And Israel abode in Shittim; and the people began to commit fornication with the daughters of Moab.
Numbers 25 opens with Israel camped east of the Jordan. God had just stopped the prophet Balaam from cursing His people, and made him bless them instead. The blessing held — and then Israel fell, not to an army, but to an invitation from the women of Moab.
The chapter marks a sharp drop in perspective. Before this, we hear how God sees His people. Here we see what they were doing.
As we start reading Numbers 25, we come down from Israel as God's purpose views them. We come to Israel as they really were at that time: fleshly and unbelieving. Balaam is not mentioned in the chapter but, as we have noted, he was at the bottom of the evil, urging Balak to promote it. The result was that Israel joined himself to Baal-peor. They no doubt committed this immorality in honour of Baal, and that disguised its wickedness in their minds. Not all the people took part, but enough did to make it an act of apostasy. It deserved severe and immediate judgment, and it got one.
Balaam had been powerless to curse. So the attack switched from outside pressure to inside seduction.
Balaam could not succeed in enchantment against Israel... The aim was to get the Lord to curse His people. He could not, and he was forced only to bless. There is no possibility of using Satan's power against the people of God. God held the lips of Balaam, and made him bless despite himself. "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." He has no power as an adversary. It is as a tempter that he has power. The enemy could not bring a curse on the people. So he sought to seduce them into wickedness — and then how could God bring them in? (Num. 25).
Nothing in the invitation looked like an attack. That was the point of it.
What was the next step for Israel? While they were living there, Balaam's counsel is, "Let us all be together; let us be social." And oh, what a subtle delusion of the enemy this is — this plea of friendship!
The verse names where this happened. Israel was camped on the doorstep of the land.
A plain on the east of the Jordan, where the Israelites camped before they crossed the Jordan. The name means 'acacias.'
Older translations read "abode" where the ESV has "lived." The word describes more than pitching a tent for the night.
One key is the word "abode." It suggests a settled state of mind, not a temporary one. Further, immorality and idolatry have both become common practice. (Immorality's spiritual counterpart is idolatry.) Here we reach a different degree of sin: a state of established idolatry, which resulted in Israel joining himself to Baal-Peor.
The two sins in this chapter are not separate incidents. One writer sums up Balaam's teaching and treats them as a pair.
Here we get a summary of Balaam's teaching. For the full details we have to turn to Numbers 25:1-9 together with 31:16. Balaam stayed in the background, but he prompted Balak to put the stumbling block in place. It enticed Israel to idolatry and immorality — two things that are always joined together in the pagan world. The first is the most basic of all sins against God. The second is against mankind as well as God.
One writer names the Moabites at the head of a list of nations that drew Israel away, and turns it into a warning.
At the head of this humiliating list we find the Moabites. They had led Israel astray into the idolatry of Baal-Peor, gaining control of them through the lust of the flesh (Num. 25:1-5)... We are in danger of going to the world, or of letting it come in to us. Perhaps the second possibility is even more dangerous than the first. Out of conscience towards God, a Christian may hold back from an act of self-will or disobedience that would take him out to the world. But the world can seduce him more easily by coming to him. Little by little it works its way into our homes and into our lives. Often when we open our eyes to the danger, it is already too late.
- Joined, not conquered — no enemy defeated Israel. Israel joined itself to Baal-peor.
- Curse failed, temptation worked — as an adversary the enemy has no power over God's people. His power is as a tempter, so he turned to that when the blessing stood.
- The bait was friendship — the call was simply to be together, to be social. That plea of friendship is the enemy's subtle trick.
- Settling preceded sinning — the older word "abode" points to a settled state, not a passing lapse. Immorality and idolatry came in together.
- The danger runs both ways — we may go out to the world, or let it come in to us. Writers warn that the second creeps in unnoticed until it is too late.
And they invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods; and the people ate, and bowed down to their gods.
Numbers 25 opens right after God refused to let Balaam curse Israel. What a curse could not do, a dinner invitation now does — Moab's women call Israel to their feasts, and Israel eats and bows down.
