Numbers 25:6-9—6 Then behold, one of the sons of Israel came and brought to his relatives a Midianite woman, in the sight of Moses and in the sight of all the congregation of the sons of Israel, while they were weeping at the doorway of the tent of meeting. 7 When Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he arose from the midst of the congregation and took a spear in his hand, 8 and he went after the man of Israel into the tent and pierced both of them through, the man of Israel and the woman, through the body. So the plague on the sons of Israel was checked. 9 Those who died by the plague were 24,000. So this man of Israel, while all the people were still weeping for the men who were slain due to their idolatry, brings in a Midianite woman in the sight of Moses and in the sight of all the congregation of the sons of Israel to further pollute the people with sexual idolatry. Why were the people of Israel told to not intermingle with the people of Midian? Well, for one, although Midian was indeed descended from Abraham he was from Abraham’s second wife Keturah (Genesis 25:1-2). He was not the son of the promise God gave to Abraham, but from when Abraham went beyond what God had given him (it is another warning against polygamy). Second, the people of Midian (and Moab), while worshipping YHVH they also worshipped Ba'al-Peor. So any kind of mingling with them provoked YHVH to anger. Additionally, many of the Middle Eastern pagan religions were rife with sexual rituals as worship of the fertility gods such as Ba'al and Asherah. Bernhard Anderson in “Understanding the Old Testament” (p. 189) says
In Canaanite religion, sex was elevated to the realm of the divine. The divine powers, it was believed, were disclosed in the sphere of nature—that is, in the mystery of fertility. The gods were sexual in nature, and were worshipped in sexual rites.
And even though this man had seen what was done to those who joined themselves to the idolatry of the people with the Moabite women (who themselves had joined with the Midianites against Israel) he still brought this woman in to lie with her. If we were to read on into the book of Joshua, we would see that even then the people had not cleansed themselves of this sin. Phinehas tells the Gadites, the Reubenites and the half-tribe of Manasseh in Joshua 22:17—“Is the iniquity of Peor not enough for us, from which we are not cleansed till this day, although there was a plague in the congregation of the LORD?” Though the people were delivered from the punishment for their sexual idolatry, that sin obviously still lingered in the hearts of some of the people.
But how many times do we see this happen? We are warned against sin, we even see the effects of sin on others, but we still plunge headlong into it. When we see this happen we must do what we have to in order to purge this sin from our numbers. Which is what Phinehas does here. 7 When Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he arose from the midst of the congregation and took a spear in his hand, 8 and he went after the man of Israel into the tent and pierced both of them through, the man of Israel and the woman, through the body. This is not the last time we will see the people of God kill those who worship idols. Ehud straps a sword onto his thigh and slays Eglon, king of Moab in Judges 3:12-31. In 1st Kings 18, we see the contest between Elijah against the prophets of Ba'al on Mount Carmel. We see Elijah’s sacrifice accepted by God and the sacrifice of the prophets of Ba'al rejected. Elijah even soaked his sacrifice in buckets of water to show that it was not the heat of the desert sun, but rather it was God who sent fire down to consume his sacrifice. And what does the prophet of YHVH command? 1st Kings 18:39-40—39 Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, "The LORD, He is God! The LORD, He is God!" [literally, “YHVH is God! YHVH is God!”] 40 And Elijah said to them, "Seize the prophets of Baal! Do not let one of them escape!" So they seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the Brook Kishon and executed them there.
In 2nd Kings 10 King Jehu (not to be confused with the prophet Jehu in 1st Kings) has all the house of Ahab slain, and says in 2nd Kings 10:16-17—16 Then he said, "Come with me, and see my zeal for the LORD." So they had him ride in his chariot. 17 And when he came to Samaria, he killed all who remained to Ahab in Samaria, till he had destroyed them, according to the word of the LORD which He spoke to Elijah. He calls all the prophets of Ba'al into the temple of Ba'al and has them put on their priestly garments in order to finally rid Israel of all the last vestiges of Ba'al worship. Then in 2nd Kings 10:23-28 (NASB)—23 Jehu went into the house of Baal with Jehonadab the son of Rechab; and he said to the worshipers of Baal, "Search and see that there is here with you none of the servants of the LORD, but only the worshipers of Baal." 24 Then they went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings. Now Jehu had stationed for himself eighty men outside, and he had said, "The one who permits any of the men whom I bring into your hands to escape shall give up his life in exchange." 25 Then it came about, as soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, that Jehu said to the guard and to the royal officers, "Go in, kill them; let none come out." And they killed them with the edge of the sword; and the guard and the royal officers threw them out, and went to the inner room of the house of Baal. 26 They brought out the sacred pillars of the house of Baal and burned them. 27 They also broke down the sacred pillar of Baal and broke down the house of Baal, and made it a latrine to this day. 28 Thus Jehu eradicated Baal out of Israel. So yes, he wiped out all vestiges of Ba'al worship, but did so under false pretenses. Was he right to do it like this? Probably not. Was it right for Rebecca to trick Isaac into giving Jacob the blessing under false pretenses? Probably not. But if God has an end in mind, He can use the cunning and trickery of men to make it happen. Doesn’t mean we can go about doing likewise, but it does explain what our Lord meant when He said “Be wise as serpents” (Matthew 10:16). And what did God promise to Jehu for his zeal in removing Ba'al worship from Israel? 2nd Kings 10:30—"Because you have done well in doing what is right in My sight, and have done to the house of Ahab all that was in My heart, your sons shall sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation."
