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?