The welcome was not simple friendliness. One writer traces it back to its source:
How wrong and senseless it was for the men to commit sexual immorality with the women of Moab. The Moabites invited them to the sacrifices made to their gods, and they joined in that idol worship. Numbers 31:16 shows that Balaam's counsel set this in motion. He was Satan's cunning tool. When Satan cannot defeat God's people, he will befriend and corrupt them, if they will listen to his clever schemes.
God had called Israel to dwell alone, separate to Himself. The invitation was aimed at exactly that.
Here we may well consider Revelation 2:14. Israel was caught in the snare of those friendly advances. Behind them lay the enemy's purpose: to destroy the character of God's people, who were called to dwell alone, separate to God. He had revealed His holy ways and worship to them. God's thought was that His people should stay separate from all the widespread evil of the nations. Balaam's teaching was that the two should mix. The tools were bodily desires and false religious activity.
Why does a shared meal matter so much?
When we share in a sacrifice, we express communion with everything it stands for. That is why it is so serious for a Christian to share in anything that expresses fellowship with idols.
That is why the next verse says Israel "yoked himself to Baal of Peor." The meal had already made the bond:
Peor is where Balaam was called to curse Israel. It is also where the people were trapped into sacrificing to the gods of Moab, eating things offered to their idols, and committing sexual immorality. So Israel joined himself to Baal-peor. He had full fellowship with its demon worship and with the uncleanness that went with it.
The chapter first says Israel lived in Shittim — older translations read abode. One writer makes that word the key to the collapse:
A first key is the word "abode." It suggests a settled attitude, not a temporary stay. Further, sexual immorality and idolatry have become common practice. The spiritual counterpart of sexual immorality is idolatry. Israel has reached a different degree of sin here: a state of established idolatry.
Moab is a fitting host for that kind of drift. Commentators read its character from Jeremiah 48:11, where Moab is at ease and "settled on his dregs":
Moab is the picture of sensual, easy-going religion (Jeremiah 48:11). It usually works by seduction, not by open conflict... Yet Moab knew how to tempt Israel into evil partnership with their women and their gods. In the same way, the easy lifestyles of the world can tempt Christians to choose a self-indulgent life — with little serious exercise of heart, little sense of pleasing God, and little real concern for the needs of others.
Eating leads to bowing, and bowing costs. The order in the verse is not accidental:
They begin to give up their separation from the nations around them. That separation was not arbitrary. It was a needed separation from the sin those nations were sunk in. So the result is wild and terrible license. Idolatry degrades God, and it always ends in degrading man. "So Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel." Judgment goes out, as that implies. The plague begins its deadly work.
Revelation 2:14 points back to this very episode. One writer sees the same pattern in the church's own story:
The Church was no longer to be distinct from the world. It was to be its agent and ally... To be in the world is one thing; to dwell in it, that is, to settle down and be at home in it, is quite another.
- Invitation. When the enemy cannot curse God's people, he invites them. Friendliness wins where hostility failed.
- Table. Sharing a sacrifice expresses communion with everything it stands for. No seat at an idol's feast is neutral.
- Joined. Eating led to bowing. Bowing led to Israel yoking himself to Baal of Peor, in full fellowship with its demon worship.
- Ease. Moab pictures easy-going religion that wins by seduction, not conflict. Israel had already settled in Shittim before it sat down to eat.
- Judgment. Lost separation ended in wild license, God's anger and a plague. Revelation shows the same strategy still at work.
And Israel joined himself to Baal-Peor; and the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Israel.
Israel camps in the plains of Moab, on the edge of the land God promised them. Balaam has just failed to curse them — so how did they bind themselves to Moab's god within a few verses, and why did He answer with judgment?
The curse failed, so the enemy tried another way. One writer marks the difference between open attack and seduction:
When the devil comes as an adversary, he has no power. The secret of his power lies in coming in as a tempter and seducer. When Satan could not get the LORD to curse Israel, he seduced them into wickedness, leading them to eat food sacrificed to idols and to practice sexual immorality. And then how could the holy God bring them in?
One writer sets what God says about His people beside what they were doing:
As we begin reading Numbers 25, we come down from Israel as God's purpose views them to Israel as they actually were at that time — living for the flesh and in unbelief. Balaam is not mentioned in the chapter but, as we have noted, he was at the bottom of the evil, urging Balak on to promote it. The result was that Israel joined himself to Baal-peor. The immorality involved in this was no doubt committed in honour of Baal, so they did not see its wickedness. Not all the people took part, but enough to make it an act of apostasy that deserved and got severe and immediate judgment.
