Numbers 25:7

7 And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, had seen this unshamefast doing (had seen this shameful thing), he rose (up) from the midst of the multitude; and when he had taken a sword,

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 And Moses said to the judges of Israel, Each man slay his neighbours, that made sacrifice to Baalpeor. (And Moses said to the judges of Israel, Each one of you kill his neighbours, yea, they who sacrificed to Baal of Peor.)

6 And lo! one of the sons of Israel entered before his brethren to an whore of Midian, in the sight of Moses, and of all the company of the sons of Israel, which wept before the gates of the tabernacle. (And lo! one of the Israelites brought a woman of Midian into his tent, in the sight of Moses, and all the congregation of the Israelites, who were mourning at the entrance to the Tabernacle.)

7 And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, had seen this unshamefast doing (had seen this shameful thing), he rose (up) from the midst of the multitude; and when he had taken a sword,

8 he entered after the man of Israel into the whorehouse, and sticked through both together, that is, the man and the woman, in the places of engendering. And the vengeance ceased from the sons of Israel, (he went into that bawdy house, after the man of Israel, and stuck his sword through both of them together, that is, the man and the woman, in their places of begetting. And so the plague that had attacked the Israelites was stopped,)

9 and four and twenty thousand of men were slain. (but by then, twenty-four thousand people had already died.)