The document discusses the moral decline of the Israelites while they were camped in Shittim, where they began to engage in sexual immorality with Moabite women, ultimately leading to idolatrous practices. This sin, instigated by the counsel of Balaam, provoked God's anger, resulting in a plague and severe punishment for the nation's transgressions. It highlights the dangers of temptation and the consequences of turning away from God's covenant.

1. NUMBERS 25 COMMENTARY
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Moab Seduces Israel
1 hile Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began
to indulge in sexual immorality with Moabite
women,
BARNES, "The records of the neighboring cities of the plain, and the
circumstances of the origin of Moab (Gen_19:30 ff) suggest that the people
among whom Israel was now thrown were more than ordinarily licentious.
GILL, "And Israel abode in Shittim,.... A place in the plains of Moab, so
called from the shittim wood, which grew here in great abundance, so often
mentioned in the building of the tabernacle; which was a sort of white
thorn, or rather the acacia tree, since there was scarcely any thing else grew
in the deserts of Arabia; see Gill on Exo_25:5 its full name was Abelshittim,
Num_33:49, here the Israelites abode even to the death of Moses, for this
was their last station in the wilderness; they were now on the borders of the
land of Canaan, and just ready to enter into it, which is an aggravation of the
sins they here fell into, and are next observed:
and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab; and
of Midian also, as appears from Num_25:6 by the advice of Balaam, the
Moabites and Midianites found ways and means to become familiar with the
Israelites, and to introduce their daughters into their company and
conversation, and being ensnared and enamoured with them, they were
drawn to commit lewdness with them, and hereby were led on to commit
other abominations, which brought the divine displeasure upon them; so
that what they dared not attempt by war, and could not effect by sorceries
and divinations, they accomplished by those iniquitous arts, namely,
bringing the wrath, the curse, and plague of God upon them.
HENRY 1-5, "Here is, I. The sin of Israel, to which they were enticed by the
daughters of Moab and Midian; they were guilty both of corporal and
1

2. spiritual whoredoms, for Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor, Num_25:3.
Not all, nor the most, but very many, were taken in this snare. Now
concerning this observe, 1. That Balak, by the advice of Balaam, cast this
stumbling-block before the children of Israel, Rev_2:14. Note, Those are
our worst enemies that draw us to sin, for that is the greatest mischief any
man can do us. If Balak had drawn out his armed men against them to fight
them, Israel had bravely resisted, and no doubt had been more than
conquerors; but now that he sends his beautiful women among them, and
invites them to his idolatrous feasts, the Israelites basely yield, and are
shamefully overcome: those are smitten with this harlots that could not be
smitten with his sword. Note, We are more endangered by the charms of a
smiling world than by the terrors of a frowning world. 2. That the daughters
of Moab were their tempters and conquerors. Ever since Eve was first in the
transgression the fairer sex, though the weaker, has been a snare to many;
yea strong men have been wounded and slain by the lips of the strange
woman (Pro_7:26), witness Solomon, whose wives were shares and nets to
him Ecc_7:26. 3. That whoredom and idolatry went together. They first
defiled and debauched their consciences, by committing lewdness with the
women, and then were easily drawn, in complaisance to them, and in
contempt of the God of Israel, to bow down to their idols. And they were
more likely to do so if, as it is commonly supposed, and seems probable by
the joining of them together, the uncleanness committed was a part of the
worship and service performed to Baal-peor. Those that have broken the
fences of modesty will never be held by the bonds of piety, and those that
have dishonoured themselves by fleshly lusts will not scruple to dishonour
God by idolatrous worships, and for this they are justly given up yet further
to vile affections. 4. That by eating of the idolatrous sacrifices they joined
themselves to Baal-peor to whom they were offered, which the apostle
urges as a reason why Christians should not eat things offered to idols,
because thereby they had fellowship with the devils to whom they were
offered, 1Co_10:20. It is called eating the sacrifices of the dead (Psa_
106:28), not only because the idol itself was a dead thing, but because the
person represented by it was some great hero, who since his death was
deified, as saints in the Roman church are canonized. 5. It was great
aggravation of the sin that Israel abode in Shittim, where they had the land
of Canaan in view, and were just ready to enter and take possession of it. It
was the highest degree of treachery and ingratitude to be false to their God,
whom they had found so faithful to them, and to eat of idol-sacrifices when
they were ready to be feasted so richly on God's favours.
II. God's just displeasure against them for this sin. Israel's whoredoms did
that which all Balaam's enchantments could not do, they set God against
them; now he was turned to be their enemy, and fought against them. So
many of the people, nay, so many of the princes, were guilty, that the sin
became national, and for it God was wroth with the whole congregation. 1. A
plague immediately broke out, for we read of the staying of it (Num_25:8),
and of the number that died of it (Num_25:9), but no mention of the
beginning of it, which therefore must be implied in those words (Num_
25:3), The anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. It is said expressly
(Psa_106:29), The plague broke in. Note, Epidemical diseases are the fruits
2

3. of God's anger, and the just punishments of epidemical sins; one infection
follows the other. The plague, no doubt, fastened on those that were most
guilty, who were soon made to pay dearly for their forbidden pleasures; and
though now God does not always plague such sinners, as he did here, yet
that word of God will be fulfilled, If any man defile the temple of God, him
shall God destroy, 1Co_3:17. 2. The ringleaders are ordered to be put to
death by the hand of public justice, which will be the only way to stay the
plague (Num_25:4): Take the heads of the people (that is, of that part of the
people that went out of the camp of Israel into the country of Moab, to join
in their idolatries) - take them and hang them up before the sun, as
sacrifices to God's justice, and for a terror to the rest of the people. The
judges must first order them to be slain with the sword (Num_25:5), and
their dead bodies must be hanged up, that the stupid Israelites, seeing their
leaders and princes so severely punished for their whoredom and idolatry,
without any regard to their quality, might be possessed with a sense of the
evil of the sin and the terror of God's wrath against them. Ringleaders in sin
ought to be made examples of justice.
JAMISON,"Num_25:1-18. The Israelites’ whoredom and idolatry with
Moab.
Israel abode in Shittim — a verdant meadow, so called from a grove of
acacia trees which lined the eastern side of the Jordan. (See Num_33:49).
K&D, "The Lord had defended His people Israel from Balaam's curse; but
the Israelites themselves, instead of keeping the covenant of their God, fell
into the snares of heathen seduction (Num_25:1, Num_25:2). Whilst
encamped at Shittim, in the steppes of Moab, the people began to commit
whoredom with the daughters of Moab: they accepted the invitations of the
latter to a sacrificial festival of their gods, took part in their sacrificial
meals, and even worshipped the gods of the Moabites, and indulged in the
licentious worship of Baal-Peor. As the princes of Midian, who were allied
to Moab, had been the advisers and assistants of the Moabitish king in the
attempt to destroy the Israelites by a curse of God; so now, after the failure
of that plan, they were the soul of the new undertaking to weaken Israel and
render it harmless, by seducing it to idolatry, and thus leading it into
apostasy from its God. But it was Balaam, as is afterwards casually observed
in Num_31:16, who first of all gave this advice. This is passed over here,
because the point of chief importance in relation to the object of the
narrative, was not Balaam's share in the proposal, but the carrying out of
the proposal itself. The daughters of Moab, however, also took part in
carrying it out, by forming friendly associations with the Israelites, and
then inviting them to their sacrificial festival. They only are mentioned in
Num_25:1, Num_25:2, as being the daughters of the land. The participation
of the Midianites appears first of all in the shameless licentiousness of
Cozbi, the daughter of the Midianitish prince, from which we not only see
that the princes of Midian performed their part, but obtain an explanation
of the reason why the judgment upon the crafty destroyers of Israel was to
3

4. be executed upon the Midianites.
(Note: Consequently there is no discrepancy between Num_25:1-5 and
Num_25:6-18, to warrant the violent hypothesis of Knobel, that there are
two different accounts mixed together in this chapter-An Elohistic
account in Num_25:6-18, of which the commencement has been
dropped, and a Jehovistic account in Num_25:1-5, of which the latter
part has been cut off. The particular points adduced in proof of this fall
to the ground, when the history is correctly explained; and such
assertions as these, that the name Shittim and the allusion to the judges
in Num_25:5, and to the wrath of Jehovah in Num_25:3 and Num_25:4,
are foreign to the Elohist, are not proofs, but empty assumptions.)
Shittim, an abbreviation of Abel-Shittim (see at Num_22:1), to which the
camp of the Israelites in the steppes of Moab reached (Num_33:49), is
mentioned here instead of Arboth-Moab, because it was at this northern
point of the camp that the Israelites came into contact with the Moabites,
and that the latter invited them to take part in their sacrificial meals; and in
Jos_2:1 and Jos_3:1, because it was from this spot that the Israelites
commenced the journey to Canaan, as being the nearest to the place where
they were to pass through the Jordan. ‫ָה‬‫נ‬ָ‫ז‬, construed with ‫ל‬ ֶ‫,א‬ as in Eze_
16:28, signifies to incline to a person, to attach one's self to him, so as to
commit fornication. The word applies to carnal and spiritual whoredom.
The lust of the flesh induced the Israelites to approach the daughters of
Moab, and form acquaintances and friendships with them, in consequence
of which they were invited by them “to the slain-offerings of their gods,” i.e.,
to the sacrificial festivals and sacrificial meals, in connection with which
they also “adored their gods,” i.e., took part in the idolatrous worship
connected with the sacrificial festival. These sacrificial meals were
celebrated in honour of the Moabitish god Baal-Peor, so that the Israelites
joined themselves to him. ‫ד‬ ַ‫מ‬ ָ‫,צ‬ in the Niphal, to bind one's self to a person.
Baal-Peor is the Baal of Peor, who was worshipped in the city of Beth-Peor
(Deu_3:29; Deu_4:46; see at Num_23:28), a Moabitish Priapus, in honour
of whom women and virgins prostituted themselves. As the god of war, he
was called Chemosh (see at Num_21:29).
CALVIN, "1And Israel abode in Shittim. From this narrative we learn assuredly
that the people were no more able to bear prosperity than adversity. Heretofore,
either worn out by fatigue, or rendered impatient by abstinence and famine, they
had often rebelled against God; now, when they have entered a habitable land, and
are resting in the midst of fruitful fields, they are incited by their more comfortable
dwelling-places, and more pleasant mode of life, to lasciviousness, and the
indulgence of filthy lusts. Moses relates how, when they had given way to their lust,
they fell at the same time into whoredom and idolatry. We shall presently see that
this arose from the counsel of Balaam, that the Moabites should prostitute their
women to the Israelites, in order to entice them by their blandishments to unholy
worship. Balaam had learnt by experience that God’s favor was an invincible
safeguard to protect the people from all injury. He, therefore, invents a plan
4

5. whereby they may destroy themselves, by not only depriving themselves of God’s
protection, but also by provoking His wrath against them. By this fan, then, Balaam
stirred up the fire, which impelled these poor wretches, inflamed by blind lechery, to
another crime, by which they might arouse against themselves the enmity of God.
Consequently Paul, referring to this history, informs us that the punishment, which
will be mentioned immediately, was inflicted upon them for fornication. (1
Corinthians 10:8.) For, although it was God’s design to avenge the violation of His
worship, still it is fitting to examine into the origin and source of the evil. Just as, if a
drunken man has killed a person, the murder will be imputed to his drunkenness, so
Paul, seeing the Israelites impelled by fornication to idolatry, sets before us the
punishment as a warning to deter us from fornication, which was the primary cause
of their chastisement, and the means of their corruption. Since, then, the fall from
one sin to another is so easy, let us hence learn to be more watchful, lest Satan
should entangle us in his snares. Let us also observe that he creeps upon us by
degrees in order to entrap us. The Moabitish damsels did not straightway solicit the
Israelites to worship their idols, but first invite them to their banquets, and thus
tempt them to idolatry; for, if mention had been made at first of idol-worship,
perhaps they might have shuddered at the atrocity of the crime, to which they
allowed themselves to be beguiled by degrees. Now, to be present at a feast which
was celebrated in honor of false gods, was a kind of indirect renunciation of the true
God; and when they had been attracted thus far, they threw aside all shame, and
abandoned themselves to that extreme act whereby they transfer the honor due only
to the one true God, to false and imaginary deities.
COFFMAN, "The great importance of this chapter arises from the pivotal nature of
it in the subsequent history of Israel. Right here began the religious apostasy of
Israel that was to continue for centuries, resulting in the total corruption: (1) of the
Northern Israel, and (2) later of the Southern Israel also, with the result that both
nations went into captivity, and only the southern remnant survived. A careful
study of the episode also reveals the basis of Israel's rejection of their sacred
covenant with God. It simply came down to this, that the people rejected the strict
moral requirements of the Decalogue.
Not all of this appears on the surface of the narrative, but it is clear enough that we
are not dealing with two different episodes, but with one, and in order to appreciate
the more comprehensive event and the relationship of the two phases of it appearing
in this chapter to the total situation, some reading between the lines is necessary. A
failure to do this is sure to result in the most ridiculous conclusions, as, for example,
that of Marsh:
"This chapter contains two stories, from JE and P respectively, concerning Israel's
intercourse with foreign women and the consequent idolatry. The first, featuring
Moabite women, lacks an ending; the second, introducing Midianite women, has no
beginning. The interests of the two stories are widely different."[1]
5

6. That such conclusions are absolutely false has been known for ages. As Keil stated
it, "There is no discrepancy in these `two' accounts. The points offered as proof of
such assertions fall to the ground when the history is correctly explained."[2] Even
Martin Noth who frequently followed a critical pattern in his commentaries stated
that, "There is a lack of any convincing indications which would enable us to divide
the narrative into various `sources,' (as J or P)."[3]
It is easy enough to reconstruct the larger narrative of which the seemingly isolated
events of this chapter are vital ingredients. First, the Moabites and the Midianites
were allies, their kingdoms at the moment being under a common ruler, Balak, a
Midianite who was also king of Moab.[4] Balak was serving the interests of both
Midian and Moab by his seeking to frustrate the progress of Israel. Balaam had not
succeeded in cursing Israel, but his hatred of God's people was an invariable
element in his activities first to last. Therefore, Balak and Balaam eventually teamed
up in the plot for the seduction of Israel. Hengstenberg supposed that Balaam's
suggestion for using the Moabite women as instruments of their seduction (Numbers
31:16), came about as follows:
"Balaam having failed to get all those rich rewards he had hoped to get from Balak,
decided that he would try to get them from the Israelites. So he went to Moses and
told him all about his blessing Israel so many times and the prophecies about their
triumphs over Moab and other enemies, and then asked Moses to pay him rich
rewards! Moses refused, and then Balaam went back to Balak and said, "Well, I
cannot curse Israel, but I can tell you how to bring them down by seduction." We
see how this diabolical plot worked out in this chapter."[5]
Such happenings are not related in the Bible, but even Keil allowed the "possibility"
that that is exactly what happened. True, only the Moabite women are mentioned
first, but the Midianites came through on schedule with their part of the plot also,
when Cozbi, a Midianite princess, married one of the princes of Israel, Zimri, who
was the spokesman and outstanding leader of an all-out rebellion against Moses and
the Decalogue which he protested and repudiated in its entirety, declaring it not to
have been from God at all, but only from Moses! With the understanding of such a
background, strongly supported by the most vigorous statements in the word of
God, it is easy to see that we have one narrative here and not two, and that the
whole rebellion and apostasy against God in evidence here was part of the evil work
of Balaam, "who loved the wages of unrighteousness."
"And Israel abode in Shittim; and the people began to play the harlot with the
daughters of Moab: for they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods; and
the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods. And Israel joined himself unto
Baal-peor: and the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Israel. And Jehovah said
unto Moses, Take all the chiefs of the people, and hang them up unto Jehovah
before the sun, that the fierce anger of Jehovah may turn away from Israel. And
Moses said unto the judges of Israel, Slay ye everyone his men that have joined
themselves unto Baal-peor."
6

7. "Shittim ..." This means "Acacia Trees."[6] It was the very last stopping place of
Israel prior to crossing the Jordan (Joshua 2:1; 3:1). It was not very far from Mount
Peor, from which the last effort of Balaam to curse Israel was attempted. It is
thought that a special shrine or temple to Baal-peor was located on the top of it.
"Gods ..." are mentioned in Numbers 25:2; but only Baal-Peor is mentioned in
Numbers 25:3. The Baalim were in fact plural and consisted of many `gods.' Here
the noted Baal-Peor stands for all of them. These pagan gods were worshipped with
the most abominable sexual ceremonies in which the people acted out the mating of
their fertility gods, supposing that such orgies led to abundant crops, etc.
The particularly Satanic action of this chapter appears in the "design" and purpose
of the event. Having already broken over to "commit whoredom" with the seductive
women of Moab, it was natural enough that the women should have invited the Jews
to attend the services of "their gods"! It appears that this "party" was a howling
success indeed with a thousand of the judges of Israel among the invited guests! This
was the purpose of the Midianite-Moabite conspiracy from the beginning.
"To play the harlot with the daughters of Moab ... (Numbers 25:1). Orlinsky
rendered this: "They profaned themselves by whoring."[7]
WHY ISRAEL DID THIS
At this point, we shall address the question of what actually lay behind this conduct,
and the whole conception of implacable hatred against God's people by the pagan
nations. All of it went back to the strict moral code of the Decalogue. In a pagan
world organized around the temples of Aphrodite, Bacchus, a host of Baals, and a
whole stable of pagan gods and goddesses, where the sale and exploitation of sex and
all other vices was their appeal, their source of income, and the evil evangelistic
apparatus of their orgiastic religion ... what a challenge the pure morality of the
Decalogue presented to that kind of world! No wonder the world of that day hated
it.
Israel had been in the wilderness environment for forty years, and now that
renewed conflict with the pagan world was available, many found the temptation
more than they could overcome. That the Moabite-Midianite conspiracy was aimed
squarely at breaking the influence of the Decalogue in Israel cannot for a moment
be doubted. Josephus has a very interesting account of the part played by Zimri. In
no sense was he just an innocent who became enamoured with a beautiful princess.
No, he was a rebel against God! In a great assembly before all the people, Zimri said
the Ten Commandments were not of God, but of Moses, and that Moses had made
up those laws himself, and that he was "harder on the Hebrews than were the
Egyptians themselves"! Zimri further boasted that he had "married a strange
woman" and that "of course, he had sacrificed to her gods," saying, "I think it is
right to seek the truth by inquiring of many people (gods) and not of merely one."[8]
7

8. It is certain that Zimri had a large popular following. Josephus stated that unless he
had been executed, the contagion might have become far greater.
There is a textual problem with just who were hanged before God in the sun,
following God's command to Moses. Whitelaw stated unequivocally that there is no
authority for reading "them" in Numbers 25:4 as a reference to any except the
judges. The lines in Numbers 25:5 that mention those "who have joined themselves
unto Baal-Peor" merely state what the offense of the judges was.[9] With the
subsequent death of 23,000 by the plague, when added to the thousand judges that
were "hanged," the total number comes to 24,000. Paul devoted a significant part of
1 Corinthians 10 to the events of this chapter, in fact, shedding additional light upon
what the people here did.
"Hang them up ..." Many scholars agree that the mode of execution here is not
certainly known. Orlinsky rendered it, "impaled."[10] Many believe that the
exposure of the bodies "in the sun" was merely to advertise the penalty and not for
the purpose of causing death, that being inflicted before the impaling.
The severe penalty executed upon the incompetent judges who had not only made
no move to prevent such a defection but who had actually participated in it
themselves, along with the announced fierce anger of Jehovah brought the host of
Israel into a great public convocation where the people were weeping and pleading
for God's anger to be turned away from them. Right in the midst of that pitiful and
tragic situation, the rebellious advocate of Satan himself, Zimri, made his daring
attempt to take the people away from Moses. The next paragraph tells how. As Noth
stated it, "A certain amount has to be read between the lines to understand what
follows."[11]
COKE, "Numbers 25:1-2. Israel abode in Shittim, &c.— A place in the plains of
Moab, where they were before encamped. It is called Abel-Shittim, ch. Numbers
33:49 i.e. the mourning of Shittim; probably on account of the mourning for the
24,000 who died here of the plague, Numbers 25:9. This was the last station which
the Israelites made while they remained in the wilderness; for from this place
Joshua removed them, after Moses's death, to Jordan, whence they passed over to
Gilgal, Joshua 3:1; Joshua 4:19. Wherefore they are admonished to remember
"what Balak consulted, and what Balaam answered him, from Shittim to Gilgal,
that they may know the righteousness of the Lord," Micah 6:5 that is, that they
might know the goodness of God towards them, in turning Balaam's intended curse
into a blessing. But what all the inchantments and divinations of Balaam could not
effect, came to pass by the rebellion of the Israelites. Here it was that the kings of
Moab and Midian put in practice the advice which Balaam gave them. He
counselled them to think of drawing the Israelites into some heinous offence against
their God; assured that there was no possible way of getting an advantage over
Israel, unless they could be first drawn into sin, that so a breach might be made
between God and them. This was a kind of Machiavelian policy, shrewd and deep
8

9. laid, but cursed and diabolical. This project, in a great measure, succeeded: the
daughters of Moab, and of Midian (Numbers 25:6; Numbers 25:17.) entered into a
correspondence with the Israelites, and soon convinced them, that there were more
dangerous charms than those of magic: they possessed themselves of their hearts
and souls; they invited them to the sacrifices of their gods, and made this the price
of their infamous compliance. The Israelites fell into the snare; they offered their
homage, without scruple, to the gods of those women whom they themselves
idolized; they did eat, and bowed to their gods. See chap. Numbers 31:16.
TRAPP, "Numbers 25:1 And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to
commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab.
Ver. 1. To commit whoredom.] By the wicked counsel of Balaam, who knew well,
that no one means hath more enriched hell than beautiful faces, and therefore
taught Balak to lay this stumblingblock before the children of Israel; and is therein
held by some to have sinned against the Holy Ghost. Howsoever he goes out in a
stench, as it is usually said of his master the devil.
POOLE, "The Israelites’ whoredom and idolatry: God commands the guilty to be
put to death, Numbers 25:1-5. A plague: Phinehas’s zeal; for which God promises
him the priesthood, Numbers 25:6-15. God commands the Midianites to be slain for
this their treachery in drawing the people to sin, Numbers 25:16-18.
Shittim; a place called more largely Abel-shittim, Numbers 33:49, it being usual
with the Hebrews to abbreviate long proper names, as Hermon is put for Baal-
hermon, Jude 3:3, Tholad for El-tholad, Joshua 19:4, Nimrim, Isaiah 15:6 for Beth-
nimrim, Numbers 32:36. And this was their last station, from whence they passed
immediately into Canaan. So this is here noted as a great aggravation of their sin,
that they committed it when God was going to put them into the possession of their
long-expected and much-desired land.
The people; not all, but many of them, as appears from Deuteronomy 4:3,4 1
Corinthians 10:8.
To commit whoredom, both corporally and spiritually, either because they
prostituted themselves to them upon condition of worshipping their god; or because
their filthy god was worshipped by such filthy acts, as Priapus and Venus were.
Of Moab, and of Midian too, as is evident from Numbers 25:6,17,18 Num 31:16; for
both these people being confederated in this wicked design, the one is put for the
other; and the daughters of Moab may be named, either because they began fine
transgression, or because they were the chief persons, possibly, the relations or
courtiers of Balak king of Moab.
9

10. BENSON, "Numbers 25:1. Israel abode in Shittim — And this was their last station,
from whence they passed immediately into Canaan. This is noted as a great
aggravation of their sin, that they committed it when God was going to put them
into the possession of their long-expected land. The people — Many of them.
Whoredom — Either because these women prostituted themselves to them upon
condition of worshipping their god, or because their filthy god was worshipped by
such filthy acts as Priapus and Venus were. The daughters of Moab — And of
Midian too; for both these people being confederated in this wicked design, the one
is put for the other, and the daughters of Moab may be named, either because they
began the transgression, or because they were the chief persons, probably the
relations, or courtiers of Balak.
WHEDON, "Verse 1-2
ISRAEL SEDUCED INTO IDOLATRY, Numbers 25:1-3.
1, 2. Shittim — These plains are in the El-Ghor, sixty furlongs east of the Jordan.
Note, Joshua 2:1. The daughters of Moab were the chief agents in the execution of
this plot by forming friendly associations with the Israelites and then inviting them
to the sacrifices of their gods — a licentious festival. Thus all the animal appetites
are addressed at once.
Such a temptation required stronger moral principles and a loftier spirituality than
many Israelites possessed. The vices of the Canaan-ites, idolatry and whoredom, had
infected Midian, a branch of Abraham’s family, (Genesis 25:2,) through successive
intermarriages with these tribes. The prostitution of a king’s daughter, (Numbers
25:6, note,) doubtless given by her father as a token of hospitality, a custom still
found among some African nations, shows that the shocking depravity of Sodom
(Genesis 19:8) had corrupted the seed of Abraham.
EBC, "THE MATTER OF BAAL-PEOR
Numbers 24:10-25; Numbers 25:1-18
THE last oracle of Balaam, as we have it, ventures into far more explicit predictions
than the others, and passes beyond the range of Hebrew history. Its chief value for
the Israelites lay in what was taken to be a Messianic prophecy contained in it, and
various bold denunciations of their enemies. Whether the language can bear the
important meanings thus found in it is a matter of considerable doubt. On the
whole, it appears best not to make over-much of the prescience of this mashal,
especially as we cannot be sure that we have it in the original form. One fact may be
given to prove this. In Jeremiah 48:45, an oracle regarding Moab embodies various
fragments of the Book of Numbers, and one clause seems to be a quotation from
Numbers 24:17. In Numbers the reading is, "and break down, all the sons of
10