Another writer sets God's grace beside His government of His people:
There are two lines of truth which we should hold with equal firmness — the grace of God, and the government of God... The people were behaving very wickedly. Israel was to stand above the nations, not to be counted among them. They had abandoned their position of separation to God. They had quite forgotten their special relationship to Him, and had come down to the level of the pagan Moabites.
Israel "yoked himself" to Baal of Peor; older translations read "joined himself." A reference work spells out what that bond was:
Peor is where Balaam was called to curse Israel. It is also where the people were trapped into sacrificing to the gods of Moab, eating things sacrificed to their idols, and committing sexual immorality. So Israel joined himself to Baal-peor — he had full fellowship with its demon worship and the uncleanness that went with it.
Another writer follows this drift out to its end:
Again we see, at Shittim, the people of God in their constant tendency to get away from God. They begin to give up their separation from the nations among which they live. This separation is no arbitrary thing. It is a needed separation from the sin these nations were sunk in, so a wild and awful license is the result. Idolatry, the degradation of God, issues (as always) in the degradation of man.
Verse 1 says Israel lived, or stayed, in Shittim. One writer reads that word as the first symptom:
A first key may be found in the term "stayed." It suggests a settled disposition, as opposed to a temporary state. Further, the sins of immorality (whose spiritual counterpart is idolatry) and of idolatry have become common practice. Here a different degree of sin is reached: a state of established idolatry, resulting in Israel joining himself to Baal-Peor.
The same writer notes what turned that anger away:
As a result, "the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel" (v. 3). This time, God's anger is turned away by judgment, not by intercession (vv. 4, 8b). A total of 24,000 people died.
The next step was not an argument against God. It was an invitation to mix freely:
And what was the next step with Israel? As they were staying there, Balaam's counsel is, "Let us be all together; let us be social." And what a subtle delusion this is of the enemy — this plea of friendship!
- Cursed, then courted. Satan could not get God to curse Israel, so he worked the other way round — as a tempter and seducer rather than an adversary.
- Stayed. The collapse began with settling down at Shittim. No one sets out to worship Baal; they first grow comfortable next door to him.
- Joined. The word means full fellowship with demon worship and its uncleanness — not a flirtation but a union.
- Degraded. Separation guarded Israel from real evil. Dishonouring God always ends in the dishonouring of man.
- Judged. Judgment, not prayer, turned God's anger away — grace toward His people never suspends His righteous government of them.
And Jehovah said to Moses, Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up to Jehovah before the sun, that the fierce anger of Jehovah may be turned away from Israel.
Israel had yoked themselves to Baal of Peor, and the LORD's anger burned against them. God's answer fell on the leaders, and it fell in public. Why the chiefs? Why in open daylight? And how could such a sentence turn away fierce anger?
The chapters just before this show Israel as God sees them. This chapter shows how Israel behaved.
In the one case we have their perfect standing; in the other, their imperfect state. Balaam's parables give us God's estimate of the first; the javelin of Phinehas, His judgment on the second. God will never reverse His decision about what His people are in standing. But He must judge and discipline them when their ways do not match that standing.
Israel fell, but someone had planned the fall.
Here we have a summary of Balaam's teaching. For the full details we have to turn to Numbers 25:1-9, together with 31:16. Balaam stayed in the background, but he prompted Balak to lay the stumbling block. It lured Israel into idolatry and sexual sin. These two things are always joined together in the heathen world. The first is the most basic of all sins against God; the second is against mankind as well as God.
The collapse started before the idol appeared.
They begin to give up their separation from the nations they live among. This separation is no arbitrary thing. It is a needed separation from the wickedness those nations were sunk in. So a wild and terrible license is the result. Idolatry, the degrading of God, ends (as always) in the degrading of man. "Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor, and the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel." Judgment goes out. Plague begins its deadly work. To appease this anger, God sentences the heads of the people to be hung up to the LORD before the sun.
Who does God judge first when His own people are seduced into sin?
