Num 25:1-4, 31:16 | Clarke | e4.org | CHAPTER XXV While Israel abode in Shittim the people commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab , 1. They become idolaters , 2. The anger of the Lord is kindled against them, and he commands the ringleaders to be hanged , 3, 4. Moses causes the judges to slay the transgressors , 5. Zimri, one of the Israelitish princes of the tribe of Simeon, brings a Midianitish princess, named Cozbi, into his tent , while the people are deploring their iniquity before the tabernacle , 6. Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, incensed by this insult to the laws and worship of God, runs after them and pierces them both with a javelin , 7, 8. Twenty-four thousand die of the plague, sent as a punishment for their iniquity , 9. The Lord grants to Phinehas a covenant of peace and an everlasting priesthood , 10-13. The name and quality of the Israelitish man and Midianitish woman , 14, 15. God commands the Israelites to vex and smite the Midianites, who had seduced them to the worship of Baal-peor , 16-18. NOTES ON CHAP. XXV

‏ Numbers 25:1-4

CHAPTER XXV

While Israel abode in Shittim the people commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab, 1.

They become idolaters, 2.

The anger of the Lord is kindled against them, and he commands the ringleaders to be hanged, 3, 4.

Moses causes the judges to slay the transgressors, 5.

Zimri, one of the Israelitish princes of the tribe of Simeon,

brings a Midianitish princess, named Cozbi, into his tent,

while the people are deploring their iniquity before the tabernacle, 6.

Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, incensed by this insult to the laws and worship of God, runs after them and pierces them both with a javelin, 7, 8.

Twenty-four thousand die of the plague, sent as a punishment for their iniquity, 9.

The Lord grants to Phinehas a covenant of peace and an everlasting priesthood, 10-13.

The name and quality of the Israelitish man and Midianitish woman, 14, 15.

God commands the Israelites to vex and smite the Midianites, who had seduced them to the worship of Baal-peor, 16-18.

NOTES ON CHAP. XXV

Verse 3. 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 Re 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.

Verse 4. Take all the heads of the people, &c.] 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, &c.

‏ Numbers 25:1-4

‏ Numbers 31:16