11. tumult"; in Jeremiah it is, "and the crown of the head of the sons of tumult" The
resemblance leaves little doubt of the derivation of the one expression from the
other, and at the same time shows diversity in the text.
The earlier deliverances of Balaam had disappointed the king of Moab; the third
kindled his anger. It was intolerable that one called to curse his enemies should bless
them again and again. Balaam would do well to get him back to his own place. That
Jehovah of whom he spake had kept him from honour. If he delayed he might find
himself in peril. But the diviner did not retire. The word that had come to him
should be spoken. He reminded Balak of the terms on which he had begun his
auguries, and, perhaps to embitter Moab against Israel, persisted in advertising
Balak "what this people should do to his people in the latter days."
The opening was again a vaunt of his high authority as a seer, one who knew the
knowledge of Shaddai. Then, with ambiguous forms of speech covering the
indistinctness of his outlook, he spoke of one whom he saw far away, in imagination,
not reality, a personage bright and powerful, who should rise star-like out of Jacob,
bearing the sceptre of Israel, who should smite through the corners of Moab and
break down the sons of tumult. Over Edom and Seir he should triumph, and his
dominion should extend to the city which had become the last refuge of a hostile
people. Of spiritual power and right there is not a trace in this prediction. It is
unquestionably the military vigour of Israel gathered up into the headship of some
powerful king Balaam sees on the horizon of his field of view. But he anticipates
with no uncertainty that Moab shall be attacked and broken, and that the victorious
leader shall even penetrate to the fastnesses of Edom and reduce them. A people like
Israel, with so great vitality, would not be content to have jealous enemies upon its
very borders, and Balak is urged to regard them with more hatred and fear than he
has yet shown.
The view that this prophecy "finds its preliminary fulfilment in David, in whom the
kingdom was established, and by whose victories the power of Moab and Edom was
broken, but its final and complete fulfilment only in Christ," is supported by the
unanimous belief of the Jews, and has been adopted by the Christian Church. Yet it
must be allowed that the victories of David did not break the power of Moab and
Edom, for these peoples are found again and again, after his time, in hostile attitude
to Israel. And it is not to the purpose to say that in Christ the kingdom reaches
perfection, that He destroys the enemies of Israel. Nor is there an argument for the
Messianic reference worth considering in the fact that the pseudo-Messiah in the
reign of Hadrian styled himself Bar-cochba, son of the star. A pretender to Messiah-
ship might snatch at any title likely to secure for him popular support; his choice of
a name proves only the common belief of the Jews, and that was very ignorant, very
far from spiritual. There is indeed more force in the notion that the star by which
the wise men of the East were guided to Bethlehem is somehow related to this
prophecy. Yet that also is too imaginative. The oracle of Balaam refers to the virility
and prospective dominance of Israel, as a nation favoured by the Almighty and
destined to be strong in battle. The range of the prediction is not nearly wide enough
11

12. for any true anticipation of a Messiah gaining universal sway by virtue of redeeming
love. It is becoming more and more necessary to set aside those interpretations
which identify the Saviour of the world with one who smites and breaks down and
destroys, who wields a sceptre after the manner of Oriental despots.
In Balaam’s vision small nations with which he happens to be acquainted bulk
largely-the Kenites, Amalek, Moab, and Edom. To him the Amalekites appear as
having once been "the first of the nations." We may explain, as before, that he had
been impressed on some occasion by what he had seen of their force and the royal
state of their king. The Kenites, dwelling either among the cliffs of Engedi or the
mountains of Galilee, were a very small tribe; and the Amalekites, as well as the
people of Moab and Edom, were of little account in the development of human
history. At the same time the prophecy looks in one direction to a power destined to
become very great, when it speaks of the ships of Chittim. The course of empire is
seen to be westward. Asshur, or Assyria, and Eber-the whole Abrahamic race,
perhaps, including Israel-are threatened by this rising power, the nearest point of
which is Cyprus in the Great Sea. Balaam is, we may say, a political prophet: to
class him among those who testified of Christ is to exalt far too much his inspiration
and read more into his oracles than they naturally contain. There is no deep
problem in the narrative regarding him-as, for instance, how a man false at heart
could in any sense enter into those gracious purposes of God for the human race
which were fulfilled by Christ.
Balaam, we are told, "rose up and returned to his own place"; and from this it
would seem that with bitterness in his heart he betook himself to Pethor. If he did
so, vainly hoping still that Israel would appeal to him, he soon returned to give
Balak and the Midianites advice of the most nefarious kind. We learn from
Numbers 31:16, that through his counsel the Midianite women caused the children
of Israel to commit trespass against Jehovah in the matter of Peor. The statement is
a link between chapters 24 and 25. Vainly had Balaam as a diviner matched himself
against the God of Israel. Resenting his defeat, he sought and found another way
which the customs of his own people in their obscure idolatrous rites too readily
suggested. The moral law of Jehovah and the comparative purity of the Israelites as
His people kept them separate from the other nations, gave them dignity and vigour.
To break down this defence would make them like the rest, would withdraw them
from the favour of their God and even defeat His purposes. The scheme was one
which only the vilest craft could have conceived; and it shows us too plainly the real
character of Balaam. He must have known the power of the allurements which he
now advised as the means of attack on those he could not touch with his
maledictions nor gain by his soothsaying. In the shadow of this scheme of his we see
the diviner and all his tribe, and indeed the whole morality of the region, at their
very worst.
The tribes were still in the plain of Jordan; and we may suppose that the victorious
troops had returned from the campaign against Bashan, when a band of Midianites,
professing the utmost friendliness, gradually introduced themselves into the camp.
12

13. Then began the temptation to which the Midianitish women, some of them of high
rank, willingly devoted themselves. It was to impurity and idolatry, to degradation
of manhood in body and soul, to abjuration at once of faith and of all that makes
individual and social life. The orgies with which the Midianites were familiar
belonged to the dark side of a nature-cultus which carried the distinction between
male and female into religious symbolism, and made abject prostration of life before
the Divinity a crowning act of worship. Surviving still, the same practices are in
India and elsewhere the most dreadful and inveterate barriers which the Gospel and
Christian civilisation encounter. The Israelites were assailed unexpectedly, it would
appear, and in a time of comparative inaction. Possibly, also, the camp was
composed to some extent of men whose families were still in Kadesh waiting the
conquest of the land of Canaan to cross the border. But the fact need not be
concealed that the polygamy which prevailed among the Hebrews was an element in
their danger. That had not been forbidden by the law; it was even countenanced by
the example of Moses. The custom, indeed, was one which at the stage of
development Israel had reached implied some progress; for there are conditions
even worse than polygamy against which it was a protest and safeguard. But like
every other custom falling short of the ideal of the family, it was one of great peril;
and now disaster came. The Midianites brought their sacrifices and slew them; the
festival of Baalpeor was proclaimed. "The people did eat and bowed down to their
gods." It was a transgression which demanded swift and terrible judgment. The
chief men of the tribes who had joined in the abominable rites were taken and
"hanged up before the Lord against the sun"; the "judges of Israel" were
commanded to slay "every one his men that were joined unto Baalpeor."
The narrative of the "Priests’ Code," beginning at Numbers 25:6, and going on to
the close of the chapter, adds details of the sin and its punishment. Assuming that
the row of stakes with their ghastly burden is in full view, and the dead bodies of
those slain by the executioners are lying about the camp, this narrative shows the
people gathered at the tent of meeting, many of them in tears. There is a plague, too,
which is rapidly spreading and carrying off the transgressors. In the midst of the
sorrow and wailing, when the chief men should have been bowed down in
repentance, one of the princes of Simeon is seen leading by the hand his Midianitish
paramour, herself a chief’s daughter. In the very sight of Moses and the people the
guilty persons enter a tent. Then Phinehas, son of Eleazar the priest, following them,
inflicts with a javelin the punishment of death. It is a daring but a true deed; and for
it Phinehas and his seed after him are promised the "covenant of peace," even the
"covenant of an everlasting priesthood." His swift stroke has vindicated the honour
of God, and "made an atonement for the children of Israel." An act like this, when
the elemental laws of morality are imperilled and a whole people needs a swift and
impressive lesson, is a tribute to God which He will reward and remember. True,
one of the priestly house should keep aloof from death. But the emergency demands
immediate action, and he who is bold enough to strike at once is the true friend of
men and of God.
The question may be put, whether this is not justice of too rude and ready a kind to
13

14. be praised in the name of religion. To some it may seem that the honour of God
could not be served by the deed attributed to Phinehas; that he acted in passion
rather than in the calm deliberation without which justice cannot be dealt out by
man to man. Would not this excuse the passionate action of a crowd, impatient of
the forms of law, that hurries an offender to the nearest tree or lamp-post? And the
answer cannot be that Israel was so peculiarly under covenant to God that its
necessity would exonerate a deed otherwise illegal. We must face the whole problem
alike of personal and of united action for the vindication of righteousness in times of
widespread license.
It is not necessary now to slay an offender in order clearly and emphatically to
condemn his crime. In that respect modern circumstances differ from those we are
discussing. Upon Israel, as it was at the time of this tragedy, no impression could
have been made deep and swift enough for the occasion otherwise than by the act of
Phinehas. But for an offender of the same rank now, there is a punishment as stern
as death, and on the popular mind it produces a far greater effect-publicity, and the
reprobation of all who love their fellowmen and God. The act of Phinehas was not
assassination; a similar act now would be, and it would have to be dealt with as a
crime. The stroke now is inflicted by public accusation, which results in public trial
and public condemnation. From the time to which the narrative refers, on to our
own day, social conditions have been passing through many phases. Occasionally
there have been circumstances in which the swift judgment of righteous indignation
was justifiable, though it did seem like assassination. And in no case has such action
been more excusable than when the purity of family life has been invaded, while the
law of the land would not interfere. We do not greatly wonder that in France the
avenging of infidelity is condoned when the sufferer snatches a justice otherwise
unattainable. That is not indeed to be praised, but the imperfection of law is a
partial apology. The higher the standard of public morality the less needful is this
venture on the Divine right to kill. And certainly it is not private revenge that is ever
to be sought, but the vindication of the elemental righteousness on which the well-
being, of humanity depends. Phinehas had no private revenge to seek. It was the
public good.
It is confidently affirmed by Wellhausen that the "Priestly Code" makes the cultus
the principal thing, and this, he says, implies retrogression from the earlier idea.
The passage we are considering, like many others ascribed to the "Priests’ Code,"
makes something else than the cultus the principal thing. We are told that in the
teaching of this code "the bond between cultus and sensuality is severed; no danger
can arise of an admixture of impure, immoral elements, a danger which was always
present in Hebrew antiquity." But here the danger is admitted, the cultus is entirely
out of sight, and the sin of sensuality is conspicuous. When Phinehas intervenes,
moreover, it is not in harmony with any statute or principle laid down in the
"Priests’ Code"-rather, indeed, against its general spirit, which would prohibit an
Aaronite from a deed of blood. According to the whole tenor of the law the
priesthood had its duties, carefully prescribed, by doing which faithfulness was to
be shown. Here an act of spontaneous zeal, done not "on the positive command of a
14

15. will outside," but on the impulse arising out of a fresh occasion, receives the
approval of Jehovah, and. the "covenant of an everlasting priesthood" is confirmed
for the sake of it. Was Phinehas in any sense carrying out statutory instructions for
atonement on behalf of Israel when he inflicted the punishment of death on Zimri
and his paramour? To identify the "Priestly Code" with "cultus legislation," and
that with theocracy, and then declare the cultus to have become a "pedagogic
instrument of discipline," "estranged from the heart," is to make large demands on
our inattention.
In the closing verses of the chapter another question of a moral nature is involved. It
is recorded that after the events we have considered Jehovah spake unto Moses,
saying, "Vex the Midianites, and smite them; for they vex you with their wiles,
wherewith they have beguiled you in the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi,
the daughter of the prince of Midian, their sister, which was slain on the day of the
plague in the matter of Peor." Now is it for the sake of themselves and their own
safety the Israelites are to smite Midian? Is retaliation commanded? Does God set
enmity between the one people and the other, and so doing make confession that
Israel has no duty of forgiveness, no mission to convert and save?
There is difficulty in pronouncing judgment as to the point of view taken by the
narrator. Some will maintain that the historian here, whoever he was, had no higher
conception of the command than that it was one which sanctioned revenge. And
there is nothing on the face of the narrative which can be brought forward to
disprove the charge. Yet it must be remembered that the history proceeds on the
theocratic conception of Israel’s place and destiny. To the writer Israel is of less
account in itself than as a people rescued from Egypt and called to nationality in
order to serve Jehovah. The whole tenor of the "Priests’ Code" narrative, as well as
of the other, bears this out. There is no patriotic zeal in the narrow sense, -"My
country right or wrong." Scarcely a passage can be pointed to implying such a
sentiment, such a drift of thought. The underlying idea in the whole story is the
sacredness of morality, not of Israel; and the suppression or extinction of this tribe
of Midianites with their obscene idolatry is God’s will, not Israel’s. Too plain,
indeed, is it that the Israelites would have preferred to leave Midian and other tribes
of the same low moral best unmolested, free to pursue their own ends.
And Jehovah is not revengeful, but just. The vindication of morality at the time the
Book of Numbers deals with, and long afterwards, could only be through the
suppression of those who were identified with dangerous forms of vice. The forces at
command in Israel were not equal to the task of converting; and what could be
achieved was commanded-opposition, enmity; if need were, exterminating war. The
better people has a certain spiritual capacity, but not enough to make it fit for what
may be called moral missionary work. It would suffer more than it would gain if it
entered on any kind of intercourse with Midian with the view of raising the
standard of thought and life. All that can be expected meanwhile is that the
Israelites shall be at issue with a people so degraded; they are to be against the
Midianites, keep them from power in the world, subject them by the sword.
15

16. Our judgment, then, is that the narrative sustains a true theocracy in this sense,
exhibits Israel as a unique phenomenon in human history, not impossible, -there lies
the clear veracity of the Bible accounts, -but playing a part such as the times
allowed, such as the world required. From a passage like that now before us, and
the sequel, the war with Midian, which some have regarded as a blot on the pages of
Scripture, an argument for its inspiration may be drawn. We find here no ethical
anachronisms, no impracticable ideas of charity and pardon. There is a sane and
strenuous moral aim, not out of keeping with the state of things in the world of that
time, yet showing the rule and presenting the will of a God who makes Israel a
protesting people. The Hebrews are men, not angels; men of the old world, not
Christians-true! Who could have received this history if it had represented them as
Christians, and shown us God giving them commands fit for the Church of today?
They are called to a higher morality than that of Egypt, for theirs is to be spiritual;
higher than that of Chaldea or of Canaan, for Chaldea is shrouded in superstition,
Canaan in obscene idolatry. They can do something; and what they can do Jehovah
commands them to do. And He is not an imperfect God because His prophet does
not give from the first a perfect Christian law, a redeeming gospel. He is the "I
Am." Let the whole course of Old Testament development be traced, and the sanity
and coherency of the theocratic idea as it is presented in law and prophecy, psalm
and parable, cannot fail to convince any just and frank inquirer.
The end of Balaam’s life may be glanced at before the pages close that refer to his
career. In Numbers 31:8, it is stated that in the battle which went against the
Midianites Balaam was slain. We do not know whether he was so maddened by his
disappointment as to take the sword against Jehovah and Israel, or whether he only
joined the army of Midian in his capacity of augur. F. W. Robertson imagines "the
insane frenzy with which he would rush into the field, and finding all go against
him, and that lost for which he had bartered heaven, after having died a thousand
worse than deaths, find death at last upon the spears of the Israelites." It is of
course possible to imagine that he became the victim of his own insane passion. But
Balaam never had a profound nature, was never more than within sight of the
spiritual world. He appears as the calculating, ambitious man, who would reckon
his chances to the last, and with coolness, and what he believed to be sagacity, decide
on the next thing to attempt. But his penetration failed him, as at a certain point it
fails all men of his kind. He ventured too far, and could not draw back to safety.
The death he died was almost too honourable for this false prophet, unless, indeed,
he fell fleeing like a coward from the battle. One who had recognised the power of a
higher faith than his country professed, and saw a nation on the way to the vigour
that faith inspired, who in personal spleen and envy set in operation a scheme of the
very worst sort to ruin Israel, was not an enemy worth the edge of the sword. Let us
suppose that a Hebrew soldier found him in flight, and with a passing stroke
brought him to the ground. There is no tragedy in such a death; it is too
ignominious. Whatever Balaam was in his boyhood, whatever he might have been
when the cry escaped him, "Let me die the death of the righteous," selfish craft had
16

17. brought him below the level of the manhood of the time. Balak with his pathetic
faith in cursing and incantation now seems a prince beside the augur. For Balaam,
though he knew Jehovah after a manner, had no religion, had only the envy of the
religion of others. He came on the stage with an air that almost deceived Balak and
has deceived many. He leaves it without one to lament him. Or shall we rather
suppose that even for him, in Pethor beyond the Euphrates, a wife or child waited
and prayed to Sutekh and, when the tidings of his death were brought, fell into
inconsolable weeping? Over the worst they think and do men draw the veil to hide it
from some eyes. And Balaam, a poor, mean tool of the basest cravings, may have
had one to believe in him, one to love him. He reminds us of Absalom in his
character and actions-Absalom, a man void of religion and morals; and for him the
father he had dethroned and dishonoured wept bitterly in the chamber over the gate
of Mahanaim, "My son Absalom! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my
son, my son!" So may some woman in Pethor have wailed for Balaam fallen under
the spear of a Hebrew warrior.
PETT, "Verses 1-5
Chapter 25 Israel Are Lured Into Sin By The Moabites and Midianites.
4). The Defeat of the Evil Influence of Moab (Numbers 25:1-18).
It is noteworthy that just as the glorious revelation on Mount Sinai was followed by
the lapse into idolatry with the molten calf, so here the glorious repetition and
expansion of the promises by Balaam is followed by gross idolatry. In each case the
one contrasts with the other, the proclamation of the grace of God with the
disobedience of man.
For having settled down in the Moabite plain Israel now demonstrated their
propensity for sin at Shittim by enjoying close relations with the daughters of Moab,
and ‘joining themselves’ to Baal-peor. In spite of all Yahweh’s warnings they
engaged in idolatry. This would finally result in the death of a Simeonite chieftain
and a plague on the people.
Analysis of the chapter.
a Israel sin at Shittim in regard to Baal-peor (Numbers 25:1-3 a).
b Yahweh is angry with Israel and demands their punishment. Moses calls on the
judges to slay those who worshipped Baal-peor (Numbers 25:3-5)
c A Midianitish woman brought into the camp by a Simeonite chief for evil purposes
(Numbers 25:6).
d Phinehas, son of Eleazar slays the chieftain and the woman (Numbers 25:7-8 a).
17

18. e As a result of his action judgment by plague is stayed (Numbers 25:8 b).
e Those who died in the plague are enumerated (Numbers 25:9)
d Phinehas is confirmed in the priesthood for his action (Numbers 25:10-13).
c The chieftain and the woman are identified (Numbers 25:14-15).
b Yahweh demands the punishment of Midian (Numbers 25:16-17)
a The punishment is in respect of the sin regarding Baal-peor (Numbers 25:18)
Israel Sin at Shittim in Regard to Baal-peor (Numbers 25:1-3 a)
Numbers 25:1-2
‘And Israel abode in Shittim; and the people began to play the harlot with the
daughters of Moab, for they called the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the
people did eat, and bowed down to their gods.’
Settling down at Shittim after a period of continual travel, Israelite males began to
take a fancy to certain young women who lived in Moab, and who seemingly made
themselves available. (Note that the Midianitish woman is seen as ‘a daughter of
Moab’, that is a woman who lived in Moabite territory. There was clearly a very
close relationship between these Midianites and Moab). Not being constantly on the
move themselves their women were able to make themselves up more attractively,
and the men of Israel clearly enjoyed the novelty. These were worshippers of Baal-
peor, and we note that the sin is not said to have been sexual, although that no doubt
occurred, but a turning to their idols, although in view of what follows sexual
relations might well be seen as implied. And in view of the nature of the religion of
Baal with its fertility rites there may well have been ritual sex acts between them.
Outwardly, however, the sin is said to be that of being present at the sacrifices to
their gods, eating sacred meals with them and bowing down to their gods. Among
others they were disobeying the first two commandments.
Yahweh Was Angry with Israel and Demanded The Punishment Of Those Who
Had Sinned (Numbers 25:3-4).
PULPIT, "THE SIN OF ISRAEL AND ATONEMENT OF PHINEHAS (Numbers
25:1-18).
Numbers 25:1
Abode in Shittim. For a considerable time; from their first arrival in the Arboth
Moab until the crossing of the Jordan. Shittim is the shortened form of Abel-
18

19. Shittim, "Field of Acacias" (Numbers 33:49). It seems to have been the
northernmost part of the last encampment of Israel on that side Jordan, and the
head-quarters of the host (Joshua 2:1; Joshua 3:1). Began to commit whoredom
with the daughters of Moab. This commencement of sin seems to have been made by
Israel without special provocation. The very victories won, and the comparative ease
and affluence now enjoyed, after long marches and hardships, may well have
predisposed them to this sin, for which they now for the first time found abundant
opportunity.
BI 1-9, "The people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of
Moab.
The sin of Israel at Shittim, and the judgment of God
I. The sin of the Israelites at Shittim.
1. The sin itself.
(1) Spiritual fornication, or idolatry (Hos_2:1-23.).
(2) Physical fornication.
2. The origin of their sin (Num_31:16; Rev_2:14).
3. The instruments of their sin: Moab and Midian.
4. The occasion of their sin.
(1) Their abode at Shittim. They were in the neighbourhood of sinful
associations and corrupting influences. “Near a fire, a serpent, and a
wicked woman, no man can long be in safety.”
(2) Their lack of occupation. Idleness leads to vice and mischief.
II. The judgment of God upon the Israelites on account of their sin.
1. The judgment inflicted immediately by God. In some form or other
punishment ever follows closely upon the heels of sin.
2. The judgment inflicted by Moses and the judges by the command of
God.
(1) Its nature : Death.
(2) Its publicity.
(3) Its executioners.
Lessons:
1. The secret of the security of the people of God: faithfulness.
2. The danger of those temptations which appeal to our self-indulgence
or love of pleasure.
3. The terribleness of the Divine anger.
4. The solicitude with which we should guard against arousing this anger
towards us. Sin calls it forth, therefore shun sin.
19

20. 5. Tile earnestness with which we should seek the mercy and the
protection of God. (W. Jones.)
Evil men proceed by degrees from worse to worse
In these words is offered unto us an example, expressing the nature of sin
where once it is entertained. For behold here how they grow in sin. At the
first, they departed out of the host of Israel and went to the people of Moab
and Midian, with whom they coupled themselves; so that albeit they sinned,
yet they had some shame of sin, and made some conscience of committing it
openly amongst their brethren. But they proceed by little and little, from
step to step, till they are ashamed of nothing. Therefore in the example of
one man, here set before our eyes, Moses declares to what shamelessness
they were come. For this man (who is afterward named), as if he had been
absolute in power, as he was indeed resolute in will and dissolute in his
whole life, brought his whorish woman in the sight of God, in the sight of
Moses, in the sight of the congregation, and in the sight of the tabernacle, to
show that he had filled up the measure of his sin.
1. The nature of sin is to draw all such as delight in it from one evil to
another, until in the end they become most corrupt and abominable.
2. The wrath of Goal falleth upon such as make no conscience to fall into
lesser sins, He giveth them over to a reprobate sense, and to hardness of
heart.
3. Sin is fitly resembled to the fretting of a canker, and to the
uncleanness of a leprosy, both which go forward until the whole body be
infected and every member endangered.
Now let us handle the uses.
1. Consider from hence how dangerous it is to give entertainment unto
sin at the beginning, which groweth to more perfection every day; we
cannot stop this stream when we will, it goeth beyond the strength of our
nature.
2. Seeing evil men wax worse and worse, we may conclude that their
judgment sleepeth not, but is increased as their sin; yea, so it is not far
off, but lieth at the doors.
3. Seeing men giving themselves over to sin, it is our duty to resist the
beginnings, to prevent the breach, and stop the first course of it. It is as a
serpent that must be trod on in the egg. Let us take heed that sin grow
not into a custom and get an habit. (W. Attersoll.)
Sin deprives us of God’s protection
We have beard before that albeit that Balak and Balaam intended by their
sorceries to curse the people of God, yet they could by no means do them
hurt; they were guarded by the protection of God as with a sure watch. Rut
20

