Numbers 25

So Maimonides, “And he shall unwall all the sons of Seth;” this is, the King Messiah, of whom it is written, ((Psalms 22:8).) “He shall have dominion from sea to sea.” — The prophet then turns to the surrounding Amalek, though then “the first of the nations,” he predicts [that] which was fully accomplished in the days of [their] destruction, [viz.] king Hezekiah; and to the Kenites, (probably a tribe of Midianites,) who, like the eagle, had made their nest in the rocks, he foretels that they shall be gradually wasted, and finally carried to Babylon by the Assyrians. (See (1 Chronicles 2:55).) Then he goes on to predict the “affliction” of Asshur by ships from Chittim — the descendants of Japhet. ((Genesis 10:4).) But whether this refer to the conquests of Alexander the Great, or of the Romans, the learned are much divided.

Nor is it certain what nation is meant by Eber; if it meant the Jews, it predicts their long and severe punishment: but it is not of Eber, but of Chittim that it is asserted, “He (who afflicted Asshur and Eber) also shall perish for ever;” which, if it be interpreted of the Romans, is supposed also to foretel the utter destruction of Rome. It is evident that these predictions referred to events then at a very distant period; for the prophet exclaims, “Alas! who shall live when God doeth this!” Or, perhaps, the words may rather refer to the dreadful nature of the calamities predicted, which seemed to threaten the utter extirpation of mankind. On these predictions we may generally observe, 1.

The immense extent of the plans of Divine Providence, which include all ages, as well as every country. When we contemplate events a thousand or two years hence, we are confounded and overwhelmed; but, with the Lord, “a thousand years are but as one day, and one day as a thousand years!” ((2 Peter 3:8).) 2. That men the most attached to the present state of things, cannot help sometimes extending their views far beyond it. “Who shall live when God doeth this!? We shall moulder in the dust; even our descendants, for many generations, shall no more have “a portion in any thing under the sun;” but the designs of Heaven shall proceed uninterrupted and undisturbed: and, 3.

Though the enemies of the Church may all in their turn “afflict,” they shall not destroy her; but shall in the end be destroyed themselves; they shall “perish for ever.” Thus shall kingdoms rise and fall, nations prosper and decline, and all human governments perpetually change, till He shall come, “whose right it is” to reign for ever!

Chap. XXV. Ver. 1—18. Israel joins in the idolatry of Baal-peor.—In the close of the preceding chapter we read, that “Balaam rose up, and went and returned to his own place.” Whether it was before he went back, in order to make his peace with Balak; or whether he returned on purpose, that he gave counsel privately of a most pernicious nature; Moses informs us, ((Numbers 31:16).) that it was through the wicked “counsel of Balaam” that “the children of Israel” committed “trespass against the Lord in the matter of (Baal) Peor,” which occasioned a most destructive plague among the congregation, of which the history now comes before us. Our first inquiry relates to the idol worshipped under this name. Peor (or Phegor) was the name of a mountain which is mentioned (Numbers 23:28). but whether the mountain received its name from the idol, or the idol from the mountain, is uncertain and of small importance; as is the question to which of the Greek or Roman idols Peor corresponded; whether Saturn or Pluto, Adonis or Priapus. Peor signifies open; and Parkhurst thinks it was in the shape of a large bull, with a wide-gaping mouth to receive the victims offered, particularly infants.

Most certain it is, however, that the rites with which this monster was adored were licentious in the extreme. So the prophet Hosea says of these Israelites: “They went to Baal-peor, and separated themselves to that shame: and their

Notes on the verses

Chap. XXV Ver. me votes or “Baal the open.” — “Probably so called from the Baal, or Bull, being represented with a wide-gaping mouth, to receive the victims, whether ox or children, which were burnt to death by the fire within.” — Parkhurst. Others think, however, that peor, or open, referred to the open and shameful indecencies practised before the idol, not very different to those exhibited in the worship of Priapus.

Ver. 4. Hang them up. — (Dr. Kennicott remarks, that the Samaritan and Hebrew texts must be united to make the sense of this verse 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.) — Bagster.

Ver. 8. Into the tent. — The word here used (kebba) is not the usual term for a tent, but applies to the interior apartment, the bed-chamber, called by the Arabs, Al kebba. Both Draco and Solon allow impunity to any man who killed an adulterer, taken in the act. See Orient. Cust. No. 739.

Ver. 9. Twenty-four thousand. — St. Paul reckons only twenty-three thousand; though some MSS. and versions, particularly the latter Synac and the Armenian, have, as here, twenty-four thousand. Allowing the 24,000 to be genuine, and none of the Hebrew MSS. exhibits a various reading here, and the 23,000 of St. Paul to be also genuine, the two places may be reconciled by supposing, what is very probable, that Moses includes in the 24,000, the 1000 men who were slain in consequence of the judicial examination, (ver. 4.) as well as the 23,000 who died of the plague; while St.

Paul only refers to the [latter].

Ver. 13. Zealous for my sake. — Hebrew, “With my zeal.” So the apostle speaks of zeal, or jealousy, of a “godly” sort, (2 Corinthians 11:2).

An everlasting priesthood. — That is, perpetual, to the end of the dispensation.

Ver. 17. Vex the Midianites. — Balaam’s counsel seems to have been first given to Balak, king of Moab; but probably the Midianitish women, especially of the higher ranks, as Cozbi was, were the principal tempters; and the nation of Midian seems to have come into the execrable measure more generally and heartily than that of Moab: they were therefore first selected to be made examples of, for a warning to the Moabites, who were spared at this time. — B.