Nombres 31:6

Darby's French Translation

et Moïse les envoya à l'armée, mille par tribu, à la guerre, eux et Phinées, fils d'Éléazar, le sacrificateur; et il avait en sa main les ustensiles du lieu saint, savoir les trompettes au son éclatant.

Parallel Translations

La Bible Ostervald (1996)
Et Mo�se les envoya � la guerre, mille par tribu, avec Phin�es, fils d'�l�azar, le sacrificateur, qui avait les instruments sacr�s, les trompettes �clatantes en sa main.

Louis Segond (1910)
Mo�se envoya � l'arm�e ces mille hommes par tribu, et avec eux le fils du sacrificateur El�azar, Phin�es, qui portait les instruments sacr�s et les trompettes retentissantes.

La Bible David Martin (1744)
Et Mo�se les envoya � la guerre, [savoir] mille de chaque Tribu, et avec eux Phin�es, fils d'Ei�azar le Sacrificateur, qui avait les vaisseaux du Sanctuaire, et les trompettes de retentissement en sa main.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

a thousand: Twelve thousand in all - a small number in proportion to all Israel, or to the forces which they had to encounter. As they were under the conduct of captains of thousands and hundreds, they probably had no general; for Phinehas seems to have accompanied them simply to take charge of "the holy instruments;" probably the ark and silver trumpets.

Phinehas: Numbers 25:7-13

the holy instruments: Numbers 14:44, Numbers 33:20-22, Exodus 25:9, Joshua 6:4-6, Joshua 6:13-15, 1 Samuel 4:4, 1 Samuel 4:5, 1 Samuel 4:17, 1 Samuel 14:18, 1 Samuel 23:9, 2 Samuel 11:11

to blow: Numbers 10:8, Numbers 10:9, 2 Chronicles 13:12-15

Reciprocal: Exodus 6:25 - Phinehas Deuteronomy 20:2 - General 1 Samuel 4:3 - Let us 1 Chronicles 6:4 - Phinehas 1 Chronicles 9:20 - Phinehas Ezra 7:5 - Phinehas

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And Moses sent them to the war,.... 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, and Jarchi interprets them of the ark and plate of gold z 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, 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" a, 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.

z So the Rabbins in Abendana in Miclol Yophi in loc. a וחצצרות "erantque tubae", Tigurine version; "id est tubae", Vatablus; "nempe tubae", Piscator; so Ainsworth.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Phinehas - He was marked out as the fitting director of the expedition by his conduct (compare Numbers 25:7-13) in the matter of Zimri and Cozbi.

With the holy instruments, and the trumpets - Or rather, “with the holy instruments, to wit, the trumpets,” for the trumpets themselves seem to be the instruments intended.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Numbers 31:6. A thousand of every tribe — Twelve thousand men in the whole. And Phinehas, the son of Eleazar; some think he was made general in this expedition, but this is not likely. The ark and its contents must proceed to this battle, because the battle was the Lord's, and he dwelt between the cherubim over the ark; and Phinehas, who had before got a grant in the eternal priesthood, was chosen to accompany the ark in place of his father Eleazar, who was probably now too far advanced in years to undergo the fatigue. Who then was general? Joshua, without doubt, though not here mentioned, because the battle being the Lord's, he alone is to have the supreme direction, and all the glory. Besides, it was an extraordinary war, and not conducted on the common principle, for we do not find that peace was offered to the Midianites, and that they refused it; see Deuteronomy 20:10, c. In such a case only hostilities could lawfully commence but they were sinners against GOD; the cup of their iniquity was full, and God thought proper to destroy them. Though a leader there certainly was, and Joshua was probably that leader, yet because God, for the above reason, was considered as commander-in-chief, therefore no one else is mentioned; for it is evident that the sole business of Phinehas was to take care of the holy instruments and to blow with the trumpet.