21. so soon as they forsook the living God, and fell a whoring with the daughters
of Moab and Midian, by and by God departeth from them, and His heavy
judgments break in upon them. The force of sorcery could not hurt them,
but the strength of sin doth weaken them. Hereby we learn that sin
depriveth us of God’s protection, and layeth us open to the fierceness of His
wrath, and to the fury of our enemies. The reasons being considered will
make the doctrine more evident.
1. Sin maketh us execrable to the Lord and abominable in His sight. If,
then, sin makes us to be had in execration it is no marvel if we be left
destitute of God’s protection.
2. God departeth from them that fall from Him; they forsake Him, and
therefore He forsaketh them. So, then, our lying in sin doth drive the
Lord from us, that He will have no more fellowship with us to do us any
good.
We are now to set down the uses of this doctrine.
1. This teacheth us to acknowledge that all judgments which fall upon us
are righteous. God chastiseth us often, but always justly, never unjustly.
2. Seeing sin layeth us open to reproaches of enemies and to the
judgments of God, as appeareth in this great plague upon the people, this
showeth that we must not go about to hide our sin from God through
hypocrisy. For all things are naked and open to His eyes, with whom we
have to do; so that we must learn to confess them before His presence.
3. This serveth as a notable advantage for the servants of God when they
have any dealings against wicked men; we have encouragement from
hence that we shall assuredly prevail against them, because we have to
do with weak men that are out of God’s protection. (W. Attersoll.)
God’s abhorrence of impurity
The Lord must have regard to two things in His own people—personal
purity; and uncorrupted worship. In the very nature Of things it would be
quite impossible to preserve purity of principle, clearness of understanding,
and spirituality of affection, with corruption of life. It is a delusion of the
worst kind, a master-device of Satan, the perfection of sin’s deceitfulness,
and a perversion of all truth, justice, and grace, when men, in the retired
indulgence of lusts within, or in open commission of crime, sit down
tranquil under the defence of mercy, and fancy themselves with such
interest in the robe of Christ’s perfection and beauty, that no spot or fault is
in them. A sinner may come to Christ under every sense of imperfection,
pollution, and vileness, and through faith in His mediation, may participate
with appropriating joy and a well-founded confidence in all the interests of
His atoning blood and justifying righteousness; nevertheless, he can never
find anything in the nature and influence of evangelical truth but what has
the most direct tendency and design to deliver from the power as well as to
save from the desert of sin. To a gracious heart sin proves a plague and
constant grief, and the cause, while it exists, of a never-ending strife. (W.
21

22. Seaton.)
The valley of sensuality
In Java is a valley which is called the Valley of Poison. It is an object of
veritable terror to the natives. In this renowned valley the soil is said to be
covered with skeletons and carcases of tigers, of goats, and of stags, of birds,
and even with human bones; for asphyxia or suffocation, it seems, strikes
all living things which venture into this desolate place. It illustrates the
valley of sensuality, the most horrible creation of social life. Few men who
enter into its depths survive long; for it is strewn with dead reputations and
the mangled remains of creatures who were once happy. (W. Seaton.)
2 who invited them to the sacrifices to their gods.
The people ate the sacrificial meal and bowed
down before these gods.
BARNES, "And they called - i. e., “the daughters of Moab called.”
CLARKE, "And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods,....
That is, the daughters of Moab and Midian, with whom the children of Israel
carried on an unlawful correspondence, invited them, their gallants, to
come and partake of the feasts which attended the sacrifices of their idols;
for part of what was offered to idols a feast was kept with, to which great
numbers were invited, and which was observed with all the circumstances
of joy and pleasure imaginable, and which was very ensnaring, especially to
young people; and the children of Israel being so much enamoured with the
beauty of the Moabitish women, and so strong were their lusts and passions,
that they could not refuse the invitation:
and the people did eat: of the things sacrificed to idols, and so became guilty
of idolatry, even by so doing, and then when they had eaten and drank, and
were merry, they were led on to other acts of idolatry:
and bowed down to their gods: which was a plain and open act of idolatry,
whereby they testified their faith in their divinity, their reverence of them,
22

23. and their homage and obedience to them: Jarchi says, when the evil
concupiscence or lust was strong in them, and they solicited the daughters
of Moab to hearken to them, and comply with them, they used to take the
image of Peor out of their bosom, and said, worship this, signifying that on
that condition they would gratify them; and thus whoredom led them on to
idolatry, and they committed the one for the sake of being indulged in the
other.
GILL, "And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods,.... That
is, the daughters of Moab and Midian, with whom the children of Israel
carried on an unlawful correspondence, invited them, their gallants, to
come and partake of the feasts which attended the sacrifices of their idols;
for part of what was offered to idols a feast was kept with, to which great
numbers were invited, and which was observed with all the circumstances
of joy and pleasure imaginable, and which was very ensnaring, especially to
young people; and the children of Israel being so much enamoured with the
beauty of the Moabitish women, and so strong were their lusts and passions,
that they could not refuse the invitation:
and the people did eat: of the things sacrificed to idols, and so became guilty
of idolatry, even by so doing, and then when they had eaten and drank, and
were merry, they were led on to other acts of idolatry:
and bowed down to their gods: which was a plain and open act of idolatry,
whereby they testified their faith in their divinity, their reverence of them,
and their homage and obedience to them: Jarchi says, when the evil
concupiscence or lust was strong in them, and they solicited the daughters
of Moab to hearken to them, and comply with them, they used to take the
image of Peor out of their bosom, and said, worship this, signifying that on
that condition they would gratify them; and thus whoredom led them on to
idolatry, and they committed the one for the sake of being indulged in the
other.
TRAPP, "Numbers 25:2 And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods:
and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods.
Ver. 2. Unto the sacrifices of their gods.] Unto their idol feasts; for Sine cerere et
libero friget Venus. Gluttony is the gallery that lechery walketh through.
And bowed down to their gods.] Nemo repente fit turpissimus: by degrees they were
drawn to open idolatry. If a man’s foot slip into the mouth of hell, it is a miracle if
he stop ere he come to the bottom. Principiis obsta. Dally not with the devil; sin is
very insinuative; and the old serpent, if he once get in his head, will quickly wind in
his whole body.
POOLE, " They called the people: this may be noted, either,
1. As the consequent of their whoredom, an invitation to further society in their
23

24. sacred feasts; or rather,
2. As the cause or occasion of their whoredom, the Hebrew vau here signifying for,
as it oft doth. The Moabites being now neighbours to the Israelites, and finding
themselves unable to effect their design against Israel by war and witchcraft, they
now fell another way to work, by contracting familiarity with them; and perceiving
their evil and lustful inclinations, they, i.e. their daughters, last mentioned, invited
them to their feasts.
Unto the sacrifices, i.e. unto the feasts which were made of their parts of their
sacrifices, after the manner of the Jews and Gentiles too, the participation whereof
was reckoned a participation in the worship of that god to whom the sacrifices were
offered, 1 Corinthians 10:18, and therefore was forbidden to the Israelites when
such feasts and sacrifices belonged to a false god, Exodus 34:15. Yet this was a less
and more modest kind of idolatry, and therefore is fitly used to usher in what was
more gross and impious.
Of their gods, i.e. of their god, Baal-peor, the plural elohim being here used, as
commonly it is, for one god.
Bowed down; which properly notes the outward act of worship, which here
consisting in or being accompanied with filthy serious, may either signify or connote
them.
To their gods; before their gods, or, to the honour and worship of their gods.
BENSON, "Numbers 25:2. They called — The Moabites, being now neighbours to
the Israelites, and finding themselves unable to effect their design by war and
divination, fell another way to work, by contracting familiarity with them, and,
perceiving their evil inclinations, they, that is, their daughters, invited them unto the
sacrifices — Unto the feasts which were made of their parts of the sacrifices, after
the manner of the Jews and Gentiles too, the participation whereof was reckoned a
participation in the worship of that God to whom the sacrifices were offered. Of
their gods — Of their god Baal-peor, the plural Elohim being here used, as
commonly it is for one God.
PULPIT, "And they called, i.e; the women of Moab, encouraged to do so by the
licentious intercourse which had sprung up. Without such encouragement it is
difficult to suppose that they would have ventured on such a step. And the people
did eat. Gluttony added its seductions to lust. No doubt this generation were as
weary of the manna and as eager for other and heavier food as their fathers had
been (see on Numbers 11:4; Numbers 21:5).
24

25. 3 So Israel yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor.
And the Lord’s anger burned against them.
BARNES, "Joined himself - i. e., by taking part in the sacrificial meals as
described in the last verse. Compare Exo_34:15; 1Co_10:18. The worship of
Baal was attended with the grossest impurity, and indeed partly consisted
in it Hos_4:14; Hos_9:10.
Baal-peor - i. e., the Baal worshipped at Peer, the place mentioned in
Num_23:28 (compare Baal-meon, Num_32:38). (The identification of this
god with Chemosh in Num_21:29 is now given up.)
CLARKE, "Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor - The same as the Priapus
of the Romans, and worshipped with the same obscene rites as we have
frequently had occasion to remark.
The joining to Baal-peor, mentioned here, was probably what St. Paul had
in view when he said, 2Co_6:14 : Be ye not unequally yoked together with
unbelievers. And this joining, though done even in a matrimonial way, was
nevertheless fornication, (see Rev_2:14), as no marriage between an
Israelite and a Midianite could be legitimate, according to the law of God.
See the propositions at the close of the preceding chapter Num_24:25
(note).
GILL, "And Israel joined himself unto Baalpeor,.... The name of an idol; one
of the Baals, Baal being a general name for an idol; and, to distinguish this
from other Baals or idols, it was called Peor, either from its opening its
mouth in prophecy, as Ainsworth; or from some obscene posture and action
used in the worship of it, being, as it is by many thought to be, the same with
Priapus; or rather from the mountain Peor, where it was worshipped, as
Jupiter is called Jupiter Olympius, Capitolinus, &c. from the mountains
where he had a temple, or was worshipped; or from the name of some great
personage, called Lord Peor, who was deified after his death; hence these
Israelites are said to "eat the sacrifices of the dead", Psa_106:28. Mr.
Bedford (t) takes him to be Mizraim the son of Ham, the Osiris of the
Egyptians, and the Priapus of other Heathens: and Father Calmet (u) is of
opinion that he is the same with Orus, Osiris, and Adonis; and that Pe is
only a prepositive article, and that Or is the name, and no other than Orus;
but such a criticism the word will not bear: this idol, the chief god of the
Moabites, was, in all probability, the same with Chemosh, who is expressly
called the abomination of Moab, 1Ki_11:7 of whom See Gill on Jer_48:7 so
Chemosh and Peor are thought to be the same by our English poet (w): to
25

26. him the Israelites joined themselves, forsook the true God in a great
measure, and were initiated into the rites of this deity, and constantly
attended the worship of it, and cleaved unto it with their hearts and
directions, and joined with their harlots in all parts of service performed
unto it; See Gill on Hos_9:10,
and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel; for no sin is more
provoking to God than idolatry, that being so directly opposite to his nature,
honour, and glory, as well as to his will and worship; and hereby the end of
Balaam and Balak was, in a great measure, answered, and Balaam obtained
that by his evil counsel which he could not by all his conjuring; this was seen
by the plague sent among them; See Gill on Num_24:14.
JAMISON,"Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor — Baal was a general
name for “lord,” and Peor for a “mount” in Moab. The real name of the idol
was Chemosh, and his rites of worship were celebrated by the grossest
obscenity. In participating in this festival, then, the Israelites committed the
double offense of idolatry and licentiousness.
K&D 3-4, "And the anger of the Lord burned against the people, so that
Jehovah commanded Moses to fetch the heads of the people, i.e., to
assemble them together, and to “hang up” the men who had joined
themselves to Baal-Peor “before the Lord against the sun,” that the anger of
God might turn away from Israel. The burning of the wrath of God, which
was to be turned away from the people by the punishment of the guilty, as
enjoined upon Moses, consisted, as we may see from Num_25:8, Num_25:9,
in a plague inflicted upon the nation, which carried off a great number of
the people, a sudden death, as in Num_14:37; Num_17:11. ַ‫יע‬ ִ‫ק‬ ‫,ה‬ from ‫ע‬ ַ‫ָק‬‫י‬, to
be torn apart or torn away (Ges., Winer), refers to the punishment of
crucifixion, a mode of capital punishment which was adopted by most of the
nations of antiquity (see Winer, bibl. R. W. i. p. 680), and was carried out
sometimes by driving a stake into the body, and so impaling them
(ἀνασκολοπίζειν), the mode practised by the Assyrians and Persians (Herod.
iii. 159, and Layard's Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. p. 374, and plate on p.
369), at other times by fastening them to a stake or nailing them to a cross
(ἀνασταυροῦν). In the instance before us, however, the idolaters were not
impaled or crucified alive, but, as we may see from the word ‫גּוּ‬ ְ‫ר‬ ִ‫ה‬ in Num_
25:5, and in accordance with the custom frequently adopted by other
nations (see Herzog's Encyclopaedia), they were first of all put to death, and
then impaled upon a stake or fastened upon a cross, so that the impaling or
crucifixion was only an aggravation of the capital punishment, like the
burning in Lev_20:14, and the hanging (‫ה‬ ָ‫ל‬ ָ‫)תּ‬ in Deu_21:22. The rendering
adopted by the lxx and Vulgate is παραδειγματίζειν, suspendere, in this
passage, and in 2Sa_21:6, 2Sa_21:9, ἐξηλιάζειν (to expose to the sun), and
crucifigere. ‫ָה‬ ‫יה‬ ַ‫,ל‬ for Jehovah, as satisfaction for Him, i.e., to appease His
wrath. ‫ם‬ ָ‫ת‬ ‫א‬ (them) does not refer to the heads of the nation, but to the guilty
26

27. persons, upon whom the heads of the nation were to pronounce sentence.
CALVIN, "3.AndIsrael joined himself to Baal-peor. Moses amplifies their crime by
this expression, that they bound themselves to the idol in an impious alliance; and
thus he alludes to that holy union whereby God had connected Himself with the
people, and accuses them of broken faith and wicked rebellion. Nevertheless, it is
probable that the people were not impelled by superstition, but enticed by the wiles
of the women to offer worship to idols which they despised. Yet we are told how
God declared that they were “joined” to the idol, which they merely pretended to
worship, in order to comply with the ungodly wishes of the women. Hence,
therefore, this general instruction may be gathered, that when we turn aside from
pure religion, we in a manner connect ourselves with idols, so as to coalesce in one
body with them, and conspire to renounce the true God.
Baal was then the general name of almost all idols; but all epithet is added to the
idol of the Moabites, taken from Mount Peor; nor does it appear that we need go in
quest of any other etymology, since the name of this mountain has recently been
mentioned. It was on the same principle as in Popery, when they name their Marys
after particular places, (183) where the most famous statues are worshipped.
COKE, "Numbers 25:3. Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor— See the note on ch.
Numbers 21:29. St. Jerome informs us, that Baal-peor was the same as the Greek
and Roman Priapus; that this idol was like that of Priapus. That his worship
consisted of gross obscenity and impurity there can be no question. See Hosea 10:15
and Revelation 2:14. Those who are inclined to know more respecting this idol,
(who, with his ceremonies, was of too gross a sort to engage our further attention,)
may consult Calmet's Dissertation upon the subject. When it is said, Psalms 106:28
that they joined themselves unto Baal-peor, and ate the offerings of the dead, it
cannot be concluded from thence that Baal-peor was some dead prince idolized; for
the dead, in this place, means no more than those dead idols, whom St. Paul calls,
nothing in the world, 1 Corinthians 8:4 and who may be denominated dead, in
opposition to the living God. See Vossius, de Idol. lib. 2: cap. 7.
TRAPP, "Numbers 25:3 And Israel joined himself unto Baalpeor: and the anger of
the LORD was kindled against Israel.
Ver. 3. Joined himself to Baalpeor.] Separated himself to that shame, [Hosea 9:10]
that abominable and shameless service of Priapus, as Jerome and Isidore
understand it, as Maachah the mother of Asa seems to have done, [1 Kings 15:13]
and other filthy persons, whose fashion was, as soon as their sacrifice was ended, to
step aside into the grove of their god, and there, like brute beasts, promiscuously to
satisfy their lusts, &c. Vah scelus infandum!
27

28. POOLE, " Joined himself; the word implies a forsaking of God, to whom they were
and should have been joined, and a turning to, embracing of, strict conjunction
with, and fervent affection after, this false god. Compare Hosea 9:10 2 Corinthians
6:14. Baal-peor, called Baal, by the name common to many false gods, and especially
to those that represented any of the heavenly bodies; and Peor, either from the hill
Peor, where he was worshipped, Numbers 23:28, or rather from a verb signifying to
open and uncover, either because of the obscene posture in which possibly the idol
was set, as Priapus was, or because of the filthiness which was exercised in his
worship.
Was kindled, i.e. discovered itself in a dreadful plague, Psalms 106:29.
BENSON, "Numbers 25:3. Joined himself — The word implies a forsaking God, to
whom they were joined, and a turning to, and strict conjunction with, this false god.
Baal-peor — Called Baal, by the name common to many false gods, and especially to
those that represented any of the heavenly bodies; and Peor, either from the hill
Peor, where he was worshipped, Numbers 23:28; or rather from a verb signifying to
open and uncover, because of the obscene posture in which the idol was set, as
Priapus was; or because of the filthiness which was exercised in his worship.
WHEDON, " 3. Baal-peor, to whom Israel (that is, multitudes of them) joined
himself, literally, bound himself, was a Moabitish Priapus, whose image, shocking to
modesty, was worshipped by women and virgins who prostituted themselves in his
service.
Anger… kindled — Holiness must necessarily antagonize sin, and justice must
punish the sinner in every case except where the ends of moral government are
attained by the intervention of an atonement. Note, Judges 2:14.
PETT, "Numbers 25:3
‘And Israel joined himself to Baal-peor: and the anger of Yahweh was kindled
against Israel.’
Thus Israel joined themselves to Baal-peor (the lord of Peor). That is they became
involved in idolatry and all the behaviour that went with it. The lord of Peor may
have been Chemosh, the Moabite god, or a local Baal favoured by the Midianites.
This resulted in Yahweh’s anger being aroused, His righteous aversion to such evil
behaviour. They had deserted Him and what He stood for and had chosen to follow
idols and what they stood for.
PULPIT, "Israel joined himself unto Baal-Peor. This is a technical phrase, repeated
in Numbers 25:5, and quoted in Psalms 106:28, expressing the quasi-sacramental
28

29. union into which they entered with the heathen deity by partaking of his sacrificial
meats and by sharing in his impure rites (cf. Hosea 9:10 and the argument of St.
Paul in 1 Corinthians 10:1-33). There can be little doubt that Peor ( ‫עוֹר‬ ְ‫,פּ‬ from ‫ר‬ַ‫ﬠ‬ָ‫,פ‬
to open) has the sense of aperiens, in usu obsceno, and that it was the distinguishing
name of Baal or Chemosh when worshipped as the god of reproduction with the
abominable rites proper to this cultus. For a notice of the same thing in the last days
of Israel see Hosea 4:14, and for the practice of Babylonian and (to some degree)
Egyptian women, see Herodotus, 1.199; 2.60). The Septuagint has here ἐτελέσθη τῷ
βεελφεγώρ , "was consecrated," or "initiated," unto Baal-Peor, which admirably
expressed the sense.
4 The Lord said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of
these people, kill them and expose them in broad
daylight before the Lord, so that the
Lord’s fierce anger may turn away from Israel.”
BARNES, "Take - i. e., assemble the chiefs of the people to thee (compare
the phrase “took men,” in Num_16:1). The offenders were to be first; slain
by the hands of “the judges of Israel” Num_25:5, and afterward hung up
“against the sun” (i. e., publicly, openly; compare 2Sa_12:12) as an
aggravation of their punishment. This would be done by impaling the body
or fastening it to a cross. Compare Deu_21:23 note, and 2Sa_21:9.
CLARKE, "Take all the heads of the people, etc. - Meaning the chiefs of
those who had transgressed; as if he had said, “Assemble the chiefs and
judges, institute an inquiry concerning the transgressors, and hang them
who shall be found guilty before the Lord, as a matter required by his
justice.” Against the sun - in the most public manner, and in daylight. Dr.
Kennicott has remarked that the Samaritan and Hebrew texts must be both
taken together, to make the sense here complete: And the Lord said unto
Moses, Speak unto all the heads of the people; And Let Them Slay The Men
That Were Joined To Baal-Peor; and hang them up before the Lord against
the sun, etc.
GILL, "And the Lord said unto Moses,.... Being provoked with the sins of the
people, he called to him out of the tabernacle, or out of the cloud:
29

30. take all the heads of the people, the princes of the tribes, not to hang them,
but to judge those that worshipped Peor, as Jarchi interprets it; though
some think that these having sinned, were ordered to be taken and hanged,
and made public examples of; but it can hardly be thought, though there
were some that might be guilty of the above sins, as Zimri, yet not all of
them:
hang them up before the Lord against the sun; that is, those that were guilty
of idolatry: the meaning is, and which all the Targums give into, that these
heads of the people were to assemble at some proper place, the court of
judicature, and order the delinquents to be brought before them, and try,
judge, and condemn those they found guilty, and cause them to be hanged
somewhere near the tabernacle, and before it, having neglected the worship
of God there, and served an idol; and this was to be done openly in the
daytime, that all might see and fear; and if it was the sun that was
worshipped in this idol, as some think, they were hanged against the sun, to
show that the idol they worshipped was not able to deliver them; but, in the
face of it, and as it were in defiance of it, they were ordered to be hanged up;
and this, according to the Targum of Jonathan, was in the morning against
the rising sun, and where they hung all day, and were taken down at sun
setting:
that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel; when
justice had taken place, and proper punishment was inflicted upon the
criminals, whereby a just resentment was made against sin, and God
glorified.
JAMISON,"The Lord said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the people,
and hang them up — Israelite criminals, who were capitally punished, were
first stoned or slain, and then gibbeted. The persons ordered here for
execution were the principal delinquents in the Baal-peor outrage - the
subordinate officers, rulers of tens or hundreds.
before the Lord — for vindicating the honor of the true God.
against the sun — that is, as a mark of public ignominy; but they were to be
removed towards sunset (Deu_21:23).
CALVIN, "4.And the Lord said unto Moses. We have often seen before how God
executed His judgments by His own hand, as if He put it forth from heaven; He now
imposes this office on Moses, although it is evident from the context that he was not
appointed to execute it alone, but that the other judges were associated with him;
for it immediately follows that Moses intrusted the same charge to them, and thus,
what was obscure, on account of the brevity with which it is recorded, is more
clearly expressed. At any rate, it was a notable judgment of God Himself, though He
employed men as its ministers. Nor does Paul in vain exhort (184) us by this example
to beware of fornication.
The mode of the punishment, however, was diverse, for the lower orders were slain
30

31. (by pestilence,) but the leaders were hanged upon the gallows, that the sight might
awaken more terror; for by “the heads of the people” he means those of the highest
repute, whose ignominy must have been most notable, because the eyes of all men
are generally upon the great and noble. Hence, also, they deservedly incur the
heavier punishment, because obscure persons do less harm by their example, nor
are their acts so generally the objects of imitation. Let, therefore, those who are held
in esteem beware lest they provoke others to sin by their evil deeds, for, in
proportion to each man’s pre-eminence, the less excuse he deserves. Others interpret
it differently, as if Moses were commanded to fetch the princes to give their sentence
against the criminals; thus by the pronoun “them” they understood whosoever
should be convictcd; but it is hardly probable that so great a multitude were
hanged, and therefore I do not doubt but that reference is made to their peculiar
punishment:.
COKE, "Numbers 25:4. Take all the heads of the people, &c.— The next verse very
fully explains what is meant by this expression; namely, all those who had joined
themselves unto Baal-peor: others, however, would interpret it, take unto thee, that
is, unto thy assistance, all the heads of the people; that is, all the judges: but the
word them in the next clause will, under this interpretation, be very harsh. It is
probable, for the reason we shall suggest by and by, that a thousand of the Israelites
underwent this punishment.
REFLECTIONS.—Balaam's counsel, before he left Moab, produced a worse effect
than his intended curse could have done. The alluring arts of lascivious beauty are
the strongest witchcraft of the devil. Observe,
1. The crying sins that Israel committed; whoredom and idolatry. The daughters of
Moab, armed with more offensive weapons than Balak's mighty warriors, with eyes
full of adultery, which cannot cease from sin, and tongues smoother than oil, yet
sharper than drawn swords, beset them, and (shameful to tell!) prevail. Bound in
these silken cords of pleasure's lure, they run to those sacrifices which they before
abhorred; for the gratification of bestial appetites they deny their God, and sacrifice
to the abomination of the Moabites. Blind to the happy land before them, even at
Shittim, in full view of it, they prefer a present lust to all the promises of a covenant
God. Dreadful and aggravated crime! Note; (1.) They who tempt others to sin, are
the most guilty instruments of the devil. (2.) The lures of women are the most
dangerous of temptations. (3.) Flight is the only conquest. (4.) If once the heart be
ensnared, there are no lengths into which the miserable slave of lust and beauty may
not be led. (5.) Nothing more strongly tends to effect the soul's final apostacy from
God, than yielding to the solicitation of the flesh.
2. The judgment of God upon them. They will buy pleasure dear, who purchase it at
the price of God's displeasure and eternal damnation. Execution is immediately
done upon them. They are hung up before the Lord, and a plague consumes the
people. Note; (1.) The fire of lust and the flames of hell are inseparable. (2.) The
plagues of God will quickly turn the sweets of forbidden pleasure into the gall of
31

