The people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. Numbers 25:1-9 The sin of Israel at Shittim, and the judgment of God W. Jones. I. THE SIN OF THE ISRAELITES AT SHITTIM. 1. The sin itself. (1) Spiritual fornication, or idolatry ( Hosea 2 .). (2) Physical fornication. 2. The origin of their sin ( Numbers 31:16 ; Revelation 2:14 ). 3. The instruments of their sin: Moab and Midian. 4. The occasion of their sin.(1) Their abode at Shittim. They were in the neighbourhood of sinful associations and corrupting influences. "Near a fire, a serpent, and a wicked woman, no man can long be in safety."(2) Their lack of occupation. Idleness leads to vice and mischief. II. THE JUDGMENT OF GOD UPON THE ISRAELITES ON ACCOUNT OF THEIR SIN. 1. The judgment inflicted immediately by God. In some form or other punishment ever follows closely upon the heels of sin. 2. The judgment inflicted by Moses and the judges by the command of God. (1) Its nature : Death. (2) Its publicity. (3) Its executioners.Lessons: 1. The secret of the security of the people of God: faithfulness. 2. The danger of those temptations which appeal to our self-indulgence or love of pleasure. 3. The terribleness of the Divine anger. 4. The solicitude with which we should guard against arousing this anger towards us. Sin calls it forth, therefore shun sin. 5. The earnestness with which we should seek the mercy and the protection of God. ( W. Jones. ) Evil men proceed by degrees from worse to worse W. Attersoll. In these words is offered unto us an example, expressing the nature of sin where once it is entertained. For behold here how they grow in sin. At the first, they departed out of the host of Israel and went to the people of Moab and Midian, with whom they coupled themselves; so that albeit they sinned, yet they had some shame of sin, and made some conscience of committing it openly amongst their brethren. But they proceed by little and little, from step to step, till they are ashamed of nothing. Therefore in the example of one man, here set before our eyes, Moses declares to what shamelessness they were come. For this man (who is afterward named), as if he had been absolute in power, as he was indeed resolute in will and dissolute in his whole life, brought his whorish woman in the sight of God, in the sight of Moses, in the sight of the congregation, and in the sight of the tabernacle, to show that he had filled up the measure of his sin. 1. The nature of sin is to draw all such as delight in it from one evil to another, until in the end they become most corrupt and abominable. 2. The wrath of Goal falleth upon such as make no conscience to fall into lesser sins, He giveth them over to a reprobate sense, and to hardness of heart. 3. Sin is fitly resembled to the fretting of a canker, and to the uncleanness of a leprosy, both which go forward until the whole body be infected and every member endangered.Now let us handle the uses. 1. Consider from hence how dangerous it is to give entertainment unto sin at the beginning, which groweth to more perfection every day; we cannot stop this stream when we will, it goeth beyond the strength of our nature. 2. Seeing evil men wax worse and worse, we may conclude that their judgment sleepeth not, but is increased as their sin; yea, so it is not far off, but lieth at the doors. 3. Seeing men giving themselves over to sin, it is our duty to resist the beginnings, to prevent the breach, and stop the first course of it. It is as a serpent that must be trod on in the egg. Let us take heed that sin grow not into a custom and get an habit. ( W. Attersoll. ) Sin deprives us of God's protection W. Attersoll. We have beard before that albeit that Balak and Balaam intended by their sorceries to curse the people of God, yet they could by no means do them hurt; they were guarded by the protection of God as with a sure watch. Rut so soon as they forsook the living God, and fell a whoring with the daughters of Moab and Midian, by and by God departeth from them, and His heavy judgments break in upon them. The force of sorcery could not hurt them, but the strength of sin doth weaken them. Hereby we learn that sin depriveth us of God's protection, and layeth us open to the fierceness of His wrath, and to the fury of our enemies. The reasons being considered will make the doctrine more evident. 1. Sin maketh us execrable to the Lord and abominable in His sight. If, then, sin makes us to be had in execration it is no marvel if we be left destitute of God's protection. 2. God departeth from them that fall from Him; they forsake Him, and therefore He forsaketh them. So, then, our lying in sin doth drive the Lord from us, that He will have no more fellowship with us to do us any good.We are now to set down the uses of this doctrine. 1. This teacheth us to acknowledge that all judgments which fall upon us are righteous. God chastiseth us often, but always justly, never unjustly. 2. Seeing sin layeth us open to reproaches of enemies and to the judgments of God, as appeareth in this great plague upon the people, this showeth that we must not go about to hide our sin from God through hypocrisy. For all things are naked and open to His eyes, with whom we have to do; so that we must learn to confess them before His presence. 3. This serveth as a notable advantage for the servants of God when they have any dealings against wicked men; we have encouragement from hence that we shall assuredly prevail against them, because we have to do with weak men that are out of God's protection. ( W. Attersoll. ) God's abhorrence of impurity W. Seaton. The Lord must have regard to two things in His own people — personal purity; and uncorrupted worship. In the very nature Of things it would be quite impossible to preserve purity of principle, clearness of understanding, and spirituality of affection, with corruption of life. It is a delusion of the worst kind, a master-device of Satan, the perfection of sin's deceitfulness, and a perversion of all truth, justice, and grace, when men, in the retired indulgence of lusts within, or in open commission of crime, sit down tranquil under the defence of mercy, and fancy themselves with such interest in the robe of Christ's perfection