Numbers 25
PATGil enticed youthful minds to partake of them. Here the Israelites, casting their eyes upon the daughters of Moab (which doubtless on this occasion appeared in the best dress and richest ornaments), were smitten witlv their beauty, and courted their enjoyment; who would not yield to this motion, but upon condition that they would first worship their gods: whereupon, pulling a little image of Peor out of their bosom, they presented it to the Israelites to kiss it, and desired them to eat of the sacrifices that had been offered to him. Thus, the Jewish doctors tell the story. And indeed it hath been observed bythe writers of the church, that women have been the most dangerous seducers of men from the true.religion; being from the beginning the spreaders of the old heresies. For Simon Magus advanced his heresy, “Helenae meretricis adjutus auxilio,” being assisted by the help of the harlot Helena. Nicolaus of Antioch also, chords daxitfceniineos. The famous Marcion sent before him some Roman ladies to prepare his way. Apelles, Montanus, Arius, Donatus, did all take the same course; as St. Jerome shews in his book Adversus Pelagianos. And the people did eat.] Which was an act of idolatry (as to eat of the Lord’s sacrifices was an act of Divine worship), whereby they owned themselves the servants of the gods of Moab. (Sec Exod. xxxiv. 15.) • And bowed down to their gods.] This Avas still a more plain act of idolatrous worship, expressly forbidden by God in the second commandment. -
Numbers 25:1
JjlND Israel abode in Shittim. A place in the plains of Moab, (where they lay, while the forementioned things were transacted, chap. xxii. 1.) called Ahel-Shittim, chap, xxxiii. 49. but it is usual to cut off the former part of a place’s name, for shortness 1 sake: as in this very book, (chap, xxxii. 38.) Baal-meon for Beth-Baal-meon, as it is.called’ Josh. xiii. 17. and Hermon commonly for Baal-Hermon; and Nimrim for Beth-Nimrim. To which may be added, Salem for Jerusalem, (Psal. lxvi. 3.) This station was the last which the Israelites made, while they remained in the wilderness; in which the rest of the things that follow, to the. end of the. book of Deuteronomy, were done. And the.people began to commit whoredom.] Both bodily and spiritual; into which they fell not long after Balaam was gone from Balak: though not all the people fell into this guilt, but a great many of them; as appears from what follows, (ver. 4 — 6.) j.. - With the daughters. of Moab.] And of Midian also, as we learn from ver. G. 17,.18.’ But those of.Moab are here alone mentioned; because, it is likely, they began this wicked practice. I see no ground for what Greg. Nysscn saith, that the Israelites having vanquished theMoabites in a battle, fell in love with the captives which they had taken, being overcome by lust, when they had been victorious in war; as he speaks, lib. de Vita Mosis, p. 186. It is something more probable, that the prophecy of Balaam being spread abroad among the Moabites concerning the great blessings God designed to bestow upon the Israelites, particularly that of the Messiah, it might excite in the women of Moab a desire to have children, by the men of Israel, that they might partake in their blessings; unto which they might think they had some title, being descended from the eldest daughter of Lot, the son of Abraham’s brother. This might pass for truth, if it were not very evident from the following story, that the daughters of Moab exposed themselves, by Balaam’s counsel, to the lust of the Israelites, that by this means they might seduce them to idolatry, and so make them lose* the blessing intended for them. For that this was done by Balaam’s advice, there is no doubt., (Sec chap. xxxi. 1G.) And the Jews have also a conceit that he ever had been an enemy unto Israel, being one of Pharaoh’s privy-council, who advised him to dtown their children; as the talc is told in the Talmud, m the title Sanhedrin, cap. rdt But this is to make him to have been now of a greater age, than we have reason to believe (viz. two hundred and ten years old, according to their own computation), and quite contrary to what others of them say, thathe lived but half his time, according to the Psalmist, (Psalm lv. 23.)
