25:10,11{tis clear from Phinehas’s story that some anger is proper and justified. Phinehas was angry because of his zeal for the LORD. But how can we know when our anger is appropriate and when it should be restrained? Ask these questions when you become angry: (1) Why am I angry? (2) Whose rights are being violated (mine or another's)? (3) Is the truth (a principle of God) being violated? If only your rights are at stake, it may be wiser to keep angry feelings under control. But if the truth is at stake, anger is often justified, although violence and retaliation are usually the wrong way to express it (Phinehas’s case was unique). If we are becoming more and more like God, we should be angered by sin.
Life Application Study BibleNumbersChapter 25
Numbers 25
New Living Translation · Life Application Study Bible · Original pages: 243, 244
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25Numbers 25
Moab Seduces Israel
125 While the Israelites were camped at Acacia Grove,* some of the men defiled themselves by having* sexual relations with local Moabite women. 2These women invited them to attend sacrifices to their gods, so the Israelites feasted with them and worshiped the gods of Moab. °In this way, Israel joined in the worship of Baal of Peor, causing the LORD’s anger to blaze against his people. 4The LORD issued the following command to Moses: “Seize all the ringleaders and execute them before the LORD in broad daylight, so his fierce anger will turn away from the people of Israel.” 5So Moses ordered Israel's judges, 6Each of you must put to death the men under your authority who have joined in worshiping Baal of Peor.” SJust then one of the Israelite men brought a Midianite woman into his tent, right before the eyes of Moses and all the people, as everyone was weeping at the entrance of the Tabernacle.* 7When Phinehas son of Eleazar and grandson of Aaron the priest saw this, he jumped up and left the assembly. He took a spear 8and rushed after the man into his tent. Phinehas thrust the spear all the way through the man’s body and into the woman’s stomach. So the plague against the Israelites was stopped, ®but not before 24,000 people had died. 10Then the LORD said to Moses, 11“Phinehas son of Eleazar and grandson of Aaron the priest has turned my anger away from the Israelites by being as zealous among them as I was. So I stopped destroying all Israel as I had intended to doin my zealous anger. 12Now tell him that lam making my special covenant of peace with him. 13In this covenant, I give him and his descendants a permanent right to the priesthood, for in his zeal for me, his God, he purified the people of Israel, making them right with me.*” 14The Israelite man killed with the Midianite woman was named Zimri son of Salu, the leader of a family from the tribe of Simeon. ‘©The woman's name was Cozbi; she was the daughter of Zur, the leader of a Midianite clan. 16Then the LORD said to Moses, 17“Attack the Midianites and destroy them, 18because they assaulted you with deceit and tricked you into worshiping Baal of Peor, and because of Cozbi, the daughter of a Midianite leader, who was killed at the time of the plague because of what happened at Peor.” 2. The second census of the nation
Textual footnotes
- Hebrew reads some of the men began having.
- yhoo
- @ most dangerous problem for Moses and Joshua was not sorcery, and was deeply involved in pagan retigious practices.
- richo’s hostile army, but the ever-present temptation to We must be careful to weigh both the words and the deeds of
- Compromise with the pagan Canaanite religions and cultures. those who claim to offer spiritual help.
- 25:1, 2 The Bible doesn’t say how the Israelite men got involved 25:3 Baal was the most popular god in Canaan, the land israel
- If Sexual immorality. We do know that sacred prostitution was was about to enter. Represented by a bull, symbol of strength
- joommon practice among Canaanite religions. At first, they and fertility, he was the god of the rains and harvest. The Israel-
- didn’t think about worshiping idols; they were just interested ites were continually attracted to Baal worship, in which prosti-
- in Sex. Before long they started attending local feasts and family tution played a large part, throughout their years in Canaan.
- the tions that involved idol worship. Soon they were in over Because Baal was so popular, his name was often used as a
- i heads, absorbed into the practices of the pagan culture. generic title for al! the local gods.
- ej,..
- hee nesire-for fun and pleasure caused them to loosen their 25:6 That this man “brought a Midianite woman into his tent”
- al Commitment. Have you relaxed your standards in order
- to justi meant that she was brought into his tent for sex. Zimri (25:14)
- 13. is. oesires? $0 disregarded the law of God that he brought the woman right
- "3 This combination of sexual sin and idolatry, it turns into the camp.
- Bat Was Balaam’s idea (see 31:16; Revelation 2:14), the same
- thes Who had just blessed Israel and who appeared to be
- Ai, F Side. It is easy to see how the Israelites were misled,
- “fora — Seemed to say and do ail the right things—at least
- a le (22-24). Not until Balaam had inflicted great damage
- 25:1 This verse shows the great challenge Israel had to face. on them did the Israelites realize that he was greedy, used
- 25:1a Hebrew Shittin, 25:1b As in Greek version;
- 25:6 Hebrew the Tent of Meeting.
- 25:13 Or he made atonement for the people of Israel.
Life Application Notes 2 notes
25:12,13Phinehas’s act made atonement for the nation of Israel; in effect, what he did averted God's judgment. Because of this, his descendants would become the high priests of Israel. They continued so throughout the history of the Tabernacle and the Temple. brothers, came to Moses to ask for their father’s possessions. God told Moses that if a man died without sons, his inheritance would go to his daughters (27:8). But the daughters could keep it only if they married within their own tribe, probably so the territorial lines would remain intact (36:5-12),
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