and beauty, that no spot or fault is in them. A sinner may come to Christ under every sense of imperfection, pollution, and vileness, and through faith in His mediation, may participate with appropriating joy and a well-founded confidence in all the interests of His atoning blood and justifying righteousness; nevertheless, he can never find anything in the nature and influence of evangelical truth but what has the most direct tendency and design to deliver from the power as well as to save from the desert of sin. To a gracious heart sin proves a plague and constant grief, and the cause, while it exists, of a never-ending strife. ( W. Seaton. ) The valley of sensuality W. Seaton. In Java is a valley which is called the Valley of Poison. It is an object of veritable terror to the natives. In this renowned valley the soil is said to be covered with skeletons and carcases of tigers, of goats, and of stags, of birds, and even with human bones; for asphyxia or suffocation, it seems, strikes all living things which venture into this desolate place. It illustrates the valley of sensuality, the most horrible creation of social life. Few men who enter into its depths survive long; for it is strewn with dead reputations and the mangled remains of creatures who were once happy. ( W. Seaton. ) Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned My wrath away... because he was zealous for his God, and made an atonement for the children of Israel Numbers 25:10-13 Godly zeal The Study. We can lay no claim to saintship without zeal. When wickedness increases, then zeal must be bold and daring. I. THE SOURCE OF GODLY ZEAL The indwelling of the Holy Ghost. Grace in the heart must break forth. II. GODLY ZEAL HAS ITS SEAT IN THE HEART. III. MARK THE OBJECT OF HOLY ZEAL. Good works. It is the fervour of heavenly benevolence. IV. TRUE ZEAL IS BLENDED WITH KNOWLEDGE. To enlighten ourselves, we must have light ourselves. V. ZEAL IS FORGETFUL OF SELF. ( The Study. ) The zeal of Phinehas Dean Law. Phinehas appears as a rainbow on the bosom of a storm. He is as a flower on a wild heath, a fertile spot in a parched desert, pure ore in a rude quarry, a fragrant rose upon a thorny hedge, faithful among faithless. 1. "He was zealous for his God." He could not fold his arms and see God's law insulted, His rule defied, His will despised, His majesty and empire scorned. The servant's heart blazed in one blaze of godly indignation. He must be up to vindicate his Lord. His fervent love, his bold resolve, fear nothing in a righteous cause. 2. Mark, next, the zeal of Phinehas is sound-minded. It is not as a courser without rein, a torrent unembanked, a hurricane let loose. Its steps are set in order's path. It executes God's own will in God's own way. The mandate says, let the offenders die. He aims a death-blow, then, with obedient hand. The zeal, which heaven kindles, is always a submissive grace. 3. This zeal wrought wonders. It seemed to open heaven's gates for blessing to rush forth. God testifies, "He hath turned My wrath away from the children of Israel." He hath made atonement for them. My name is rescued from dishonour. The haughty sinner is laid low. Therefore I can restrain My vengeance. Men see that sin is not unpunished; mercy may now fly righteously to heal. Zeal is indeed a wonder-working grace. Who can conceive what countries, districts, cities, families, and men, have sprung to life, because zeal prayed? 4. Next mark how heavenly smiles beam on the zeal of Phinehas. Honour decks those who honour God. The priesthood shall be his. This lessen ends not here. Phinehas for ever stands a noble type. Yes, Christ is here. In Phinehas we see Christ's heart, and zeal, and work, and mightily constraining impulse. In Phinehas we see Christ crowned, too, with the priesthood's glory. ( Dean Law. ) The circumstances which moved the zeal of Phinehas George . Brooks. I. THERE WAS THE ENORMITY OF THEIR SIN. It included false doctrine and sinful practices, between which there is a closer connection than is always recognised. II. THERE WAS THE CHARACTER OF THE INSTIGATOR TO THE SIN. Balaam, "a strange mixture of a man." III. THERE WAS THE EXTENT TO WHICH THE SIN PREVAILED. Among all classes. IV. THERE WAS THE MISERY OCCASIONED BY THE SIN. To the guilty, to their connections, to the community. V. THERE WAS THE DISHONOUR DONE TO GOD. 1. We should be zealous in religion. 2. Our zeal in contending against the sins of others should begin in zeal in contending against our own. ( George . Brooks. ) The zealous spirit G. . Howard James. In fact, a zealous spirit is essential to eminent success in anything. Perhaps there is the more need to insist upon this because enthusiasm is out of fashion. It is bad form nowadays to admire anything very warmly. To be strenuously in earnest is almost vulgar. Especially is this so in regard to religion. "Our Joe is a very good young man," said an old nurse the other day; "but he do go so mad on religion." That was the fly in the ointment — which spoilt all. Did not Pope say long ago, "The worst of madness is a saint run mad"? And he only put in terse and pithy speech what other people say more clumsily. 1. And yet how can one be a Christian without being an enthusiast? Indifferent, half-hearted Christians are not true Christians at all. "I would thou weft either cold or hot," says our Lord. Lukewarmness is his utter abhorrence. And the author of " Ecce Homo " cannot be said to exaggerate in his declaration that "Christianity is an enthusiasm, or it is nothing." 