Before the LORD said, "Avenge the people of Israel on the Midianites," He had avenged Himself on the people of Israel. At His command Moses told the judges, "Each of you kill those of his men who have yoked themselves to Baal of Peor." They carried this out righteively. Moses later used it as a warning to Israel: "Your eyes have seen what the LORD did at Baal-peor, for the LORD your God destroyed from among you all the men who followed the Baal of Peor. But you who held fast to the LORD your God are all alive today." The New Testament says that judgment must begin at the household of God. And so God began with Israel. To begin at home is the true and right way.
Then one man changed the outcome.
But the zealous act of an Israelite comes before anyone carries out this sentence. The congregation is weeping, gathered before the LORD at the entrance of the tent of meeting. In front of them all, and with no shame, a man of Israel brings a Midianite woman to his tent. Now the zeal of Phinehas wakes: he carries out swift judgment, and God accepts this as atonement. It is God's wrath he executes, and the wrath is turned away from Israel: the plague stops.
Phinehas showed no tenderness at all. There is a time when that is right.
God's glory and Israel's good were what governed the conduct of faithful Phinehas here. It was a critical moment. He felt there was a call for the sternest action. It was no time for false tenderness. There are moments in the history of God's people when tenderness to man becomes unfaithfulness to God. It is of the greatest importance to know when such a moment has come.
- Drift — the fall started when Israel gave up their separation. The idol and the immorality came after, not before.
- Anger — God never changes His view of His people's standing. He still judges and disciplines their ways.
- Sentence — God named the leaders first. The judgment was to be public, before the LORD in open daylight, not hidden.
- Zeal — one man acted for God's glory, God accepted it as atonement, and the plague stopped.
- Home — God dealt with His own people before He avenged them on Midian. Judgment begins at the household of God.
And Moses said to the judges of Israel, Slay every one his men that have joined themselves to Baal-Peor.
Israel has just been blessed from the heights of Moab in words no enemy could reverse, and now, camped in the plains below, the same people are worshipping Moab's gods. Verse 5 is the order Moses passes down: the judges themselves must put to death the men under them who have attached themselves to Baal of Peor — and the question the chapter forces is why God's anger is met here by the sword rather than by prayer.
The sin did not begin with idolatry; it began with a slackened distance from the nations around.
A solemn and yet healthy theme is before us. Again we see, at Shittim, the people of God in their constant tendency to drift away from God. They begin to give up their separation from the nations among whom they live, and since this is no arbitrary thing, but a needed separation from the wickedness those nations were sunk in, a wild and terrible license is the result. Idolatry, the degrading of God, produces (as it always does) the degrading of man.
One writer traces the slide further back, to the ease that followed victory over Sihon and Og.
Israel staying in Shittim were open to the seductions of Moab. The next thing after living where Satan's throne is, is to be at ease there. And then what may not follow?
The phrase the judges are given as their measure describes more than an act; it describes a bond.
It was to Peor that Balaam was called to curse Israel, and where the people were trapped into sacrificing to the gods of Moab, eating things sacrificed to their idols, and committing fornication. So Israel yoked itself to Baal of Peor — it had full fellowship with that demon worship and with the uncleanness that came with it.
Verse 4 and verse 5 are two stages of one sentence, and the second names who must carry it out.
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. That would turn God's anger away from Israel (v.4). So Moses passed the message to the judges. They were to kill everyone under their authority who had joined in the idol worship of Baal (v.5).
Three earlier times Moses stood between God and a sinning people and begged for them — after the golden calf, after the bad report of the spies, and after Korah's rebellion. Here he asks for nothing. One writer treats this as the key to the chapter, and finds the explanation in how settled the evil had become:
A first key may be found in the word "stayed." It suggests a settled attitude, as opposed to a temporary state. Further, the sins of fornication (whose spiritual counterpart is idolatry) and idolatry have become common practice. Here a different level of sin is reached: a state of established idolatry, resulting in Israel joining itself to Baal of Peor… This time, God's anger is turned away by judgment, not by intercession. A total of 24,000 people died.
The same principle is drawn out from the zeal of Phinehas, who acts in the verses that follow.