32. asps, and the gnawings of the worm which never dies.
ELLICOTT, " (4) Take all the heads of the people.—The “heads” or “chiefs” of the
people seem to be identical with the “judges” of the following verse. Some
understand by “all the heads” those only who had been the chief offenders, whilst
others understand the word “take” as equivalent to “assemble,” or “bring before
thee,” and refer the word “them” to the offenders.
Hang them up . . . —It is obvious from Numbers 25:5 that the punishment of
impaling or crucifying was not to be inflicted until after death. The LXX. renders
the Hebrew verb which is here used (and which is found also in 2 Samuel 21:6; 2
Samuel 21:9) by the same word which occurs in Hebrews 6:6, and is there translated
“to put to an open shame.”
TRAPP, "Numbers 25:4 And the LORD said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the
people, and hang them up before the LORD against the sun, that the fierce anger of
the LORD may be turned away from Israel.
Ver. 4. Take all the heads.] The chieftains: their greatness might not bear them out.
Potentes potenter torquebuntur. Hell is paved, said one of old, with the bald pates of
shavellings, and with the crests of great commanders, who had ever opposed with
crest and breast whatsoever stood in the way of their sins and lusts.
POOLE, " The sense is, either,
1. Take, to wit. to thyself and thy assistance,
all the heads, i.e. the judges, as they are called Numbers 25:5, or rulers,
of the people; and in their presence, and by their help,
hang them, i.e. the people, now mentioned, to wit, such of them as were guilty, as
was said Numbers 25:1. And this sense seems to be favoured by the next verse,
where the execution of this command is mentioned, Moses said unto the judges of
Israel, whom he had taken to himself and called together, Slay ye every one his man,
i.e. each. of you execute this command of God, and hang up the delinquents under
your several jurisdictions. Or,
2. Take, i.e. apprehend,
all the heads, i.e. the chief, of the people, such as were chief, either in this
transgression, or rather in place and power, who are singled out to this exemplary
punishment either for their neglect in not preventing, restraining, or punishing the
offenders according to their power and duty, or for their concurrence with others in
this wickedness, which was more odious and mischievous in them than in others.
32

33. And then this must be necessarily limited to such heads as were guilty, which is
evident from the nature of the thing, and from the words of the verse. And so these
heads of the people differ, as in name and title, so in place and dignity, from the
judges of the people, Numbers 25:5, which may seem to note the superior
magistrates, even the seventy elders, which, being persons of great worth and piety,
chosen by God, and endowed with his Spirit, most probably kept themselves from
this contagion, and therefore were fitter to punish others; and the heads of the
people seem to be the inferior magistrates, the rulers of tens or hundreds, or the
like, who as they did many of them partake with the people in other rebellions, so
probably were involved in this guilt. Now these are to be hanged up as other
malefactors and condemned persons were, Deuteronomy 21:23 2 Samuel 21:6.
Before the Lord; to the vindication of God’s honour and justice.
Against the sun, i.e. publicly, as their sin was public and scandalous; and speedily,
before the sun go down. But withal this phrase may signify, that these also must be
taken down about sun-setting, as other malefactors were, Deuteronomy 21:23.
BENSON, "Numbers 25:4. Take — That is, apprehend; all the heads (or chief) of
the people — Such as were chief in this transgression, and in place and power.
These are singled out to this exemplary punishment for their concurrence with
others in this wickedness, which was more odious, and of more pernicious tendency
in them. Hang them up before the Lord — That is, either before the sanctuary, as
men who had forsaken the worship of God, and were by his sentence adjudged to
die; or, to the vindication of his honour and justice. Others interpret the words thus:
Take unto thee, or to thine assistance, the heads, or judges of the people, and hang
them up; that is, hang up such as have joined themselves to Baal-peor. This
interpretation seems to be justified by the next verse, in which Moses directs the
judges to do their duty by punishing the offenders. Against the sun — Publicly and
openly, as their sin was public and scandalous, that all the people might see, and
fear to sin; and speedily, before the sun went down. It was provided by the Jewish
law, that the bodies of malefactors should hang no longer than till the evening of the
day on which they suffered, Deuteronomy 21:22-23.
WHEDON, " THE IDOLATERS PUNISHED, Numbers 25:4-9.
4. Take all the heads of the people — This command is not only to put to death the
guilty Israelites, but as a strong expression of loathing and a seeming aggravation of
punishment, (note, Leviticus 20:14,) as well as a most impressive warning against
future idolatry, their bodies were to be impaled and publicly exposed. Dr. Kennicott
remarks that the Samaritan and the Hebrew texts united make the sense of this
verse complete. Speak unto all the heads of the people; and let them slay the men
that were joined to Baal-peor; and hang them up before the Lord, etc.
33

34. Before the Lord — Literally, for Jehovah, that is, to placate him.
PETT, "Numbers 25:4
‘And Yahweh said to Moses, “Take all the chiefs of the people, and hang them up to
Yahweh before the sun, that the fierce anger of Yahweh may turn away from
Israel.’
That the failure took in a large number of Israelites is made apparent by the fact
that only the chieftains among them were to be executed. Yahweh told Moses to
hang up before Yahweh, in the sun, all the chieftains of the people who had been
misbehaving. This suggests that a good number of chieftains were involved, which
made the position even worse. Only then would His anger be turned away. (‘Them’
cannot mean all the chiefs in Israel, for Moses now turned to some of them for
assistance. It refers to those who were among those who had sinned - see
Deuteronomy 24:16).
PULPIT, "The Lord said unto Moses. It seems strange that so fearful an apostasy
had gone so far without interference on the part of Moses. He may have been absent
from the camp on account of the wars with the Amorite kings; or he may have
trusted to the chiefs to see that due order and discipline was maintained in the
camps. Take all the heads of the people, i.e; the chiefs, who ought to have prevented,
and might have prevented, this monstrous irregularity, but who seem, if we may
judge from the case of Zimri, to have countenanced it. The mere neglect of duty in
so gross a case was reason enough for summary execution. Hang them up before the
Lord. Either by way of impalement or by way of crucifixion, both of which were
familiar modes of punishment. In this case the guilty persons were probably slain
first, and exposed afterwards. The hanging up was not ordered on account of its
cruelty, nor merely for the sake of publicity ("against the sun ), but in order to show
that the victims were devoted to the wrath of God against sin (cf. Deuteronomy
21:23; 2 Samuel 21:2-6). The Septuagint has here παραδειγμάτισον αὐτούς. Cf.
Hebrews 6:6, where this word is coupled with "crucify." Them is no authority for
referring the "them" ( ‫ם‬ ָ‫אוֹת‬ ) to the guilty persons instead of to the heads of the
people, as is done by the Targums and by many commentators.
5 So Moses said to Israel’s judges, “Each of you
must put to death those of your people who have
yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor.”
34

35. CLARKE, "Slay ye every one his men - In the different departments where
you preside over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens, slay all the culprits
that shall be found.
GILL, "And Moses said unto the judges of Israel,.... Either the same with the
heads of the people, or the rulers of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens,
according to the distribution by the advice of Jethro:
slay ye everyone his men, that were joined unto Baalpeor; all that were
under their several districts and jurisdictions, that were found guilty of that
crime; these they are ordered to slay, either with their own hands, or rather
cause to be slain by proper persons they should appoint to be executioners.
JAMISON,"judges of Israel — the seventy elders, who were commanded
not only to superintend the execution within their respective jurisdictions,
but to inflict the punishment with their own hands. (See on 1Sa_15:33).
K&D, "The judges were to put to death every one his men, i.e., such of the
evil-doers as belonged to his forum, according to the judicial arrangements
instituted in Ex 18. This command of Moses to the judges was not carried
out, however, because the matter took a different turn.
TRAPP, "Numbers 25:5 And Moses said unto the judges of Israel, Slay ye every one
his men that were joined unto Baalpeor.
Ver. 5. Unto the judges of Israel.]. Those of them that had not defiled themselves;
else with what face could they punish others? or look upon those, that before their
faces had been hanged up against the sun, whose destruction was for ever to be
remembered? [Micah 6:5]
POOLE, "Every one his men, i.e. those under his charge; for as these seventy were
chosen to assist Moses in the government, so doubtless the care and management of
the people was distributed among them by just and equal proportions.
BENSON, "Numbers 25:5. Slay ye every one his men — Moses having, in
conjunction with the judges, searched out such as had been guilty of this lewdness
and idolatry, allots to each magistrate his number of malefactors for execution, that
they might either put them to death with their own hands, as Phinehas did,
(Numbers 25:7,) or by proper officers. It seems probable that the judges were
dilatory in executing this order, since God himself thought fit to visit the heads of
35

36. the idolaters with exemplary punishment, Numbers 25:8.
WHEDON, "5. Slay ye every one his men — This is far from an indiscriminate
slaughter by what is called “lynch law,” but every judge is charged to convict
according to the forms of law, and punish every apostate Israelite in his jurisdiction.
Exodus 18:21-26.
PETT, "Numbers 25:5
‘And Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Slay you every one his men who have
joined themselves to Baal-peor.” ’
So Moses went to the high chiefs of Israel with special responsibility as judges and
bade them slay all in their tribes who had committed idolatry and participated in
the worship of Baal-peor, thereby ‘joining themselves’ to him.
PULPIT, "Numbers 25:5
The judges of Israel. ‫י‬ֵ‫ט‬ ְ‫פ‬ֹ‫ל־שׁ‬ ֶ‫א‬ . This is the first place where "the judges" are
mentioned by this name (cf. Deuteronomy 1:16; 2:16), but the verb is freely used in
Exodus 27-18:1 , in describing the functions of the officers appointed at Sinai. Every
one his men. The men who were under his particular jurisdiction. This command
given by Moses is not to be confounded with the previous command given to Moses
to hang up all the chiefs. Moses only could deal with the chief, but it was within the
power and the province of the judges to deal with ordinary offenders. It does not,
however, appear how far either of these commands was put in practice.
6 Then an Israelite man brought into the camp a
Midianite woman right before the eyes of Moses
and the whole assembly of Israel while they were
weeping at the entrance to the tent of meeting.
BARNES, "A Midianite woman - literally, “the Midianite woman,” the
particular one by whom he had been enticed (compare Num_25:15 and
Num_31:18). Her high rank proves that Zimri had not fallen in with her by
36

37. mere chance, but had been deliberately singled out by the Midianites as one
whom they must at any price lead astray.
Weeping before the door of the tabernacle - The plague Num_25:9 had
already broken out among the people: and the more God-fearing had
assembled at the door of the tabernacle of God (compare the marginal
reference.) to intercede for mercy, when Zimri committed the fresh and
public outrage just described.
CLARKE, "One of the children of Israel - Zimri, the son of Salu, a prince of
a chief family in the tribe of Simeon, Num_25:14, brought a Midianitish
woman, Cozbi, daughter of Zur, head over a people of one of the chief
families in Midian, Num_25:15. The condition of these two persons plainly
proves it to have been a matrimonial alliance, the one was a prince, the
other a princess; therefore I must conclude that fornication or whoredom,
in the common sense of the word, was not practiced on this occasion. The
matter was bad enough, as the marriage was in flat opposition to the law of
God; and we need not make it worse by representing the woman as a
common prostitute, as the Vulgate and several others have done. In such a
case this is absolutely inadmissible. Josephus positively says that Zimri had
married Cozbi, Antiq., 1. iv., cap. 6; and if he had not said so, still the thing
is nearly self-evident. See Num_24:25 (note).
The children of Israel, who were weeping - This aggravated the crime,
because the people were then in a state of great humiliation, because of the
late impure and illegal transactions.
GILL, "nd, behold, one of the children of Israel came,.... From one of the
cities of Moab or Midian, the latter rather, by what follows; where he had
been, very probably, to an idolatrous feast, and had eaten of the sacrifices,
and worshipped idols, and committed fornication with the daughters of the
land; and not content with indulging himself with those impurities at a
distance and where he was less known:
brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman; into his father's family,
into a tent where his brethren dwelt:
in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children
of Israel; in the most open and undisguised manner, into the midst of the
camp, passing by Moses, and a great number of the people, who were
gathered together on this solemn occasion, to seek the Lord, and humble
themselves before him:
who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation; the
place where the people used to assemble together for religious exercises;
here they were weeping and mourning for the sins and abominations that
were committed among them, and on account of the punishment inflicted
on many of them, by the hand of the civil magistrate, and because of the
37

38. plague that was broke out upon them, from an angry God; by which it
appears, that though there were many who had fallen into those foul sins,
yet there were a great number which were not defiled with them, and sighed
and cried for the abominations in the midst of them: and because the fact
here recorded was such an amazing piece of impudence, the word "behold"
is prefixed to the account of it, it being done in such a public, bold, and
audacious manner, and at such a time, when so many had been hanged up
for it, and the plague of God was broke out among the people on account of
it, and good men were bewailing the sin, and the punishment of it; and if
this was on a sabbath day, as the Samaritan Chronicle (x) relates, it was a
further aggravation of it.
HENRY, "Here is a remarkable contest between wickedness and
righteousness, which shall be most bold and resolute; and righteousness
carries the day, as no doubt it will at last.
I. Never was vice more daring than it was in Zimri, a prince of a chief
house in the tribe of Simeon. Such a degree of impudence in wickedness had
he arrived at that he publicly appeared leading a Midianitish harlot (and a
harlot of quality too like himself, a daughter of a chief house in Midian) in
the sight of Moses, and all the good people of Israel. He did not think it
enough to go out with his harlot to worship the gods of Moab, but, when he
had done that, he brought her with him to dishonour the God of Israel. He
not only owned her publicly as his friend, and higher in his favour then any
of the daughters of Israel, but openly went with her into the tent, Num_
25:8. The word signifies such a booth or place of retirement as was designed
and fitted up for lewdness. Thus he declared his sin as Sodom, as was so far
from blushing for it that he rather prided himself in it, and gloried in his
shame. All the circumstances concurred to make it exceedingly sinful,
exceedingly shameful. 1. It was an affront to the justice of the nation, and
bade defiance to that. The judges were ordered to put the criminals to
death, but he thought himself too great for them to meddle with, and, in
effect, bade them touch him if they durst. He had certainly cast off all fear of
God who stood in no awe of the powers which he had ordained to be a terror
to evil-doers. 2. It was an affront to the religion of the nation, and put a
contempt upon that. Moses, and the main body of the congregation, who
kept their integrity, were weeping at the door of the tabernacle, lamenting
the sin committed and deprecating the plague begun; they were sanctifying
a fast in a solemn assembly, weeping between the porch and the altar, to
turn away the wrath of God from the congregation. Then comes Zimri
among them, with his harlot in his hand, to banter them, and, in effect, to
tell them that he was resolved to fill the measure of sin as fast as they
emptied it.
JAMISON,"behold, one of the children of Israel ... brought ... a
Midianitish woman — This flagitious act most probably occurred about the
time when the order was given and before its execution.
who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle — Some of the rulers
and well-disposed persons were deploring the dreadful wickedness of the
38

39. people and supplicating the mercy of God to avert impending judgments.
K&D 6-7, "Whilst the heads of the people were deliberating on the subject,
and the whole congregation was assembled before the tabernacle, weeping
on account of the divine wrath, there came an Israelite, a prince of the tribe
of Simeon, who brought a Midianitish woman, the daughter of a Midianitish
chief (Num_25:14), to his brethren, i.e., into the camp of the Israelites,
before the eyes of Moses and all the congregation, to commit adultery with
her in his tent. This shameless wickedness, in which the depth of the
corruption that had penetrated into the congregation came to light,
inflamed the zeal of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the high priest, to such an
extent, that he seized a spear, and rushing into the tent of the adulterer,
pierced both of them through in the very act. ‫ה‬ ָ‫בּ‬ ֻ‫קּ‬ ַ‫,ה‬ lit., the arched, or arch,
is applied here to the inner or hinder division of the tent, the sleeping-room
and women's room in the larger tents of the upper classes.
CALVIN, "6.And, behold, one of the children of Israel came. Moses here relates a
case which was foul and detestable beyond others. There is no doubt but that many,
in the midst of such gross licentiousness as had now for some time generally
prevailed, had filled the camp with various scandalous offenses; but there was
something peculiarly enormous in the atrocity of this act, in that this impious
despiser of God wantonly insulted both God and men amidst the tears and
lamentations of all, as if he were triumphing over all shame and modesty. The
multitude were weeping before the tabernacle, that is to say, all the pious who
trembled at the thought of approaching calamity, since they were fully persuaded
that this licentiousness, accompanied by idolatry and sacrilege, would not be
unpunished; meanwhile, this abandoned man rushes forward, and, in mockery of
their tears, leads his harlot in procession as it were. No wonder, therefore, that God
should have exercised such severity, when things had come to this extremity. But it
must be observed that the order of the history is inverted, since it is not credible
that, after the Judges had begun to perform their office, such an iniquity should be
committed. But this narrative is thus inserted, in order that it may be more
apparent how necessary it was to proceed speedily to severe chastisement, since
otherwise it would have been impossible to apply a remedy in time to so desperate
an evil.
COFFMAN, "Verse 6
"And, behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a
Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of
the children of Israel, while they were weeping at the door of the tent of meeting.
And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose
up from the midst of the congregation, and took a spear in his hand; and he went
after the man of Israel into the pavilion, and thrust both of them through, the man
39

40. of Israel, and the woman through her body. So the plague was stayed from the
children of Israel. And those that died by the plague Were twenty and four
thousand. This very brief account centers around the daring execution of Zimri by
Phinehas; but the implications of it are extensive. Zimri's importance and the rank
of Cozbi are not mentioned till the last of the chapter. The most astounding thing
here is that God honored this brutal execution by halting the plague that had
already begun raging among the people. More on this later. It is evident that the
words "in the sight of Moses" and "in the sight of all the congregation" indicate a
frontal challenge to Mosaic authority and an open invitation for all Israel to follow
Zimri."
From this instance, and from the example of Samuel's slaying of Agag, the Jews
formulated what they called the "jus zelotarum," by which, any person seeing
another in the very act of violating divine law might take vengeance into his own
hand and slay the offender. God authorized no such thing. It was under this corrupt
law (so-called) that the Jews stoned the Christian martyr Stephen to death, and
under which, more than once, they tried to stone the Christ himself. The blind error
of the Jews on this is that they failed to see why God commended Phinehas. It
certainly was not for his taking justice into his own hands. It was his zeal that God
commended. The next paragraph deals with God's commendation of Phinehas.
COKE, "Numbers 25:6. One of the children of Israel came and brought, &c.— One
cannot conceive a higher degree of insolence and wickedness than this of Zimri; who
thought, perhaps, that the eminence of his rank would secure him from punishment,
even though he should carry his crime to the greatest height. Nothing could shew a
stronger contempt of Moses's authority, and of the God who gave him that
authority.
TRAPP, "Numbers 25:6 And, behold, one of the children of Israel came and
brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and in the
sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who [were] weeping [before]
the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
Ver. 6. In the sight of Moses.] This man’s face was hatched over with detestable
impudence; he thought, it may be, that being so great a man, none durst meddle
with him. Pliny (a) reports of Proculus Caesar, that by him, viginti virgines intra
dies quindecim faetum conceperunt. Louis II of France inviting our Edward IV to
the French court, Recte erit cognate, saith he, iucundi vivemus et suaviter, teque
oblectabis cum lectissimis faeminis, &c. - he should have added, "But know, that for
all these things thou must come to judgment": [Ecclesiastes 11:9] that would have
haply allayed his lust, cooled his courage, and not have come in with his - Adhibebo
tibi Cardinalem Borbonium; is, quicquid peccaris, pro ea quam habet potestate,
facile expiabit. Thou shalt take thy full pleasure, and then my cardinal shall give
thee full pardon. (b)
40

41. POOLE, " This was done, either,
1. Before God’s command to Moses, and by him to the judges, Numbers 25:4,5, such
transpositions and disorders being not unusual in sacred story. Or rather,
2. In the order it is related, to wit, when Moses had given the charge to the judges,
and, as it may seem, before the execution of it, otherwise it is probable he would not
have been so bold and foolish to have run upon present and certain ruin, when the
examples were fresh and frequent before his eyes.
Unto his brethren, i.e. into the camp of the Israelites, or to his friends and relations
in his tent, whither he carried her; Numbers 25:8, for his or their fleshly
satisfaction.
In the sight of Moses; an argument of intolerable impudence and contempt of God
and of Moses.
All the congregation, i.e. the rulers of the congregation with divers of the people.
Weeping; bewailing the abominable wickedness of the people, and the dreadful
judgments of God, and imploring God’s mercy and favour.
BENSON, "Numbers 25:6. Behold one came — This was done when Moses had
given the charge to the judges, and, as it may seem, before the execution of it;
otherwise it is probable he would not have been so foolish as to have run upon
certain ruin, when the examples were frequent before his eyes. To his brethren —
Into the camp of the Israelites. In the sight of Moses — An argument of intolerable
impudence and contempt of God and of Moses. Weeping — Bewailing the
wickedness of the people, and the dreadful judgments of God, and imploring God’s
mercy and favour.
WHEDON, "Verses 6-9
6-9. One brought a Midianitish woman — From Numbers 25:14-15, we learn that
the man was Zimri, a prince of the Simeonites, and the woman Cozbi, the daughter
of a chief of Midian.
In the sight of all the congregation — This bold affront unveils the depth of the
corruption which pervaded some in the camp, and fired the heart of Phinehas, the
son of Eleazar, with the vehemence of a zealot. Seizing a javelin he rushed into the
tent of the adulterer, and with one thrust transfixed both the man and the woman.
Hebrew law ever recognised what is called the zealots’ right to correct a flagrant
abuse which was overstepping the law and defying the ordinary courts of justice.
41

42. Jesus, simply as a Hebrew citizen, purged the temple by this right.
So the plague was stayed — The stroke of the divine vengeance, which was falling
like burning thunderbolts upon the camp, was arrested by this extraordinary
immolation of these guilty parties.
Twenty and four thousand — St. Paul says that twenty-three thousand fell in “one
day.” This Ewald, Alford, and Meyer regard as a slip of memory on the apostle’s
part. A better explanation is, that Paul refers only to those cut off by the plague, and
that an additional thousand were executed by sentence of the courts. Note, Numbers
25:5; see note, 1 Corinthians 10:8.
PETT, " A Midianitish Woman Is Brought Into the Camp by a Simeonite Chieftain
(Numbers 25:6).
Numbers 25:6
‘And, behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought to his brethren a
Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of
the children of Israel, while they were weeping at the door of the tent of meeting.’
But even while the judges were meeting, and there was weeping at the door of the
Tent of meeting, because of the sin of Israel and presumably because of the plague
which had now broken out, ‘one of the children of Israel’ (a Simeonite chieftain - see
Numbers 25:14) boldly and blatantly brought into the camp a Midianitish woman in
the sight of Moses and all who were gathered before Yahweh. He appears to have
had no shame in the matter. He presented her to his brethren before taking her to
his ‘pavilion’ or inner portion of the tent. His open and brash involvement with the
Midianite women was made very clear. It was high handed sin.
Prior to this it would appear that all the ‘sinning’ occurred outside the camp. So this
was an increase in offence by the introduction of idolatrous behaviour into the holy
camp of Yahweh. That was what justified Phinehas’ instant action.
PULPIT, "A Midianitish woman. Rather, "the Midianitish woman." ‫ית‬ִ‫ָנ‬‫י‬ ְ‫ד‬ ִ‫מּ‬ַ‫ת־ה‬ ֶ‫א‬ .
Septuagint, τὴν ΄αδιανίτην. The writer deals with an incident only too notorious,
and which by the peculiar aggravation of its circumstances had fixed itself deeply in
the popular memory. This is the first mention of the Midianites in connection with
this affair, and it prepares us to learn without surprise that they were in reality the
authors of this mischief. All the congregation,… who were weeping. According to
the loose sense in which this expression is used throughout the Pentateuch, it
evidently means that those who truly represented the nation, not only as a political,
but also as a religions community, were gathered in this distress before the presence
of their invisible King. They wept on account of the wrath of God provoked;
probably also on account of the wrath of God already gone forth in the form of a
42

