Numbers 25:1-18
1 And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab.
2 And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods.
3 And Israel joined himself unto Baalpeor: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel.
4 And the LORD said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the LORD against the sun, that the fierce anger of the LORD may be turned away from Israel.
5 And Moses said unto the judges of Israel, Slay ye every one his men that were joined unto Baalpeor.
6 And, behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
7 And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation, and took a javelin in his hand;
8 And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel.
9 And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand.
10 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
11 Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, while he was zealous for my sake among them, that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy.
12 Wherefore say, Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace:
13 And he shall have it, and his seed after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was zealous for his God, and made an atonement for the children of Israel.
14 Now the name of the Israelite that was slain, even that was slain with the Midianitish woman, was Zimri, the son of Salu, a prince of a chiefa house among the Simeonites.
15 And the name of the Midianitish woman that was slain was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur; he was head over a people, and of a chief house in Midian.
16 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
17 Vex the Midianites, and smite them:
18 For they vex you with their wiles, wherewith they have beguiled you in the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of a prince of Midian, their sister, which was slain in the day of the plague for Peor's sake.
ISRAEL SEDUCED BY MOAB
(vs.1-18)
God had intervened to bless Israel when Moab was anxious to curse them. How inappropriate and senseless therefore was the harlotry of the men with the women of Moab. They were invited by the Moabites to the sacrifices made to their gods, and they joined in their idolatrous worship (vs.1-3). Numbers 31:16 reveals that this was instigated "through the counsel of Balaam." He was Satan's cunning tool, for when Satan is unable to defeat God's people, he will befriend and corrupt them, if they will listen to his subtle wiles. This counsel of Balaam shows that he was still an enemy of God, as is confirmed in2 Peter 2:15 and Jude 1:11.
The Lord's judgment of this was immediate and without mercy. He told Moses to take all the leaders of the people and hang those responsible for this corruption, so that God's anger would turn away from Israel (v.4). Moses therefore brought the message to the judges that they were to kill all those under their jurisdiction who had joined in with the idolatrous worship of Baal (v.5).
Totally insensible to the Lord's word and to the weeping of the people at the door of the tabernacle, an Israelite man boldly brought a Midianite woman to present her before the congregation (v.6). But Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron, did not even argue with him. He immediately took a javelin and went into the tent where they had gone and killed both of them. This certainly was not murder, but obedience to the Lord, and consistent with Old testament law, requiring judgment without mercy in such cases. Of course under grace God does not require any such penalty, though the sin of association with idol worship is just as abhorrent to Him now as it was then.
But the Lord had sent a plague that destroyed 24,000 people, showing how widespread their corruption had been. The action of Phinehas however stopped the plague (vs.8-9). This illustrates the fact that one man, standing for God in judgment, can avert greater judgment. In this he reflects the Lord Jesus, whose faithfulness in judging evil at the end of the Great tribulation will mean deliverance for the many who will bow to His authority.
The Lord then addressed Aaron, telling him that Phinehas had by his action turned back God's wrath from the children of Israel, thus averting the more sever judgment of God (vs.10-11). Therefore God was giving Phinehas His covenant of peace, a promise that would extent to his descendants also in the way of an everlasting priesthood (vs.12-13). This is really only typical of the everlasting priesthood of the Lord Jesus because of His faithfulness in making atonement in a far higher way by His great sacrifice of Calvary. But it does teach us how greatly God values faithfulness to Him.
The name of the Israelite who was killed is now given as Zimri, son of Salu, a leader of a father's house in Israel (v.14). How often it seems that prominent men are deceived by the cunning subterfuge of the enemy and become emboldened in their evil because they think their high position will protect them. This seems to be particularly true in the cases of sons of prominent men. They are often looked up to by the people just because their fathers were prominent. Having such a place of recognition, they are in grave danger if they have not learned the humility that comes through honest self-judgment. Their fathers may have learned well the lesson that one who exalts himself will be abased and one who humbles himself will be exalted (Luke 14:11), but the sons want the exaltation without the humbling. Some striking cases are those of Hophni and Phinehas, sons of Eli (1 Samuel 2:22) and Absalom, son of David (2 Samuel 1:5), then also Adonijah, son of David (2 Kings 1:5). Because of men like this, who indulge in evil practices, the common people also think they can get away with such things.
The name of the woman is also given, Cozbi, daughter of Zur, who was also a prominent man in Midian. Satan knows that it is much more effective to use people of prominence, for they give the common people more excuse for their wrong doing. It is evident that Midian was connected with Moab, as is seen in chapter 22:4, and of course in this chapter (25) from verse 1 to verse 18.
Because of this deceit of Midian, the Lord told Moses that Israel was to harass and attack the Midianites (vs.17-18). This did not take place immediately, however, for there were other matters first to take care of dealing with Israel's relationship to God. the actual attack against Midian is recorded in chapter 31:1-11. God's rights are first to be recognized before the enemy is punished.