2. And what good work has ever been wrought without enthusiasm? Said a great preacher, "If you want to drive a pointed piece of iron through a thick board, the surest way is to heat your skewer. It is always easier to burn our way than to bore it." Only "a soul all flame" is likely to accomplish much in the teeth of the difficulties which beset every lofty enterprise. The great movements which have most widely blessed the world have been led by men of passionate earnestness and fervid zeal. It is not the cool, calculating votaries of prudence who have done the work. Was it not written of our Lord Himself, "The zeal of Thy house hath eaten me up"? ( G. . Howard James. ) The faithful bring a blessing upon their families W. Attersoll. We have seen the zeal of Phinehas in executing judgment upon the evil-doers, which brought a grievous plague upon the people. His spirit was stirred within him, being first stirred by the Spirit of God, which moved him to take a spear, and to thrust through the adulterer and adulteress. Now we shall see the reward that was given unto him for that work which was acceptable unto God, and profitable unto His people. He hath a covenant of peace made with him, and the priesthood confirmed unto him and his posterity. God is so pleased with the obedience of His people that He will show mercy to such as belong to them. This is plentifully proved unto us in the Word of God. When God saw Noah righteous before Him in that corrupt age, He made all that belonged unto him partakers of a great deliverance, saying unto him, "Enter thou and all thine house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before Me in this age" ( Genesis 7:1 ). This appeareth in the person of Abraham, when God had called him out of his country, and from his kindred, and made a covenant with him to bless him ( Genesis 12:2, 3 ). This is oftentimes remembered unto us in the Acts of the Apostles. When God had opened the heart of Lydia that she attended unto the things which Paul delivered, "She was baptized and all her household" ( Acts 16:15, 33 ). The reasons to enforce this doctrine are evident, if we consider either the person of God or the condition of the faithful. 1. God hath in great mercy and goodness promised to show favour not only to the faithful themselves, but to the seed of the faithful that fear Him ( Exodus 20:6 ; Exodus 34:6 . 7). 2. As the mercy of God is great, so the faith of the godly is effectual for themselves and their children. This is the tenor of the covenant that God hath made with all the faithful. God will be our God, and the God of our seed after us ( Genesis 17:7 ). For as a father that purchaseth house or land, giveth thereby an interest unto his son therein; so he that layeth hold on the promise which God hath made to all godly parents, doth convey it unto his children; so that albeit they want faith by reason of their years, yet they are made partakers of Christ, and ingrafted into His body. The uses remain to be handled.(1) We learn that the children of faithful parents have right to baptism, and are to receive the seal of the covenant. This the apostle teacheth ( 1 Corinthians 7:14 ).(2) We are taught on the other side that evil parents bring the curse of God into their houses, and upon their posterity.(3) It is required of us to repent and believe the gospel, that so we may procure a blessing upon ourselves and our children. ( W. Attersoll. ).

Benson Commentary Numbers 25:1 And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. Numbers 25:1 . Israel abode in Shittim — And this was their last station, from whence they passed immediately into Canaan. This is noted as a great aggravation of their sin, that they committed it when God was going to put them into the possession of their long-expected land. The people — Many of them. Whoredom — Either because these women prostituted themselves to them upon condition of worshipping their god, or because their filthy god was worshipped by such filthy acts as Priapus and Venus were. The daughters of Moab — And of Midian too; for both these people being confederated in this wicked design, the one is put for the other, and the daughters of Moab may be named, either because they began the transgression, or because they were the chief persons, probably the relations, or courtiers of Balak. Numbers 25:2 And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods. Numbers 25:2 . They called — The Moabites, being now neighbours to the Israelites, and finding themselves unable to effect their design by war and divination, fell another way to work, by contracting familiarity with them, and, perceiving their evil inclinations, they, that is, their daughters, invited them unto the sacrifices — Unto the feasts which were made of their parts of the sacrifices, after the manner of the Jews and Gentiles too, the participation whereof was reckoned a participation in the worship of that God to whom the sacrifices were offered. Of their gods — Of their god Baal-peor, the plural Elohim being here used, as commonly it is for one God. Numbers 25:3 And Israel joined himself unto Baalpeor: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel. Numbers 25:3 . Joined himself — The word implies a forsaking God, to whom they were joined, and a turning to, and strict conjunction with, this false god. Baal-peor — Called Baal, by the name common to many false gods, and especially to those that represented any of the heavenly bodies; and Peor, either from the hill Peor, where he was worshipped, Numbers 23:28 ; or rather from a verb signifying to open and uncover, because of the obscene posture in which the idol was set, as Priapus was; or because of the filthiness which was exercised in his worship. Numbers 25:4 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. Numbers 25:4 . Take — That is, apprehend; all the heads (or chief) of the people — Such as were chief in this transgression, and in place and power. These are singled out to this exemplary punishment for their concurrence with others in this wickedness, which was more odious, and of more pernicious tendency in them. Hang them up before the Lord — That is, either before the sanctuary, as men who had forsaken the worship of God, and were by his sentence adjudged to die; or, to the vindication of his honour and justice. Others interpret the words thus: Take unto thee, or to thine assistance, the heads, or judges of the people, and hang them up; that is, hang up such as have joined themselves to Baal-peor. This interpretation seems to be justified by the next verse, in which Moses directs the judges to do their duty by punishing the offenders. Against the sun — Publicly and openly, as their sin was public and scandalous, that all the people might see, and fear to sin; and speedily, before the sun went down. It was provided by the Jewish law, that the bodies of malefactors should hang no longer than till the