Numbers 25:2
And they. That is, the daughters of Moab. Called the people.] Invited them to a feast: for the ordinary charms unto idolatry, were good victuals and bad women. Unto thesacrifices of their gods.] To eat of the sacrifices which had been offered to their gods, particularly to Baal- Peor. These feasts upon their sacrifices were very magnificent among the heathen, being accompanied with music and dancing, and sometimes pompous processions, which
Numbers 25:3
And Israel was joined unto Baal-Peor. This seems to signify, that they were devoted to the service of this idol in great affection; with which they performed the forenamed actions. The Jews commonly take this Baal- Peor to have been no. better than a Priapus; and the worship of him to have consisted in such obscene practices, or postures at least, as are not fit to be named. Particularly their great commentary upon Numbers saith, that the Israelites being unwilling to enjoy their women upon those terms, they told them they needed only to uncover their nakedness before Baal-Peor, which was all the worship required of them: unto which they easily submitted. This Maimonides relates for a truth, that his worship consisted in revealing their secret parts before him, (More Nevochim, par. iii. cap. 45.) But Solomon Jarchi goes further, making this worship to consist in actions as ridiculousas they were beastly. All which seems to me very unlikely; and so it doth to several men of great judgment, particularly Mr. Seldcn; who thinks, with great probability, that Pcor (as I observed before, chap, xxiii. 28.) being the name of a mountain in the country of Moab, the temple of Baal stood upon it (by whom some understand Saturn, others the sun,‘which is most likely), and thence he was called Baal-Peor, because there he was especially worshipped; as Jupiter was called Olympius, because he was worshipped in a famous temple, which stood on the mountain Olympus. And every one knows, that anciently they chose the highest mountains, before all other places, for the Divine service; insomuch, that at Jerusalem the temple was set uponthe hill of Sion, which the Psalmist saith God preferred before all other places, (Psal. Ixxviii. 68.) Or Peor, perhaps, was the name of some great prince (as the same Mr. Selden conjectures), translated into the number of the gods; for the Psalmist saith, (Psal. cvi. 28.) that when they worship- Digitized b ped Baal-Peor, they ate the sacrifices of the dead; which seems to signify, that in him they worshipped some dead man, who perhaps was the first iustitutor of this worship, whatsoever it was. Another great man of our own nation hath said much to strengthen this opinion; having shewn at large, that the ancient heathens were wont to deify the souls of men, and canonize them after death; and these were called Baalim, being accounted an inferior sort of deities, who they fancied were ministers fqr them to their celestial gods. (See Mr. Mede, book iii. p. 724, &c.) Yet it must be acknowledged, thatthere are others of great note who take all for truth which the Jewish writers report concerning the filthy \Vorship of Baal-Peor, and. imagine that fornication was a part of it; as in future times it was both among the Greeks and Romans, in the worship. of some of their gods. For what the Jews found then practised, they fancied was done in these early days;. but it is observable, that the more ancient the books of the Je\ys are, which speak of this matter, the less they say of the impurities in the service of Baal-Peor. For example, the Jerusalem Talmud hath none of that lewd stuff in it, which Solomon Jarchi, upon this place, took out of the Babylonian; which was composed long after the former. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel.] As appeared immediately, by the severe punishment he inflicted on.them,- both for their idolatry and for.their fornication. And the Lord said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the people, and Iiang them up.] The plain meaning seems to be, that he should take, i. e. cause to be apprehended, the heads of the people, i.e. the rulers of thousands and hundreds, and other principal persons in their tribes, who had been guilty of the foul idolatry beforementioned; and by hanging them up, put a stop to the people’s lewdness, when they saw these great men made public examples of God’s displeasure. For it is very likely, more of the princes of the people were guilty besides Zimri; especially if it be true, which the Samaritan Chronicle affirms, that the daughters of the chief men of Moab were sent finely dressed to allure the Israelites; and one of the king’s daughters among. the rest. But, though the LXX. and the Vulgar, and Symmachus, thus understand it, that he commanded the heads of the people to be hanged up; yet a great many other ancient translators, and many famous doctors, take the word otham(them whom he commanded to be hanged up) not to refer to the heads of the people, but to such as had joined themselves to Baal-Peor: and they interpret the foregoing words, as if he had bid him take unto him(i. e, to his assistance) the heads of the people, as. they think he did, as is related in the next verse. The judges indeed, there mentioned, seem to be distinct from the heads of the people; and Moses did not take them to his assistance, but commanded them to do their duty. Yet it must be -acknowledged that there is a great current of interpreters which runs the other way; as if