God's glory and Israel's good were the objects that ruled the conduct of the faithful Phinehas on this occasion. It was a critical moment. He felt there was a demand for the sternest action. It was no time for false tenderness. There are moments in the history of God's people when tenderness to man becomes unfaithfulness to God; and it is of the greatest importance to be able to recognise such moments.
The order to the judges stands next to Balaam's prophecies, where Israel is seen without a flaw. The two pictures are not in conflict.
In the one case we have their perfect standing; in the other, their imperfect state. Balaam's parables give us God's estimate of the first; the javelin of Phinehas, His judgment on the second. God will never reverse His decision as to what His people are in standing; but He must judge and chasten them when their ways do not match that standing.
Commentators apply the chapter to the church, and are clear that the penalty itself does not carry over — one writer notes plainly that "under grace God does not require any such penalty, though the sin of association with idol worship is just as hateful to Him now as it was then." What does carry over is the zeal:
We see in Phinehas the faithfulness that overcomes. He judges the evil on God's behalf… Paul too in later days showed the holy jealousy that would not tolerate evil in the Church. "I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing… you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord."
- Ease — victory was followed by rest, rest by staying, staying by seduction; Israel was open to Moab because they had settled down where they should only have passed through.
- Yoked — the charge is not a lapse but a bond: full fellowship with the worship and the uncleanness that came with it.
- Judgment — where three earlier failures were met by Moses' intercession, this settled idolatry is met by the sword; God's anger is turned away by judgment instead.
- Judges — the sentence is not left to Moses alone; each judge deals with the men under his own charge, so the evil is faced where it actually is.
- Standing — God does not withdraw what He said about His people from the heights; He disciplines them so their state catches up with it.
And behold, a man of the children of Israel came and brought a Midianitish woman to his brethren, in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of the whole assembly of the children of Israel, who were weeping before the entrance of the tent of meeting.
Israel had just been blessed through Balaam's mouth, and now the same people were joined to idols while judgment fell. Then one man walked into that scene with a Midianite woman, in plain view of Moses and the weeping camp.
The seduction was not a chance romance. It was a plan, tried after cursing had failed.
God had intervened to bless Israel when Moab was anxious to curse them. So the immorality of the men with the women of Moab was senseless and out of place. The Moabites invited them to the sacrifices made to their gods, and they joined in their idolatrous worship. Numbers 31:16 shows that Balaam's advice prompted it. He was Satan's cunning tool, for when Satan cannot defeat God's people, he will befriend and corrupt them, if they will listen to his subtle schemes.
Two things should have stopped this man: the Lord's word, and the sound of his own people crying at the tabernacle door. Neither did.
An Israelite man was totally insensible to the Lord's word and to the weeping of the people at the door of the tabernacle. He boldly brought a Midianite woman to present her before the congregation (v.6).
The verse stresses where it happened — "in the sight of Moses and in the sight of the whole congregation." Sin here had stopped hiding. Older translations read that he brought her "to his brothers" where the ESV has "to his family."
He brought this woman, and it says he brought her to his brothers. It is as if we were here now and a well-known believer brought a worldly woman right into the middle of the gathering. This is the scene we have here: right in the middle. Not in a corner. Not hidden from public view or from the saints. It is right in the middle of the assembly… The children of Israel were weeping before God. Something was happening among the saints. There was a feeling that God required something of us — that we needed to repent and get down in weeping before God. And here they were, weeping at the entrance of the tent of meeting. In the middle of that, and despite that, this man came with this Midianite woman right in the face of the assembly, in the face of the authority of the Lord and of Moses.
What drew this man in was not something crude that anyone would condemn. That is what made it dangerous.
I believe this Midianite woman was a princess, or very close to it. She was a woman of renown… It is easy for us to judge vulgar, crude and base things. Even a man of the world would say that base things are wrong. But with refined things connected with culture, we tend to lack discernment. We fail to notice what slips in quietly and pleasantly to turn our thoughts and our hearts away from the Lord.
Two right reactions appear among those not caught in the evil. This verse shows the first.
Balaam did not succeed in defeating God's purpose. But he did seduce many, and so brought severe punishment on them. Those not involved in the sin showed grief, as we see in verse 6. Phinehas showed zeal for the glory of God. Twenty-four thousand of the people died, and it also brought a sentence of death on the Midianites at the hand of Israel.
