” Soldiers 36,000 ” Lord 72 { ” People 36,000 ” Levites 720 Asses 61,000 { ” Soldiers 30,500 ” Lord 61 { ” People 30,500 ” Levites 610 Persons 32,000 { ” Soldiers 16,000 ” Lord 32 { ” People 16,000 ” Levites 320 This table has been adopted by Dr. Adam Clark in his Commentary, to which he adds— “In this table the booty is equally divided between the people and the soldiers; a five-hundredth part being given to the Lord, and a fiftieth part to the Levites.” And this learned divine, in his commentary on the 28th verse, says—“And levy a tribute unto the Lord, one soul of five hundred, &c. * * * The _persons_ to be employed in the Lord’s service, under the Levites: the _cattle_ either for sacrifice or for the use of the Levites. (Verse 30.) Some monsters have supposed that _one_ out of every _five hundred_ of the captives was offered in sacrifice to the Lord! But this is abominable. When God chose to have the life of a man, he took it in the way of _justice_, as in the case of the Midianites above; but never in the way of _sacrifice_.”