Numbers 25:7

7 Phinehas, son of Eleazar and grandson of the priest Aaron, saw this. So he left the assembly, took a spear in his hand,

Numbers 25:7 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 25:7

And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the
priest, saw it
Saw the man pass by in this impudent manner, and his whore with him; his spirit was stirred up, he was filled and fired with zeal for the glory of God, and with an holy indignation against the sin and sinner, and with a just concern for the honour of the righteous law of God; and, to prevent others from falling into the same sin, led by the public example of so great a personage, as it appears afterwards this man was:

he rose up from among the congregation;
who were weeping at the door of the tabernacle, or from the midst of the court of judicature, set for trying and judging such persons who were charged with idolatry; for he was not only the son of the high priest and his successor, but a ruler over the Korahites, and had, besides his priestly office, a civil authority, ( 1 Chronicles 9:20 )

and took a javelin in his hand;
a spear or pike; the Jews say ^F25 he snatched it out of the hand of Moses; and, according to Josephus ^F26, it was a sword; but the word rather signifies an hand pike; this being ready at hand, he took it up and pursued the criminal.

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FOOTNOTES:

F25 Pirke Eliezer, c. 47. fol. 56. 1.
F26 Antiqu. l. 4. c. 6. sect. 12.

Numbers 25:7 In-Context

5 So Moses said to the judges of Israel, "Each of you must kill the men who have joined in worshiping the god Baal of Peor."

6 One of the Israelite men brought a Midianite woman to his brothers. He did this right in front of Moses and the whole community of Israel while they were crying at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

7 Phinehas, son of Eleazar and grandson of the priest Aaron, saw this. So he left the assembly, took a spear in his hand,

8 and went into the tent after the Israelite man. He drove the spear through the man and into the woman's body. Because of this, the plague that the Israelites were experiencing stopped.

9 However, 24,000 people died from that plague.