Phinehas was a priest, not a soldier. He acted because the men whose job it was did not.
Phinehas stood up. With a javelin he killed the couple who were bringing such dishonour on Israel, and God commended him for his action. As a priest he ought not to have had a weapon of war in his hand. There were others to do the fighting, but sadly they failed. So Phinehas stood up, jealous for God, jealous to do what was right for God, and he acted in a way that earned God's approval. Sometimes standing for what is right means taking drastic action. That is true in our own lives, and among the children of God.
- Snare. When the enemy cannot curse God's people, he befriends and corrupts them. Balaam's advice worked where cursing failed.
- Shamelessness. This sin happens in the open, in front of Moses and the whole congregation. He is deaf to the Lord's word and to the tears of His people.
- Subtlety. The bait was a woman of rank, not something crude. We are slow to judge refined temptations.
- Sorrow. Those untouched by the evil grieved at the tabernacle door. Grief over the sin of others is the first right response.
- Stand. Zeal completes what grief begins. One man acted when others failed, and God approved him.
And Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, and rose up from among the assembly, and took a javelin in his hand,
Israel had just fallen into the worship of Baal-peor. A plague was killing the people. The whole assembly stood weeping at the entrance of the tent of meeting, while a leader of Israel paraded his sin in front of them. Then one man moved. This verse records what he saw and what he took in his hand.
Balaam's curses could not touch Israel, so he suggested something else. The plan looked reasonable: keep the Lord, and add Baal-peor beside Him.
To put Jehovah and Baal-peor on the throne together is to insult God and consecrate Satan. Thankfully no one can keep this up for long, and Balaam knew that well. But he also knew that the attempt itself would do more to destroy Israel than his whole stock of curses.
The verse notes two things: he saw, and he got up. Seeing carries a cost, and most of us look for a way around it.
He saw it. Maybe we have seen things and turned a blind eye to them. We do not want the responsibility of dealing honestly with what we have seen. Instead we hope it will go away with time... "Well, yes, I saw, but I am a young man, so I will not deal with this matter — let the elders deal with it." Did Phinehas say that? ... He saw it, he rose up. He did not only see — he acted, and rose up from among the assembly.
There was no time to gather a court. The plague was already killing.
His whole life had trained him for that one blow. That blow revealed his whole character — zeal, discernment, boldness, promptness. Normally he had no right to step in and judge like this. But these were no ordinary times. The situation needed more than the usual legal process, or the nation would perish... Many another would have seen that it was the best thing to do a few seconds too late.
The verse names his father and grandfather. This is the priestly family, and a priest is holding a weapon. Even his name fits what he does.
Notice how the text insists on his link to Eleazar and to Aaron each time it names Phinehas. That is the very thing man would most want kept out of sight. We understand a priest praying for people. We do not usually think of carrying out judgment as priestly work. Yet this passage stresses the connection. "Phinehas" means "mouth of brass," and implies the firmness of the word of God which he here carries out.
Judgment and atonement sound like opposites. Here they meet in one man.
The priesthood of Phinehas springs from the priesthood of Eleazar and carries it on. Yet judgment is what keeps this priesthood alive and holds it up. Indeed, strange as it may seem, judgment is what makes atonement.
What one man did changed the outcome for a whole nation.
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. This shows that one man, standing for God in judgment, can prevent greater judgment.
Commentators read this act as one of the clearest Old Testament pictures of Christ.
You could not have a more magnificent light in which to read the Christ of God than in that act of Phinehas. Aaron was never in this way entitled to a covenant of peace. So you have these two Old Testament lights in which to read the priesthood of the Lord Jesus. He was the true Aaron and the true Phinehas.
Zeal like this has a source. It comes from knowing what a people is to God, and writers carry that straight over to the church today.
We see in Phinehas the faithfulness that overcomes. He judges the evil on God's behalf. "He was jealous with my jealousy among them." His zeal turned the Lord's wrath away from the children of Israel. ... Israel's relationship to the Lord brought out the zeal of Phinehas when he carried out judgment. In the same way, a sense of what the Church is to Christ makes faithful believers long for her to answer to His mind and be unspotted from the world.
