Numbers 31:28 - Clarke's commentary and critical notes on the Bible

And levy a tribute unto the LORD of the men of war which went out to battle: one soul of five hundred, both of the persons, and of the beeves, and of the asses, and of the sheep: And levy a tribute unto the Lord - one soul of five hundred, etc. - The person to be employed in the Lord's service, under the Levites - the cattle either for sacrifice, or for the use of the Levites, Numbers 31:30. Some monsters have supposed that one out of every five hundred of the captives was offered in sacrifice to the Lord! but this is abominable. When God chose to have the life of a man, he took it in the way of justice, as in the case of Midianites above, but never in the way of sacrifice.