Booty

Booty designates the spoils of war: captives, livestock, and valuables seized from a defeated enemy. Mosaic law regulated the distribution of booty carefully: in wars against distant nations not subject to the cherem (ban), Israel could take women, children, livestock, and goods as plunder; in wars against the Canaanites, however, all living things were to be devoted to destruction (Deut. 20:14–17). The spoil taken from Midian (Num. 31:25–47) provides a detailed example of the division process: half to the warriors, half to the congregation, with a levy for the priests and Levites from each share.

David established a precedent that those who remained with the supplies shared equally in booty with those who went into battle, a ruling that became a statute in Israel (1 Sam. 30:24–25). Violations of the cherem ban, as in Achan's taking of devoted Canaanite goods (Josh. 7), brought catastrophic consequences. The imagery of God distributing the spoils of spiritual victory appears in Psalm 68:12 and Isaiah 53:12, where the Servant is said to divide the booty with the strong after pouring out his soul to death.