John Gill's Bible Commentary Ver. 6. And Moses sent them to the war , etc.] Being mustered and armed: a thousand of [every] tribe, them and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest to the war ; which looks as if Phinehas was the general of this army; for Moses went not to the war, and no mention is made of Joshua, nor might it be proper for him, he being the successor of Moses, who was quickly to die; but it seems rather that there was no one person that had the command of the whole, but every captain commanded his own company; since, when Moses met them, and was angry with them for sparing the women, he does not address anyone as the chief commander, but all the officers, ( Numbers 31:14), however, it was very proper and prudent to send Phinehas with them, both on account of his office as a priest, to encourage the people, and because of his extraordinary zeal against the Midianites for what they had done, as appears by his slaying a prince of Simeon and a Midianitish princess in their uncleanness: [and he went] with the holy instruments, and the trumpets to blow in his hand ; by “the holy instruments”, Aben Ezra understands the ark with what appertained to it, which in later times used to be carried out when the Israelites went to war, ( Joshua 6:4 1 Samuel 4:3,4), and Jarchi interprets them of the ark and plate of gold which was upon the forehead of the high priest; but what had Phinehas to do with this, who was but a common priest? though the Targum of Jonathan paraphrases it, “with the Urim and Thummim of holiness, to inquire by them;” and it appears, that sometimes a son of an high priest was intrusted with the ephod, to which the breastplate was fastened, which had the Urim and Thummim on it, and made use thereof to inquire by, as in the times of David, ( 1 Samuel 23:6-12), but it is the opinion of some learned men, and they may be in the right, that these instruments are no other than the trumpets, and who suppose the “vau” is not copulative, but explanative, so Ben Gersom, and read the words thus, “with the holy instruments, even”, or, “that is, the trumpets” f453 , the silver trumpets ordered to be made, ( Numbers 10:2) one of which was far the journey of the camps, and also to blow an alarm for war, and which was done by the priests; and so the Targum of Jonathan adds here, “to cause the camp of Israel to rest, and to cause it to go;” that is, to direct it when it should stop, and when it should move.
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 וישׁלח7971 אתם853 משׁה4872 אלף505 למטה4294 לצבא6635 אתם853 ואת853 פינחס6372 בן1121 אלעזר499 הכהן3548 לצבא6635 וכלי3627 הקדשׁ6944 וחצצרות2689 התרועה8643 בידו׃3027
