Psalms 106:30

30 Then Phinehas stood up and interceded, and the plague was stopped.

Psalms 106:30 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 106:30

Then stood up Phinehas, and executed judgment
When none else would, he rose up in great zeal for the Lord of hosts; and took on him the work of a civil magistrate, and slew two persons of noble birth in the very act of fornication. The Targum is,

``he prayed''

and so the Syriac version

``he interceded with the Lord, that the plague might stop.''

This he might do, as well as the other, though it is not elsewhere recorded, and in which he succeeded: but in the Talmud ^F25 it is observed that it is not said (llpty) (that is, "he prayed"), but (llpy) , from whence may be learned, if it is proper to say so, that he executed judgments with his Maker. The Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions render it, "he appeased"; made atonement for propitiation; and this is said of him, ( Numbers 25:13 ) .

And so the plague was stayed; it was restrained from proceeding
further;
no more execution was done by it. In this he was a type of Christ, who, by doing righteousness, by the atoning sacrifice of himself, and by his intercession, has appeased the wrath of God, and satisfied divine justice so that there is no condemnation to them that are interested in him; no evil of punishment shall befall them, nor plague come nigh them.

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FOOTNOTES:

F25 T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 82. 2.

Psalms 106:30 In-Context

28 Then they attached themselves to the Baal of Peor, and ate sacrifices offered to the dead;

29 they provoked the Lord to anger with their deeds, and a plague broke out among them.

30 Then Phinehas stood up and interceded, and the plague was stopped.

31 And that has been reckoned to him as righteousness from generation to generation forever.

32 They angered the Lord at the waters of Meribah, and it went ill with Moses on their account;