Numbers 25

Numbers 25:6-15

the his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the commandment of the LORD, to do richer good or bad of mine own mind; for what the LORD hath, that will I speak. 14. And now behold, I go unto my people: come therefore, and I will advertise thee, what this people shall do to thy people in the latter days.

9. 10-14. Balak now, in the height of fury, Smiles his hands, banishes Balaam his country, reproaches him for his disappointment, and mentions the honours he had lost. Balaam replies, that he acted as he was uncollected, and had given him fair warning, he could do no other; but to conquest, in some measure, his disappointment, he will advertise him of what must happen in his own and the neighbour countries hereafter; but the vision is distant, and there shall be peace in his days. Nor, (1.) Whatever we look, or whatever reproach we suffer for faithful adherence to God’s word, we shall be great gainers at last. (2.) They are doubly wretched, whom an awakened conscience will not suffer to enjoy this world, yet live in bondage to those lusts that must exclude them from heaven.

10. And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beer hath said, and the man whose eyes are open, hath said: 16. He hath said, which heard the words of God, and knew the knowledge of the most High, recited for the vision of the Almighty, filling into a trance, but having his eyes open: 17. I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not night: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall I invite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth. 18. And I claim shall be a possession, Seir also shall be a possession for his enemies, and Israel shall do valiantly. 19. Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion, and shall destroy him that remnant of the city. 20. And when he looked on Amalek, he took up his parable, and said, Amalek was the first of the nations, but his latter end shall be, that he perish for ever. 21. And he looked on the Kennes, and took up his parable, and said, Strong is thy dwelling-place, and thou puttest thy rest in a rock. 22. Nevertheless the Kennes shall be wafted, until Asthan shall carry thee away captive. 23. And he took up his parable, and said, Alas, who shall live when God doth this! 24. And ships shall come from the coast of Chittin, and shall afflict Asthan, and shall afflict Eber, and he also shall perish for ever. 25. And Balaam rose up, and went and returned to his place; and Balak also went his way.

11. 15-23. We have here Balaam’s parting prophecy, and a memorable one it is. He prefers it as before, with a bond of his own high knowledge, and the visions of the Almighty he had been favoured with; and they were great indeed, but to him unprofitable. Many a man knows much of God, and speaks good honourably of him, who hath neither true faith in him, nor love of him. The prophecy itself respects a double event, the subdued of the enemies of God’s Israel, spiritual and temporal. 1. The Edomites and Moabites are to be subdued by the arms of Israel, which came to pass in the reign of that bright star of Jacob King David; who was herein a type of his Lord, the Messiah. Him at a distance Balaam saw, as a star bright in glory, and with that Sceptre whose rule shall never end; triumphant over all the enemies of his people, and animating them with that holy courage which shall make all the powers of darkness yield to them the victory. Probably from Balaam, by tradition, this prophecy was spread in the cult; and when that extraordinary star appeared to the wise men, it awakened their enquiries after the person whom the star represented. 2. The Amalekites are doomed to suffer for their enmity against Israel; Amalek, who first attacked them, shall be utterly confessed, which Saul, in great measure, fulfilled, and was entirely effected in the days of Hezekiah. Nor, They who are at enmity with God’s people shall smart for it, to their ruin. 3. Concerning the Kennes, who dwelt among the Amalekites, he predicts their captivity by the Afyrans, strong and even impregnable as their abode appeared. No fortifications are proof against the decree of God. 4. He foretells the affliction of the Jews, under the Govern and Roman monarchies, after their conquests of the Afyrans, but their also must successively link into ruins; and as the power of a son of Eber, the Messiah, by his providence, hath overturned these mighty fastes, his grace shall finally subdue every remaining and christian power, and Rome payal shall perish as Rome pagan hath done, their power be broken, and that kingdom be established where Jesus shall reign for ever over his fastes gloriously. Happy the soul that lives when the Lord doth this, and partakes of his everlasting triumphs!

VOL. I. · CHAP. XXV. Balaam’s 1415.

Here is, 1. The son of Israel, ver. 1-3. 2. The punishment of this son, ver. 4-9. 3. The piece said of Phinehas in saying Elmes and Chak, two impudent doctors, ver. 6, 8, 14, 15. 4. God’s commandment of the Lord of Phinehas, ver. 10, 13. 5. For only put between the Israelites and the Moabites, ver. 10-18.