43. pestilence.
7 When Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of
Aaron, the priest, saw this, he left the assembly,
took a spear in his hand
BARNES, "And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the
priest, saw it,.... Saw the man pass by in this impudent manner, and his
whore with him; his spirit was stirred up, he was filled and fired with zeal
for the glory of God, and with an holy indignation against the sin and sinner,
and with a just concern for the honour of the righteous law of God; and, to
prevent others from falling into the same sin, led by the public example of
so great a personage, as it appears afterwards this man was:
he rose up from among the congregation; who were weeping at the door of
the tabernacle, or from the midst of the court of judicature, set for trying
and judging such persons who were charged with idolatry; for he was not
only the son of the high priest and his successor, but a ruler over the
Korahites, and had, besides his priestly office, a civil authority, 1Ch_9:20.
and took a javelin in his hand; a spear or pike; the Jews say (y) he snatched
it out of the hand of Moses; and, according to Josephus (z), it was a sword;
but the word rather signifies an hand pike; this being ready at hand, he took
it up and pursued the criminal.
GILL, "And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest,
saw it,.... Saw the man pass by in this impudent manner, and his whore with
him; his spirit was stirred up, he was filled and fired with zeal for the glory
of God, and with an holy indignation against the sin and sinner, and with a
just concern for the honour of the righteous law of God; and, to prevent
others from falling into the same sin, led by the public example of so great a
personage, as it appears afterwards this man was:
he rose up from among the congregation; who were weeping at the door of
the tabernacle, or from the midst of the court of judicature, set for trying
and judging such persons who were charged with idolatry; for he was not
only the son of the high priest and his successor, but a ruler over the
43

44. Korahites, and had, besides his priestly office, a civil authority, 1Ch_9:20.
and took a javelin in his hand; a spear or pike; the Jews say (y) he snatched
it out of the hand of Moses; and, according to Josephus (z), it was a sword;
but the word rather signifies an hand pike; this being ready at hand, he took
it up and pursued the criminal.
HENRY 7-15, " Never was virtue more daring than it was in Phinehas.
Being aware of the insolence of Zimri, which it is probable, all the
congregation took notice of, in a holy indignation at the offenders he rises
up from his prayers, takes his sword or half-pike, follows those impudent
sinners into their tent, and stabs them both, Num_25:7, Num_25:8. It is not
at all difficult to justify Phinehas in what he did; for, being now heir-
apparent to the high-priesthood, no doubt he was one of those judges of
Israel whom Moses had ordered, by the divine appointment, to slay all those
whom they knew to have joined themselves to Baal-peor, so that this gives
no countenance at all to private persons, under pretence of zeal against sin,
to put offenders to death, who ought to be prosecuted by due course of law.
The civil magistrate is the avenger, to execute wrath upon him that doeth
evil, and no private person may take his work out of his hand. Two ways God
testified his acceptance of the pious zeal of Phinehas: - 1. He immediately
put a stop to the plague, Num_25:8. Their weeping and praying prevailed
not till this piece of necessary justice was done. If magistrates do not take
care to punish sin, God will; but their justice will be the best prevention of
his judgment, as in the case of Achan, Jos_7:13. 2. He put an honour upon
Phinehas. Though he did no more than it was his duty to do as a judge, yet
because he did it with extraordinary zeal against sin, and for the honour of
God and Israel, and did it when the other judges, out of respect to Zimri's
character as a prince, were afraid, and declined doing it, therefore God
showed himself particularly well pleased with him, and it was counted to
him for righteousness, Psa_106:31. There is nothing lost by venturing for
God. If Zimri's relations bore him a grudge for it, and his friends might
censure him as indiscreet in this violent and hasty execution, what needed
he care, while God accepted him? In a good thing we should be zealously
affected. (1.) Phinehas, upon this occasion, though a young man, is
pronounced his country's patriot and best friend, Num_25:11. He has
turned away my wrath from the children of Israel. So much does God
delight in showing mercy that he is well pleased with those that are
instrumental in turning away his wrath. This is the best service we can do to
our people; and we may contribute something towards it by our prayers,
and by our endeavours in our places to bring the wickedness of the wicked
to an end. (2.) The priesthood is entailed by covenant upon his family. It was
designed him before, but now it was confirmed to him, and, which added
much to the comfort and honour of it, it was made the recompence of his
pious zeal, Num_25:12, Num_25:13. It is here called an everlasting
priesthood, because it should continue to the period of the Old Testament
dispensation, and should then have its perfection and perpetuity in the
unchangeable priesthood of Christ, who is consecrated for evermore. By the
covenant of peace given him, some understand in general a promise of long
44

45. life and prosperity, and all good; it seems rather to be meant particularly of
the covenant of priesthood, for that is called the covenant of life and peace
(Mal_2:5), and was made for the preservation of peace between God and his
people. Observe how the reward answered the service. By executing justice
he had made an atonement for the children of Israel (Num_25:13), and
therefore he and his shall henceforward be employed in making atonement
by sacrifice. He was zealous for his God, and therefore he shall have the
covenant of an everlasting priesthood. Note, It is requisite that ministers
should be not only for God, but zealous for God. It is required of them that
they do more than others for the support and advancement of the interests
of God's kingdom among men.
CALVIN, "7.And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar. The courage of Phinehas is
celebrated, who, whilst the rest were hesitating, inflamed with holy zeal, hastens
forward to inflict punishment. The backwardness of others is therefore condemned
by implication, though their tears were praiseworthy; but, since they were almost
stupified by grief, their virtue was not dear from all defect. And certainly, whilst the
yet unbridled licentiousness of the people was foaming like a tempestuous sea, we
cannot wonder that the minds of the good were altogether or partially disabled.
Hence was the zeal of Phinehas the more distinguished, when he did not hesitate to
provoke so many worthless and wicked persons infuriated by their lechery. If any
object that he transgressed the limits of his calling, when he laid hold of the sword
with which God had not armed him, to inflict capital punishment, the reply is
obvious, that our calling is not always confined to its ordinary office, inasmuch as
God sometimes requires new and unusual acts of His servants. As a priest, it was not
the office of Phinehas to punish crime, but he was called by the special inspiration of
God, so that, in his private capacity, he had the Holy Spirit as his guide. These
circumstances, indeed, ought not to be regarded as an example, so that a general
rule may be laid down from them; though, at the same time, God preserves His free
right to appoint His servants by privilege to act in His behalf as He shall see fit.
God’s judgment of this case may be certainly inferred from its approval, so that we
may correctly argue that Phinehas was under His own guidance, since He
immediately afterwards declared that He was pleased with the act, as is also stated
in Psalms 106:30
Now, if any private person should in his preposterous zeal take upon himself to
punish a similar crime, in vain will he boast that he is an imitator of Phinehas,
unless he shall be thoroughly assured of the command of God. Let the answer of
Christ, therefore, always be borne in mind by us, whereby he restrained His
disciples, when they desired, like Elijah, to pray that those who had not received
them should be destroyed by fire from heaven, “Ye know not what manner of spirit
ye are of.” (Luke 9:54.) In order, therefore, that our zeal may be approved by God,
it must be tempered by spiritual prudence, and directed by His authority; in a word,
the Holy Spirit must go before and dictate what is right.
45

46. COKE, "Verse 7-8
Numbers 25:7-8. When Phinehas, the son of Eleazar—saw it, &c.— Phinehas was a
man of great authority, being next to the high priest, whom he succeeded in office.
Warmed with a religious zeal at this insolent and unfeeling crime, he rose from
amongst the congregation; i.e. from among the judges, and with his own hand put
the criminals to death, in the very moment of their offence. Considering Phinehas as
one of the judges appointed to pass sentence on those Israelites who were guilty in
this matter, Numbers 25:5 we may look upon this step as the generous action of a
magistrate, who, seeing justice affronted and not intimidated by the audacity and
quality of one of the criminals had the courage to transcend the regular modes of
proceeding, to execute, with his own hand, a just sentence against a notorious
criminal, whose offence was so heinous.
This blow of vengeance, struck at such a pressing juncture, and by a man whom we
must suppose to have been led to it after a miraculous manner by the spirit of God,
cannot be made a precedent to any other persons. Nothing can be more absurdly
advanced, than the judgment which the Jews build upon this circumstance, and
which they call a judgment of zeal. The very examples which they quote establish
what we maintain; namely, that these extraordinary strokes of vengeance are only
allowed to extraordinary men. The case of Matthias may be numbered among these.
See 1 Maccabees 2:24. It is notorious, however, that the Jews abused this judgment
of zeal upon several occasions. They put it in practice very often, not only against
innocent persons, but against those who were endowed with the most eminent
virtues. Of this St. Stephen, whom they inhumanly stoned, and St. Paul, whom they
vowed to assassinate without any form of justice, are glaring proofs. See Saurin's
65th Dissertation.
ELLICOTT, "(7) And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the
priest . . . —In accordance with this punctuation, the designation the priest (which
generally denotes the high priest) refers to Aaron, not to Phinehas. Eleazar was the
high priest at this time (Numbers 20:26); and consequently—although as a general
rule any designation which follows the words “the son of such an one” refers to the
former, not to the latter noun—it appears most probable that the designation the
priest has reference here to Aaron, not to Phinehas, who, although a priest, was not
the high priest at this time. He was invested, however, with civil as well as
ecclesiastical authority. (See 1 Chronicles 9:20, where he is described as a ruler—
Hebrew, nagid.)
TRAPP, "Numbers 25:7 And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron
the priest, saw [it], he rose up from among the congregation, and took a javelin in
his hand;
Ver. 7. He rose up.] A heroical act, by an extraordinary motion: as was also that of
Ehud; and therefore is not to be made a rule of practice, as Burchet conceited, when
46

47. by this example he held himself warranted to kill a great personage in this kingdom,
whom he took to be a vicious man, and God’s enemy.
BENSON, "Numbers 25:7. Phinehas rose up — The psalmist says, He stood up and
executed judgment; which seems to import that he acted as a judge; but in a crime
so presumptuous, and so openly committed, he thought it not necessary to wait for a
judicial process against the offenders, but cut them off directly with his own hand. It
is thought too, not without reason, that the number and dignity of the offenders
intimidated the judges from executing their office. So that unless Phinehas, by this
seasonable zeal for God, and the interests of the public, had supported the authority
of the laws, either a total anarchy had ensued, or the whole body of the people been
exposed to the severest judgments from God.
8 and followed the Israelite into the tent. He drove
the spear into both of them, right through the
Israelite man and into the woman’s stomach.
Then the plague against the Israelites was
stopped;
BARNES, "Into the tent - The inner recess in the tent, fashioned archwise,
and appropriated as the sleeping-chamber and women’s apartment.
CLARKE, "Thrust both of them through - Inspired undoubtedly by the
Spirit of the God of justice to do this act, which can never be a precedent on
any common occasion. An act something similar occurs in our own history.
In 1381, in the minority of Richard II., a most formidable insurrection took
place in Kent and Essex; about 100,000 men, chiefly under the direction of
Wat Tyler, seized on London, massacred multitudes of innocent people, and
were proceeding to the greatest enormities, when the king requiring a
conference in Smithfield with the rebel leader, Sir William Walworth, then
mayor of London, provoked at the insolence with which Tyler behaved to his
sovereign, knocked him off his horse with his mace, after which he was
instantly dispatched. While his partisans were bending their bows to
revenge the death of their leader, Richard, then only sixteen years of age,
47

48. rode up to them, and with great courage and presence of mind thus
addressed them: “What, my people, will you kill your king! be not
concerned for the death of your leader; follow me, and I will be your
general.” They were suddenly appeased, and the rebellion terminated. The
action of Sir William Walworth was that of a zealot, of essential benefit at
the time, and justified only by the pressing exigencies of the case.
GILL, "And he went after the man of Israel into the tent,.... Into which he
went with his harlot; the word here used is different from what is commonly
used for a tent: Aben Ezra observes that in the Kedarene or Arabic language
there is a word near to it, which Bochart, putting the article "al" to it, says
(a), is "alkobba", from whence is the word "alcove" with us; and Aben Ezra
says, there was some little difference between the form of a tent and this, as
well as others observe (b) there was in the matter of it, this being of skins
and leather, and the other of hair, boughs of trees, &c. the author of Aruch
(c) says, it was short, or narrow above and broad below, and interprets it a
place in which whores were put; and so it is used in the Talmud (d) for a
brothel house, and is so translated here by some interpreters (e):
and thrust both of them through; with his javelin, spear, or pike:
the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly; by which, it seems,
they were killed in the very act of uncleanness; this was an extraordinary
action, done by a person of public authority, and under a more than
common emotion of spirit, and not to be drawn into an example by persons
of a private character:
so the plague was stayed from the children of Israel; which had broke out
among them and carried off many; even a disease, the pestilence, according
to Josephus (f); it ceasing upon this fact of Phinehas, shows that that was
approved of by the Lord.
JAMISON,"the plague — some sudden and widespread mortality.
ELLICOTT, " (8) Into the tent.—The word kubbah (tent, or alcove) occurs only in
this place. The reference may be to the inner part of the ordinary tent which was
occupied by the women; or it may denote an arched or vaulted tent (probably of
skins), which the Israelites had erected whilst joining with the Moabites and
Midianites in the lascivious worship of Baal-peor. The LXX. has kaminos, the
Vulgate lupanar.
Through her belly.—Or, within her tent. It is thought by some that the word which
is here used was originally the same word which occurs in the earlier part of the
verse, and which is there rendered tent.
48

49. So the plague was stayed . . . —It is probable that the judges were not duly obedient
to the command of Moses, and, consequently, that a plague broke out from the Lord
upon the people.
TRAPP, "Numbers 25:8 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 belly.
So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel.
Ver. 8. And thrust both of them through.] So they died in the flagrancy of their lust;
as did likewise one of the Popes, taken in the act, and slain together with his harlot,
by the husband of the adulteress. Mention is likewise made by William
Malmesbury, of one Walter, bishop of Hereford, A. D. 1060, his offering to force his
seamstress; she resisted what she might, but finding him too strong for her, thrust
her shears into his belly, and gave him his deathly wound. (a)
POOLE, " Into the tent, or brothel house; for since they gave way to such lewd
practices, no doubt they singled out convenient places for their wickedness.
Thrust both of them through; which is no warrant for private persons to take upon
them the execution of justice upon any, though the greatest malefactors, because
Phinehas was himself a man in great authority and power, and did this after the
command given by Moses to the rulers to slay these transgressors, and in the very
sight, and no doubt by the consent of Moses himself, and also by the special instinct
and direction of God’s Spirit.
Through her belly, or in her brothel house, for the word is the same before used,
and translated tent, and it may be called hers, because she chose or used that place
for her wicked purposes, as the rest doubtless hid other places of like nature. The
plague; either the pestilence, or some other sudden and grievous mortality.
BENSON, "Numbers 25:8. Thrust them both through — Phinehas was himself a
man in great authority, and did this after the command given by Moses to the rulers
to slay these transgressors, and in the very sight, and no doubt by the consent of
Moses himself, and also by the special direction of God’s Spirit.
PETT, "Verse 7-8
Phinehas, Son of Eleazar, Slays the Chieftain and The Woman (Numbers 25:7-8 a).
Numbers 25:7-8 a
49

50. ‘And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose
up from the midst of the congregation, and took a spear in his hand, and he went
after the man of Israel into the inner portion of the tent, and thrust both of them
through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her body.’
Phinehas, the son of the High Priest Eleazar, was appalled at this behaviour, and
constrained at the plague which had broken out. He rightly saw the man’s
behaviour as an insult against Yahweh and as bringing shame on Yahweh’s name,
and as defiling the camp. And leaving the gathered throng he seized a spear, and
followed them into their tent, and thrust the spear, first through the man and then
the woman. Someone who saw it remembered that it was through her stomach. That
was where her childbearing would become apparent, and he made the punishment
fit the crime
In acting like this Phinehas would see himself as fulfilling his priestly duty, for the
penalty for idolatry was instant death. He was acting as public executioner against
an open sin (see Deuteronomy 13:9), but because the plague had broken out he had
recognised the need for fast action. He was also in principle carrying out Yahweh’s
command in Numbers 25:4, for those who were hung out in the sun would have to
be slain before they were hung out.
His action was actually very similar to that commanded by Moses at the incident of
the molten calf at Sinai when he had commanded the responding Levites to slay
those who had sinned (Exodus 32:27). Indeed he may well have remembered that
and been determined to demonstrate that he was on Yahweh’s side.
As A Result of His Action Judgment By Plague Is Stayed (Numbers 25:8 b).
Numbers 25:8 b
‘So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel.’
We are now told that in fact a plague, previously unmentioned, had broken out in
the camp. But as a result of the decisive action of Phinehas the plague was now
stayed, and its effect began to die down
PULPIT, "Into the tent. ‫ה‬ָ‫בּ‬ֻ‫קּ‬ַ‫ל־ה‬ ֶ‫א‬ . Septuagint, εἰς τὴν κάμινον. The word signifies an
arched recess (cf. the Arabic "alcove," from the same root, and the Latin fornix),
and means probably the inner division which served as the women's room in the
larger tents of the wealthier Israelites. There is no sufficient ground for supposing
that a special place had been erected for this evil purpose; if it had been, it would
surely have been destroyed. Through her belly. ‫הּ‬ ָ‫ת‬ָ‫ב‬ָ‫ל־ק‬ ֶ‫א‬ . Septuagint, διὰ τῆς μήτρας
αὐτῆς. So the plague was stayed. No plague has been mentioned, but the narrative
evidently deals with an episode the details of which were very fresh in the memory
of all, and is extremely concise. That a plague would follow such an apostasy might
50

51. be certainly expected from the previous experiences at Kibroth-hattaavah, at
Kadesh, and after the rebellion of Korah.
9 but those who died in the plague numbered
24,000.
BARNES, "Twenty and four thousand - Paul 1Co_10:8 says “three and
twenty thousand,” following probably the Jewish tradition which deducted
one thousand as the number slain by the hands of their brethren.
CLARKE, "Those that died - were twenty and four thousand - St. Paul,
1Co_10:8, reckons only twenty-three thousand; though some MSS. and
versions, particularly the latter Syriac and the Armenian, have twenty-four
thousand, with the Hebrew text. Allowing the 24,000 to be the genuine
reading, and none of the Hebrew MSS. exhibit any various reading here, the
two places may be reconciled thus: 1,000 men were slain in consequence of
the examination instituted Num_25:4, and 23,000 in consequence of the
orders given Num_25:5; making 24,000 in the whole. St. Paul probably
refers only to the latter number.
GILL, "And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand.
The apostle says 23,000 1Co_10:8. Moses includes those that were hanged
against the sun, in the time of the plague, as well as those that were taken
off by it, even all that died on this account; the apostle only those that "fell",
which cannot with propriety be said of those that were hanged, who might
be 1000 and so their numbers agree; but of this and other ways of removing
this difficulty See Gill on 1Co_10:8.
JAMISON,"those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand —
Only twenty-three thousand perished (1Co_10:8) from pestilence. Moses
includes those who died by the execution of the judges [Num_25:5].
K&D, "Through this judgment, which was executed by Phinehas with holy
51

52. zeal upon the daring sinners, the plague was restrained, so that it came to
an end. The example which Phinehas had made of these sinners was an act
of intercession, by which the high priest appeased the wrath of God, and
averted the judgment of destruction from the whole congregation (“he was
zealous for his God,” ‫ר‬ ֵ‫פּ‬ ַ‫כ‬ְ‫ַי‬‫ו‬, Num_25:13). The thought upon which this
expression is founded is, that the punishment which was inflicted as a
purifying chastisement served as a “covering” against the exterminating
judgment (see Herzog's Cyclopaedia).
(Note: Upon this act of Phinehas, and the similar examples of Samuel
(1Sa_15:33) and Mattathias (1 Macc. 2:24), the later Jews erected the so-
called “zealot right,” jus zelotarum, according to which any one, even though
not qualified by his official position, possessed the right, in cases of any daring
contempt of the theocratic institutions, or any daring violation of the honour of
God, to proceed with vengeance against the criminals. (See Salden, otia theol. pp.
609ff., and Buddeus, de jure zelotarum apud Hebr. 1699, and in Oelrich's collect.
T. i. Diss. 5.) The stoning of Stephen furnishes an example of this.)
CALVIN, "9.And those that died in the plague. Paul, when he says that only twenty-
three thousand died, appears to differ from Moses; but we know that the exact
account of numbers is not always observed, and it is probable that about twenty-
four thousand were slain. Paul, therefore, subtracted one thousand, and was content
with the lesser number; (185) from which, however, we may perceive how severe
and terrible was the punishment, teaching us to beware of provoking God by
fornication. For, as it is a monstrous thing that so great a multitude should have
been infected by this foul and shameful sin, so God’s fearful judgment against
adulterers and fornicators is set before us. We have already seen that, although they
were guilty of a wicked rebellion, still the punishment is justly ascribed to their lust,
which impelled them to idolatry.
COKE, "Numbers 25:9. Those that died in the plague were twenty and four
thousand— St. Paul mentions only twenty and three thousand, who, he says, fell in
one day. 1 Corinthians 10:8. See Whitby on the place. But we observed before, that
one thousand probably were put to death by the judges; and the words, in the
plague, do not signify by pestilence only, but by any sudden stroke or destruction.
The passage might be rendered, but in that destruction, or desolation, there fell
twenty and four thousand. Thus their own iniquity brought that desolation on the
Israelites, which Balaam and Balak, with all their enchantments, could never have
effected; and as all that generation was to perish before their posterity could enter
the promised land, (see on chap. 26: Numbers 25:1-2.) this terrible excision may be
considered as the final stroke of the Divine vengeance on that perverse and devoted
race.
ELLICOTT, "(9) Twenty and four thousand.—In 1 Corinthians 10:8 the number of
those who “fell in one day” is said to have been “three and twenty thousand.” It has
been supposed that a thousand were put to death by the judges, and that these were
52

53. not included in St. Paul’s enumeration. Presuming, however, that there has been no
error in either place on the part of the scribes in recording the numbers, the words
“in one day” may account for the apparent discrepancy.
TRAPP, "Numbers 25:9 And those that died in the plague were twenty and four
thousand.
Ver. 9. Twenty and four thousand.] Twenty and three thousand, saith St Paul, [1
Corinthians 10:8] insisting only in the special punishment of the people, who were
provoked to sin by that other thousand, their princes, [Numbers 25:4] and all to
show, quam frigida et ieiuna sit eorum defensio, &c., saith Junius, (a) how poorly
they plead for themselves, that think to excuse their sins by alleging the examples of
their superiors.
POOLE, " Object. They were but 23,000, 1 Corinthians 10:8.
Answ. The odd thousand here added were slain by the judges according to the order
of Moses, the rest by the immediate hand of God, but both sorts died of the plague,
the word being used, as oft it is, for the sword, or hand, or stroke of God.
BENSON, "Numbers 25:9. Twenty and four thousand — St. Paul mentions only
twenty and three thousand, who, he says, fell in one day, 1 Corinthians 10:8. But it
seems that one thousand were slain by the judges, (Numbers 25:5,) and twenty-
three thousand by the hand of God. For what we render plague does not signify
pestilence only, but any other sudden stroke. Thus did the people fall by their own
wickedness, whom Balaam and Balak could never have harmed any other way.
PETT, "Verse 9
‘And those that died by the plague were twenty and four thousand.’
And the number who died in the plague were the equivalent of twenty four larger
families. These deaths would probably occur over a period. Paul picks up on this
and speaks of ‘twenty three thousand’ dying ‘in one day’ (1 Corinthians 10:8). As
with the number here it is not to be taken arithmetically. He lessened the number to
mean ‘the great majority of them’ died in one day because he recognised, or
someone from whom he quoted recognised, that not all would have died on the same
day, and that if he did not reduce the number this would quickly be pointed out by
his opponents. But he wanted to utilise the idea of ‘in one day’ in order to make the
greater impact. Numbers in fact does not say how long a period was in mind during
which people died through the plague.
PULPIT, "Were twenty and four thousand. "Fell in one day three and twenty
thousand," says St. Paul (1 Corinthians 10:8). As the Septuagint does not deviate
53

