God's Portion from God's Provision Text: Numbers 31:36-41
Introduction: The Spoils of Holy War
We live in a sentimental age, an age that prefers a god of its own imagining to the God who actually is. Our generation wants a God who is all Hallmark card and no sharp edges, a God who would never command a war, let alone dictate with meticulous precision how the spoils of that war are to be divided. And so, a passage like this one in Numbers 31 can be a stumbling block. It feels jarring to our modern sensibilities. After a fierce and total war against the Midianites, a war of judgment commanded by God Himself for their flagrant idolatry and sexual corruption that had poisoned Israel, we are given what amounts to a divine accounting ledger.
But if we have eyes to see, we will find that this is not some dry, dusty record of ancient plunder. This is a profound theological statement about ownership, worship, and the very nature of God's kingdom. The God who commands the war is the same God who commands the tithe. The God who gives the victory is the God who claims His portion. And the portion He claims is not because He has any need, but because His people have a deep and abiding need to remember who He is, who they are, and where all blessings come from.
This passage is about the grammar of grace. Victory in battle is a gift. The spoils of war are a gift. Life itself is a gift. And the Giver has the right to specify how His gifts are to be acknowledged. What we see here is not a tax imposed by a needy king, but a tribute required by a sovereign Creator. This is God teaching His people, in the starkest of terms, that everything belongs to Him. The victory was His, the spoils are His, the people are His, and a portion must be returned to Him as a tangible act of worship and acknowledgment. This principle is not left behind in the wilderness; it is carried straight into the New Covenant. God's ownership of all things is an eternal reality, and our joyful recognition of that fact is an essential part of our sanctification.
So as we look at this detailed accounting, we must not see it as a mere historical curiosity. We must see it as a lesson in the economics of the Kingdom of God. We are looking at the spoils of a holy war, and we are being taught that the first and best portion of every victory God gives us must be dedicated to Him.
The Text
And the half, the portion of those who went out to war, was as follows: the number of sheep was 337,500; and the levy of Yahweh from the sheep was 675; and the cattle were 36,000, from which the levy of Yahweh was 72; and the donkeys were 30,500, from which the levy of Yahweh was 61; and the human beings were 16,000, from whom the levy of Yahweh was 32 persons. And Moses gave the levy, which was the contribution to Yahweh, to Eleazar the priest, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses.
(Numbers 31:36-41 LSB)
The Arithmetic of Acknowledgment (vv. 36-40)
We begin with the detailed breakdown of the spoils:
"And the half, the portion of those who went out to war, was as follows: the number of sheep was 337,500; and the levy of Yahweh from the sheep was 675; and the cattle were 36,000, from which the levy of Yahweh was 72; and the donkeys were 30,500, from which the levy of Yahweh was 61; and the human beings were 16,000, from whom the levy of Yahweh was 32 persons." (Numbers 31:36-40)
The first thing to notice is the sheer specificity. God is a God of order, not of vague generalities. He cares about the details. The spoils are first divided in half. One half goes to the 12,000 soldiers who fought the battle, and the other half goes to the rest of the congregation who stayed with the camp. This in itself is a lesson in covenant solidarity. The victory of the army is the victory of the whole people. Those who fight and those who support the fighters are one body, and they share in the fruit of the victory.
From the soldiers' half, a "levy for Yahweh" is taken. The rate here is one out of every five hundred, or 0.2 percent. From the congregation's half, the rate was one out of fifty, or 2 percent. But let's focus on the soldiers' portion. Out of hundreds of thousands of sheep, 675 are set apart. Out of tens of thousands of cattle, 72 are set apart. Out of tens of thousands of donkeys, 61 are set apart.
This is God's tithe, or more accurately, His tribute. It is a tangible, mathematical reminder that He is the Lord of Hosts, the one who gave the victory. This is not a tax to fund the government; it is an act of worship. It is the firstfruits principle applied to the spoils of war. Before the soldiers can enjoy their portion, God gets His. This establishes a fundamental priority for the people of God in every generation. Before we calculate our net worth, before we pay our bills, before we spend on our pleasures, we must first render to God what is God's. He is not an afterthought or the recipient of our leftovers. He is the Lord of the harvest and the Lord of the battle, and He must be honored first.