Moses was commanded to order the judges to assemble and call before them such as were suspected; and’ having examined the fact, accordingly proceed against them, and punish such as had offended. Thus the Samaritan copy reads it expressly, and so Onkclos, and the paraphrast called Uziclides, and the Jerusalem Targum, and the Arabic translation of Saadia Gaon: and both the Talmudists and Karaites agree in this sense, as y Microsoft ® 4 1 2 [chap. XXV, Sir. Seidell shews at large, lib. ii. de Synedriis, cap. 1. n. 10. and Joh. Coch upon the Gcmara of the Sanhcdrin, cap. 4. sect. 4. where he observes that Abcn Ezra, and Solomon Jarchi thus interpret it, and takes the meaning to be certain, that the heads of the people should divide themselves into several courts of judgment, and examine who had committed idolatry; and after conviction cause thcra to be hanged. For there is great reason to think the constitution of judges, by Jcthro’s advice, continued all the time they were in the wilderness; who might easily find out the guilty in their several divisions. Before the Lord.’] i.e. Before the sanctuary; as men who had forsaken the worship of their God, and by his sentence were adjudged to die. Against the sun.] Openly, that all the people might sec, and fear to sin. So both It. Solomon and Abcn Ezra expound it. For this was a peculiar mark of the Divine displeasure against idolaters and blasphemers, that they should be hanged up, and publicly exposed, after they had suffered death. For none were hanged alivo among the Hebrews; but first stoned (which was the common punishment of the forenamed offenders), and then hanged up in the eyes of all; as R. Solomon expounds this phrase against the sun. That the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned from Israel.] By their zeal to vindicate the Divine honour.
Numbers 25:5
And 3Ioses said unto the judges of Israel. Some take these for the seventy ciders, mentioned chap. xi. 25. Slay ye.] By hanging them up, as some understand it. But the Hebrew word imports killing with the sword; which they commanded their officers to do, with the assistance of such as abhorred the wickedness of their neighbours. Every one his men.] The seventy elders, being appointed to be coadjutors to Moses in the government, made a division of the people, it is most likely, into so many districts: and each of them having the charge of one, all the people therein are called his men; of whom he was to give an account. That were joined unto Baal-Peor.] Who were so well known, that there was no danger of slaying the innocent.
Numbers 25:6
And, behold. This which follows is the more wonderful, if the judges had already begun to execute the foregoing command; and argues Ziinri to have been very impudently wicked, who thought himself so great a man, that no judge durst meddle with him. One of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren;] In the camp of Israel, or into the tent where his Own family dwelt. A Midianitish woman.] By which it appears that both nations, Moab and Midian, were in this plot against Israel. In the sight of Moses.] A high contempt of his authority; and of God’s also, whose servant Moses w r as. And in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel] This seems to be a further aggravation of his sin, that he was not content to go to the women who invited them, (ver. 2.) but brought one of them along with him into the camp of Israel; and this he did before the face of all the people, as well as of Moses; and that when they were mourning for this sin, as it here follows. Who tvere weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.] This shews, that though there were great numbers engaged in this defection, yet the generality of the people clave unto the Lord, and bewailed the wickedness of their brethren, most earnestly imploring God’s mercy towards them.’
Numbers 25:7
And when Phineas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, &c. A man of great authority, being next to the high-priest, whom he succeeded in his office, as he did Joshua (if we may believe some writers) in the government of all Israel. lie rose up.] His spirit (as St. Luke speaks of St. Paul) was stirred in him; and being inspired with a holy zeal was moved to do what follows. From among the congregation.] Who were weeping at the door of the tabernacle; or rathfer, from among thfc judges with whom he was assembled, being one of them: so Jonathan; he rose up from the midst of the Sarihedrin* For, as Bonav. Cornel. BcrtTamus thinks, Eleazar, after the death of Aaron, appointed his son Phineas to be prince of the Levitcs; which he thinks appears, not only from his rising up here, from the midst of the judges of Israel, but from the embassy, wherein he was employed by Joshua, unto the Rcubenitcs, &c. beyond Jordan, Josh. xxii. 14. and from 1 Chron. ix. 20, where he is said to be rider over the Korahites; which signifies, he thinks, such a pre-eminence as Eleazar himself had over the Levitcs, while his father Aaron lived, (dc Repub. Jud. cap. 15.) And indeed the Psalmist saith, that Phineas stood up and executed judgment, (Psal. cvi. 39.) which seemsto import that he acted as a judge, but by an extraordinary motion: which made him kill the offenders with his" own hands, without a judicial process against them. And took a javelin in his hand.] Or a sword, as Josephus calls it; which he snatched out of the hand of Moses, as the tradition is in Pirke Eliezer, cap. 47.
