Among the little ones, which they were forbidden to do to other people, Deuteronomy 20:14, except the Canaanites, to whom this people had equalled themselves by their horrid crimes; and therefore it is not strange, nor unjust, that God, the supreme Lord of all men's lives, who as he gives them, so may take them away when he pleaseth, did equal them in the punishment. Every woman that hath known man; partly for punishment, because the guilt was general, and though some of them only did prostitute themselves to the Israelites, yet the rest made themselves accessory by their consent, or concurrence, or approbation; and partly for prevention of the like mischief from such an adulterous generation.
Related Commentaries of Numbers 31:17
Numbers 31:17
17 Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him.b