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(See Note on <a href="/numbers/22-1.htm" title="And the children of Israel set forward, and pitched in the plains of Moab on this side Jordan by Jericho.">Numbers 22:1</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/numbers/25-2.htm">Numbers 25:2</a></div><div class="verse">And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods.</div>(2) <span class= "bld">And they called the people . . . —</span>The Moabitish women invited the Israelites to their sacrificial feasts, which were celebrated in honour of Baal-peor, who was worshipped in the city of Beth-peor (<a href="/deuteronomy/3-29.htm" title="So we stayed in the valley over against Bethpeor.">Deuteronomy 3:29</a>). He is supposed to be identical with <span class= "ital">Chemosh, </span>the Moabitish god of war.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/numbers/25-4.htm">Numbers 25:4</a></div><div class="verse">And the LORD said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the LORD against the sun, that the fierce anger of the LORD may be turned away from Israel.</div>(4) <span class= "bld">Take all the heads of the people.—</span>The “heads” or “chiefs” of the people seem to be identical with the “judges” of the following verse. Some understand by “all the heads” those only who had been the chief offenders, whilst others understand the word “take” as equivalent to “assemble,” or “bring before thee,” and refer the word “them” to the offenders.<p><span class= "bld">Hang them up . . . —</span>It is obvious from <a href="/numbers/25-5.htm" title="And Moses said to the judges of Israel, Slay you every one his men that were joined to Baalpeor.">Numbers 25:5</a> that the punishment of impaling or crucifying was not to be inflicted until after death. The LXX. renders the Hebrew verb which is here used (and which is found also in <a href="/2_samuel/21-6.htm" title="Let seven men of his sons be delivered to us, and we will hang them up to the LORD in Gibeah of Saul, whom the LORD did choose. And the king said, I will give them.">2Samuel 21:6</a>; <a href="/2_samuel/21-9.htm" title="And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the hill before the LORD: and they fell all seven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of barley harvest.">2Samuel 21:9</a>) by the same word which occurs in <a href="/hebrews/6-6.htm" title="If they shall fall away, to renew them again to repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.">Hebrews 6:6</a>, and is there translated “to put to an open shame.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/numbers/25-7.htm">Numbers 25:7</a></div><div class="verse">And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw <i>it</i>, he rose up from among the congregation, and took a javelin in his hand;</div>(7) <span class= "bld">And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest . . . —</span>In accordance with this punctuation, the designation <span class= "ital">the priest </span>(which generally denotes the high priest) refers to Aaron, not to Phinehas. Eleazar was the high priest at this time (<a href="/numbers/20-26.htm" title="And strip Aaron of his garments, and put them on Eleazar his son: and Aaron shall be gathered to his people, and shall die there.">Numbers 20:26</a>); and consequently—although as a general rule any designation which follows the words “the son of such an one” refers to the former, not to the latter noun—it appears most probable that the designation <span class= "ital">the priest </span>has reference here to Aaron, not to Phinehas, who, although a priest, was not the high priest at this time. He was invested, however, with civil as well as ecclesiastical authority. (See <a href="/1_chronicles/9-20.htm" title="And Phinehas the son of Eleazar was the ruler over them in time past, and the LORD was with him.">1Chronicles 9:20</a>, where he is described as <span class= "ital">a ruler—</span>Hebrew, nagid<span class= "ital">.</span>)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/numbers/25-8.htm">Numbers 25:8</a></div><div class="verse">And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel.</div>(8) <span class= "bld">Into the tent.—</span>The word k<span class= "ital">ubbah </span>(tent, or alcove) occurs only in this place. The reference may be to the inner part of the ordinary tent which was occupied by the women; or it may denote an arched or vaulted tent (probably of skins), which the Israelites had erected whilst joining with the Moabites and Midianites in the lascivious worship of Baal-peor. The LXX. has <span class= "ital">kaminos, </span>the Vulgate <span class= "ital">lupanar.</span><p><span class= "bld">Through her belly.—</span>Or, <span class= "ital">within her tent. </span>It is thought by some that the word which is here used was originally the same word which occurs in the earlier part of the verse, and which is there rendered <span class= "ital">tent.</span><p><span class= "bld">So the plague was stayed . . . —</span>It is probable that the judges were not duly obedient to the command of Moses, and, consequently, that a plague broke out from the Lord upon the people.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/numbers/25-9.htm">Numbers 25:9</a></div><div class="verse">And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand.</div>(9) <span class= "bld">Twenty and four thousand.—</span>In <a href="/1_corinthians/10-8.htm" title="Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.">1Corinthians 10:8</a> the number of those who “fell in one day” is said to have been “three and twenty thousand.” It has been supposed that a thousand were put to death by the judges, and that these were not included in St. Paul’s enumeration. Presuming, however, that there has been no error in either place on the part of the scribes in recording the numbers, the words “in one day” may account for the apparent discrepancy.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/numbers/25-11.htm">Numbers 25:11</a></div><div class="verse">Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, while he was zealous for my sake among them, that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy.</div>(11) <span class= "bld">Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest . . . —</span>The description of Phinehas, as in <a href="/numbers/25-7.htm" title="And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation, and took a javelin in his hand;">Numbers 25:7</a>, is repeated in full, as if to denote that he was not a private individual, but one invested with public authority.<p><span class= "bld">While he was zealous for my sake among them.