What Does Numbers 31:39 Mean?
And the donkeys were thirty thousand and five hundred, of which the LORD's tribute was sixty-one.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And the asses were thirty thousand and five hundred; of which the LORD’s tribute was threescore and one.THE KEY
The LORD’s tribute is a precise fraction here: one animal from every five hundred is set apart.
THE MEANING
The count stays concrete: 61 asses are assigned to the LORD from a total of 30,500. The exact fraction makes visible the share claimed from this counted whole.
THE ROOT
מִכְסָם
mikhsām
GROWS FROM
מ־כ־ס
To assess or levy a measured share.
“tribute” in this verse is mikhsām. The Hebrew form means “their assessed levy,” naming a share related to the whole rather than an undefined gift. A related form can mean a counted quota; here, 61 is exactly one five-hundredth of 30,500.
ALSO GROWS
mekes: Levy, tribute, or assessment.
מֶכֶס
This is the same word family naming the assigned share that the verse totals.
mikhsah: A number or assessed quota.
מִכְסָה
Used for a household’s counted number in Exodus 12:4, this related form links the word family to a share determined by counting.
THE PATTERN
A portion assigned from a whole is made visible through counting.
And lift up a tribute to the LORD from the men of war who went out to battle, one living soul from every five hundred, from the living souls, from the cattle, from the donkeys, and from the sheep.And concerning the tenth of the herd or of the flock, even of whatever passes under the rod, the tenth is set apart to the LORD.To him Abraham also gave a tenth of all, first, being interpreted, king of alignment, and then also king of Salem, the king of wholeness.THE THREAD
And lift up a tribute to the LORD from the men of war who went out to battle, one living soul from every five hundred, from the living souls, from the cattle, from the donkeys, and from the sheep.This verse uses מֶכֶס (mekes, “levy” or “tribute”) and states the one-in-five-hundred rule. That makes the count here exact: 61 is one five-hundredth of 30,500.
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