Numbers 25 - Introduction
_Two incidents in Moab_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Two incidents in Moab_... [ Continue Reading ]
_abode in Shittim_ The name has the definite article, and means -the Acacias." The site is uncertain, but it lay somewhere in the steppes of Moab. The full form Abel-Shittim occurs in Numbers 33:49. It is perhaps to be identified with _Abila_, which Josephus locates 60 stadia from the Jordan. This v... [ Continue Reading ]
The Israelites sinned with the women of Moab, and were invited by them to the sacrificial feasts of the local god (J E). 6 15. An Israelite brought a Midianite woman into the camp, and Phinehas, for his zeal in killing them both, received the promise that his descendants should perpetually possess t... [ Continue Reading ]
_for they called_ AND _they called_. The writer relates that the Israelites first came into immoral relations with the women, and then that the women, very naturally, invited them to join in their local religious festivities.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Baal-peor_ i.e. the deity who was considered the Lord of the place Peor. See on Numbers 23:28. Names of deities consisting of the name Baal with a local attribute are not uncommon in the O.T., and are found on Phoenician inscriptions. Thus there were many Baals (_Baâlîm_) in different parts of the... [ Continue Reading ]
_hang them up_ i.e. the offenders, not the chiefs. The form of execution denoted by the Heb. word is uncertain. It is the causative (Hiphil) form of the verb used of the dislocation of Jacob's thigh (Genesis 32:25). Aquila understood it to mean -impale," Targ. -crucify"; others, from the analogy of... [ Continue Reading ]
_every one his men_ Each judge was to execute the offenders that belonged to the division over which he had authority (see Exodus 18:25 f.).... [ Continue Reading ]
_while they were weeping_ The reason for their weeping is not found till Numbers 25:8 f.; a plague had been sent. The beginning of the narrative stating the reason for the plague has been lost. But it was probably a punishment for the general immorality of which Numbers 25:6 relates one instance. I... [ Continue Reading ]
_The zeal of Phinehas, and its reward_. The passage belongs to the period after the exile, when those only were recognised as priests who could trace their ancestry through Phinehas, and Eleazar his father, to Aaron.... [ Continue Reading ]
_the pavilion_ Heb. _ḳubbâh_; a large vaulted tent; -alcove" (R.V. marg.) has gained a different significance, but it is only the Arabic equivalent to the Heb. word with the article _al_prefixed. The word is not found elsewhere in the O.T. and its meaning is doubtful. AND _the plague was stayed_ Th... [ Continue Reading ]
_twenty and four thousand_ S. Paul uses the narrative as a warning to Christians (1 Corinthians 10:8). Either by a slip of memory or owing to a variant reading he gives the number as _three_and twenty thousand.... [ Continue Reading ]
_jealous with my jealousy_ His jealousy was so deep and real that it adequately expressed the jealousy of Jehovah, rendering it unnecessary for Jehovah to express it further by consuming Israel. Cf. the -godly sorrow" felt by the Corinthians with regard to a similar sin (2 Corinthians 7:9-11). The d... [ Continue Reading ]
_my covenant of peace_ Cf. Malachi 2:5. The -covenant" here is not a compact between two persons, but an unconditional promise on God's part.... [ Continue Reading ]
_the covenant of an everlasting priesthood_. This passage expressly confines the priesthood to the line of Aaron. In Jeremiah 33:21; Malachi 2:4 f., Malachi 2:8 the covenant is given to the whole tribe of Levi. Other covenants spoken of in the O.T. are those given to Abram (with the sign of circumci... [ Continue Reading ]
_the daughter of Zur_ Zur is named as one of the five Midianite kings, in Numbers 31:8.... [ Continue Reading ]
are an editorial note. The compiler who placed side by side the two narratives in Numbers 25:1 here combines them in such a way as to represent the _Midianites_as responsible for tempting Israel in both cases. And at the same time he anticipates the command given to Moses in Numbers 31:1.... [ Continue Reading ]