Numbers 30:1 Moses spoke to the leaders of the tribes of the people of Israel, and this is what he said “This is what Yahveh has commanded.
Numbers 30:2 If a man pledges a solemn pledge to Yahveh, or swears an oath to bind his throat by a pledge, he will not break his word. He will do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.
Numbers 30:3 “If a woman pledges a solemn pledge to Yahveh and binds herself by a pledge, while within her father’s house in her youth,
Numbers 30:4 and her father hears of her solemn pledge — of her pledge by which she has bound her throat and says nothing to her, then all her solemn pledges will stand, and every pledge by which she has bound her soul will stand.
Numbers 30:5 But if her father opposes her on the day that he hears of it, no solemn pledge of hers, no pledge by which she has bound her throat will stand. And Yahveh will forgive her because her father opposed her.
Numbers 30:6 “If she marries a husband, while under her solemn pledges or any thoughtless utterance of her lips by which she has bound her throat,
Numbers 30:7 and her husband hears of it and says nothing to her on the day that he hears, then her solemn pledges will stand, and her pledges by which she has bound her throat will stand.
Numbers 30:8 But if, on the day that her husband comes to hear of it, he opposes her, then he makes void the solemn pledge that was on her, and the thoughtless utterance of her lips by which she bound her throat. And Yahveh will forgive her.
Numbers 30:9 (But any solemn pledge of a widow or of a divorced woman, anything by which she has bound her throat, will stand against her.)
Numbers 30:10 And if she solemnly pledged in her husband’s house or bound her throat by a pledge with an oath,
Numbers 30:11 and her husband heard of it and said nothing to her and did not oppose her, then all her solemn pledges will stand, and every pledge by which she bound her throat will stand.
Numbers 30:12 But if her husband makes them null and void on the day that he hears them, then whatever proceeds out of her lips concerning her solemn pledges or concerning the pledge of her throat will not stand. Her husband has made them void, and Yahveh will forgive her.
Numbers 30:13 Any solemn pledge and any binding oath to discipline her throat, her husband may establish, or her husband may make void.
Numbers 30:14 But if her husband says nothing to her from day to day, then he establishes all her solemn pledges or all her pledges that are upon her. He has established them because he said nothing to her on the day that he heard of them.
Numbers 30:15 But if he makes them null and void after he has heard of them, then he will bear her violation.”
Numbers 30:16 These are the prescriptions that Yahveh commanded Moses regarding a man and his wife and a father and his daughter while she was in her youth within her father’s house.
Numbers 30 quotes:
“It is easily conceivable that under the influence of the fervent zeal inspired by the festivals enjoined in the preceding chapter, there would be prompted many of those voluntary gifts and services which are alluded to ch. 29:30.”
Bush, George. Notes Critical and Practical on the Book of Numbers. New York: [publisher not identified], 1858. p. 438.
“To vow means to give, dedicate, or consecrate to God by solemn promise. Such vows are frequently made. There are two kinds of vow spoken of in verse 2 ; namely, the neder, which denotes, primarily, a positive vow, or a vow of performance, and the issar, which denotes a negative vow, or a vow of abstinence. In all ages, among all people, and in all religions, such vows have been uttered, at times with solemnity, and in other instances thoughtlessly and recklessly. Religious vows are more common than others ; and yet men and women will vow on very small occasions and for very small purposes. Very many are often entirely indifferent as to the performance of their vows.”
DUNN, Lewis R. The Gospel in the Book of Numbers. Hunt & Eaton: New York, 1889. p. 230.
“It is natural to suppose that at the expiration of the protracted wanderingsin the wilderness the pious Israelites would be desirous of testifying their gratitude by dedicating themselves, or some portion of their substance beyond that which the law demanded, to the service of the Lord.”
Ellicott, C. J. The Fourth Book of Moses, Called Numbers. London: Cassell & Co, 1850. p. 183.
Numbers 28:1 Yahveh spoke to Moses, and this is what he said,
Numbers 28:2 “Command the people of Israel and say to them, ‘My offering, my food for my fire offerings, my pacifying aroma, you will be careful to offer to me at its appointed time.’
Numbers 28:3 And you will say to them, This is the fire offering that you will offer to Yahveh: two perfect male lambs a year old, day by day, as a regular offering.
Numbers 28:4 The one lamb you will offer in the morning, and the other lamb you will offer at twilight;
Numbers 28:5 also a tenth of an ephah of fine flour for a tribute offering, mixed with a quarter of a hin of beaten oil.
Numbers 28:6 It is a regular ascending offering, which was ordained at Mount Sinai for a pacifying aroma, a fire offering to Yahveh.
Numbers 28:7 Its drink offering will be a quarter of a hin for each lamb. In the Holy Place, you will pour out a drink offering of strong drink to Yahveh.
Numbers 28:8 The other lamb you will offer at twilight. Like the tribute offering of the morning, and like its drink offering, you will offer it as a fire offering, with a pacifying aroma to Yahveh.