Numbers 25:8
And he went after the man of Israel into the tent. It is an unusual word in the Hebrew which we translate tent; importing a private, secret place like a cave, as kubba or kobba is thought to signify, which the Arabians call alebbba; from whence comes the word alcove; which signifies, as Bochart observes, " conclave camcrati opcris, quo lectus circumdatur:" a room of arched work, which incloses a bed in it. (Sec his Hierozoicon, par. i. p. nit.) And thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman.] This he did, saith Philo, iTQQara^avrQg MwuvLwQ,by the command of Moses; but should rather have said, by a Divine instigation; which he followed, when the rest of the judges were afraid (as some conceive) to meddle with so great a man as Zimri was. And upon this fact, the Jews ground that which they call the judgment of zeal, which authorized them, who were full of zeal, to punish such as blasphemed God, or profaned the temple, &c. in the presence often men of Israel, without a formal process against them. Thus Matthias killed a Jew who sacrificed after the manner of the Greeks; (1 Maccab. ii. 24.) and three hundred others were killed by their countrymen, as is related in the book commonly called the Third Book of Maccabees. And upon the pretence of such zeal, St. Stephen was stoned, and St.Paul intended to be killed, &c. as Grotius observes, (lib. ii. dc Jure Belli ct Pacis, cap. 20. sect. 9. and see Scldcn dc Jure Nat. et Gent. lib. iv. cap. 4.) But tins judgment (as they call it) seems not to be well grounded upon the fact of Phineas, who was a public person, and had an extraordinary motion, not to be imivlicrosoft <& CHAP, XXV.] UPON NUMBERS, tated by private men; nor was it followed till the latter times of the state of that nation. Through her belly.] The Vulgar hath it, through her secret parts. And so the Jews in Pirke Eliezer, (cap. 47.) and in other books, such as Pesikta and Siphri; where they make many miracles to have concurred in this fact; particularly, they say, that the relations of Zimri going to fall upon Phineas for killing their prince, the angel of the Lord smote them, and cut them off. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel.’] It seems a pestilential disease (as Josephus calls it) swept away many of the offenders, who could not so speedily be punished by the judges: but it stopped immediately upon this pious act of Phineas.
Numbers 25:9
And those that died of the plague were twenty and four thousand. There were but twenty and three thousand who died of the plague itself, as the apostle tells us, (1 Cor. x. 8.) but there were a thousand more taken off in the plague time, or during the plague, as the Hebrew words may be read: for, in the twenty and four thousand, Moses comprehends all those who Avere killed by the sword, in the day of the plague, (as the phrase is ver. 18.) whereas St. Paul reckons those only who died of the pestilence, as many have observed, particularly Bochartus, (lib. ii.Hieroz. cap. 34. par. L) It is probable that from hence it Avas, that the author of the Samaritan Chronicle took up -a con? ccit, that the king of Moab sent twenty-four thousand damsels to seduce the Israelites; as Hottinger reports his words, in his Smegma Orientale, (cap. 8. p. 448.)
Numbers 25:10
And the Lord spalce unto Moses, saying. After the plague was stayed, it is likely, Moses went into, the tabernacle to give God thanks for his m^rcy to his people; and then he spake to him Avhat here follows.
