Nu. 25: Phinehas Takes Charge

Numbers 25:8 "...he drove the spear through both of them—through the Israelite and into the woman's body. Then the plague against the Israelites was stopped..."

Israel was in a place called Shittim. Which...was kind of telling...

But anyway, the Israelite men were seduced by the Moabite women. And if you like a Moabite chick, you have to worship a Moabite god. By following their...urges, the Israelite men broke the first commandment, to have no other gods before God. And God got mad, and ordered Moses to have the leaders of the people killed, so that it would turn the LORD's fierce anger away from Israel. Its like tearing the mildew out of a garment to purify it. So the tribal judges put the idol worshippers to death. And there is much weeping.

While this weeping over the dead was going on, and apparently a plague was killing Israelites, this guy Zimri, a Simeonite, brought a Midianite chick back to his tent for some loving, in full view of Moses and the Israelites. Ballsy. Not a good decision. Bad enough to make Phinehas, Eleazar's son, grab a spear, leave the assembly and follow Zimri into his tent, and ram a spear through the both of them. That's quite the measure of zeal. I don't know if I could shove a spear through one person, let alone two, and have it be lethal.

By this time, 24,000 more Israelites had died. God rewarded Phinehas by giving his line the high priesthood. He may not have been Eleazar's firstborn, but God rewarded his zeal.

After this affair, God tells Moses that the Israelites have to wipe out the Midianites...to treat them as the enemy, like they treated Israel.

God was serious about having no other Gods before him.