54. here from the Hebrew, the Apostle must have followed some Rabbinical tradition. It
is possible enough that the odd thousand died on some other day than the one of
which he speaks, or they may have died by the hands of the judges, and not by the
plague.
10 The Lord said to Moses,
GILL, "And the Lord spake unto Moses,.... Out of the cloud, or out of the
tabernacle, at the door of which Moses now was, Num_25:6, this was after
so many had died of the plague, and after the fact of Phinehas, by which it
was stopped: saying; as follows.
K&D 10-15, "For this act of divine zeal the eternal possession of the
priesthood was promised to Phinehas and his posterity as Jehovah's
covenant of peace. ‫א‬ ְ‫נ‬ ַ‫ק‬ ְ‫,בּ‬ by displaying my zeal in the midst of them (viz., the
Israelites). ‫י‬ ִ‫ת‬ ָ‫א‬ ְ‫נ‬ ִ‫ק‬ is not “zeal for me,” but “my zeal,” the zeal of Jehovah with
which Phinehas was filled, and impelled to put the daring sinners to death.
By doing this he had averted destruction from the Israelites, and restrained
the working of Jehovah's zeal, which had manifested itself in the plague. “I
gave him my covenant of peace” (the suffix is attached to the governing
noun, as in Lev_6:3). ‫ית‬ ִ‫ר‬ ְ‫בּ‬ ‫ן‬ ַ‫ָת‬‫נ‬, as in Gen_17:2, to give, i.e., to fulfil the
covenant, to grant what was promised in the covenant. The covenant
granted to Phinehas consisted in the fact, that an “eternal priesthood” (i.e.,
the eternal possession of the priesthood) was secured to him, not for
himself alone, but for his descendants also, as a covenant, i.e., in a
covenant, or irrevocable form, since God never breaks a covenant that He
has made. In accordance with this promise, the high-priesthood which
passed from Eleazar to Phinehas (Jdg_20:28) continued in his family, with
the exception of a brief interruption in Eli's days (see at 1 Sam 1-3 and 1Sa_
14:3), until the time of the last gradual dissolution of the Jewish state
through the tyranny of Herod and his successors (see my Archäologie, §
38). - In Num_25:14, Num_25:15, the names of the two daring sinners are
given. The father of Cozbi, the Midianitish princess, was named Zur, and is
described here as “head of the tribes (‫ת‬ ‫מּ‬ ֻ‫,א‬ see at Gen_25:16) of a father's
house in Midian,” i.e., as the head of several of the Midianitish tribes that
were descended from one tribe-father; in Num_31:8, however, he is
described as a king, and classed among the five kings of Midian who were
slain by the Israelites.
CALVIN, "10.And the Lord spake unto Moses. In these words God makes it appear
54

55. that He was the author of the death (of Zimri and Cozbi;) (186) not only because He
was thus propitiated towards the people, but because He calls the zeal of Phinehas
His own. (187) It will, however, accord equally well whether we take it actively or
passively, viz., either that Phinehas was inflamed with zeal to vindicate God’s glory,
or that he took upon him the zeal of God Himself. Whichever be preferred, God
refers to Himself what was done by Phinehas. When He declares that He was
appeased by the punishment inflicted, let us not imagine that there was a
meritorious satisfaction, whereby the Papists feign that their punishments are
redeemed before God. For although the just chastisements of sin are sacrifices of
sweet savor, they are by no means expiations to reconcile God. Besides, there is no
question here of compensation, but what is meant is, that it was a means of
appeasing God, when the ungodliness of the people which had, as it were, fanned up
His wrath into a flame, was repressed by this severe correction. Thus, in Psalms
106:0, the atonement is ascribed not to the act of Phinehas, but only to his prayer,
(188) because, in right of his priesthood, he had humbly interceded for the people.
At the same time, the statement of Paul is true, that those are not judged by God
who voluntarily judge themselves, (1 Corinthians 11:31,) since, by their penitence,
they in a manner prevent this judgment.
A perpetual priesthood is promised to Phinehas as his reward. If any object, that he
thus obtained nothing new, since, in accordance with the rule of the law, he was the
undoubted successor of his father, I reply, that it is not un-common that what God
had already freely promised, He declares that He will give by way of reward. Thus,
what had been promised to Abraham before the birth of Isaac, is again repeated
after he was prepared to sacrifice him, (Genesis 22:16 :) “Because thou hast done
this thing, and hast not withheld thy son,” therefore, “in blessing I will bless thee,
and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” Besides, the privilege of
a single individual is not simply in question here, but it refers to a perpetual
succession, as if God had promised that his posterity should never fail. And
assuredly, the change which took place at the commencement of Solomon’s reign, is
not repugnant to this promise, for it may be probably inferred that Zadoc, no less
than Abiathar, was of the race of Phinehas. This covenant is called a “covenant of
peace,” because it was to be surely established; consequently, it may be properly
rendered, “My covenant in peace.” At any rate, it indicates prosperity, as if He had
said that Phinehas, together with his posterity, should prosperously execute the
sacerdotal office.
COFFMAN, ""And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, Phinehas, the son of
Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the children
of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I consumed
not the children of Israel in my jealousy. Wherefore say, Behold, I give unto him my
covenant of peace: and it shall be unto him, and to his seed after him, the covenant
of an everlasting priesthood; because he was jealous for his God, and made
atonement for the children of Israel."
55

56. Many scholars have expressed a surprise approaching consternation that Almighty
God would so reward a ruthless murderer, but they have merely misread the reason
for God's reward of Phinehas. His zeal is what God commended and what he
rewarded. We have exactly the counterpart of this in the N.T. in Jesus' parable of
the Unjust Steward upon whom the Lord poured out the very highest of praises, not
for his dishonesty, of course, but for the intelligence and zeal with which he handled
his earthly affairs. We have the same kind of situation here. Somebody had to do
something. Most of the incompetent judges had proved their inability to do
anything, and as the heir apparent to the high priesthood, Phinehas took it upon
himself to act in defense of the Word of God. The critical superstition to the effect
that this was invented in later generations to defend the claim of the descendants of
Phinehas to the office of High Priest is unprovable, without foundation, and
required by no intelligent reason whatever. As a matter of fact, beginning with Ely,
the descendants of Eleazar were high priests until the times of Solomon who took
the office away from Eleazar's descendants in the person of Abiathar and gave it to
Zadock of the line of Phinehas where it continued throughout the history of Israel.
PETT, "Verses 10-13
As A Result of His Action Phinehas Was Confirmed In The Priesthood (Numbers
25:10-13).
Numbers 25:10
‘And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of
Aaron the priest, has turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, in that he
was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I consumed not the children of
Israel in my jealousy.” ’
God then spoke to Moses and praised what Phinehas had done. Note now the
emphasis on the fact that he was a grandson of Aaron the Priest. Like God Himself
he had been jealous for the name and honour of Yahweh (Exodus 20:5). As a result
he had turned away Yahweh’s wrath directed at the children of Israel. If we would
deal with sin in our midst, Yahweh would not have to.
SIMEON, "PHINEHAS REWARDED FOR HIS ZEAL
Numbers 25:10-13. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Phinehas the son of
Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the children
of Israel, (while he was zealous for my sake among them,) that I consumed not the
children of Israel in my jealousy. Wherefore say, Behold, I give unto him my
covenant of peace: and he shall have it, and his seed after him, even the covenant of
an everlasting priesthood; because he was zealous for his God, and made an
atonement for the children of Israel.
56

57. SATAN is incessant in his endeavours to destroy the people of God: and, if one
device fail, he has recourse to another: nor is he ever at a loss for a succession of
expedients, whereby to accomplish his malignant ends. He had laboured hard, in
concert with Balaam his willing agent, to bring a curse upon Israel: but he had been
foiled in every attempt. What, however, he could not effect by the sword of Moab,
he more successfully essayed to do through the influence of their own corruptions,
and the fascinations of abandoned women: and, if the zeal of Phinehas had not
intervened to arrest the arm of divine vengeance, we know not to what an extent the
calamities of Israel might have reached.
In considering what is here recorded concerning Phinehas, we shall notice,
I. The act for which he was rewarded—
A most grievous iniquity was committed in the camp—
[Balaam had advised Balak to ensnare the Israelites by means of the Midianitish
women [Note: Numbers 31:16; Revelation 2:14.]. An intercourse between them had
been opened: the Israelites fell into the snare; and were drawn into unlawful
connexions with them, and then into idolatry itself. Thus God was incensed against
his people; and after having protected them from the imprecations of Balaam,
became himself the executioner of heavy judgments upon them. In addition to the
plague which he himself inflicted upon the people, he ordered Moses to send forth
and slay the chief offenders, and to hang them up in the sight of all the
congregation.
Whilst these judgments were executing, and the unoffending part of the
congregation were “weeping before the door of the tabernacle,” behold, a man of
distinction in one of the tribes brought a Midianitish woman to his tent, in the very
sight of Moses and of all the congregation. The guilt of such an illicit commerce
would under any circumstances have been exceeding great; but at such a time, and
in such a manner, was criminal in the highest degree: it was shameless in the
extreme: it was an open defiance both of God and man.]
To punish it as it deserved, Phinehas stood forth with holy zeal—
[He seized a javelin, and followed the abandoned criminals to the tent, and pierced
them through in the midst of their guilty pleasures. This might appear to have been
an usurpation of legal authority: but it was not so: for the chief magistrate himself
had given the command to all the judges of Israel: moreover, being the son of the
high-priest, it is reasonable to suppose that Phinehas was himself a magistrate: at all
events, he acted by a divine impulse, and was “God’s minister, a revenger to execute
wrath upon these evil-doers.” Such an act in us would be unjustifiable; because we
have received no such commission either from God or man: but the spirit from
which it proceeded, would be commendable in whomsoever it were found: we ought
57

58. to be filled with a zeal for God’s honour: we ought to feel indignation against sin: we
ought to be penetrated with compassion towards those who are in danger of
perishing through the impiety of others: and we ought to be ready to assist the civil
magistrate in the suppression of iniquity.]
God’s approbation of his conduct was strongly marked in,
II. The reward conferred upon him—
Instantly was God pacified towards his offending people—
[Already had twenty-three thousand persons fallen by the plague, and another
thousand by the sword of justice [Note: Compare ver. 9 with 1 Corinthians 10:8.]:
but, on the execution of this signal vengeance, God stopped the plague, and
commanded the sword of justice to be sheathed. He accepted this as “an atonement
for the children of Israel.” Not that there was any thing in the blood of the victims,
that could expiate sin; but their death was considered as a sacrifice to divine justice;
and God took occasion from it to return in mercy to his repenting people. What a
glorious reward was this! Not a family throughout all the tribes of Israel could help
feeling its obligations to him, and acknowledging him as its benefactor.]
Immediately too did “God give him his covenant of an everlasting priesthood”—
[True it was, that Phinehas was next in succession to the priesthood; but it was not
ensured to him, and his seed, till God now gave it to him by an express promise. The
covenant of priesthood is called “a covenant of peace,” both because it was a
testimony of divine acceptance to Phinehas himself [Note: Psalms 106:28-31.], and
(as long as the priesthood should last) the means of maintaining peace between God
and his people: it also shadowed forth that better priesthood, which should be the
means of reconciling the whole world to God, and God unto the world.
This priesthood, we know, was typical of Christ; but, whether the giving of it in
consequence of “the atonement made” by Phinehas was typical of him, we cannot
say: but this is clear, that the giving of the priesthood to Phinehas, as a reward for
the zeal he had exercised, was intended to shew, to the remotest ages, that “it is good
to be zealously affected always in a good thing [Note: Galatians 4:18.];” and that
they who serve God with their whole hearts, shall have the most intimate access to
him in this world, and participate his glory in the world to come: “they shall be
kings and priests unto their God for ever and ever.”]
We cannot reflect on this history without seeing in a striking point of view,
1. The danger of indulging sin in ourselves—
[Whilst the Israelites were obedient to the divine commands, they were safe: God
turned all the execrations of their enemies into blessings [Note: Deuteronomy 23:5.].
58

59. But when they allowed themselves to be tempted by the Midianitish women, they fell
from one sin to another, and provoked God himself to become their enemy. Happy
will it be for us, if we learn from their experience to resist iniquity in its first
approaches; lest we fall and perish after their example. And let not this caution be
deemed unworthy the attention of any. If David, and Solomon, were betrayed into
the most grievous iniquities by means of their ungoverned appetites, who is he that
shall think himself secure? Solomon’s description of an abandoned woman is but
too just; “Her heart is as snares and nets, and her hands as bands [Note:
Ecclesiastes 7:26.]:” he tells us too, that “many strong men have been slain by her;
and that her house is the way to hell [Note: Proverbs 7:24-27.].” Many who once
appeared to be in the way to heaven, have found this to their cost: and many of us
who are yet out of hell, owe it more to the long-suffering of God than to any virtue
of our own. Let such persons then be thankful to God for his mercy; and, “if any
man think that he standeth, let him take heed lest he fall.”]
2. The duty of restraining sin in others—
[Wherefore were these rewards conferred on Phinehas, but to shew the world the
acceptableness of such services as his? And to what purpose has he committed the
power of the sword to magistrates, if they are not to be a terror to the workers of
iniquity? This power is a talent for which magistrates are responsible to God: and, if
they shrink not from using it, because the exercise of it would subject them to the
reproaches of the ungodly, let them bear in mind, that they shall receive
commendations from their God; and that, by every friend of piety and of order, they
will be reckoned, like Phinehas, the truest patriots of their day. Ministers also, in
their respective spheres, should use influence for the suppression of iniquity; boldly
rebuking it in public, and using every lawful method of discountenancing it in
private. Persons too in every sphere of life should co-operate for the same
benevolent purpose; assured that, by obstructing the progress of sin, they approve
themselves the best friends both of God and man.]
3. The greatness of our obligations to the Lord Jesus Christ—
[If Phinehas was so great a benefactor to his country, and deserved the thanks of all,
for sacrificing the lives of two licentious profligates, what thanks are due to the
Lord Jesus Christ, who offered his own life a sacrifice for us! Here was love
unsearchable, and zeal unparalleled. To him must every human being confess his
obligations: to him must every one that shall finally be saved, render everlasting
praise and honour. O let every one throughout the camp of Israel behold his
Benefactor: let every one contemplate Jesus as appeasing the wrath of God, and
effecting our reconciliation with him: and, inasmuch as “for his obedience unto
death God hath highly exalted him, and given him a name above every name,” let
every heart acknowledge him; let every knee bow to him; and every tongue be
occupied in ascribing glory to his name.
59

60. BI 10-13, "Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath
turned My wrath away . . . because he was zealous for his God, and made
an atonement for the children of Israel
Godly zeal
We can lay no claim to saintship without zeal.
When wickedness increases, then zeal must be bold and daring.
I. The source of godly zeal The indwelling of the Holy Ghost. Grace in the
heart must break forth.
II. Godly zeal has its seat in the heart.
III. Mark the object of holy zeal. Good works. It is the fervour of heavenly
benevolence.
IV. True zeal is blended with knowledge. To enlighten ourselves, we must
have light ourselves.
V. Zeal is forgetful of self. (The Study.)
The zeal of Phinehas
Phinehas appears as a rainbow on the bosom of a storm. He is as a flower on
a wild heath, a fertile spot in a parched desert, pure ore in a rude quarry, a
fragrant rose upon a thorny hedge, faithful among faithless.
1. “He was zealous for his God.” He could not fold his arms and see God’s
law insulted, His rule defied, His will despised, His majesty and empire
scorned. The servant’s heart blazed in one blaze of godly indignation. He
must be up to vindicate his Lord. His fervent love, his bold resolve, fear
nothing in a righteous cause.
2. Mark, next, the zeal of Phinehas is sound-minded. It is not as a courser
without rein, a torrent unembanked, a hurricane let loose. Its steps are
set in order’s path. It executes God’s own will in God’s own way. The
mandate says, let the offenders die. He aims a death-blow, then, with
obedient hand. The zeal, which heaven kindles, is always a submissive
grace.
3. This zeal wrought wonders. It seemed to open heaven’s gates for
blessing to rush forth. God testifies, “He hath turned My wrath away
from the children of Israel.” He hath made atonement for them. My
name is rescued from dishonour. The haughty sinner is laid low.
Therefore I can restrain My vengeance. Men see that sin is not
unpunished; mercy may now fly righteously to heal. Zeal is indeed a
wonder-working grace. Who can conceive what countries, districts,
cities, families, and men, have sprung to life, because zeal prayed?
4. Next mark how heavenly smiles beam on the zeal of Phinehas. Honour
decks those who honour God. The priesthood shall be his. This lessen
ends not here. Phinehas for ever stands a noble type. Yes, Christ is here.
In Phinehas we see Christ’s heart, and zeal, and work, and mightily
60

61. constraining impulse. In Phinehas we see Christ crowned, too, with the
priesthood’s glory. (Dean Law.)
The circumstances which moved the zeal of Phinehas
I. There was the enormity of their sin. It included false doctrine and sinful
practices, between which there is a closer connection than is always
recognised.
II. There was the character of the instigator to the sin. Balaam, “a strange
mixture of a man.”
III. There was the extent to which the sin prevailed. Among all classes.
IV. There was the misery occasioned by the sin. To the guilty, to their
connections, to the community.
V. There was the dishonour done to God.
1. We should be zealous in religion.
2. Our zeal in contending against the sins of others should begin in zeal
in contending against our own. (George Brooks.)
The zealous spirit
In fact, a zealous spirit is essential to eminent success in anything. Perhaps
there is the more need to insist upon this because enthusiasm is out of
fashion. It is bad form nowadays to admire anything very warmly. To be
strenuously in earnest is almost vulgar. Especially is this so in regard to
religion. “Our Joe is a very good young man,” said an old nurse the other
day; “but he do go so mad on religion.” That was the fly in the ointment—
which spoilt all. Did not Pope say long ago, “The worst of madness is a saint
run mad”? And he only put in terse and pithy speech what other people say
more clumsily.
1. And yet how can one be a Christian without being an enthusiast?
Indifferent, half-hearted Christians are not true Christians at all. “I
would thou weft either cold or hot,” says our Lord. Lukewarmness is his
utter abhorrence. And the author of “ Ecce Homo “ cannot be said to
exaggerate in his declaration that “Christianity is an enthusiasm, or it is
nothing.”
2. And what good work has ever been wrought without enthusiasm? Said
a great preacher, “If you want to drive a pointed piece of iron through a
thick board, the surest way is to heat your skewer. It is always easier to
burn our way than to bore it.” Only “a soul all flame” is likely to
accomplish much in the teeth of the difficulties which beset every lofty
enterprise. The great movements which have most widely blessed the
world have been led by men of passionate earnestness and fervid zeal. It
is not the cool, calculating votaries of prudence who have done the work.
Was it not written of our Lord Himself, “The zeal of Thy house hath
61

62. eaten me up”? (G. Howard James.)
The faithful bring a blessing upon their families
We have seen the zeal of Phinehas in executing judgment upon the evil-
doers, which brought a grievous plague upon the people. His spirit was
stirred within him, being first stirred by the Spirit of God, which moved him
to take a spear, and to thrust through the adulterer and adulteress. Now we
shall see the reward that was given unto him for that work which was
acceptable unto God, and profitable unto His people. He hath a covenant of
peace made with him, and the priesthood confirmed unto him and his
posterity. God is so pleased with the obedience of His people that He will
show mercy to such as belong to them. This is plentifully proved unto us in
the Word of God. When God saw Noah righteous before Him in that corrupt
age, He made all that belonged unto him partakers of a great deliverance,
saying unto him, “Enter thou and all thine house into the ark; for thee have
I seen righteous before Me in this age” (Gen_7:1). This appeareth in the
person of Abraham, when God had called him out of his country, and from
his kindred, and made a covenant with him to bless him (Gen_12:2-3). This
is oftentimes remembered unto us in the Acts of the Apostles. When God
had opened the heart of Lydia that she attended unto the things which Paul
delivered, “She was baptized and all her household” (Act_16:15; Act_16:33).
The reasons to enforce this doctrine are evident, if we consider either the
person of God or the condition of the faithful.
1. God hath in great mercy and goodness promised to show favour not
only to the faithful themselves, but to the seed of the faithful that fear
Him (Exo_20:6; Exo_34:6-7).
2. As the mercy of God is great, so the faith of the godly is effectual for
themselves and their children. This is the tenor of the covenant that God
hath made with all the faithful. God will be our God, and the God of our
seed after us (Gen_17:7). For as a father that purchaseth house or land,
giveth thereby an interest unto his son therein; so he that layeth hold on
the promise which God hath made to all godly parents, doth convey it
unto his children; so that albeit they want faith by reason of their years,
yet they are made partakers of Christ, and ingrafted into His body. The
uses remain to be handled.
(1) We learn that the children of faithful parents have right to
baptism, and are to receive the seal of the covenant. This the apostle
teacheth (1Co_7:14).
(2) We are taught on the other side that evil parents bring the curse of
God into their houses, and upon their posterity.
(3) It is required of us to repent and believe the gospel, that so we
may procure a blessing upon ourselves and our children. (W.
Attersoll.).
62

63. 11 “Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the
priest, has turned my anger away from the
Israelites. Since he was as zealous for my honor
among them as I am, I did not put an end to them
in my zeal.
BARNES, "Hath turned my wrath away - The signal example thus made of
a leading offender by Phinehas was accepted by God as an expiation
(literally in Num_25:13 “covering;” see the note at the typical significance
Lev_1:4), and the exterminating wrath which had gone forth against the
whole people was arrested Psa_106:30.
The act of Phinehas must be regarded as exceptional. It was an
extraordinary deed of vengeance, justified by the singular atrocity of the
crime which provoked it; but it does not confer the right to every man to
punish summarily any gross and flagrant breach of divine law committed in
his presence. Compare the act of Mattathias (1 Macc. 2:24-26).
The act was its own justification. Its merit consisted in the evidence it gave
that the heart of Phinehas was right before God. He was “zealous with God’s
zeal,” and abhorred the presumptuous wickedness of Zimri, as God
abhorred it. He therefore risked his own life by dealing according to their
deserts with two influential and defiant evil-doers; and his act, done in the
face of Moses and the people, and for them, was accepted by God as a
national atonement; and rewarded by the people (compare the leadership
assigned to him in Num_31:6; Jos_22:13).
GILL, "Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest,.... His
descent and genealogy is observed as before, partly to show that he was not
a private person, but a man of public authority that did the above fact;
perhaps one of the judges that Moses ordered to slay every man his man,
and therefore what he did by the order of the supreme magistrate; and
partly to show that he was heir apparent to the office of high priest, who in
course was to succeed in it; nor should this action of his hinder it, but rather
serve to secure and confirm it to him:
hath turned away my wrath from the children of Israel; caused the effects of
63

64. it to cease, by slaying the two persons, as before related:
while he was zealous for my sake among you; for the glory of God, the
honour of his law, the credit of religion, and the good of his people, which is
a good cause to be zealously affected in, Gal_4:18 in which he was a type of
Christ, whose zeal for the house of God, for the doctrine, discipline, and
worship of it, for the salvation of his people, and the glory of God thereby,
ate him up, Psa_69:9 as well as in his turning away wrath from Israel; sin is
the cause of wrath, and for it is revealed from heaven; the people of God are
deserving of it as others; but Christ has bore it for them, and so has
delivered them from it and all the effects of it, and they are secure from its
coming upon them:
that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy; by the plague sent
among them, being so highly provoked with their shocking abominations.
JAMISON 11-13, "Phinehas ... hath turned my wrath away — This
assurance was a signal mark of honor that the stain of blood, instead of
defiling, confirmed him in office and that his posterity should continue as
long as the national existence of Israel.
COKE, "Verses 11-13
Numbers 25:11-13. Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, &c.— God, in reward of the
undissembled zeal of Phinehas, confirmed to him the right he had of succeeding to
Eleazar, as his son, in the office of the priesthood; and promised him that the same
august privilege should be perpetuated in his family. It seems, from the words in the
12th verse, as if the priesthood was a thing different from the covenant of peace.
Some of the Jewish interpreters conclude from this text, that God had promised to
Phinehas a privilege of procuring pardon thenceforward for guilty persons. But
there is nothing more indefinite in the sacred language than the word peace: it is
made use of to denote all kind of prosperity, and in particular that of long life.
Phinehas did actually enjoy it in this last sense, as appears from the Book of Judges.
The promise of an everlasting priesthood, according to the language of the Old
Testament, was likewise accomplished. The Jews reckon twelve high priests of the
race of Phinehas from his time down to Solomon; nine more from this period to the
captivity; and fifteen from the re-establishment to the time of Antiochus Eupator;
the last of whom was Onias, slain by Lysias. It is true, the high-priesthood was for a
while in the family of Ithamar, but it soon returned to that of Phinehas. Eli was the
first of the family of Ithamar who enjoyed the office; which returned to the house of
Phinehas in the person of Zadock, where it continued even to the Maccabees. Dr.
Shuckford proposes another explanation of this passage, which some, perhaps, may
think more satisfactory; by supposing the priesthood to be here called everlasting,
not as expressing a design of a perpetual continuance of it to the descendants of
Phinehas, but as limiting it to the family of Aaron throughout their generations.
Accordingly it might be translated thus, It shall be to him, and to his seed after him,
a covenant or grant of the everlasting priesthood; intimating, that God had given to
64