AND Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoreedom with the daughters of Moab. 2. And they called the people unto the Israelites of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods. 3. And Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel. 4. And the LORD said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the LORD against the son, that the fierce anger of the LORD may be turned away from Israel. 5. And Moses said unto the judges of Israel, Say ye every one his men, that were joined unto Baal-peor.

9. 1-5. Balaam’s counsel, before he left Moab, produced a worse effect than his intended course could have done; and the charms of Moses’ daughters proved a more vital friar to Israel’s body than all his ambassadors. The abusing acts of false-ness beauty are the strongest with herald of the devil. Observe,

10. The crying son Israel committed; whoreedom and idolatry. The daughters of Moab, armed with more offensive weapons than Balak’s mighty warriors, with eyes full of adultery, that cannot excite from sin, and tongues from the man, and the other man who is not to be a man who is not to be a man who is not to be a man who is not to be a man who is not to be a man who is not to be a man who is not to be a man who is not to be a man who is not to be a man who is not to be a man who is not to be a man who is not to be a man who is not to be a man who is not to be a man who is not to be a man who

11. The judgment of God upon them. They will buy pleasure dear, who purchase it at the price of God’s displeasure, and eternal domination. Execution is immediately done upon the painters, the chief of the offenders; they are hung up before the Lord, and a plague condemns the parole. Nor, (1.) The fire of lust and the flames of hell are inseparable. (2.) The greatness of the offender is an aggravation of the crime, and therefore hath should never be spread. (3.) The plagues of God will quickly turn the forces of forbidden pleasure into the gall of alps, and the gnawing of the worm that never dies.

12. And behold one of the children of Israel came, and brought unto his brethren a Midian with woman, in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. 7. And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from amongst the congregation, and took a javelin in his hand; 8. And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and throft both of them through, the man of Israel and the woman through her belly; to the plague was stayed from the children of Israel. 9. And those that died in the plague, were twenty and four thousand. 10. And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 11. Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, (while he was zealous) for my like among them; that I conformed not the children of Israel in my jealousy. 12. Wherefore say, Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace. 13. And he shall have it, and his soul after him, eyes the covenant of an everlasting priesthood, because he was zealous for his God, and made an atonement for the children of Israel. 14. Now the name of the Israelite that was then, even that was then with the Midian with woman, was Zimin the son of Salu, a prince of a chief house among

X a

Before Christ the Simeonites. 15. And the name of the Midianitish woman that was Slain, was Cozbi the daughter of ‘Zur; he was head over a people, and of a chief house in Midian.

Never was wickedness more daring than in Zimri, nor zeal more flaming than in Phinehas. Whill Moes and the people were, with pretenatal tears, lamenting their sin, and deprecating the judgments they had provoked, with bare-faced impudence, as if glorying in his shame, this prince of Simeon leads a ballot of quality openly to his tents. Note, Impudence in sin is usually the consequence of lewdness. Phinehas, first with jealousy for God’s glory, and indigestion at the horrid crime, halters to follow this shameless part, forprizes them in their crime, and plunging his javelin through them both, executes upon them, as God’s magistrate, deserved vengeance. Though some fenners are too great for human laws, let them know there is a sword of God will reach them.—God expresses his approbation of the deed, by a removal of the plague which had begun, and settles the entail of the childhood on the children of Phinehas; because by his zeal as a priest, and fidelity as a magistrate, he had turned away wrath from the congregation. Note, (1.) The impartial distribution of justice upon offenders, is one chief means to rid the land of sin, and save it from God’s plagues, (2.) In God’s cause we must not fear to rebuk the greatest or most daring sinners. (3.) God will recompens the whole who are zealous in his cause with peculiar ნიშნings.

16. ¶ And the LORD spake unto Moes, saying, 17. ‘Vex the Midianites, and smite them: 18. For they vex you with their wiles, wherewith they have beguiled you, in the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of a prince of Midian their sister, which was Slain in the day of the plague, for Peor’s sake.

Numbers 25:16-18

Whill Sland founts under the rod of correction, let not the Midianites, the occasion of their sin, think they shall go unpunished; the sword of vengeance awakes, and Midian is conformed. Note, They who turn tempters to others, must expect shortly themselves to be tormented with the devil and his angels: His work and wages go together.