evening of the day on which they suffered, Deuteronomy 21:22-23 . Numbers 25:5 And Moses said unto the judges of Israel, Slay ye every one his men that were joined unto Baalpeor. Numbers 25:5 . Slay ye every one his men — Moses having, in conjunction with the judges, searched out such as had been guilty of this lewdness and idolatry, allots to each magistrate his number of malefactors for execution, that they might either put them to death with their own hands, as Phinehas did, ( Numbers 25:7 ,) or by proper officers. It seems probable that the judges were dilatory in executing this order, since God himself thought fit to visit the heads of the idolaters with exemplary punishment, Numbers 25:8 . Numbers 25:6 And, behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. Numbers 25:6 . Behold one came — This was done when Moses had given the charge to the judges, and, as it may seem, before the execution of it; otherwise it is probable he would not have been so foolish as to have run upon certain ruin, when the examples were frequent before his eyes. To his brethren — Into the camp of the Israelites. In the sight of Moses — An argument of intolerable impudence and contempt of God and of Moses. Weeping — Bewailing the wickedness of the people, and the dreadful judgments of God, and imploring God’s mercy and favour. Numbers 25:7 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 . Phinehas rose up — The psalmist says, He stood up and executed judgment; which seems to import that he acted as a judge; but in a crime so presumptuous, and so openly committed, he thought it not necessary to wait for a judicial process against the offenders, but cut them off directly with his own hand. It is thought too, not without reason, that the number and dignity of the offenders intimidated the judges from executing their office. So that unless Phinehas, by this seasonable zeal for God, and the interests of the public, had supported the authority of the laws, either a total anarchy had ensued, or the whole body of the people been exposed to the severest judgments from God. Numbers 25:8 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. Numbers 25:8 . Thrust them both through — Phinehas was himself a man in great authority, and did this after the command given by Moses to the rulers to slay these transgressors, and in the very sight, and no doubt by the consent of Moses himself, and also by the special direction of God’s Spirit. Numbers 25:9 And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand. Numbers 25:9 . Twenty and four thousand — St. Paul mentions only twenty and three thousand, who, he says, fell in one day, 1 Corinthians 10:8 . But it seems that one thousand were slain by the judges, ( Numbers 25:5 ,) and twenty- three thousand by the hand of God. For what we render plague does not signify pestilence only, but any other sudden stroke. Thus did the people fall by their own wickedness, whom Balaam and Balak could never have harmed any other way. Numbers 25:10 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Numbers 25:11 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. Numbers 25:11 . That I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy — When God ascribes jealousy and the passions to himself, in Scripture, he speaks after the manner of men, and in conformity to our apprehension. The meaning is, that his own glory and the salvation of mankind render it necessary that he should proceed with severity against some particular crimes, like that wherewith men proceed when they are prompted by jealousy and other angry passions. Numbers 25:12 Wherefore say, Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace: Numbers 25:12 . My covenant of peace — That is, the covenant of an everlasting priesthood, as it is expounded Numbers 25:13 , which is called a covenant of peace, partly with respect to the happy effect of this heroical action of his, whereby he made peace between God and his people, and partly with regard to the principal end of the priestly office, which was constantly to do that which Phinehas now did, even to mediate between God and men, in order to their peace and reconciliation with him, by offering up sacrifices and prayers to God on their behalf; as also by turning them away from iniquity, which is the only peace-breaker; and by teaching and pressing upon them the observation of that law, which is the only bond of their peace. Numbers 25:13 And he shall have it, and his seed after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was zealous for his God, and made an atonement for the children of Israel. Numbers 25:13-14 . An everlasting priesthood — To continue as long as the law and commonwealth of the Jews did. But this promise was conditional, and therefore might be made void by the miscarriages of Phinehas’s sons, as it seems it was, and thereupon a like promise was made to Eli, of the line of Ithamar, that he and his should walk before the Lord, namely, in the office of high-priest, for ever, which also for his and their sins was made void, 1 Samuel 2:30 . And the priesthood returned to Phinehas’s line in the time of Solomon, 1 Kings 2:26-27 ; 1 Kings 2:34 . Because he was zealous for his God — God, who searches the heart, saw that this emotion proceeded not from private passion, but from just indignation against such infamous lewdness, and a truly pious zeal for the honour of God. And made an atonement for Israel — Procured pardon and peace for them from God. Zimri, a prince of a chief house — This is mentioned to do honour to Phinehas, who in this brave act feared not the dignity of a man of so great interest in his tribe. Numbers 25:14 Now the name of the Israelite that was slain, even that was slain with the Midianitish woman, was Zimri, the son of Salu, a prince of a chief house among the Simeonites. Numbers 25:15 And the name of the Midianitish woman that was slain was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur; he was head over a people, and of a chief house in Midian. Numbers 25:16 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Numbers 25:17 Vex the Midianites, and smite them: Numbers 25:17 . Vex the Midianites — It is probable, from Numbers 25:6 , compared with Numbers 21:16 , that the Midianites had had the principal hand in seducing the Israelites into this shameful revolt from the worship of God to the vile sacrifices of Baal-peor, and in causing this open and impudent affront to be put upon the professors of the true religion in the matter of Zimri, to whom they prostituted a daughter of one of their most honourable families, to procure the disgrace and destruction of the Israelites; therefore, in just retribution for their wickedness, God commands Moses to be ready at a time he should appoint to attack their country with his whole force, and give them a fatal overthrow. Numbers 25:18 For they vex you with their wiles, wherewith they have beguiled you in the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of a prince of Midian, their sister, which was slain in the day of the plague for Peor's sake. Numbers 25:18 . With their wiles — For under pretence of kindred, and friendship, and leagues, which they offered to them, instead of that war which the Israelites expected, they sought only an opportunity to insinuate themselves into their familiarity, and execute their hellish plot of bringing that curse upon the Israelites which they had in vain attempted to bring another way. We see here that we have more to fear from our passions than from the malice of our enemies, and that it is a very dangerous thing to suffer ourselves to be seduced by voluptuousness and the desires of the flesh. This is the application which St. Paul makes of this history in the passage above referred to; where he tells us that “these things were written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the world are come.” Again, the zeal which Moses and Phinehas showed on this occasion, and God’s rewarding Phinehas, prove that we must zealously oppose, by all just and lawful means, those that offend God openly; that this is in particular the duty of magistrates and ministers of religion; and that God rewards the fidelity of those who thus express their zeal for his glory. Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Expositor's Bible Commentary Numbers 25:1 And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. 5 THE MATTER OF BAAL-PEOR Numbers 24:10-25 ; Numbers 25:1-18 THE last oracle of Balaam, as we have it, ventures into far more explicit predictions than the others, and passes beyond the range of Hebrew history. Its chief value for the Israelites lay in what was taken to be a Messianic prophecy contained in it, and various bold denunciations of their enemies. Whether the language can bear the important meanings thus found in it is a matter of considerable doubt. On the whole, it appears best not to make over-much of the prescience of this mashal , especially as we cannot be sure that we have it in the original form. One fact may be given to prove this. In Jeremiah 48:45 , an oracle regarding Moab embodies various fragments of the Book of Numbers, and one clause seems to be a quotation from Numbers 24:17 . In Numbers the reading is, "and break down, all the sons of tumult"; in Jeremiah it is, "and the crown of the head of the sons of tumult" The resemblance leaves little doubt of the derivation of the one expression from the other, and at the same time shows diversity in the text. The earlier deliverances of Balaam had disappointed the king of Moab; the third kindled his anger. It was intolerable that one called to curse his enemies should bless them again and again. Balaam would do well to get him back to his own place. That Jehovah of whom he spake had kept him from honour. If he delayed he might find himself in peril. But the diviner did not retire. The word that had come to him should be spoken. He reminded Balak of the terms on which he had begun his auguries, and, perhaps to embitter Moab against Israel, persisted in advertising Balak "what this people should do to his people in the latter days." The opening was again a vaunt of his high authority as a seer, one who knew the knowledge of Shaddai. Then, with ambiguous forms of speech covering the indistinctness of his outlook, he spoke of one whom he saw far away, in imagination, not reality, a personage bright and powerful, who should rise star-like out of Jacob, bearing the sceptre of Israel, who should smite through the corners of Moab and break down the sons of tumult. Over Edom and Seir he should triumph, and his dominion should extend to the city which had become the last refuge of a hostile people. Of spiritual power and right there is not a trace in this prediction. It is unquestionably the military vigour of Israel gathered up into the headship of some powerful king Balaam sees on the horizon of his field of view. But he anticipates with no uncertainty that Moab shall be attacked and broken, and that the victorious leader shall even penetrate to the fastnesses of Edom and reduce them. A people like Israel, with so great vitality, would not be content to have jealous enemies upon its very borders, and Balak is urged to regard them with more hatred and fear than he has yet shown. The view that this prophecy "finds its preliminary fulfilment in David, in whom the kingdom was established, and by whose victories the power of Moab and Edom was broken, but its final and complete fulfilment only in Christ," is supported by the unanimous belief of the Jews, and has been adopted by the Christian Church. Yet it must be allowed that the victories of David did not break the power of Moab and Edom, for these peoples are found again and again, after his time, in hostile attitude to Israel. And it is not to the purpose to say that in Christ the kingdom reaches perfection, that He destroys the enemies of Israel. Nor is there an argument for the Messianic reference worth considering in the fact that the pseudo-Messiah in the reign of Hadrian styled himself Bar-cochba, son of the star. A pretender to Messiah-ship might snatch at any title likely to secure for him popular support; his choice of a name proves only the common belief of the Jews, and that was very ignorant, very far from spiritual. There is indeed more force in the notion that the star by which the wise men of the East were guided to Bethlehem is somehow related to this prophecy. Yet that also is too