Numbers 28:9 “On the Sabbath day, two perfect male lambs a year old, and two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour for a tribute offering, mixed with oil, and its drink offering:
Numbers 28:10 this is the ascending offering of every Sabbath, besides the regular ascending offering and its drink offering.
Numbers 28:11 “At the beginnings of your months, you will offer an ascending offering to Yahveh: two bulls from the herd, one ram, seven male lambs a year old — all perfect;
Numbers 28:12 also three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour for a tribute offering, mixed with oil, for each bull, and two-tenths of fine flour for a tribute offering, mixed with oil, for the one ram;
Numbers 28:13 and a tenth of fine flour mixed with oil as a tribute offering for every lamb; for an ascending offering with a pacifying aroma, a fire offering to Yahveh.
Numbers 28:14 Their drink offerings will be half a hin of wine for a bull, a third of a hin for a ram, and a quarter of a hin for a lamb. This is the ascending offering of each month throughout the months of the year.
Numbers 28:15 Also one male goat for a failure offering to Yahveh; it will be offered besides the regular ascending offering and its drink offering.
Numbers 28:16 “On the fourteenth day of the first month is Yahveh’s Passover,
Numbers 28:17 and on the fifteenth day of this month is a feast. Seven days will unleavened bread be eaten.
Numbers 28:18 On the first day there will be a sacred convention. You will not do any ordinary work,
Numbers 28:19 but offer a fire offering, an ascending offering to Yahveh: two bulls from the herd, one ram, and seven male lambs a year old; see that they are perfect;
Numbers 28:20 also their tribute offering of fine flour mixed with oil; three-tenths of an ephah will you offer for a bull, and two-tenths for a ram;
Numbers 28:21 a tenth will you offer for each of the seven lambs;
Numbers 28:22 also one male goat for a failure offering, to provide reconciliation for you.
Numbers 28:23 You will offer these besides the ascending offering of the morning, which is for a regular ascending offering.
Numbers 28:24 In the same way you will offer daily, for seven days, the food of a fire offering, with a pacifying aroma to Yahveh. It will be offered besides the regular ascending offering and its drink offering.
Numbers 28:25 And on the seventh day, you will have a sacred convention. You will not do any ordinary work.
Numbers 28:26 “On the day of the firstfruits, when you offer a tribute offering of new grain to Yahveh at your Feast of Weeks, you will have a sacred convention. You will not do any ordinary work,
Numbers 28:27 but offer an ascending offering, with a pacifying aroma to Yahveh: two bulls from the herd, one ram, seven male lambs a year old;
Numbers 28:28 also their tribute offering of fine flour mixed with oil, three-tenths of an ephah for each bull, two-tenths for one ram,
Numbers 28:29 a tenth for each of the seven lambs;
Numbers 28:30 with one male goat, to provide reconciliation for you.
Numbers 28:31 Besides the regular ascending offering and its tribute offering, you will offer them and their drink offering. See that they are perfect.
Numbers 28 quotes:
“As the people are now approaching Canaan, they are once more numbered; the sacrifices and burnt offerings again enjoined; and the several services for every day, the Sabbath day, and the new moons, and the day of Passover, particularly again appointed.”
Hawker, Robert. The Poor Man’s Commentary on the Bible London: Printed by W. Nicholson, Warner Street, for Williams and Smith, stationers’ court, 1805. p. 412.
“In this and the next chapter the laws for the ordering of the worship of the people in their sacrifices and on their great festivals, most of which had been given already, are completed and presented in regular order. During the wanderings in the wilderness the Israelites could not have carried out fully so elaborate a system of ceremonial worship. And now, with their settlement in Canaan so near, the whole law for their sacrificial worship is appropriately promulgated.”
Jones, William. A Homiletical Commentary on the Book of Numbers: With Critical and Explanatory Notes, Indices, Etc, Etc. Pentateuch. 1880. p. 516.
“In these sacrifices the whole of time, measured out by the alternation of light and darkness, was acknowledged to be God’s ; through the priesthood the nation declared His right to each day, confessed obligation to Him for the gift of it.”
Watson, Robert A. The Book of Numbers. 1894. p. 344.
Numbers 27:1 Then the daughters of Zelophehad the son of Hepher came near, Zelophehad was a son of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh, from the clans of Manasseh, the son of Joseph. The names of his daughters were: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.
Numbers 27:2 And they stood at the face of Moses and the face of Eleazar, the priest and the face of the leaders and all the congregation, at the entrance of the conference tent, and this is what they said,
Numbers 27:3 “Our father died in the open country. He was not among the collection of those who collected themselves together against Yahveh in the collection of Korah but died for his failure. And he had no sons.
Numbers 27:4 Why should the name of our father be taken away from his clan because he had no son? Give us a possession among our father’s brothers.”
Numbers 27:5 Moses brought their case to the face of Yahveh.
