John Gill's Bible Commentary Ver. 3. And Moses spake unto the people, saying , etc.] In obedience to the divine command; this must be supposed to be spoken to the heads or princes of the tribes: arm some of yourselves unto the war : not the whole body of the militia, 600,000 men and upwards, only some of them, and these choice and select men; and, according to the Jewish writers, good men, who, detesting the sins of lewdness and idolatry, would more strictly and severely avenge themselves on the Midianites for drawing their brethren into those sins, whereby they fell; and so Jarchi calls them righteous men: [and] let them go against the Midianites, and avenge the Lord of Midian : what the Lord calls the vengeance of the Israelites, Moses calls the vengeance of the Lord, because they were the Lord’s people, and his cause and theirs the same: and because the sins they were drawn into by the Midianites were not only against themselves, and to their prejudice, but against the Lord and to the dishonour of his name.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-6 - All who, without commission from God, dare to execute private revenge and who, from ambition, covetousness, or resentment, wage war an desolate kingdoms, must one day answer for it. But if God, instead of sending an earthquake, a pestilence, or a famine, be pleased to authorize and command any people to avenge his cause, such a commissio surely is just and right. The Israelites could show such a commission though no persons now can do so. Their wars were begun and carried of expressly by Divine direction, and they were enabled to conquer by miracles. Unless it can be proved that the wicked Canaanites did no deserve their doom, objectors only prove their dislike to God, an their love to his enemies. Man makes light of the evil of sin, but God abhors it. This explains the terrible executions of the nations whic had filled the measure of their sins.
Original Hebrew וידבר1696 משׁה4872 אל413 העם5971 לאמר559 החלצו2502 מאתכם853 אנשׁים376 לצבא6635 ויהיו1961 על5921 מדין4080 לתת5414 נקמת5360 יהוה3068 במדין׃4080