imaginative. The oracle of Balaam refers to the virility and prospective dominance of Israel, as a nation favoured by the Almighty and destined to be strong in battle. The range of the prediction is not nearly wide enough for any true anticipation of a Messiah gaining universal sway by virtue of redeeming love. It is becoming more and more necessary to set aside those interpretations which identify the Saviour of the world with one who smites and breaks down and destroys, who wields a sceptre after the manner of Oriental despots. In Balaam’s vision small nations with which he happens to be acquainted bulk largely-the Kenites, Amalek, Moab, and Edom. To him the Amalekites appear as having once been "the first of the nations." We may explain, as before, that he had been impressed on some occasion by what he had seen of their force and the royal state of their king. The Kenites, dwelling either among the cliffs of Engedi or the mountains of Galilee, were a very small tribe; and the Amalekites, as well as the people of Moab and Edom, were of little account in the development of human history. At the same time the prophecy looks in one direction to a power destined to become very great, when it speaks of the ships of Chittim. The course of empire is seen to be westward. Asshur, or Assyria, and Eber-the whole Abrahamic race, perhaps, including Israel-are threatened by this rising power, the nearest point of which is Cyprus in the Great Sea. Balaam is, we may say, a political prophet: to class him among those who testified of Christ is to exalt far too much his inspiration and read more into his oracles than they naturally contain. There is no deep problem in the narrative regarding him-as, for instance, how a man false at heart could in any sense enter into those gracious purposes of God for the human race which were fulfilled by Christ. Balaam, we are told, "rose up and returned to his own place"; and from this it would seem that with bitterness in his heart he betook himself to Pethor. If he did so, vainly hoping still that Israel would appeal to him, he soon returned to give Balak and the Midianites advice of the most nefarious kind. We learn from Numbers 31:16 , that through his counsel the Midianite women caused the children of Israel to commit trespass against Jehovah in the matter of Peor. The statement is a link between chapters 24 and 25. Vainly had Balaam as a diviner matched himself against the God of Israel. Resenting his defeat, he sought and found another way which the customs of his own people in their obscure idolatrous rites too readily suggested. The moral law of Jehovah and the comparative purity of the Israelites as His people kept them separate from the other nations, gave them dignity and vigour. To break down this defence would make them like the rest, would withdraw them from the favour of their God and even defeat His purposes. The scheme was one which only the vilest craft could have conceived; and it shows us too plainly the real character of Balaam. He must have known the power of the allurements which he now advised as the means of attack on those he could not touch with his maledictions nor gain by his soothsaying. In the shadow of this scheme of his we see the diviner and all his tribe, and indeed the whole morality of the region, at their very worst. The tribes were still in the plain of Jordan; and we may suppose that the victorious troops had returned from the campaign against Bashan, when a band of Midianites, professing the utmost friendliness, gradually introduced themselves into the camp. Then began the temptation to which the Midianitish women, some of them of high rank, willingly devoted themselves. It was to impurity and idolatry, to degradation of manhood in body and soul, to abjuration at once of faith and of all that makes individual and social life. The orgies with which the Midianites were familiar belonged to the dark side of a nature-cultus which carried the distinction between male and female into religious symbolism, and made abject prostration of life before the Divinity a crowning act of worship. Surviving still, the same practices are in India and elsewhere the most dreadful and inveterate barriers which the Gospel and Christian civilisation encounter. The Israelites were assailed unexpectedly, it would appear, and in a time of comparative inaction. Possibly, also, the camp was composed to some extent of men whose families were still in Kadesh waiting the conquest of the land of Canaan to cross the border. But the fact need not be concealed that the polygamy which prevailed among the Hebrews was an element in their danger. That had not been forbidden by the law; it was even countenanced by the example of Moses. The custom, indeed, was one which at the stage of development Israel had reached implied some progress; for there are conditions even worse than polygamy against which it was a protest and safeguard. But like every other custom falling short of the ideal of the family, it was one of great peril; and now disaster came. The Midianites brought their sacrifices and slew them; the festival of Baalpeor was proclaimed. "The people did eat and bowed down to their gods." It was a transgression which demanded swift and terrible judgment. The chief men of the tribes who had joined in the abominable rites were taken and "hanged up before the Lord against the sun"; the "judges of Israel" were commanded to slay "every one his men that were joined unto Baalpeor." The narrative of the "Priests’ Code," beginning at Numbers 25:6 , and going on to the close of the chapter, adds details of the sin and its punishment. Assuming that the row of stakes with their ghastly burden is in full view, and the dead bodies of those slain by the executioners are lying about the camp, this narrative shows the people gathered at the tent of meeting, many of them in tears. There is a plague, too, which is rapidly spreading and carrying off the transgressors. In the midst of the sorrow and wailing, when the chief men should have been bowed down in repentance, one of the princes of Simeon is seen leading by the hand his Midianitish paramour, herself a chief’s daughter. In the very sight of Moses and the people the guilty