Unfortunately, Jehu did not go far enough. While he did indeed wipe out all the priests and prophets of Ba'al, there was one step he didn’t take. It was the step that even some of the better kings in Israel and Judah did not take. 2nd Kings 10:31—But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the LORD God of Israel with all his heart; for he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam, who had made Israel sin. What were the sins of Jeroboam? He divided the kingdom (1st Kings 12:25), set up golden calves in Bethel and Dan (1st Kings 12:28-30), let anyone into the priesthood who wanted to be a priest regardless of whether or not they were of the tribe of Levi (1st Kings 12:31), and he prescribed a feast similar to Passover, except instead of the 14th day of the seventh month, this was on the 15th day of the eighth month (1st Kings 12:32). In other words, he directed the people away from the true worship of the true God. And what was the cause of the sins of Jeroboam? That Solomon did the same thing by marrying foreign wives and setting up houses and shrines for them. Instead of thrusting a spear through the heart of sin as Phinehas did, he made a bed and laid down a pillow for it. And this sin carried grievous consequences for the kingdom for years to come.
Those who died by the plague were 24,000. We don’t see a plague mentioned, but this text tells us that God sent a plague throughout the people and killed 24,000. Paul reckons the number at 23,000 (1st Corinthians 10:8). “Ha! See! There’s a contradiction!” No, it is not a contradiction. Paul was a devout Jew before he met Christ, and would no doubt have known what was written. You must remember that Paul was taught by none other than Christ Himself (Galatians 1:12, 17). He was no doubt given the number of people that died by the plague—the exact number—and reckoned it differently than did Moses. John Wesley supposes that Moses gave the maximum number while Paul gave the minimum. So the number of people who died of the plague was somewhere between 23,000 and 24,000. But let us not lose sight of the warning Paul gives us. Let’s put 1st Corinthians 10:8 in its proper context. 1st Corinthians 10:5-8—5 But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. 6 Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. 7 And do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, "The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play." 8 Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell. Here the apostle is linking sexual immorality with idolatry, a practice common in the city of Corinth at that time (as it was in the days of Numbers with Ba'al). He was telling these Gentile believers to not be caught up in the sexual immorality of the pagan temple worship, but to keep themselves pure and worship God alone. These Corinthian believers were, as were the people of Israel, surrounded by those who worshipped other gods and were being tempted to join with them in their idolatry. And the apostle closes this particular section by warning the people in 1st Corinthians 10:11-14—11 Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. 12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. 13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. 14 Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. Flee from idolatry. Don’t become fascinated by it, don’t dance close to it, and don’t even consider it even for a moment. FLEE from it. Don’t bring it into the worship of God with you, and if it is brought in by others, get away from it. Gouge out your eye, cut off your hand if you have to. What did God do to the people in Numbers? Why does Paul bring it up? All these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition. They happened to them to serve as examples of what would happen to us!
Numbers 25:10-13—10 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: 11 "Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned back My wrath from the children of Israel, because he was zealous with My zeal among them, so that I did not consume the children of Israel in My zeal. 12 Therefore say, 'Behold, I give to him My covenant of peace; 13 and it shall be to him and his descendants after him a covenant of an everlasting priesthood, because he was zealous for his God, and made atonement for the children of Israel.'" God commends Phinehas for his zeal in dealing with gross idolatry and wickedness. But in reality, it was not any zeal that Phinehas himself had, but it was God’s zeal which He put upon him. “He was zealous with My zeal among them, so that I did not consume the children of Israel in My zeal.” Just as God put upon the seventy elders of Israel the same spirit that He put on Moses (Numbers 11:24-25). Ger de Koning in his King Comments has this to say:
There is a man, an Israelite, who defies the judgment that has been carried out. He ignores God’s judgment and, with incredible hubris, brings a Midianite woman to his brothers. This is not just any sin. It is a frontal attack on the true, high and pure service to God. With his deed he slaps God’s face and he is not interested in anything that he does to his brothers with his deed. His brothers mourn about the situation and he indicates with his deed that they are behaving overly dramatic. So he defies God and despises the crying people.
