Then stood up Phinehas and executed judgment, and the plague was stayed;
Psalm 106 confesses Israel's long record of failure. Here the people had joined themselves to the idol Baal-peor, a plague was sweeping the camp, and one man's action stopped it.
Two things run through this psalm: Israel's unbroken sin, and the grace that keeps breaking into it.
Psalm 106 is a survey and summary of Israel's moral history, told in the assurance of Jehovah's favour and salvation... Except where sovereign grace worked otherwise, as in verses 12 and 30, their course was one of unbroken sin... Mixed in with the evil is the ever-flowing stream of Jehovah's grace and loving-kindness (verses 8-12, 23, 30, 32, 43-46).
The crisis did not come from an invading army. It came from a trap set after a curse had failed.
Moab displayed this hostility against Israel on the way from Egypt to Canaan. When the travelling people reached the plains of Moab, Balak the king hired Balaam to destroy them by his curses. God's protection defeated this scheme. So Moab tried another way to harm them, on the advice of the wicked prophet. The people were drawn in to join themselves to Baal-peor and to take part in the shameless rites of the gods of Moab. Thousands of them died in the plague that followed.
God was right to send the plague. The question was whether anything could now stop it.
When they deserved divine wrath, who could turn it away? Once it fell, who could stop it?... A plague had broken out among the people, and 24,000 died from it. The action of Phinehas, however, stopped it, when he killed Zimri, a prince of Simeon, with Cozbi, a daughter of Midian, and so made atonement for Israel. Here at last was a man who vindicated God by taking sides against offenders in Israel. Judgment fell on one offender, and so the congregation was spared that day.
Phinehas came from Aaron's family of priests, and the record keeps saying so — at the very moment he acts least like a priest. One word below needs a note: propitiation means wrath turned away.
Notice how, each time Phinehas is named, the record insists on his relation to Eleazar and to Aaron. It is what man would most want to keep out of sight. We understand priestly intercession. We do not usually think of carrying out judgment as priestly work. Yet the connection here is emphasized. "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."
This was no ordinary day. Everything turned on one man seeing what the moment required.
God's glory and Israel's good were the aims that governed 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. It is vital to be able to recognise such moments. The prompt action of Phinehas saved the whole congregation. It glorified Jehovah among His people, and it completely defeated the enemy's plan. Balaam died among the Midianites under judgment, but Phinehas received an everlasting priesthood.
That everlasting priesthood points past Phinehas to Another.
Phinehas rose up from among the congregation, carried out the judgment, and so made atonement for the people... So also Christ, the true Phinehas, was glorified to be made a High Priest. He was glorified by the One who said to Him, "You are my Son, today I have begotten you." He did not take this honour to Himself. Instead He learned obedience by the things He suffered. Through that suffering, like Phinehas, He made atonement and turned away wrath... Levi is nothing, and Aaron is nothing, and Phinehas is nothing — Jesus is the Priest. The blessing lies in His hand alone, and He gives it out.
- Ruin. The psalm confesses an almost unbroken record of sin. This verse is one of the rare breaks in it.
- Wrath. Israel deserved the plague. Who could turn such judgment away once it had begun to fall?
- Stand. One man rose from the congregation and acted, and God accepted that act as atonement for the nation.
- Priest. Here judgment is priestly work, not a break from it. The name "Phinehas" means "mouth of brass" — the firmness of God's word.
- Christ. The everlasting priesthood given for that act points beyond Phinehas to Jesus. He turned wrath away by His own suffering, and He alone holds the blessing now.
And that was reckoned unto him for righteousness, from generation to generation, for evermore.
Psalm 106 is a long confession of Israel's failures, told stage by stage. Then one man acts, and God credits his deed to him as righteousness — so what exactly did God credit, and why does the reward never run out?
The verses just before this one are the low point of that record. One writer sums them up:
Mingling with the nations, they failed to keep holiness. Their associations defiled them. This brought the swift judgment of the Lord upon them. Only the firm action of one man stopped it — and God has stamped that act with approval for all time.
The verse itself never names the man or his deed. One writer fills in both:
Once, in the wilderness, Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron, proved his godly zeal by his passionate use of the javelin. Widespread immorality was threatening the camp of Israel at Shittim. The single-handed bravery of his faith "was counted to him as righteousness from generation to generation forever" (Num. 25:7-8; Ps. 106:30-31).
To count a deed to someone "for righteousness" says something about the man, not just about the deed. One writer works the phrase through, and ends with Abraham:
Imputing righteousness to a man is reckoning him righteous because of something. Even if I impute a work to a man for righteousness, I so far esteem him righteous by it. Supposing he has done it, I may say I consider it a righteous act, but I will not hold him justified or righteous for it. I do not impute it to him for righteousness, nor righteousness to him. But if I say I impute righteousness to him because of it, or I impute it to him for righteousness, then in both cases I am speaking of his standing and relative condition. Only we know it is not by works. … First, Abraham's faith was counted to him for righteousness (Romans 4:3). Was it not that he was accounted righteous because of it? Clearly so.
God did not merely allow this act. He approved it. Another writer draws out why a priest with a weapon is no contradiction:
Next we have Israel joining themselves to Baal-peor, and then Phinehas: atonement by judgment, rendered to the government of God. God marks that act for all succeeding time with His emphatic approval. Let us note it as very much needed to keep in mind, in days as lax as these about divine holiness. Phinehas is no less a priest in the place of intercession when he uses the sword of judgment.
This is not a closed chapter. One writer traces the same jealousy forward to Paul:
We see in Phinehas the faithfulness that overcomes. He judges the evil on God's behalf. "He was zealous for My sake." His zeal turned away the Lord's anger from the children of Israel. Such was the effect of being "zealous for his God." Paul too, in later days, showed the holy jealousy that would not tolerate evil in the church. … Israel's relationship to Jehovah brought out the zeal of Phinehas when he carried out judgment. In the same way, the sense of what the church is to Christ creates in the faithful the earnest desire that she should answer to His mind and be kept unspotted by the world.
One writer looks past the man to what his zeal pictures:
The zeal of Phinehas saved the people from further judgment and glorified Jehovah. He was zealous for his God and made atonement for the children of Israel. His reward was an everlasting priesthood. It is another type of Christ in His righteousness and holy zeal for God.
- One man. In a psalm full of national failure, one person's firm action stopped the judgment — and God stamped that act with approval for all time.
- One faith. What God counted was not raw violence but "the single-handed bravery of his faith" — the same wording used of Abraham.
- One verdict. To count something to a man for righteousness is to reckon him righteous. It speaks of his standing before God, and it is still not by works.
- One office. His reward was an everlasting priesthood. The man who used the sword of judgment was no less a priest in the place of intercession — a type of Christ in His righteousness and zeal for God.
- One pattern, still open. Israel's relationship to God brought out this zeal. What the church is to Christ brings out the same jealousy in the faithful today.