persons enter a tent. Then Phinehas, son of Eleazar the priest, following them, inflicts with a javelin the punishment of death. It is a daring but a true deed; and for it Phinehas and his seed after him are promised the "covenant of peace," even the "covenant of an everlasting priesthood." His swift stroke has vindicated the honour of God, and "made an atonement for the children of Israel." An act like this, when the elemental laws of morality are imperilled and a whole people needs a swift and impressive lesson, is a tribute to God which He will reward and remember. True, one of the priestly house should keep aloof from death. But the emergency demands immediate action, and he who is bold enough to strike at once is the true friend of men and of God. The question may be put, whether this is not justice of too rude and ready a kind to be praised in the name of religion. To some it may seem that the honour of God could not be served by the deed attributed to Phinehas; that he acted in passion rather than in the calm deliberation without which justice cannot be dealt out by man to man. Would not this excuse the passionate action of a crowd, impatient of the forms of law, that hurries an offender to the nearest tree or lamp-post? And the answer cannot be that Israel was so peculiarly under covenant to God that its necessity would exonerate a deed otherwise illegal. We must face the whole problem alike of personal and of united action for the vindication of righteousness in times of widespread license. It is not necessary now to slay an offender in order clearly and emphatically to condemn his crime. In that respect modern circumstances differ from those we are discussing. Upon Israel, as it was at the time of this tragedy, no impression could have been made deep and swift enough for the occasion otherwise than by the act of Phinehas. But for an offender of the same rank now, there is a punishment as stern as death, and on the popular mind it produces a far greater effect-publicity, and the reprobation of all who love their fellowmen and God. The act of Phinehas was not assassination; a similar act now would be, and it would have to be dealt with as a crime. The stroke now is inflicted by public accusation, which results in public trial and public condemnation. From the time to which the narrative refers, on to our own day, social conditions have been passing through many phases. Occasionally there have been circumstances in which the swift judgment of righteous indignation was justifiable, though it did seem like assassination. And in no case has such action been more excusable than when the purity of family life has been invaded, while the law of the land would not interfere. We do not greatly wonder that in France the avenging of infidelity is condoned when the sufferer snatches a justice otherwise unattainable. That is not indeed to be praised, but the imperfection of law is a partial apology. The higher the standard of public morality the less needful is this venture on the Divine right to kill. And certainly it is not private revenge that is ever to be sought, but the vindication of the elemental righteousness on which the well-being, of humanity depends. Phinehas had no private revenge to seek. It was the public good. It is confidently affirmed by Wellhausen that the "Priestly Code" makes the cultus the principal thing, and this, he says, implies retrogression from the earlier idea. The passage we are considering, like many others ascribed to the "Priests’ Code," makes something else than the cultus the principal thing. We are told that in the teaching of this code "the bond between cultus and sensuality is severed; no danger can arise of an admixture of impure, immoral elements, a danger which was always present in Hebrew antiquity." But here the danger is admitted, the cultus is entirely out of sight, and the sin of sensuality is conspicuous. When Phinehas intervenes, moreover, it is not in harmony with any statute or principle laid down in the "Priests’ Code"-rather, indeed, against its general spirit, which would prohibit an Aaronite from a deed of blood. According to the whole tenor of the law the priesthood had its duties, carefully prescribed, by doing which faithfulness was to be shown. Here an act of spontaneous zeal, done not "on the positive command of a will outside," but on the impulse arising out of a fresh occasion, receives the approval of Jehovah, and. the "covenant of an everlasting priesthood" is confirmed for the sake of it. Was Phinehas in any sense carrying out statutory instructions for atonement on behalf of Israel when he inflicted the punishment of death on Zimri and his paramour? To identify the "Priestly Code" with "cultus legislation," and that with theocracy, and then declare the cultus to have become a "pedagogic instrument of discipline," "estranged from the heart," is to make large demands on our inattention. In the closing verses of the chapter another question of a moral nature is involved. It is recorded that after the events we have considered Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, "Vex the Midianites, and smite them; for they vex you with their wiles, wherewith they have beguiled you in the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of the prince of Midian, their sister, which was slain on the day of the plague in the matter of Peor." Now is it for the sake of themselves and their own safety the Israelites are to smite Midian? Is retaliation commanded? Does God set enmity between the one people and the other, and so doing make confession that Israel has no duty of forgiveness, no mission to convert and save? There is difficulty in pronouncing judgment as to the point of view taken by the narrator. Some will maintain that the historian here, whoever he was, had no higher conception of the command than that it was one which sanctioned revenge. And there is nothing on the face of the narrative which can be brought forward to disprove the charge. Yet it must be remembered that the history proceeds on the theocratic conception of Israel’s place and destiny. To the writer Israel is of less account in itself than as a people rescued from Egypt and called to nationality in order