Numbers 25:6-15

Phinehas Intervenes

6 An Israelite man came bringing a Midianite woman to his relatives in the sight of Moses and the whole Israelite community while they were weeping at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

7 When Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, saw [this], he got up from the assembly, took a spear in his hand,

8 followed the Israelite man into the tent,^[a] and drove it through both the Israelite man and the woman-through her belly. Then the plague on the Israelites was stopped,

9 but those who died in the plague numbered 24,000.^[b]

10 The Lord spoke to Moses,

11 "Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has turned back My wrath from the Israelites because he was zealous among them with My zeal,^{[c] [d]} so that I did not destroy the Israelites in My zeal.

12 Therefore declare: I grant him My covenant of peace.^[e]

13 It will be a covenant of perpetual priesthood for him and his descendants,^[f] because he was zealous for his God and made atonement for the Israelites."

14 The name of the slain Israelite man, who was struck dead with the Midianite woman, was Zimri son of Salu, the leader of a Simeonite ancestral house.

15 The name of the slain Midianite woman was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur, a tribal head of an ancestral house in Midian.

Numbers 25:6-15 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO NUMBERS 25

The contents of this chapter are, the sin of the people of Israel, their whoredom and idolatry, Nu 25:1-3, their punishment for it, multitudes being slain, Nu 25:4,5, whose number is given, Nu 25:9, the zeal of Phinehas in slaying two notorious offenders, Nu 25:6-8, whose names are observed, Nu 25:14,15 for which he is commended, and the covenant of priesthood was given and confirmed unto him, Nu 25:10-13, and the chapter is concluded with an order to vex the Midianites, for vexing Israel with their wiles, Nu 25:16-18.

Footnotes

• [a]. Perhaps a tent shrine or bridal tent
• [b]. 1 Co 10:8
• [c]. Or jealousy
• [d]. Ex 34:14; Zch 8:2
• [e]. Isa 54:10; Ezk 34:25; 37:26; Mal 2:5
• [f]. Ex 40:15; Ps 106:30-31