Numbers 25

6–15 At least one Israelite was so brazen that he openly brought a Midianite woman into the tent (verse 8)—whether this was the Tent of Meeting or his own family tent is not said. Aaron’s grandson Phinehas found the two embracing and drove a spear through both of them with one thrust.

The guilty man was the son of an Israelite leader and the woman was the daughter of a Midianite chief (verses 14–15). If the sin of the leaders was not stopped, many others would be led astray. Phinehas realized that the honor of God was at stake. Everyone else was standing outside the Tent of Meeting weeping (verse 6), but Phinehas knew he had to act against the sinning couple; not to act would have been a sin.

Phinehas’ act had two results. The first was the stopping of a plague that had begun. Not only had the Lord ordered the execution of Israel’s guilty leaders, but He had also punished the entire nation by means of a plague. This plague caused more deaths (24,000) than the first plague God had sent during the rebellion of Korah (Numbers 16:41–50).

The second result of Phinehas’ act was a commendation from God (see Psalm 106:28–31) and the reaffirmation of God’s selection of Aaron’s line to be the priests of Israel. God assured Phinehas that because of his zeal for God’s honor, he and his descendants would continue to be priests; they would have a covenant of a lasting priesthood (verse 13)—that is, as long as the old covenant continued in existence. But one day the old covenant would become obsolete (Hebrews 8:13). With the coming of Christ, the old covenant would be replaced by a new covenant (see Exodus 24:1–8 and comment), and the Aaronic priesthood would be replaced by the priesthood of Christ (see Exodus 28:1–5 and comment).

16–18 The Midianites had been allied with Moab in the attempt to curse Israel (Numbers 22:4,7), and now their women had been involved in leading Israel into sin. So even though the Midianites were distant cousins to the Israelites,⁸⁹ they were now to be considered enemies deserving of death. And indeed death was soon to come to them (Numbers 31:1–18).