—</span>Better, <span class= "ital">in that he was jealous with my jealousy </span>(or, <span class= "ital">in that he displayed my jealousy</span>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/numbers/25-12.htm">Numbers 25:12</a></div><div class="verse">Wherefore say, Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace:</div>(12) <span class= "bld">My covenant of peace.—</span>Phinehas, as one who was zealous for the honour of God and of the house of the Lord, was a fitting type of Christ, in whom the prediction of the Psalmist received its accomplishment, “The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up” (<a href="/psalms/69-9.htm" title="For the zeal of your house has eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached you are fallen on me.">Psalm 69:9</a>; <a href="/john/2-17.htm" title="And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of your house has eaten me up.">John 2:17</a>). The covenant of grace is described in <a href="/isaiah/54-10.htm" title="For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from you, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, said the LORD that has mercy on you.">Isaiah 54:10</a> and in <a href="/malachi/2-5.htm" title="My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him for the fear with which he feared me, and was afraid before my name.">Malachi 2:5</a> as the covenant of peace.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/numbers/25-13.htm">Numbers 25:13</a></div><div class="verse">And he shall have it, and his seed after him, <i>even</i> the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was zealous for his God, and made an atonement for the children of Israel.</div>(13) <span class= "bld">And he shall have it, and his seed after him.</span>—The covenant of peace, which was made by the blood of the Cross, and all the blessings which belong to that covenant, stand fast with Christ, and are secured to His spiritual seed. (Comp. <a href="/context/psalms/89-28.htm" title="My mercy will I keep for him for ever more, and my covenant shall stand fast with him.">Psalm 89:28-29</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">Even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood.—</span>Phinehas succeeded his father Eleazar as high priest (<a href="/judges/20-28.htm" title="And Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days,) saying, Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother, or shall I cease? And the LORD said, Go up; for to morrow I will deliver them into your hand.">Judges 20:28</a>). After a temporary interruption in the succession, which existed in the time of Eli, and continued until the time of David, when there appears to have been a joint high-priesthood, the office was restored by Solomon to Zadok, the descendant of Phinehas, and so continued until the gradual dissolution of the Jewish state. Christ’s priesthood is “an unchangeable priesthood” (<a href="/hebrews/7-24.htm" title="But this man, because he continues ever, has an unchangeable priesthood.">Hebrews 7:24</a>): “Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec” (<a href="/hebrews/7-17.htm" title="For he testifies, You are a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.">Hebrews 7:17</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/numbers/25-14.htm">Numbers 25:14</a></div><div class="verse">Now the name of the Israelite that was slain, <i>even</i> that was slain with the Midianitish woman, <i>was</i> Zimri, the son of Salu, a prince of a chief house among the Simeonites.</div>(14) <span class= "bld">A prince of a chief house among the Simeonites.—</span>Better, <span class= "ital">of a father’s house, </span>&c. It is probable that the tribe of Simeon was deeply implicated in the transgression, and that those who belonged to that tribe were the chief sufferers in the plague. (See <a href="/numbers/26-14.htm" title="These are the families of the Simeonites, twenty and two thousand and two hundred.">Numbers 26:14</a>, and Note.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/numbers/25-15.htm">Numbers 25:15</a></div><div class="verse">And the name of the Midianitish woman that was slain <i>was</i> Cozbi, the daughter of Zur; he <i>was</i> head over a people, <i>and</i> of a chief house in Midian.</div>(15) <span class= "bld">Head over a people, and of a chief house in Midian.—</span>Better, <span class= "ital">head of the tribes </span>(or, <span class= "ital">communities</span>)<span class= "ital"> of a father’s house in Midian. </span>Several of the Midianitish tribes, or smaller divisions of a father’s house, may have descended from one tribe-father. In <a href="/numbers/31-8.htm" title="And they slew the kings of Midian, beside the rest of them that were slain; namely, Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, five kings of Midian: Balaam also the son of Beor they slew with the sword.">Numbers 31:8</a>, Zur is described as one of the five kings of Midian who were slain by the Israelites.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/numbers/25-17.htm">Numbers 25:17</a></div><div class="verse">Vex the Midianites, and smite them:</div>(17) <span class= "bld">Vex the Midianites, and smite them.—</span>The Midianites appear to have been joint actors with the Moabites throughout the whole of the opposition which was offered to Israel, and the chief actors in the wiles by which the Israelites were seduced. As the descendants of Abraham, the father of the faithful, the Midianites ought to have feared and obeyed Abraham’s God, and to have shown brotherly kindness to His people, who were their own kindred. The special judgments of God are directed against the sins of apostacy and of seduction. (Comp. <a href="/revelation/2-14.htm" title="But I have a few things against you, because you have there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit fornication.">Revelation 2:14</a>; <a href="/revelation/18-6.htm" title="Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double to her double according to her works: in the cup which she has filled fill to her double.">Revelation 18:6</a>.) Although the Moabites were not to be smitten with the Midianites (see <a href="/deuteronomy/2-9.htm" title="And the LORD said to me, Distress not the Moabites, neither contend with them in battle: for I will not give you of their land for a possession; because I have given Ar to the children of Lot for a possession.">Deuteronomy 2:9</a>), nevertheless they did not escape punishment, but were shut out, even to the tenth generation, from the congregation of the Lord. (See <a href="/context/deuteronomy/23-3.htm" title="An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the LORD for ever:">Deuteronomy 23:3-4</a>.) Their exemption at this time from the judgment executed upon the Midianites was probably due, not to their descent from Lot (for the Midianites were descended from Abraham), but to the fact that the measure of their sin was not yet full. 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