Numbers 25 Study Notes

25:8-9 Phinehas, with his executioner’s spear in hand, impaled the man and his mistress together, quite possibly while they were beginning to have sexual relations (v. 1). Like Aaron did in the judgment scene against Korah and his rebellious followers (16:46-50), Phinehas stood in the gap between the living and the dying.

25:10 A shift in the language of divine instruction (the Lord spoke to Moses) goes almost unnoticed in the English translation. After Moses and Aaron had rebelled against God in the striking of the rock at Meribah (20:9-13), God merely “said” various things to Moses (Hb ’amar, v. 4; 20:12,23; 21:8,16,34), but now at the conclusion of the rebellion cycles of Numbers, and in the backdrop of Moses and Phinehas faithfully following the Lord’s commands, the Lord restored communication with Moses by “speaking” or “instructing” (Hb dibber, over thirty times in the first 19 chaps.). Moses was restored to full fellowship with God.

25:11-13 The zeal of Phinehas in defending the faith was rewarded with a divinely ordained relationship. His descendants would serve continuously as high priests (covenant of perpetual priesthood) over the nation of Israel. A covenant of peace is also mentioned in Is 54:10; Ezk 34:25; 37:26; and Mal 2:5. The recipients of this covenant were assured of God’s presence, protection, and provision in times of trouble.

25:14-15 The people killed by Phinehas were from prominent families, the man being a son of a Simeonite leader and the woman being the daughter of Zur, a Midianite tribal leader. Sinfulness and the judgment that follows it are no respecters of persons, whether from the lower classes or the elite.

25:16-18 These verses serve as a precursor to the directive of 33:50-56, in which the Lord instructed the Israelites to drive out the idolatrous Canaanites lest these inhabitants of the promised land lead Israel into idolatry. During this Midianite campaign (Moses’s last before his death), Balaam would be killed (31:8).