Numbers 25
DOYLYChap. XXV. ver. 1.— Shittim.] In the plains of Moab; called Abel-shittim, chap. xxxiii. 49.
— with the daughters of Moab.] And of Midian, ver. 6, 17, 18. These women exposed themselves by Balaam’s counsel to the lust of the Israelites, that by this means they might seduce them to idolatry, and so Vol. I.
deprive them of the Divine blessing. Bp. Patrick. This should convince us, that we should be more on our guard against our own passions than against our enemies: God, we see, secured the people against their enemies, while they brought destruction on themselves by their wickedness. Bp. Wilson.
— because he was zealous for his God.] God, who searches the hearts, saw that this conduct of Phinehas proceeded not from any private passion; but out of pure love and affection to Him, and from indignation to see His Divine Majesty so affronted. Bp. Patrick. It is not a good argument to say, “such a man doth such and such things, and therefore they are good things for me to do.” We must act in such a manner, as is agreeable to the state of life, whereunto God hath called us: for when we leave our vocation, we act wickedly, and justly expose ourselves to punishment. Our Saviour fasted forty days and forty nights without any sustenance, but we are not to do so too; for if we were to attempt it, we should kill ourselves. Moses, that holy Prophet of God, killed an Egyptian, a wicked and injurious man: am I therefore to go and kill a wicked man too? I may not do so, for it is against my calling: I am no magistrate, therefore I may not do it. As for Moses, he acted under a special inspiration of God. Phinehas, that godly man, killed Zimri and Cozbi, even in the act of fornication; and this deed of Phinehas was pleasing to God. But it were a bad argument to say, Phinehas did so, and it pleased God: therefore we may do the same; when we see any man dishonour God, we may immediately go and kill him. Phinehas had a special licence to do this: but we must not follow his example, but must take heed to our calling, to our office. Bp. Latimer. If we will imitate Phinehas, let us imitate him in that for which he is commended and rewarded by God, and for which he is renowned among men; and that is, not barely the action, the thing done; but the affection, the zeal with which it is done. For that zeal God commendeth him, verse 11, and for that zeal God rewardeth him, verse 13, and for that zeal did posterity praise him; the wise son of Sirach, Ecclus. xlv. 23; and good old Mattathias on his death-bed, 1 Mac. ii. 54. Not again that any private man should dare, by his example, to usurp the magistrate’s office, and to do justice upon malefactors without a calling: or that any magistrate should dare, by his example to cut off graceless offenders without a judicial course; but that every man, who is by virtue of his calling endued with lawful authority to execute justice upon transgressors, should set himself to it with that
Israel is numbered by their tribes. Before CHRIST 1452.
Chap. XXVI. ver. 1.—unto Moses and unto Eleazar] As God had formerly joined Aaron with Moses, so now, Aaron being dead, he joins Eleazar; to shew that he succeeded to the authority, as well as to the place and office, of his father. Bp. Patrick.
strove against Moses and against Aaron in the company of Korah, when they strove against the LORD:
Numbers 25:2
2.— and the people did eat.] Of the Mosibitish sacrifices. This was an act of idolatry, whereby they owned themselves the servants of the gods of Moab; as to eat of the Lord’s sacrifices was an act of Divine worship. See Exod. xxxiv. 15. Bp. Patrick.
- Take the sum &c.] They had been twice numbered before this: once, before the building of the tabernacle; and a second time, when they were to be encamped. All the men then numbered, thirty-eight years ago, being now dead, God commands a third numbering, partly to shew His faithfulness to His word, in multiplying them greatly, notwithstanding all their provocations; and partly for the more easy division of the land among their tribes. Bp. Patrick.
Numbers 25:3
- And Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor.] And the Israelites joined themselves, both in spiritual and bodily fornication, with those that worshipped Baal-peor. Bp. Hall.
— Baal-peor.] Either the idol Baal, whose temple stood on mount Peor; or else Peor was the person, whom these nations had deified after his death under the title of Baal or Lord. So the Psalmist may be understood, “They joined themselves unto Baal-peor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead;” that is, of some eminent deceased person deified, Psal. cvi. 28. Pyle.
Numbers 25:4
4.— Take all the heads of the people.] The judges of Israel, as they are called, ver. 5, namely, the principal officers among the people. By their assistance the people, who had sinned, were to be punished. Bp. Kidder.
— hang them up] That is, the people who had sinned; and not all the heads of the people, for they were concerned in the execution of the sentence. Bp. Kidder.
Numbers 25:6
6.— one of the children of Israel came &c.] One cannot enough wonder at the impudence of this Israelite. Here is fornication, an odious crime: and that of an Israelite, whose name challenges holiness: yea, of a prince of Israel, whose practice is a rule to inferiours: and that with a woman of Midian, with whom even a chaste contract had been unlawful: and that with contempt of all government: and that in the face of Moses and all Israel: and that in a time of mourning and judgment for the same offence. Those that have once passed the bounds of modesty, soon grow shameless in their sins. Bp. Hall.
Numbers 25:7
- And when Phinehas, &c.] The example of Phinehas is no warrant to private persons to put the greatest malefactor to death. He was a man of considerable authority, being next to the high priest. He wanted not a commission, ver. 5. It is certain God approved of the action, ver. 11. And it may be well concluded,
Numbers 25:9
- — twenty and four thousand.] Those that died of the plague itself were only twenty-three thousand, 1 Cor. x. 8. The thousand who were convicted of idolatry, and thereupon slain with the sword, “in the day of the plague,” ver. 18, are comprehended in the whole number. The expression “of the plague” in the text might be rendered during the plague. Bp. Patrick. What we render plague does not signify pestilence only, but any other sudden stroke; and may comprehend the destruction that befell them from the judges, as well as that inflicted immediately by God. Bp. Kidder.
Numbers 25:12
- — I give unto him my covenant of peace.] I solemnly promise to make him and his family prosperous, as in other respects, so particularly in respect of their having the priesthood. Dr. Wells. The covenant of peace is expressed, ver. 13, by an everlasting priesthood. The office of a priest was that of a mediator between God and man; and the end of the sacrifices and incense, the type of prayers, was to procure God’s favour, Numb. xvi. 47, 48. Bp. Kidder.
Numbers 25:13
- — an everlasting priesthood.] This is to be understood with some limitation. After some successions in the line of Phinehas, the priesthood came for a time into the family of Eli, who was descended from Ithamar, the youngest son of Aaron. The reason of this interruption is not mentioned in Scripture; most probably some great sin provoked God to set aside the line of Eleazar for some years, till Eli’s sons also became so wicked, that the priesthood was taken from them; and restored in the days of Solomon to the posterity of Phinehas, with whom it continued as long as the priesthood lasted. The words “everlasting, perpetual,” and the like, in a general and indefinite sense, denote no more than a long duration. Bp. Patrick, Stackhouse.
We need not suppose the priesthood to be here called “everlasting,” to express a design of a perpetual continuance of it to Phinehas’s descendants; but rather the term “everlasting” is the appellation annexed to the priesthood in its limitation to the family of Aaron; and suggests no more, than that the priesthood of Aaron should descend to them. God made to Phinehas and to his seed after him, not an everlasting grant of the priesthood, as some commentators take it, nor a grant of “an everlasting priesthood,” as our English version renders the place; but rather a grant of the everlasting