65. Phinehas, and his seed after him, a grant of the priesthood, which was limited to
Aaron and his descendants, to all generations; and is therefore called the everlasting
priesthood. Exodus 40:15 which promise was not in vain; for Phinehas might have
died before Eleazar, and so never have enjoyed Aaron's priesthood. For the
expression is, made an atonement for the children of Israel, see note on ch. Numbers
8:19 upon which atonement Dr. Beaumont remarks,—"So the proverb is fulfilled,
Proverbs 16:14."
REFLECTIONS.—Never was wickedness more daring than in Zimri, nor zeal more
flaming than in Phinehas. While Moses and the people were, with penitential tears,
lamenting their sin, and deprecating the judgments they had provoked,—with
barefaced impudence, as if glorying in his shame, this prince of Simeon leads a
harlot of quality openly to his tent. Note; Shamelessness in sin is usually the
consequence of lewdness. Phinehas, fired with jealousy for God's glory, and
indignation at the horrid crime, hastens to follow this shameless pair, surprises them
in their crime, and, plunging his javelin through them both, executes upon them, as
God's magistrate, condign vengeance. Though some sinners are too great for human
laws, let them know that there is a sword of God which will reach them.—God
expresses his approbation of the deed, by a removal of the plague which had begun,
and settles the entail of the priesthood on the children of Phinehas; because, by his
zeal as a priest, and fidelity as a magistrate, he had turned away wrath from the
congregation. Note; (1.) The impartial distribution of justice upon offenders, is one
chief means to rid the land of sin, and save it from God's plagues. (2.) In God's
cause we must not fear to rebuke the greatest or most daring sinners. (3.) God will
recompense those who are zealous in his cause with peculiar blessings.
ELLICOTT, " (11) Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest . . . —
The description of Phinehas, as in Numbers 25:7, is repeated in full, as if to denote
that he was not a private individual, but one invested with public authority.
While he was zealous for my sake among them.—Better, in that he was jealous with
my jealousy (or, in that he displayed my jealousy).
BENSON, "Numbers 25:11. That I consumed not the children of Israel in my
jealousy — When God ascribes jealousy and the passions to himself, in Scripture, he
speaks after the manner of men, and in conformity to our apprehension. The
meaning is, that his own glory and the salvation of mankind render it necessary that
he should proceed with severity against some particular crimes, like that wherewith
men proceed when they are prompted by jealousy and other angry passions.
65

66. 12 Therefore tell him I am making my covenant of
peace with him.
BARNES, "My covenant of peace - Equivalent to “the covenant of My
peace.” God established with Phinehas in particular that covenant which He
had made generally with all his people; and among its blessings peace is
especially mentioned, because of the peace between God and the
congregation which Phinehas had brought about. As an additional gift there
is assigned to him and his seed forever the office of peace-making, the
legitimate function of the priesthood (compare Eph_2:14); and the covenant
was thus to him a covenant not only of peace but of life (compare the
marginal reference). Phinehas became highpriest after the death of his
father Eleazar, and the office, with a short interruption from the days of Eli
to those of David, when for unknown reasons it was filled by the
descendants of his uncle Ithamar, was perpetuated in his line; nor indeed is
it known to have departed from that line again until the typical priesthood
of the sons of Aaron was merged in the actual priesthood of the Saviour of
mankind.
CLARKE 12-13, "My covenant of peace - of an everlasting priesthood - As
the word peace implied all kinds of blessings, both spiritual and temporal, it
may mean no more here than the promise of God, to grant him and his
family the utmost prosperity in reference to both worlds. The everlasting
priesthood refers properly to the priesthood of Christ which was shadowed
out by the priesthood under the law; no matter in what family it was
continued. Therefore the ‫עולם‬ ‫כהנת‬ kehunnath olam, or eternal priesthood,
does not merely refer to any sacerdotal ministrations which should be
continued in the family of Phinehas, during the Mosaic dispensation, but to
that priesthood of Christ typified by that of Aaron and his successors. The
priesthood alone is everlasting, and a covenant or grant of that was made to
Phinehas, and his descendants. The Jews reckon twelve high priests of the
race of Phinehas, from this time to the days of Solomon, nine more from
that time to the captivity, (see 1Ch_6:4, 1Ch_6:15), and fifteen from their
return to the time of Antiochus Eupator, the last of whom was Onias, slain
by Lysias. Ezra, the great priest and scribe, was of this line, Ezr_7:1, Ezr_
7:5. The family of Ithamar, uncle of Phinehas, had the priesthood for about
150 years; but it was restored to the family of Phinehas in the person of
Zadok the priest, 1Ch_6:50, in which it continued in the whole about 950
years. Probably the Maccabees were of the same family; but though this is
not certain, there is no evidence against it. See Calmet. God therefore
sufficiently fulfilled his promise; he gave to him and his descendants almost
66

67. the utmost temporal length that could be given of that priesthood which is,
in its own nature, eternal. Here then the word ‫עולם‬ olam means, not a
limited time, but what is eternal in its duration. See the note on Gen_21:33.
GILL, "Wherefore say,.... Moses is bid to tell what follows to Phinehas
himself, for his comfort and encouragement, and to the people of Israel,
that they might take notice of it, and give him honour and respect, as one
highly esteemed by the Lord:
behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace; not only hereby assuring him
that he had nothing to fear from the brethren and relations of the person he
had slain, as Aben Ezra; but that he should enjoy all peace and happiness,
external, internal, and eternal: Baal Hatfurira on the place says, that
"Shalom", peace, is by geometry, or numerically, the Messiah; who is the
peace, the peace maker, and peace giver, and in whom all the blessings of
grace and peace are: and if this covenant is the same with the covenant of
the priesthood in the next verse, it may be so called, because the priests had
a peculiar nearness to God, and enjoyed his friendship, favour, and peace
with him, and because the right administration of their office was the
means of peace between God and his people; in this also Phinehas was a
type of Christ; the covenant of grace made with him is called the covenant of
peace, Isa_54:10 for in this covenant the scheme of peace and reconciliation
was formed, agreed to, and settled; Christ was appointed the peace maker,
which he agreed to be; and in consequence of it was sent and obtained peace
by the blood of his cross, which is published in the everlasting Gospel, called
therefore the Gospel of peace.
ELLICOTT, "(12) My covenant of peace.—Phinehas, as one who was zealous for
the honour of God and of the house of the Lord, was a fitting type of Christ, in
whom the prediction of the Psalmist received its accomplishment, “The zeal of thine
house hath eaten me up” (Psalms 69:9; John 2:17). The covenant of grace is
described in Isaiah 54:10 and in Malachi 2:5 as the covenant of peace.
POOLE, "i.e. The covenant of an everlasting priesthood, as it is expounded,
Numbers 25:13, which is called a covenant of peace, partly with respect to the happy
effect of this heroical action of his, whereby he made peace between God and his
people; and partly with regard to the principal end and use of the priestly office,
which was constantly to do that which Phinehas now did, even to mediate between
God and men, to obtain and preserve his own and Israel’s peace and reconciliation
with God, by offering up sacrifices, and incense, and prayers to God on their behalf,
Numbers 16:47,48, as also by turning them away from iniquity, which is the only
peace-breaker, and by teaching and pressing the observation of that law, which is
the only bond of their peace, Malachi 2:5-7.
BENSON, "Numbers 25:12. My covenant of peace — That is, the covenant of an
67

68. everlasting priesthood, as it is expounded Numbers 25:13, which is called a covenant
of peace, partly with respect to the happy effect of this heroical action of his,
whereby he made peace between God and his people, and partly with regard to the
principal end of the priestly office, which was constantly to do that which Phinehas
now did, even to mediate between God and men, in order to their peace and
reconciliation with him, by offering up sacrifices and prayers to God on their
behalf; as also by turning them away from iniquity, which is the only peace-
breaker; and by teaching and pressing upon them the observation of that law, which
is the only bond of their peace.
WHEDON, "Verse 12-13
12, 13. My covenant of peace — The promise of an everlasting tenure of the priestly
office by the family of Phinehas. This promise was fulfilled until the gradual decay
of the Jewish Church through the tyranny of Herod and his successors, excepting a
brief transfer to Eli. Note, 1 Samuel 2:35.
Made an atonement — Reconciliation by which God’s wrath was placated, not by
sacrifice, but by executing judgment upon a conspicuous apostate, so that all the
children of Israel might be freed from complicity with this sin. It was an atonement,
not only because the blood of the chief sinner was shed, but because a holy moral
influence went forth from this whole-hearted jealousy for the honour of God,
turning Israel from foul idolatry to the sole service of Jehovah. On this account God
restrained the fierceness of his consuming wrath and granted the offenders a space
for repentance, also forgiveness when their sin was confessed and forsaken. See
note, 2 Samuel 21:3.
PARKER, ""My covenant of peace"— Numbers 25:12
Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, was a type of Christ.—
The covenant of grace is described in Isaiah 54:10, and in Malachi 2:5, as the
covenant of peace.—Peace must be the result of harmony with God.—God is the
God of peace.—He blesses his people with peace.—Speaking to his servant, he said,
"My covenant was with him of life and peace."—The converse of this is true;
"There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked."—Peace does not represent a grace
so much as a virtue.—Great misunderstanding prevails as to the true meaning of
peace.—True peace represents the highest energy, controlled and sanctified.—Never
represent spiritual peace by death or the grave, or by anything that is inert, or
passionless.—He only is at peace who in full possession of every faculty feels that
there is no power in his soul that does not aspire towards God in loving obedience.—
Peace of this kind does not exempt from daily trial and daily sorrow.—The presence
of peace in the soul takes the right view of such discipline, and is sure to find stars in
the darkness.—The peace that is spoken of is not a temporary arrangement; it is a
matter of covenant signed and sealed.—The blessing of God is a covenant ordered in
all things and sure.—Judge spiritual progress by the depth of spiritual
68

69. peace.—"Perfect love casteth out fear."—The great gift of Christ to the Church is a
gift of peace.—The apostle describes the peace of God as passing understanding,—
an enjoyment beyond analysis, and beyond criticism: passing understanding as
flying passes walking, as the light of the sun passes all the sparks man can kindle
upon earth, as the ocean passes the little rills that trickle over the surface of the
earth.
PETT, "Numbers 25:12-13
‘For that reason say, “Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace, and it shall be to
him, and to his seed after him, the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he
was jealous for his God, and made atonement for the children of Israel.” ’
Because Phinehas had done what he had done out of concern for Yahweh’s name
and honour God now gave him and his descendants His ‘covenant of wellbeing’.
That is, the covenant of an everlasting priesthood. By his act he had shown himself a
true priest by being jealous for his God and by making a covering for the sins of
Israel, an atonement or reconciliation for the children of Israel. Thus he and his
were confirmed in a permanent priesthood.
13 He and his descendants will have a covenant of
a lasting priesthood, because he was zealous for
the honor of his God and made atonement for the
Israelites.”
GILL, "And he shall have it, and his seed after him,.... The covenant, and all
the blessings of it; so the covenant stands fast with Christ, and all his
spiritual seed, Psa_89:28,
even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; or this may be read in
connection with the preceding words, and the sense be, and he and his shall
have the covenant of an everlasting priesthood, beside the covenant of peace
before promised to him: the Aaronic priesthood is called everlasting,
because it was to continue, and did continue, throughout the whole Jewish
dispensation, unto the coming of the Messiah, in whom it had its fulfilling
end. Now though Phinehas in course was to have the priesthood at his
69

70. father's death, yet it is here promised him on account of his zeal, both to
assure him that he should survive his father, and that nothing should befall
him that should render him incapable of the priesthood; and moreover, that
he should have a seed in whom it should be continued; there was indeed an
interruption of it in his line for a little while, on some account or other, it
being translated into the family of Eli, a son of Ithamar; but then it was
restored again in the time of Solomon to the family of Phinehas, where it
continued unto the captivity, and even to the times of Herod, and so of the
Messiah: in this also Phinehas was a type of Christ, the covenant made with
him not only being from everlasting and to everlasting, a covenant that
cannot be broken, and will never be removed; but the priesthood founded
on it is so too, being established by the oath of God, who swore to him, "thou
art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek": Christ's priesthood is
an unchangeable one, and does not pass from one to another; his sacrifice
has a perpetual virtue and efficacy in it to take away sin, and he ever lives to
make intercession for his people, Heb_7:21,
because he was zealous for his God, and made an atonement for the
children of Israel; by executing judgment upon the delinquents, as Christ
has made atonement for the sins of his people by satisfying law and justice:
and, besides what has been observed, it may be remarked, that there is an
agreement between Phinehas and Christ in his very name; Phinehas
signifies either "the face of him that spares", that is, of God, that spares;
Christ is the face of God, the express image of his person, even of him, who,
though he spared not Christ himself, yet he spares his people for Christ's
sake; or else "he shall look that spares", or "and spare" (g); that is, God, who
looks upon the person, righteousness, blood, and sacrifice of his Son, and
spares his people.
ELLICOTT, " (13) And he shall have it, and his seed after him.—The covenant of
peace, which was made by the blood of the Cross, and all the blessings which belong
to that covenant, stand fast with Christ, and are secured to His spiritual seed.
(Comp. Psalms 89:28-29.)
Even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood.—Phinehas succeeded his father
Eleazar as high priest (Judges 20:28). After a temporary interruption in the
succession, which existed in the time of Eli, and continued until the time of David,
when there appears to have been a joint high-priesthood, the office was restored by
Solomon to Zadok, the descendant of Phinehas, and so continued until the gradual
dissolution of the Jewish state. Christ’s priesthood is “an unchangeable priesthood”
(Hebrews 7:24): “Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec”
(Hebrews 7:17).
TRAPP, "Numbers 25:13 And he shall have it, and his seed after him, [even] the
covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was zealous for his God, and
made an atonement for the children of Israel.
70

71. Ver. 13. Because he was zealous for his God.] Enraged, as a jealous man, with a holy
hatred of sin, and inflamed with love to God, Quem aliter amare non didicerat, as
Chrysostom speaks of Basil. Non amat, qui non zelat, saith Augustine. (a) He is no
friend to God that is not zealous for him. To one that desired to know what kind of
man Basil was, there was presented in a dream, saith the history, a pillar of fire,
with this motto, Talis est Basilius, Basil is such a one, all on a light fire for God.
POOLE, " And his seed after him.
Quest. What advantage had he by this promise, seeing the thing here promised was
due to him by birth?
Answ. 1. The same blessing may be ofttimes promised, as the kingdom was to David;
and the renewing of this promise might seem convenient here, To signify that
bloodshed was so far from polluting him, and thereby casting him out of the
priesthood, that it was a mean to confirm him in it.
2. This promise secured him and his against divers contingencies, which otherwise
might have befallen him or them; as that he should live longer than his father, else
he could not have been the high priest; that he should be preserved from those
blemishes which might have rendered him incapable of the priesthood, which were
many; that he should have a seed, and they such as were fit for that office.
An everlasting priesthood, i.e. to continue as long as the law and commonwealth of
the Jews did.
Quest. How was this verified, seeing the priesthood went from Eleazar’s to
Ithamar’s line in Eli and three or four of his successors? Answ. 1. This promise, as
others of the like nature, was conditional, and therefore might be made void, and of
none effect, by the miscarriages of Phinehas’s sons, as it seems it was; and
thereupon a like promise was made to Eli of the line of Ithamar, that he and his
should walk before the Lord, to wit, in the office of high priest, for ever, which also
for his and their sins was made void, 1 Samuel 2:30.
Answ. 2. That was but a short interruption, and not considerable in so long a
succession, for the priesthood returned to Phinehas’s line in the time of Solomon, 1
Kings 2:26,27,35 1 Chronicles 24:3; and continued in that line till the captivity of
Babylon, as is evident, and afterward too, 1 Chronicles 6:4 Ezra 7:1,5, even until
Christ’s time, for any thing which appears to the contrary.
BENSON, "Verse 13-14
Numbers 25:13-14. An everlasting priesthood — To continue as long as the law and
71

72. commonwealth of the Jews did. But this promise was conditional, and therefore
might be made void by the miscarriages of Phinehas’s sons, as it seems it was, and
thereupon a like promise was made to Eli, of the line of Ithamar, that he and his
should walk before the Lord, namely, in the office of high-priest, for ever, which
also for his and their sins was made void, 1 Samuel 2:30. And the priesthood
returned to Phinehas’s line in the time of Solomon, 1 Kings 2:26-27; 1 Kings 2:34.
Because he was zealous for his God — God, who searches the heart, saw that this
emotion proceeded not from private passion, but from just indignation against such
infamous lewdness, and a truly pious zeal for the honour of God. And made an
atonement for Israel — Procured pardon and peace for them from God. Zimri, a
prince of a chief house — This is mentioned to do honour to Phinehas, who in this
brave act feared not the dignity of a man of so great interest in his tribe.
14 The name of the Israelite who was killed with
the Midianite woman was Zimri son of Salu, the
leader of a Simeonite family.
GILL, "Now the name of the Israelite that was slain,.... By Phinehas, as
before related:
even that was slain with the Midianitish woman; who was slain also, both
together with one thrust:
was Zimri, the son of Sela, a prince of a chief house among the Simeonites;
or a prince of his father's house, or family; there were five families of the
Simeonites, and this man was a prince of one of them, see Num_26:12
though Josephus (h), and so the Samaritan Chronicle (i), make him to be a
prince of the tribe of Simeon. His name is mentioned partly to the reproach
of him, and partly for the honour of Phinehas, whose zeal and courage were
such, that he feared not to take away the life of a person of such figure,
authority, and interest among the people.
JAMISON,"Zimri, ... a prince ... among the Simeonites — The slaughter of a
man of such high rank is mentioned as a proof of the undaunted zeal of
Phinehas, for there might be numerous avengers of his blood.
72

73. CALVIN, "14.Now the name of the Israelite. Even as the memory of the just is
blessed, so also it was equitable that the author of this foul sin should be condemned
to perpetual infamy. It appears, however, from the fact of a part of the disgrace
being thrown upon the whole tribe, how greatly displeasing to God was this gross
enormity. For although the tribe of Simeon is not here actually involved in the
charge of participating in the sin, yet are they all branded with the common mark of
ignominy for their humiliation, in order that each one of them may learn severely to
correct whomsoever amongst his relatives he may see offending, and by no means to
encourage their vices, if he desires to do credit to the founder of his race. (189) It is
recorded that both Zimri and the Midianitish woman were of noble and principal
families, not only that we may be taught that God’s judgment is no respecter of
persons ( ἀπροσωπόληπτον,) in that it does not spare rank, but also that the higher a
person may be in position, the greater is the disgrace he is exposed to if he conduct
himself dishonorably, since their very dignity renders men’s actions more
conspicuous.
Because the paternal house of the harlot is said to have been in Midian, some
conjecture that she was born in the land of Moab, or, at any rate, brought up there
among her maternal relatives; but, as the matter is unimportant, I leave it
undecided.
COFFMAN, ""Now the name of the man of Israel that was slain, who was slain
with the Midianitish woman, was Zimri, the son of Salu, a prince of a fathers' house
among the Simeonites. And the name of the Midianitish woman that was slain was
Cozbi, the daughter of Zur; he was head of the people of a fathers' house in
Midian."
In the extremely high rank of the principals in this sordid drama one may read the
undeniable evidence that nothing casual or accidental occurred here. This was a
well-planned, skillfully-coordinated, and boldly-executed plan to free the people of
the obligations imposed by the Decalogue. In Zimri's marriage to a Midianite
princess, the purpose was to violate and negate God's prohibition against Israel's
intermarriage with foreign peoples. We agree with Cook that, "Her (Cozbi's) high
rank proves that Zimri had not fallen in with her by mere chance, but had been
deliberately singled out by the Midianites as one whom, at any price, they must lead
astray."[12] Why Zimri? Perhaps because of his popularity and open opposition to
the policies of Moses. That the Midianites employed the services of Cozbi to ensnare
Zimri was also due evidently to the rare beauty and attractiveness of Cozbi, the very
word "Cozbi," having the meaning of "voluptuous in a sexual sense."[13]
The immediate result of the events related in this chapter was a war of
extermination waged against the Midianites by Israel. In this Divine order, we read
the truth that the Midianites indeed were the perpetrators of this evil assault upon
God's people. The Moabites were merely tools of the Midianites in the whole
73

74. episode.
ELLICOTT, "(14) A prince of a chief house among the Simeonites.—Better, of a
father’s house, &c. It is probable that the tribe of Simeon was deeply implicated in
the transgression, and that those who belonged to that tribe were the chief sufferers
in the plague. (See Numbers 26:14, and Note.)
TRAPP,"Numbers 25:14 Now the name of the Israelite that was slain, [even] that
was slain with the Midianitish woman, [was] Zimri, the son of Salu, a prince of a
chief house among the Simeonites.
Ver. 14. A prince of a chief house.] Whom yet Phineas spared not; as neither did
John Baptist spare Herod; nor Nathan David; nor Bishop Lambert King Pippin,
whom he freely reproved to his face for his adultery, A.D. 798, though he were
afterwards therefore slain by the harlot’s brother. (a) Odo Severus, the twenty-
second Archbishop of Canterbury, A.D. 934, dealt like plainly with King Edwin,
excommunicated his concubines, and caused one of them, on whom the king doted
unreasonably, to be fetched out of the court by violence, burnt her in the forehead
with a hot iron, and banished her into Ireland. (b)
POOLE, " A prince: this is added as a proof of Phinehas’s zeal, that he durst
venture upon so great a person, who was likely to have many avengers of his blood.
Of a chief house, Heb. of the house of his father. Every tribe was divided into great
households, called the houses of their fathers, Numbers 1:2, and he was the prince
or chief of one of these, though not of fire whole tribe.
Among the Simeonites; of the tribe of Simeon, which seems to have been too much
influenced by his and other such examples, so that for 59,300, which were
numbered, Numbers 1:22,23, there were now only 22,000 Numbers 26:14.
PETT, "Verse 14-15
The Man and The Woman Are Identified. Both From Chieftain’s Houses (Numbers
25:14-15)
Numbers 25:14
‘Now the name of the man of Israel who was slain, who was slain with the
Midianitish woman, was Zimri, the son of Salu, a prince of a fathers’ house among
the Simeonites.’
The man who had done this thing was now named and shamed (note how this
74

75. parallels what he had done in the analysis above). He was Zimri, son of Salu, a
chieftain of a father’s house in Simeon. As we noted earlier he had introduce the
woman among his brethren and they had not protested. Thus it would appear that
the tribe of Simeon had been heavily involved in the idolatry. This explains why,
when a name had to be omitted in the list of tribes publicly blessed by Moses,
Simeon’s name was missing (Deuteronomy 33). They had to do penance for their
failure by being temporarily ‘blotted out of Israel’. Levi had proved faithful once
again and Simeon had sinned grievously, so that they could not be coupled together
as they had been by Jacob (Genesis 49:5).
PULPIT, "Now the name of the Israelite. These details as to names seem to have
been added as an after-thought, for they would naturally have been given in
Numbers 25:11, where the man and the woman are first mentioned. The woman's
name is given again in Numbers 25:18, as if for the first time. We may probably
conclude that Numbers 25:14, Numbers 25:15 were inserted into the narrative either
by the hand of Moses himself at a later date, or possibly by some subsequent hand.
Zimri. This was not an uncommon name, but the individual who bears it here is not
elsewhere mentioned.
15 And the name of the Midianite woman who
was put to death was Kozbi daughter of Zur, a
tribal chief of a Midianite family.
GILL, "And the name of the Midianitish woman that was slain was Cozbi,
the daughter of Zur,.... One of the five kings of Midian, Num_31:8 and so the
Samaritan Chronicle says (k), it was the daughter of a king that came to a
prince of the tribe of Simeon, and enticed him to eat of her food, and
worship her idols. The Targum of Jonathan says she was called Selonae, the
daughter of Balak, chief of the nation of Moab, whose habitation was in
Midian:
he was head over a people, and of a chief house in Midian; that is, Zur, the
father of Cozbi, was; there were five sons of Midian, whose names are given,
Gen_25:4 from whence Jarchi concludes, that there were five principal
families in Midian, and that this man was the head or chief of one of them,
which is not improbable; and that also makes for the honour of Phinehas,
75