- Mixture — Balaam did not attack Israel openly. He mixed the worship of the Lord with Baal-peor, and the attempt did more damage than any curse could.
- Sight — Phinehas saw the evil. He did not pass the job to older or more official men.
- Speed — the moment called for action outside normal procedure. Many would have judged rightly a few seconds too late.
- Priesthood — the text keeps naming Eleazar and Aaron. Carrying out judgment is priestly work here, not a break from it.
- Stayed — one man acted for God. He turned away wrath, made atonement and stopped the plague. God gave him a covenant of peace, and in all this he points to Christ, the true Phinehas.
and he went after the man of Israel into the tent-chamber, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel and the woman through her belly. And the plague was stayed from the children of Israel.
Days earlier God had blessed Israel through Balaam's prophecies. Now the same people had joined themselves to the idol Baal-peor, and a plague was sweeping the camp. One man took a spear and followed the offenders into the tent. The dying stopped. Why would God count a killing as the act that saved a nation?
Just before this, Balaam's prophecies gave God's own view of Israel. Chapter 25 shows the other side.
In Balaam's visions we see Israel's perfect standing; in the plains of Moab, their imperfect state. Balaam's parables give us God's estimate of the first; the javelin of Phinehas, His judgment on the second. God will never reverse His decision about what His people are in standing. But He must judge and correct them when their ways do not match that standing.
One writer reads this single act as the summary of everything Phinehas was.
His whole life was a training for that one blow, and that blow revealed his whole character — zeal, discernment, boldness, speed. In ordinary times it was no part of his role to step in with judgment like this. But these were no ordinary times. Something more than the usual legal process was needed, or the nation would perish. The plague was already raging among them. Many another man would have seen that this was the best thing to do a few seconds too late. He saw it, and struck at once.
One writer marks what such a moment demands.
There are moments in the history of God's people when tenderness to man becomes unfaithfulness to God. It is of the greatest importance to be able to recognise such moments. The prompt action of Phinehas saved the whole congregation, glorified the LORD among His people, and completely defeated the enemy's plan. Phinehas himself received an everlasting priesthood.
The plague stops the moment judgment falls. One writer calls that judgment itself the atonement.
Idolatry, the degrading of God, always ends in the degrading of man. ... Now the zeal of Phinehas awakes: he carries out swift judgment, and God accepts this as atonement. It is God's wrath that he carries out, and that wrath stops falling on Israel: the plague ceases.
This was not the first plague God's people had seen stopped. One writer sets the two rescues side by side, and marks their limit.
The action of Phinehas stopped it, when he killed Zimri, a prince of Simeon, along with Cozbi, a daughter of Midian, and so made atonement for Israel. A man had been found to take God's side against the side of his own people. In the wilderness the plague stopped when Aaron stood between the dead and the living with his lighted censer. Those who had already died were beyond recovery; for them no atonement was possible. Zeal for God showed in the one; the other pictured the merits of Christ set before God.
The spear is in the hand of a priest, and his name carries its own meaning.
Notice how, each time Phinehas is named, Scripture insists on his relation to Eleazar and to Aaron. It is what man would most of all have kept out of sight. A priest praying for others we understand. Carrying out judgment we do not usually think of as priestly work. Yet Scripture emphasizes the connection here. "Phinehas" means "mouth of brass," and implies the firmness of the word of God which he here carries out. So "Jesus Christ the righteous" is the title of Him who is our Advocate — righteous, and the "propitiation for our sins."
The numbers in the chapter make the contrast plain.
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. This shows that one man, standing for God in judgment, can turn away greater judgment. In this he reflects the Lord Jesus. At the end of the Great Tribulation He will judge evil faithfully, and that will mean deliverance for the many who bow to His authority.
One writer turns the account into a question for the reader.
If Phinehas had stayed sitting where he was, the plague would have got worse and worse and worse. But he rose up and he acted, and Scripture says the plague "was stopped." Is there a plague among us? Is there a Phinehas among us who will get up and act for God in faithfulness, not looking over his shoulder to see if anyone is following?
- Sin — God's blessing on Israel did not cancel His discipline. He never reverses His decision about their standing. But He must judge when their ways do not match it.