to serve Jehovah. The whole tenor of the "Priests’ Code" narrative, as well as of the other, bears this out. There is no patriotic zeal in the narrow sense, -"My country right or wrong." Scarcely a passage can be pointed to implying such a sentiment, such a drift of thought. The underlying idea in the whole story is the sacredness of morality, not of Israel; and the suppression or extinction of this tribe of Midianites with their obscene idolatry is God’s will, not Israel’s. Too plain, indeed, is it that the Israelites would have preferred to leave Midian and other tribes of the same low moral best unmolested, free to pursue their own ends. And Jehovah is not revengeful, but just. The vindication of morality at the time the Book of Numbers deals with, and long afterwards, could only be through the suppression of those who were identified with dangerous forms of vice. The forces at command in Israel were not equal to the task of converting; and what could be achieved was commanded-opposition, enmity; if need were, exterminating war. The better people has a certain spiritual capacity, but not enough to make it fit for what may be called moral missionary work. It would suffer more than it would gain if it entered on any kind of intercourse with Midian with the view of raising the standard of thought and life. All that can be expected meanwhile is that the Israelites shall be at issue with a people so degraded; they are to be against the Midianites, keep them from power in the world, subject them by the sword. Our judgment, then, is that the narrative sustains a true theocracy in this sense, exhibits Israel as a unique phenomenon in human history, not impossible, -there lies the clear veracity of the Bible accounts, -but playing a part such as the times allowed, such as the world required. From a passage like that now before us, and the sequel, the war with Midian, which some have regarded as a blot on the pages of Scripture, an argument for its inspiration may be drawn. We find here no ethical anachronisms, no impracticable ideas of charity and pardon. There is a sane and strenuous moral aim, not out of keeping with the state of things in the world of that time, yet showing the rule and presenting the will of a God who makes Israel a protesting people. The Hebrews are men, not angels; men of the old world, not Christians-true! Who could have received this history if it had represented them as Christians, and shown us God giving them commands fit for the Church of today? They are called to a higher morality than that of Egypt, for theirs is to be spiritual; higher than that of Chaldea or of Canaan, for Chaldea is shrouded in superstition, Canaan in obscene idolatry. They can do something; and what they can do Jehovah commands them to do. And He is not an imperfect God because His prophet does not give from the first a perfect Christian law, a redeeming gospel. He is the "I Am." Let the whole course of Old Testament development be traced, and the sanity and coherency of the theocratic idea as it is presented in law and prophecy, psalm and parable, cannot fail to convince any just and frank inquirer. The end of Balaam’s life may be glanced at before the pages close that refer to his career. In Numbers 31:8 , it is stated that in the battle which went against the Midianites Balaam was slain. We do not know whether he was so maddened by his disappointment as to take the sword against Jehovah and Israel, or whether he only joined the army of Midian in his capacity of augur. F. W. Robertson imagines "the insane frenzy with which he would rush into the field, and finding all go against him, and that lost for which he had bartered heaven, after having died a thousand worse than deaths, find death at last upon the spears of the Israelites." It is of course possible to imagine that he became the victim of his own insane passion. But Balaam never had a profound nature, was never more than within sight of the spiritual world. He appears as the calculating, ambitious man, who would reckon his chances to the last, and with coolness, and what he believed to be sagacity, decide on the next thing to attempt. But his penetration failed him, as at a certain point it fails all men of his kind. He ventured too far, and could not draw back to safety. The death he died was almost too honourable for this false prophet, unless, indeed, he fell fleeing like a coward from the battle. One who had recognised the power of a higher faith than his country professed, and saw a nation on the way to the vigour that faith inspired, who in personal spleen and envy set in operation a scheme of the very worst sort to ruin Israel, was not an enemy worth the edge of the sword. Let us suppose that a Hebrew soldier found him in flight, and with a passing stroke brought him to the ground. There is no tragedy in such a death; it is too ignominious. Whatever Balaam was in his boyhood, whatever he might have been when the cry escaped him, "Let me die the death of the righteous," selfish craft had brought him below the level of the manhood of the time. Balak with his pathetic faith in cursing and incantation now seems a prince beside the augur. For Balaam, though he knew Jehovah after a manner, had no religion, had only the envy of the religion of others. He came on the stage with an air that almost deceived Balak and has deceived many. He leaves it without one to lament him. Or shall we rather suppose that even for him, in Pethor beyond the Euphrates, a wife or child waited and prayed to Sutekh and, when the tidings of his death were brought, fell into inconsolable weeping? Over the worst they think and do men draw the veil to hide it from some eyes. And Balaam, a poor, mean tool of the basest cravings, may have had one to believe in him, one to love him. He reminds us of Absalom in his character and actions-Absalom, a man void of religion and morals; and for him the father he had dethroned and dishonoured wept bitterly in the chamber over the gate of Mahanaim, "My son Absalom! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!" So may some woman in Pethor have wailed for Balaam fallen under the spear of a Hebrew warrior. The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.