76. that he spared not any for their rank and quality, of whatsoever nation they
were.
ELLICOTT, "(15) Head over a people, and of a chief house in Midian.—Better,
head of the tribes (or, communities) of a father’s house in Midian. Several of the
Midianitish tribes, or smaller divisions of a father’s house, may have descended
from one tribe-father. In Numbers 31:8, Zur is described as one of the five kings of
Midian who were slain by the Israelites.
PETT, "Numbers 25:15
‘And the name of the Midianitish woman who was slain was Cozbi, the daughter of
Zur. He was head of the people of a fathers’ house in Midian.’
The name of the Midianitish woman was also given. She was Cozbi, daughter of
Zur, a Midianite high chieftain, a ‘head of a father’s house’ (see byn 31:8; Joshua
13:21). We note again how easily Moab and Midian are linked.
PULPIT, "Head over a people, and of a chief house in Midian. Rather, "head of
tribes ( ‫מּוֹת‬ֻ‫,א‬ for the use of which cf. Genesis 25:16 ) of a father's house in Midian."
It seems to mean that several clans descended from one tribe-father looked up to
Zur as their head. In Numbers 31:8 he is called one of the five "kings" of Midian.
That the daughter of such a man should have been selected, and should have been
willing, to play such a part throws a strong light upon the studied character and the
peculiar danger of the seduction.
16 The Lord said to Moses,
GILL, "And the Lord spake unto Moses,.... This was some time after the
above affair happened; how long it was is not certain; and a little time
before the death of Moses, see Num_31:1,
HENRY 16-18, "God had punished the Israelites for their sin with a plague;
as a Father he corrected his own children with a rod. But we read not that
any of the Midianites died of the plague; God took another course with
them, and punished them with the sword of an enemy, not with the rod of a
father. 1. Moses, though the meekest man, and far from a spirit of revenge,
is ordered to vex the Midianites and smite them, Num_25:17. Note, We
must set ourselves against that, whatever it is, which is an occasion of sin to
76

77. us, though it be a right eye or a right hand that thus offends us, Mat_5:29,
Mat_5:30. This is that holy indignation and revenge which godly sorrow
worketh, 2Co_7:11. 2. The reason given for the meditating of this revenge is
because they vex you with their wiles, Num_25:18. Note, Whatever draws
us to sin should be a vexation to us, as a thorn in the flesh. The mischief
which the Midianites did to Israel by enticing them to whoredom must be
remembered and punished with as much severity as that which the
Amalekites did in fighting with them when they came out of Egypt, Exo_
17:14. God will certainly reckon with those that do the devil's work in
tempting men to sin. See further orders given in this matter, Num_31:2.
K&D 16-18, "The Lord now commanded Moses to show hostility (‫ר‬ ַ‫ר‬ָ‫צ‬ to
the Midianites, and smite them, on account of the stratagem which they had
practised upon the Israelites by tempting them to idolatry, “in order that
the practical zeal of Phinehas against sin, by which expiation had been
made for the guilt, might be adopted by all the nation” (Baumgarten). The
inf. abs. ‫ר‬ ‫ר‬ ָ‫,צ‬ instead of the imperative, as in Exo_20:8, etc. ‫רף‬ ַ‫ב‬ ְ‫ל־דּ‬ַ‫,ע‬ in
consideration of Peor, and indeed, or especially, in consideration of Cozbi.
The repetition is emphatic. The wickedness of the Midianites culminated in
the shameless wantonness of Cozbi the Midianitish princess. “Their sister,”
i.e., one of the members of their tribe. - The 19th verse belongs to the
following chapter, and forms the introduction to Num_26:1.
(Note: In the English version this division is adopted. - Tr.)
COFFMAN, ""And Jehovah spake unto Moses saying, Vex the Midianites, and
smite them; for they vex you with their wiles, wherewith they have beguiled you in
the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of the prince of Midian,
their sister, who was slain on the day of the plague in the matter of Peor."
Carson is correct in his statement that the fact of God's order calling for war against
Midian, but not against Moab, was "because it was the Midianites that Balaam
counseled (Numbers 31:16), and they (the Midianites) were the chief agents in the
corruption of Israel."[14] Israel would never fully recover from the disastrous
events unfolded in this chapter. Sure, God would go right on with his plans. They
would fight and win wars against all their enemies. The debauched kingdoms of
Canaan would fall like over-ripe figs when the tree sustains a mighty wind. But here
at Baal-Peor the cancer began that would eventually consume the Chosen Race. The
rest of the Bible is the record of how God dealt with the problems that resulted.
17 “Treat the Midianites as enemies and kill them.
77

78. CLARKE, "Vex the Midianites, etc. - See this order fulfilled, Numbers
31:1-20. Twelve thousand Israelites attacked the Midianites, destroyed all
their cities, slew their five kings, every male, and every grown up woman,
and took all their spoils.
GILL, "Vex the Midianites, and smite them. Go to war with them, and smite
them with the sword; not the Moabites, but the Midianites, though they
were both confederates against Israel; but God had given a charge not to
contend in battle with Moab, Deu_2:9, they were spared for the sake of Lot,
from whom they sprang; and, as Jarchi says, for the sake of Ruth, who was
to come from them; and so in the Talmud (l); though they did not entirely
escape the divine resentment, as appears from Deu_23:3 but the Midianites
were the first that advised to send for Balaam, and with them he stayed and
was entertained, after he had been dismissed by Balak; and it seems as if it
was to them he gave the wicked counsel, to draw Israel into fornication, and
so into idolatry, and thereby bring the curse of God upon them; which
advice they communicated to the Moabites, and both were concerned in
putting it into execution; see Num_22:4.
JAMISON,"Vex the Midianites, and smite them — They seem to have been
the most guilty parties. (Compare Num_22:4; Num_31:8).
CALVIN, "17.Vex the Midianites, and smite them. Inasnmch as God constantly
forbids His people to take vengeance, it is surprising that the people of Israel should
now be instigated to do so; as if they were not already more than enough disposed to
it. We must bear in mind, however, that since God, who is the just avenger of all
wickedness, often makes use of men’s instrumentality, and constitutes them the
lawful ministers for the exercise of his vengeance, it must not be altogether
condemned without exception, but only such vengeance as men themselves are
impelled to by carnal passions. If any one is injured, straightway he is carried away
to the desire of vengeance by the stimulus of his own private injury; and this is
manifestly wrong: but if a person is led to inflict punishment by a just and well-
regulated zeal towards God, it is not his own cause, but that of God which he
undertakes. God did not, therefore, desire to give reins to His people’s anger, so as
to repay the Midianites as they had deserved in the violence of its impulse; but He
armed them with His own sword for their punishment; as if He had declared that
there was a just cause for their war, and that they need not fear the charge of
cruelty, if they exterminated such obnoxious enemies. For, although Balaam alone
had imagined this snare, still the guilt is laid upon the whole people. In the
meantime, the punishment of the Moabites is delayed, although they had apparently
inflicted the grosser injury. Because no good reason here appears why God should
78

79. mercifully bear with the one nation, whilst He hastens speedily to the punishment of
the others, let us learn to regard His judgments with reverence, and not to presume
to discuss them further than is lawful. Let it be sufficient for us to know that war
was justly declared against the Midianites, because it was not their fault that Israel
was not ruined by their iniquitous impiety. (190)
COKE, "Numbers 25:17. Vex the Midianites— The Moabites are not named. See
Deuteronomy 2:9. It is not unlikely, that the Midianites had the principal hand in
this seduction of the Israelites; ready as we find they were to prostitute a daughter
of one of their most honourable families, in order to procure the disgrace and
destruction of Israel; in just retribution therefore for their wickedness, God
commands Moses to be ready, at a time which he should appoint, to attack their
country with his whole force: the consequence of which was a fatal overthrow. See
ch. 31: Nothing could be more just, than to assign a proportionable punishment for
an offence so cruel, carried on by such odious means. (17) Vex the Midianites, and
smite them.—The Midianites appear to have been joint actors with the Moabites
throughout the whole of the opposition which was offered to Israel, and the chief
actors in the wiles by which the Israelites were seduced. As the descendants of
Abraham, the father of the faithful, the Midianites ought to have feared and obeyed
Abraham’s God, and to have shown brotherly kindness to His people, who were
their own kindred. The special judgments of God are directed against the sins of
apostacy and of seduction. (Comp. Revelation 2:14; Revelation 18:6.) Although the
Moabites were not to be smitten with the Midianites (see Deuteronomy 2:9),
nevertheless they did not escape punishment, but were shut out, even to the tenth
generation, from the congregation of the Lord. (See Deuteronomy 23:3-4.) Their
exemption at this time from the judgment executed upon the Midianites was
probably due, not to their descent from Lot (for the Midianites were descended
from Abraham), but to the fact that the measure of their sin was not yet full. (Comp.
Genesis 15:16.)
TRAPP, "Numbers 25:17 Vex the Midianites, and smite them:
Ver. 17. Vex the Midianites.] As more malicious and mischievous than the Moabites;
as appears, (1.) By their detaining of Balaam, when the Moabites dismissed him in
great displeasure; (2.) By the wickedness of their women, who by Cozbi may seem to
have been meretrices meretricissimae, such as afterwards was Julia, Messalina, and
that Romish Lucretia, concubine to Pope Alexander VI., of whom Pontanus, (a)
“ Hoc tumulo dormit Lucretia nomine, sed re
Thais, Alexandri filia, sponsa, nurus. ”
{a} Lib. ii. tum.
79

80. POOLE, " And why not the Moabites, who were as guilty, Numbers 25:1?
Answ. 1. Because God will reserve to himself a liberty of punishing or sparing,
according to his own good pleasure.
2. God had a kindness for the Moabites for Lot’s sake, Deuteronomy 2:9.
3. God punished the Moabites in another manner, partly, by his own immediate
hand, whereby it is probable he cut off those Moabitish women that were guilty of
this fact; partly, by a particular and dreadful kind of excommunication,
Deuteronomy 23:3; and partly, by impunity, which in its consequences is commonly
worse and more pernicious than any or all temporal punishments, which none that
believes the Bible can deny.
4. It is probable the Midianites were most guilty, as in persuading Balak to send for
Balaam, as may be gathered from Numbers 22:4,7; so in the reception of Balaam
after Balak had dismissed him, Numbers 31:8, and in further consultation with him,
and in contriving the means for the executing of this wicked plot.
Smite them, i.e. kill them; in which words, as there is a command to war against
them, so there is a promise of success.
BENSON, "Numbers 25:17. Vex the Midianites — It is probable, from Numbers
25:6, compared with Numbers 21:16, that the Midianites had had the principal
hand in seducing the Israelites into this shameful revolt from the worship of God to
the vile sacrifices of Baal-peor, and in causing this open and impudent affront to be
put upon the professors of the true religion in the matter of Zimri, to whom they
prostituted a daughter of one of their most honourable families, to procure the
disgrace and destruction of the Israelites; therefore, in just retribution for their
wickedness, God commands Moses to be ready at a time he should appoint to attack
their country with his whole force, and give them a fatal overthrow.
WHEDON, "Verse 17
WAR AGAINST MIDIAN COMMANDED, Numbers 25:16-18.
17. Vex the Midianites — Although Midian and Moab were united in bringing
Balaam from the east, (Numbers 22:4; Numbers 22:7,) and the daughters of Moab
were associated with those of Midian in seducing Israel, yet only Midian provoked
Jehovah to a declaration of war at this time, possibly because Moab was not so
forward in this iniquity. Says Ainsworth, “For though Baalam gave counsel to the
king of Moab, (Revelation 2:14,) and the Moabitish women were prostitute also unto
whoredom, yet Balak at first did not much regard that counsel, but turned Balaam
away with shame, but the Midianites retained him, and among them he was slain.”
80

81. PETT, "Numbers 25:17-18
‘Vex the Midianites, and smite them, for they vex you with their wiles, with which
they have beguiled you in the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi, the
daughter of the prince of Midian, their sister, who was slain on the day of the plague
in the matter of Peor.’
What had happened had been a result of a deliberate policy by the Midianites. They
had hoped that by wooing Israel from Yahweh they would turn Him against them.
Thus they had approved of their young women and the young women of Moab
leading Israelite males astray for this purpose. It was seen to be Midianite policy
(Numbers 31:16) that had brought the plague on Israel and had led so many into
idolatry and death. They were thus murderers. Therefore, like the Canaanites, they
had to be slain. There had to be death for death.
It is noteworthy that this section of Numbers, which has contained so much of
victory should end with Israel’s failure. It was Yahweh’s constant reminder that
pride comes before a fall. It was an early warning of how careful they must be when
they entered the land.
PULPIT, "Vex the Midianites. The Moabites, although the evil began with them,
were passed over; perhaps because they were still protected by the Divine injunction
(Deuteronomy 2:9) not to meddle with them; more probably because their sin had
not the same studied and deliberate character as the sin of the Midianites. We may
think of the women of Moab as merely indulging their individual passions after
their wonted manner, but of the women of Midian as employed by their rulers, on
the advice of Balsam, in a deliberate plot to entangle the Israelites in heathen rites
and heathen sins which would alienate from them the favour of God.
NOTE ON THE ZEAL OF PHINEHAS
The act of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, in slaying Zimri and Cozbi is one of the
most memorable in the Old Testament; not so much, however, in itself, as in the
commendation bestowed upon it by God. It is unquestionably surprising at first
sight that an act of unauthorized zeal, which might so readily be made (as indeed it
was made) the excuse for deeds of murderous fanaticism, should be commended in
the strongest terms by the Almighty; that an act of summary vengeance, which we
find it somewhat hard to justify on moral grounds, should be made in a peculiar
sense and in a special degree the pattern of the great atonement wrought by the
Saviour of mankind; but this aspect of the deed in the eyes of God by its very
unexpectedness draws our attention to it, and obliges us to consider wherein its
distinctive religious character and excellence lay.
It is necessary in the first place to point out that the act of Phinehas did really
81

82. receive stronger testimony from God than any other act done proprio motu in the
Old Testament. What he did was not done officially (for he held no office), nor was
it clone by command (for the offenders were not under his jurisdiction as judge),
nor in fulfillment of any revealed law or duty (for no blame would have attached to
him if he had let it alone), and yet it had the same effect in staying the plague as the
act of Aaron when he stood between the living and the dead with the hallowed fire
in his hand (see on Numbers 16:46-48). Of both it is said that "he made an
atonement for the people," and so far they both appear as having power with God
to turn away his wrath and stay his avenging hand. But the atonement made by
Aaron was official, for he was the anointed high priest, and, being made with
incense from the sanctuary, it was mate in accordance with and upon the strength of
a ceremonial law laid down by God whereby he had bound himself to exercise his
Divine right of pardon. The act of Phinehas, on the contrary, had no legal or ritual
value; there is no power of atonement in the blood of sinners, nor had the death of
24,000 guilty people had any effect in turning away the wrath of God from them
that survived. It remains, therefore, a startling truth that the deed of Phinehas is the
only act neither official nor commanded, but originating in the impulses of the actor
himself, to which the power of atoning for sin is ascribed in the Old Testament: for
although in 2 Samuel 21:3 David speaks of making an atonement by giving up seven
of Saul's sons, it is evident from the context that the "atonement" was made to the
Gibeonites, and not directly to the Lord. Again, the act of Phinehas merited the
highest reward from God, a reward which was promised to him in the most absolute
terms. Because he had clone this thing he should have God's covenant of peace, he
and his seed after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood. This promise
must mean that he and his seed should have power with God for ever to make peace
between heaven and earth, and to make reconciliation for the sins of the people;
and, meaning this, it is a republication in favour of Phinehas, and in more absolute
terms, of the covenant made with Levi as represented by Aaron (see on Malachi 2:4,
Malachi 2:5). Nor is this all. In Psalms 106:31 it is said of his deed that "it was
counted unto him for righteousness unto all generations forevermore." This word
"counted" or "imputed'' is the same ( ‫ב‬ ַ‫שׁ‬ָ‫ח‬ ) which is used of Abraham in Genesis
15:6, and the very words of the Septuagint here ( ἐλογίσθη αὐτῷ εἰς δικαιοσύνην)
are applied to the obedience of Abraham in James 2:23. It appears then that
righteousness was imputed to Phinehas, as to the father of the faithful, with this
distinction, that to Phinehas it was imputed as an everlasting righteousness, which is
not said of Abraham. Now if we compare the two, it must be evident that the act of
Phinehas was not, like Abraham's, an act of self-sacrificing obedience, nor in any
special sense an act of faith. While both acted under the sense of duty, the following
of duty in Abraham's case put the greatest possible strain upon all the natural
impulses of mind and heart; in the case of Phinehas it altogether coincided with the
impulses of his own will. If faith was imputed to Abraham for righteousness, it is
clear that zeal was imputed to Phinehas for righteousness for evermore.
This being so, it is necessary in the second place to point out that the act in question
(like that of Abraham in sacrificing his son) was distinctly one of moral virtue
according to the standard then Divinely allowed. An act which was in itself wrong,
82

83. or of doubtful rectitude, could not form the ground for such praise and promise,
even supposing that they really looked far beyond the act itself. Now it is clear
The Jews indeed feigned a "zealot-right," examples of which they saw (amongst
others) in the act of Samuel slaying Agag (1 Samuel 15:33), of Mattathias slaying the
idolatrous Jew and the king's commissioner (1 Macc 2:24-26), of the Sanhedrim
slaying St. Stephen. But the last-mentioned case is evidence enough that in the
absence of distinct Divine guidance zeal is sure to degenerate into fanaticism, or
rather that it is impossible to distinguish zeal from fanaticism. Every such act must
of necessity stand upon its own merits, for it can only be justified by the coexistence
of two conditions which are alike beyond human certainty:
That Christ came to save men's lives, and that God would have all men to repent,
has made for us the primary condition impossible, and therefore the act of Phinehas
would be immoral now. No one may take life unless he has the mandate of the State
for doing' so. But it was not so then; God was the King of Israel, and the foes of
Israel were the foes of God, with whom there could be no peace or amity as long as
they threatened the very existence of God's people and worship. The Israelite who
indulged in sinful intercourse with a heathen was a rebel against his King and a
traitor to his country; he became ipso facto an "outlaw," to slay whom was the
bounden duty of every true patriot. If it be said that this view of things belongs to an
inferior code of morality, which ignored the universal brotherhood of men and
Fatherhood of God, that is admitted at once. The elder revelation founded itself
plainly and avowedly upon the moral law as then universally held (and by no means
supplanted yet by the higher law of Christ), that men were to love their brethren
and hate their enemies. To complain that the act of Phinehas was moral in a Jewish
and not in a Christian sense is only to find fault with God for suffering a confessedly
imperfect and preparatory morality to do its work until the fullness of time was
come.
While, therefore, we recognize the act of Phinehas as one determined, in its outward
form, by the imperfect morality of the dispensation under which he lived, it is
necessary to look below the act to the spirit which animated it for its permanent
value and significance. That spirit is clearly defined by the testimony of
God—"while he was zealous with my zeal." The excellence of Phinehas was, that he
was filled with a zeal which was itself Divine against sin, and that he acted fearlessly
and promptly (whilst others apparently hesitated even when commanded) under the
impulse of that zeal; in other words, what pleased God so greatly was to see his own
hatred of sin, and his own desire to make it to cease, reflected in the mind and
expressed in the deed of one who acted upon righteous impulse, not under any
command or constraint.
It is impossible, in the third place, not to see that this record throws a flood of light
upon the doctrine of the atonement; for the act of Phinehas stands, in some respects,
upon a higher level than all the types and shadows of the cross which had gone
before; being neither an act of submission to a definite command, like the sacrifice
83

84. of Isaac, nor a piece of ordered ritual, like the sending forth of the goat for Azazel;
but a spontaneous deed, having a moral value of its own. Partly at least for the sake
of what it was, not merely what it showed in a figure, it was accepted as an
atonement for the sin of Israel (which was very gross), and was imputed to its
author for an everlasting righteousness. Phinehas, therefore, in one very important
sense, would seem to bear a stronger resemblance to our Lord in his atoning work
than any other person in the Old Testament. It may therefore be submitted that we
must seek the truest ground of the atonement wrought by Christ not in the simple
fact of the passion and death of the God-man, nor in the greatness or value of his
sufferings as such; but in that zeal for God, that Divine indignation against sin as
the opposite of God, that consuming desire to cause it to cease, which first animated
the life of the Redeemer, and then informed his death. Phinehas in his measure, and
according to his lights, was governed by the same Spirit, and surrendered himself to
the prompting of the same Spirit, by which Christ offered himself without spot unto
God. And that Spirit was the Spirit of a consuming zeal, wherein our Lord hastened
with an entire eagerness of purpose (Luke 12:50; John 2:17; John 12:27, John 12:28,
&c.) to "condemn sin in the flesh" and so to glorify God, and to accomplish the
object of his mission (Romans 8:3), not by the summary execution of individual
sinners, but after an infinitely higher fashion, by the sacrifice of himself as the
representative of the whole sinful race.
Lastly, it must be noted that as the act of Phinehas enables us, almost more than
anything else, to enter into the nature of our Lord's atonement, so it is only in the
light of that atonement that we can justify to ourselves either the strength of the
Divine commendation accorded to Phinehas, or the vastness of the promises made to
him. For the deed was after all an act of violence, and a dangerous precedent,
humanly speaking; and, on the other hand, the covenant of peace given to him and
to his seed, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood, failed to give any peace
at all, save in a very broken and partial manner, and did not even continue in the
keeping of his family. As the house of Eleazar was the elder of the two descended
from Aaron, it would have been only natural that the high priestly dignity should
remain with its members; as a fact, however, it passed to the house of Ithamar from
the days of Eli until Solomon, for political reasons, deposed Abiathar in favour of
Zadok; and it was lost for ever with the final fall of Jerusalem. As in so many cases,
therefore, we have to acknowledge that the act of Phinehas was accepted as an
atonement for the sake of that truer atonement which (in a remarkable sense) it
anticipated; and that the promises given to Phinehas were only partially intended
and partially fulfilled for him, while the true and eternal fulfillment was reserved
for him of whom Phinehas was a figure. To Christ, in whom was combined an entire
zeal against sin and an entire love for the sinner, was indeed given God's covenant
of peace and an everlasting priesthood.
84

85. 18 They treated you as enemies when they
deceived you in the Peor incident involving their
sister Kozbi, the daughter of a Midianite leader,
the woman who was killed when the plague came
as a result of that incident.”
GILL, "For they vex you with their wiles,.... Not with wars, but with wiles,
with cunning stratagems, and artful methods to draw them into sin, that
thereby they might be exposed to the wrath of God:
wherewith they have beguiled you in the matter of Peor; the idol Peor, that
is, Baalpeor; which seems to countenance the notion that Peor was the
name of a man, some great personage, who was deified after his death; now
the Midianites beguiled the Israelites, by sending their daughters among
them, with whom they committed fornication, and by whom they were
inveigled to worship the idol Peor:
and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of a prince of Midian, their sister;
their countrywoman, as it was common with eastern people to call those of
the same country with them their brethren and sisters: now the Midianites
beguiled the Israelites, by prostituting a person of such quality to a prince of
theirs, which was setting an example to other daughters of Midian to follow
her, and so hereby many of the children of Israel were ensnared into
whoredom, and into idolatry:
which was slain in the day of the plague, for Peor's sake: or for the business
of Peor, as the Targum of Jonathan, because of the worship of that idol; not
that Cozbi was slain upon that account, but the plague came upon Israel by
reason of their worshipping of it, and it was on the day that the plague was
that she was slain; by which it seems that the plague lasted but one day.
JAMISON,"they vex you with their wiles — Instead of open war, they plot
insidious ways of accomplishing your ruin by idolatry and corruption.
their sister — their countrywoman.
TRAPP, "Numbers 25:18 For they vex you with their wiles, wherewith they have
beguiled you in the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of a
prince of Midian, their sister, which was slain in the day of the plague for Peor’s
85

86. sake.
Ver. 18. For they vex you with their wiles.] Not with their wars; they outwit you, out
smart by counterfeit courtesy, cut-throat kindness; they have deceived you into
those sister sins, fornication and idolatry, which God hath so severely punished.
POOLE, " For under pretence of kindred, and friendship, and leagues, yea, and
marriages, which they offered to them, instead of that war which the Israelites
expected from them, they sought only an opportunity to insinuate themselves into
their familiarity, and execute their hellish plot of bringing that curse upon the
Israelites, which they had in vain attempted to bring another way.
In the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi; by drawing you both to spiritual
and corporal whoredom.
Their sister, in a large sense, to wit, their countrywoman.
BENSON, "Numbers 25:18. With their wiles — For under pretence of kindred, and
friendship, and leagues, which they offered to them, instead of that war which the
Israelites expected, they sought only an opportunity to insinuate themselves into
their familiarity, and execute their hellish plot of bringing that curse upon the
Israelites which they had in vain attempted to bring another way. We see here that
we have more to fear from our passions than from the malice of our enemies, and
that it is a very dangerous thing to suffer ourselves to be seduced by voluptuousness
and the desires of the flesh. This is the application which St. Paul makes of this
history in the passage above referred to; where he tells us that “these things were
written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the world are come.” Again, the
zeal which Moses and Phinehas showed on this occasion, and God’s rewarding
Phinehas, prove that we must zealously oppose, by all just and lawful means, those
that offend God openly; that this is in particular the duty of magistrates and
ministers of religion; and that God rewards the fidelity of those who thus express
their zeal for his glory.
WHEDON, "18. For they vex you — Not with wars but with wiles, which were more
destructive to Israel. The vigorous prosecution of this war is detailed in chap. 31.
86