- Moment — One blow revealed a whole life. The same act "a few seconds too late" would have saved no one.
- Atonement — Phinehas carried out God's own wrath. God accepted that judgment as atonement, and the plague stopped.
- Priesthood — Scripture keeps naming his priestly line while he holds the spear. Carrying out judgment is priestly work too, and it points to "Jesus Christ the righteous," our Advocate.
- Now — One man standing for God turned back judgment from many. Is there such a man today?
And those that died in the plague were twenty-four thousand.
Israel could not be beaten in war, and Balaam's curses could not touch them. Yet twenty-four thousand died in a plague after they mixed with Moab at Baal-peor — so what made that sin so deadly, and what stopped the judgment?
One writer sets Israel's unbeaten record in war beside its death toll at Baal-peor, and follows the loss into the next census:
The people could not be beaten in war, yet they gave in to the seduction of the Midianite women. Not one man fell in battle against the Amorites. But twenty-four thousand died in the plague God sent in the matter of Baal-peor. The faithfulness of Phinehas turned God's wrath away at that time. But the tribe of Simeon bore witness for a long time to what had happened. Its numbers fell by more than thirty-seven thousand, as the second census showed when compared with the first.
Two enemies of Israel worked in opposite ways:
Balaam's opposition is a contrast to Amalek's. Amalek comes out to fight you openly and resist you. Balaam tries to corrupt you through social contact.
This number is a closed total: the plague went no further. One writer asks who could stop a judgment that people deserved:
When people deserved God's wrath, who could turn it away? When it fell on them, who could stop it? If it was right for God to punish the offenders for their sins, how could He rightly hold back His governing hand before all the guilty had died?... Scripture history records that He could, and He did... A plague had broken out among the people, and 24,000 died from it. But the action of Phinehas stopped it. He killed Zimri, a prince of Simeon, along with Cozbi, a daughter of Midian, and so made atonement for Israel. A man had been found to vindicate God by taking sides against offenders in Israel... Those who had died were beyond recovery, and for them no atonement was possible. Phinehas could step in only for the living, since his act had to do with God's government of His people.
One man's action stopped it, and that points forward:
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 (vv. 8-9). This shows that one man, standing for God in judgment, can prevent greater judgment. In this he reflects the Lord Jesus. His faithfulness in judging evil at the end of the Great Tribulation will mean deliverance for the many who will bow to His authority.
In Corinthians the number is twenty-three thousand, a thousand fewer than here. Commentators differ on how the two records fit. One takes the difference from the words added there:
Numbers 25:9 speaks of 24,000 dying in the plague, but it does not say "in one day." Evidently the other 1,000 died on a different day.
Another finds the missing thousand in an earlier punishment:
The record in Numbers speaks of an earlier punishment. The heads of the offenders were hung up before the Lord in the sun. Jewish tradition says the number punished that way was a thousand, so that only 23,000 died in the plague. In verse 9 this thousand is counted in, while in Corinthians it is not.
What Balaam could not do by cursing, he tried to do by mixture:
Balaam was made to give God's thought about His people: they are a people who will live alone, and will not be counted among the nations. Yet he was the one who later did his best to mix them with the wicked nation of Moab. He could not curse, but knowing God's purpose, and being an enemy, he sought their ruin by cunning (Num. 31:16). He snares them into evil associations, and God must deal in judgment. From this we learn what the doctrine of Balaam means. It shows one of the devil's great tricks, and we must guard against it. His constant effort is to produce mixture where God's express mind is separation and purity.
- Cursed, no — corrupted, yes. Balaam could not curse Israel, so he used the Midianite women instead. The open attack failed; the friendly one worked.
- Mixture is the weapon. God's mind for His people is separation and purity, so the enemy works for mixture — and God must then deal in judgment.
- The count is the measure. Twenty-four thousand dead shows how far the corruption had spread. For those already dead, no atonement was possible.
- One man halts it. Phinehas took God's side against his own people and made atonement, and the plague stopped. In this he reflects Christ, whose judging of evil brings deliverance to many.
- The cost outlives the plague. At the next census, Simeon's tribe was more than thirty-seven thousand smaller. The plague ended, but the loss stayed on the record.