Numbers 25: Israel’s Harlotry in Moab
1 Now Israel remained in Acacia Grove,[Shittim] and the people began to commit harlotry with the women of Moab. 2 They invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. 3 So Israel was joined to Baal of Peor, and the anger of the Lord was aroused against Israel. 4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of the people and hang the offenders before the Lord, out in the sun, that the fierce anger of the Lord may turn away from Israel.”
5 So Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Every one of you kill his men who were joined to Baal of Peor.”
6 And indeed, one of the children of Israel came and presented to his brethren a Midianite woman in the sight of Moses and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. 7 Now when Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose 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 body. So the plague was stopped among the children of Israel. 9 And those who died in the plague were twenty-four thousand. 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.’” 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.”
We have seen two group of people in the congregation in the wilderness— Jacob and Israel. And here we take a closer look at God’s Israel and we find harlotry— going after other god’s and joining themselves to a people who are destined to extinction. “We have been on the top of Pisgah, hearkening to God's testimony respecting Israel, and there all was bright and fair, without a cloud, without a spot. But now we find ourselves in the plains of Moab, and all is changed. There, we had to do with God and His thoughts. Here, we have to do with the people and their joys. What a contrast! It reminds us of the opening and the close of 2 Corinthians 12:1-21. In the former, we have the positive standing of the Christian; in the latter, the possible state into which he may fall if not watchful. That shows us ‘a man in Christ’ capable of being caught up into paradise, at any moment. This shows us saints of God capable of plunging into all manner of sin and folly.” (C. H. Mackintosh's Notes on the Pentateuch)
Many would make this into a lesson on the chastisement of God upon His people. But we see not chastisement for those who were slain for the sin, but rather everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord. We find a third group- a people who have wrestled with God and prevailed, but who have now slipped back into their former ways and perished with the lost. Alas, but an intercessor stepped in to stay the execution of divine judgment.
It is very strange indeed that God would give an eternal priesthood to Phinehas and to his descendants- when a greater priesthood with a greater Priest was to come. But does not the Lord promise the same unto us. He gives that royal priesthood to us, and if our physical seed will not take it, at least unto our spiritual seed forever.
Phinehas- “The young priest, by this noble act of faith and confidence, is classed by St. Paul among those who ‘obtained promises.’ The Lord gave to him and his seed the covenant of peace, and an everlasting priesthood. No man that faithfully acts for God shall ultimately lose his reward.
Harass the Midianites, and attack them; for they harassed you with their schemes… The judgments having first begun at the house of God, must next be extended to his enemies. This is altogether proper, that his vanquished foes may never be able to impeach his justice. The Midianites, who had combined craft with crimes, must not be suffered to exult in Israel’s fall. They fly in all directions; they fall wounded by the sword of Israel. Many of their towns surrender as a helpless prey. Balaam, blinded by his sin, unable to foresee or avert the invasion, is slain among the crowd, and all the secrets of his wickedness come to light. Hoping that many who died obtained pardon; yet that being doubtful,.. Let all christians then be warned, and let them neither touch nor taste the unclean thing; but abide in close covenant with God; for every christian, so called, who leaves the vows of baptism to indulge in whoredom and riotous living, is, like Israel, under the wrath of God, and liable every moment to be visited with this awful death.” (Sutcliffe's Commentary)