God gives us a zeal for the things of God and causes us to finally bow our knee and confess that He is Lord over all. On the other hand, we cannot be zealous for the things of God unless we are given the Spirit of God. 1st Corinthians 2:14—But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God…nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. Up to this chapter in Numbers God had destroyed countless people by His own hand, and now He is giving that power over to His people. He had commanded Moses to hang the men who had committed sexual idolatry and now He had given Phinehas the desire to fulfill God’s wrath in slaying these two who were having sex in the man’s tent. They wanted to be joined together—and Phinehas made sure they would stay that way. This is a warning to us, that we should be careful when we join ourselves with another. 1st Corinthians 6:15-16—15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not! 16 Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For "the two," He says, "shall become one flesh." When we lie with another we become one flesh with that person. When we take our marriage vows, often the officiant will say “what God has joined together, let no man put asunder.” Phinehas has given us a clear picture of this principle, and has joined this man and this woman together—in death.
And because of this zeal, God made a covenant with Phinehas that his descendants would be priests to God perpetually. “It shall be to him and his descendants after him a covenant of an everlasting priesthood.” The priesthood that was initiated with Aaron would continue on through his grandson Phinehas. We see that Phinehas was the chief of the Korahite Levites in 1st Chronicles 9:19-20. (Yes, although God brought Korah himself down to Sheol, yet Korah had sons who survived to the time of the temple, and even served it.) He was also an ancestor of the scribe Ezra (Ezra 7:5). And before we go any further, allow me to clear up a passage that could cause some confusion. Judges 19-21 we read the disastrous account of the Levite and his concubine and the aftermath thereof. We come across a curiosity in Judges 20:27-28—27 So the children of Israel inquired of the LORD (the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days, 28 and Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days)… The Book of Judges chronicles about 450 years in the history of Israel. So either Phineas lived to be about 500 years old or there is something that needs to be studied more. The events in this section of Judges occurred much earlier than it is written—and this is just a guess—probably sometime around Judges chapter 2 or chapter 3. But it had to have happened sometime within about 20 years after the death of Joshua.
Numbers 25:14-18—14 Now the name of the Israelite who was killed, who was killed with the Midianite woman, was Zimri the son of Salu, a leader of a father's house among the Simeonites. 15 And the name of the Midianite woman who was killed was Cozbi the daughter of Zur; he was head of the people of a father's house in Midian. 16 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: 17 "Harass the Midianites, and attack them; 18 for they harassed you with their schemes by which they seduced you in the matter of Peor and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of a leader of Midian, their sister, who was killed in the day of the plague because of Peor." Because of the heinousness of the indiscretions of the people, brought on by the temptations from the Midianites, God commands Moses to attack the Midianites and wipe them out. Today we do not kill someone because they cause us to sin. Rather, we should be killing the flesh in us that is causing us to sin. In his book “On the Mortification of Sin”, John Owens writes
Indwelling sin is compared to a person, a living person, called “the old man.” He has his way of thinking, his tendencies, his wisdom, craft, subtlety, and strength. This old man, says the apostle, must be killed, put to death, mortified. That is, the old man’s power, life, vigor, and strength, his ability to produce effects, must be taken away by the Spirit. In fact, it is to be “crucified with Christ” as a good thing. We, as the “old man,” are said to be “dead” with Christ. When we are resurrected in Christ and regenerated, a principle contrary to the old man, one designed to destroy him, is planted in our hearts. But the whole process towards perfection (Christ-like behavior) is carried on by degrees all of our life.
We do not look to kill those things or people outside of ourselves that lead us to sin. What we really need to kill is—well, us. As the main verse for the theme of his book, Owens uses Romans 8:13—If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. You could say that the Midianites represented our flesh, the Israelites the spirit. If our spirit is going to live eternally with God, we must put to death our flesh. Is that difficult? Yes. Find anyone in the Bible who did not have a difficult time overcoming the flesh. You won’t find anyone. Even the ones we don’t read much about were fighting battles we couldn’t begin to imagine. Consider the case of Zacchaeus in Luke 19. He was a tax collector, a practice highly criticized among Israelites when Jesus walked the earth. He could not go back and undo all the wrongs he had perpetrated on the people. But he put to death the deeds of his flesh, and recompensed for what he had done. Luke 19:8—"Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold." He went forth in the newness of his new life in Christ. As Zacchaeus did, so we too must thrust our spear through that old man, put him to death, lest he raise his head and lead us back to our old ways.
Part 3 next week
