And they brought the captives, and the prey, and the spoil, unto Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and unto the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the camp at the plains of Moab, which are by Jordan near Jericho.
They brought the captives, and the prey, and the spoil ... The booty obtained from a fallen town or a devastated country was not, according to the rules of ancient war, retained by the first captor. It was thrown into a general stock, and then, at a time of respite, a division of the collected treasure was made in certain established proportions, a large share being allotted to the king or ruler. In order to insure a fair distribution of the spoil, an accurate account of it was taken by eunuch scribes, who attended to register, on rolls of papyrus or leather, every article as it was brought in. (Botta, pl. 140, 141; representation on a bas-relief at Khorsabad of the plundering of the city of Mekhatseri, where the process of examining the spoils is depicted-not only the cattle, but precious metals, which are being weighed in broad scales: also Layard, 'On the Kouyunjik Sculptures.')
A distinction was made between the "prey" and the "spoil" at this period among the Israelites, (see the note at Numbers 31:26, etc.) Under the monarchy a modification of this rule obtained, the "spoil" being reserved for the sovereign, and half of the "prey" also, while the remaining half of the latter was all that was distributed among the soldiers. The Greeks had a similar usage (Homer, 'Iliad,' 9:, line 396; 'Laws of Menu,' 7:, 96, 97).