Bamidbar 25:7

7 And when Pinchas ben Eleazar ben Aharon HaKohen saw it, he rose up from among HaEdah, and took a romach (spear) in his yad;

Bamidbar 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.

Bamidbar 25:7 In-Context

5 And Moshe said unto the shofetim of Yisroel, Slay ye every one his men that were joined unto Baal-Peor.

6 And, hinei, one of the Bnei Yisroel came and brought unto his brethren a woman from Midyan before the eyes of Moshe, and before the eyes of Kol Adat Bnei Yisroel, who were weeping before the entrance of the Ohel Mo’ed.

7 And when Pinchas ben Eleazar ben Aharon HaKohen saw it, he rose up from among HaEdah, and took a romach (spear) in his yad;

8 And he went after the ish Yisroel into the inner tent, and thrust through both of them, the ish Yisroel, and the isha through her belly. So the maggefah (plague) was stopped from the Bnei Yisroel.

9 And those that were the mesim (dead ones) in the maggefah (plague) were twenty and four thousand.