But the list concludes with something that should stop us in our tracks: "and the human beings were 16,000, from whom the levy of Yahweh was 32 persons." The spoils of this ancient war included people, specifically the virgin daughters of the Midianites. And from these, 32 were given as a levy to the Lord. This is profoundly uncomfortable for us, but we must not shy away from it. These were not human sacrifices. These persons were given to the Lord to serve the priests and the Levites in the work of the Tabernacle. They were incorporated into the life of Israel, but their lives were now dedicated to the service of Yahweh's house. This is a stark picture of redemption. These were individuals taken from a people under God's judgment, spared from death, and brought into the service of the living God. It is a picture, however dimly, of what God does for us. We were captives to sin, part of a world under judgment, and He has conquered us, spared us, and brought us into His household to serve Him.
The Principle of Divine Ownership (v. 41)
Verse 41 shows us where this tribute goes and under whose authority it is given.
"And Moses gave the levy, which was the contribution to Yahweh, to Eleazar the priest, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses." (Numbers 31:41 LSB)
The levy is explicitly called "the contribution to Yahweh." The Hebrew word is terumah, which means an offering, a contribution lifted up to God. This is not a payment for services rendered. It is an act of acknowledging divine ownership. Because God owns everything, He has the right to claim any part of it He chooses. By giving this small fraction back to Him, Israel was confessing that they were merely stewards of the other 99.8 percent. The tithe doesn't buy God off so we can do what we want with the rest. The tithe is our weekly or regular acknowledgment that all of it, 100 percent, belongs to Him, and we are now going to manage the remainder as His faithful stewards.
Notice the chain of command. Yahweh commands Moses, and Moses gives the levy to Eleazar the priest. This is an orderly, hierarchical process. God's provision is channeled through God's ordained means. The contribution goes to the priest because the priesthood represents the formal, corporate worship of God. The priests and Levites had no land inheritance in Israel; the Lord was their inheritance. They were supported by the tithes and offerings of the people. This levy from the war was part of that provision. It was a practical outworking of the principle Paul would later articulate: "Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings? In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel" (1 Cor. 9:13-14).
The support of the ministry is not a matter of sentimental generosity. It is a divine command, rooted in the principle that those who minister the things of God are to be supported by the things of God. This passage establishes that the spoils of our victories, whether financial, professional, or personal, are not entirely our own. A portion is to be given back to the Lord, through His church, for the support of the ministry and the advancement of His kingdom. To withhold this is to fail to acknowledge the source of the victory.
Spoils, Tithes, and the New Covenant War
So what does this ancient accounting exercise have to do with us? Everything. We are not engaged in a carnal war against Midianites, but we are engaged in a spiritual war of the highest stakes. "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness" (Eph. 6:12). Our commander is the Lord Jesus Christ, and He has already won the decisive victory at the cross and the empty tomb.
When Christ ascended on high, the Scripture says He "led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men" (Eph. 4:8). He plundered the kingdom of darkness. He triumphed over the demonic powers and made a public spectacle of them (Col. 2:15). And the spoils of His victory are lavishly poured out upon His church. What are these spoils? They are redeemed sinners, like those 32 persons, taken from the kingdom of darkness and given new life. They are spiritual gifts, distributed by the Holy Spirit for the building up of the church. They are financial resources, worldly goods, and material wealth, all of which now belong to King Jesus.
And the principle of the levy, the tribute, the tithe, remains. All the increase we receive, all the blessings, all the spoils of the victories He gives us in our lives, are His. And we are commanded to bring the first portion, the tithe, into the storehouse. This is our joyful tribute, our weekly declaration that Jesus is Lord of our finances, Lord of our possessions, Lord of our lives. It is our "contribution to Yahweh." We give it to the church, to the elders who function as our priests, for the work of the ministry, the preaching of the Word, and the administration of the sacraments.
This is not a matter of law, but of gospel logic. If Christ has plundered hell for our sake, if He has given us all things, including life eternal, how can we then clutch our wallets and give Him the pocket lint? The tithe is not a burden; it is a privilege. It is our opportunity to participate in the grand economy of the kingdom, to acknowledge our great King, and to fuel the expansion of His reign on earth as it is in heaven. The Midianites were judged for their rebellion. We have been saved from ours. Our response, therefore, should not be reluctant compliance, but overflowing, grateful, and precise generosity, just as Yahweh commanded Moses.