Numbers 25:11
Phineas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath away front the children of Israel. Though they Avept and mourned before the door of the tabernacle, yet that did not prevail so much for mercy as this heroic act of justice. Wliile he was zealous for my sake among them.] With a fervent and courageous affection vindicated the Divine honour, by a speedy punishment of those notorious offenders. Tltat I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy.] Did not proceed to destroy them by the pestilence, Avhcn I was so highly incensed against them. For it is observed by Herodotus himself in his Euterpe, that twv /ityoXwv aSttcr)fjLUTU)v fxtyaXcu tial kol ri/zwpfcu Trapa rov Qtov, for great crimes there are as great punishments sent from God; Avhich is necessary for the public good: for unless, by such means, a stop be put to open impurities, to murders, and such-like crimes, not only all civil society will be overturned, but nations become so Avickcd, that they will be fit for nothing hut to be rooted out, by the Divine vengeance, as the Canaanites Avere. Thus Cicero discourses, (Philip, viii.) " In corpore, si quid ejusmodi est, quod reliquo corpori noceat," &c. In the body, if there be any thing which hurts the rest of the body, it is necessary to cut it off, or to burn it, that some one member, rather than the whole body perish: and so it is in the body of the commonwealth: " ut totnm sal- Yumsit,quicquidestpestiferumainputetur;" that the whole may be preserved, let that which is infectious be lopped off.
Numbers 25:12
Wherefore say. Unto Phineas, or unto all the’ people. Behold, I give thee my covenant of peace.] The word peace, in Scripture, comprehends all manner of blessings: and therefore this is a solemn promise and engagement to make him and his family prosperous: the particular blessing Avhich he entails upon him, following in the next verse. But some will have this to signify, that he should be the great reconciler of God to his people, and make peace bdtAveen them hereafter, as he had done at present. Philo seems to think this and the priesthood to be tAvo distinct things; Avhen he saith, God crowned his piety Slttoic Swptcu<?, ap/jvp Kol hpovvv-Q, with two gifts, peace and the priesthood.’ And the Jews make peace’ to consist in a long life of prosperity; Avhich was fulfilled in Phineas’s person, Avho lived till the latter times of the judges, (Judg. xxi. 28.) Pirke Eliezer interprets it, He gave him the life of this world, and of the next.
Numbers 25:13
And he shall have it, and his seed after him. It shall continue in his family. * Even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood.] This is the particular happiness Avhich God settled upon him and his posterity, as long as their state lasted; Avhich Avas with some limitation, it appears by this, that after some successions in the line of Phineas, the priesthood came, for a time, into the family of Eli, who Avas descended from Ithamar the youngest son of Aaron: the reason of it is not mentioned in the Scripture; but some great sin, it is reasonable to suppose, 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 Phineas, Avith Avhom it continued as long as the priesthood lasted. What sin this Avas, and Avhen committed, we do not knbw*. Some of the HebreAV doctors are so bold as to say, it was -because Phineas would not absolve Jephthah from his voAV,as Mr. Selden.observes, (lib. i. de Success, in Pontif. cap. 2.) But as there is no ground for this, and such-like fancies, Avhich others of them have, so it is moire probable that some of Phineas’s successors offended, rather than he himself; his posterity for four generations holding the priesthood, before it Avas translated to Eli, as Josephus and others (mentioned by Selden’in the place beforenamed) make account. iEgidius Camartus, in his book* de RebusEliae, cap. 3. sect. 5. and Cornel. Bertram, cap. 15. de Repub. Jud. v imagine, that in those confusedtimes, none of the priests were found fit to administer the affairs of the nation; but Eli alone; and therefore he Avas appointed by God to it; as appears from 1 Sam. ii. 30. But L’Empereur, in his an- - notations upon Bertram, Avell observes, that it being the constant course of God’s proceedings, to continue his mercies to the Israelites, according to his promise, While they Avere obedient, but to take them away Avhen they became disobedient; it is highly reasonable to conclude ther6 was some great offence given to God by some of the race of Phineas, Avhich Avas the cause that they lost this dignity: but so constant was God to his promise, that he preserved his line in a continued succession of twelve persons, froni Phineas to Azariah, Avho “executed the priest’s ofiice iiithcJ temple thatSolomon built in Jerusalem,” as Ave readlChron. vi. 4. to the 10th: from Avhich time, to the captivity 61 Babylon, there Avere nine more, as Ave -read there in the folloAving verses: and after the end of the captivity, unto