Numbers 27:6 And Yahveh said to Moses,
Numbers 27:7 “The daughters of Zelophehad are correct. You will give them possession of an inheritance among their father’s brothers and transfer the inheritance of their father to them.
Numbers 27:8 And you will speak to the people of Israel, and this is what he you will say, ‘If a man dies and has no son, then you will transfer his inheritance to his daughter.
Numbers 27:9 And if he has no daughter, then you will give his inheritance to his brothers.
Numbers 27:10 And if he has no brothers, then you will give his inheritance to his father’s brothers.
Numbers 27:11 And if his father has no brothers, then you will give his inheritance to the nearest kinsman of his clan, and he will possess it. And it will be for the people of Israel a prescription and rule, as Yahveh commanded Moses.'”
Numbers 27:12 Yahveh said to Moses, “Go up into this mountain of Abarim and see the land that I have given to the children of Israel.
Numbers 27:13 When you have seen it, you also will be gathered to your people, like your brother Aaron was,
Numbers 27:14 because you rebelled against my word in the open country of Zin when the congregation quarreled, failing to uphold me as holy at the water in the sight of their eyes.” (These refer to the water of Meribah of Kadesh in the open country of Zin.)
Numbers 27:15 Moses spoke to Yahveh, and this is what he said,
Numbers 27:16 “Let Yahveh, the God of the breath of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation
Numbers 27:17 who will exit in the sight of them and enter in the sight of them, who will lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of Yahveh may not be like sheep that have no shepherd.”
Numbers 27:18 So Yahveh said to Moses, “Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Breath, and lay your hand on him.
Numbers 27:19 Make him stand at the face of Eleazar, the priest, and all the congregation and you will commission him to their face.
Numbers 27:20 You will invest him with some of your authority, that all the congregation of the people of Israel may obey.
Numbers 27:21 And he will stand at the face of Eleazar the priest, who will inquire for him by the judgment of the Lights[1] at the face of Yahveh. At his word, they will go out, and at his word, they will come in, both he and all the people of Israel with him, the whole congregation.”
Numbers 27:22 And Moses did as Yahveh commanded him. He took Joshua and made him stand at the face of Eleazar, the priest, and the whole congregation,
Numbers 27:23 and he laid his hands on him and commissioned him as Yahveh directed through Moses.
“They were happy in being able to make this plea on the ground of the good character nof their faither. … Here we may see what a comfort, what a credit and glory, honest parents be to their children”
Bush, George. Notes Critical and Practical on the Book of Numbers. New York: [publisher not identified], 1858. p. 424.
“All efforts to exclude woman from her properly adjusted rights must fail. God is on her side, and his word is on her side. The efforts of some Churches to padlock their lips, to refuse them permission to say, even in the house of God, that Christ died for them, or to speak upon religious questions in the presence of their lords must come to an end.”
DUNN, Lewis R. The Gospel in the Book of Numbers. Hunt & Eaton: New York, 1889.
“It is to be observed that the spiritual qualifications of Joshua did not supersede the necessity of an outward consecration to his office. Nay, more ; it seems that pecial qualifications for the office were bestowed in connection with the imposition of the hands of Moses (Deuteronomy 34:9).”
Ellicott, C. J. The Fourth Book of Moses, Called Numbers. London: Cassell & Co, 1850. p. 179.
“Blessed Lord ! make me as anxious for an inheritance among all them that are sanctified , as those daughters of Israel were for an inheritance among their brethren.”
“Hawker, Robert. The Poor Man’s Commentary on the Bible. London: Printed by W. Nicholson, Warner Street, for Williams and Smith, stationers’ court, 1805. p. 411.
Numbers 26:1 After the plague, Yahveh said to Moses and Eleazar the son of Aaron, the priest,
Numbers 26:2 “Take a census of all the congregation of the people of Israel, from twenty years old and older, by their fathers’ houses, all in Israel who are able to go to war.”
Numbers 26:3 And Moses and Eleazar, the priest spoke with them in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, and this is what he said
Numbers 26:4 “Take a census of the people, from twenty years old and older,” as Yahveh commanded Moses. The people of Israel who came out of the land of Egypt were:
Numbers 26:5 Reuben, the firstborn of Israel; the sons of Reuben: of Hanoch, the clan of the Hanochites; of Pallu, the clan of the Palluites;
Numbers 26:6 of Hezron, the clan of the Hezronites; of Carmi, the clan of the Carmites.
Numbers 26:7 These are the clans of the Reubenites, and those listed were 43,730.
Numbers 26:8 And the sons of Pallu: Eliab.
Numbers 26:9 The sons of Eliab: Nemuel, Dathan, and Abiram. These are the Dathan and Abiram, chosen from the congregation, who contended against Moses and Aaron in the company of Korah when they contended against Yahveh
Numbers 26:10—The ground opened its mouth and swallowed them up together with Korah when that company died, when the fire devoured 250 men, and they became a warning.
Numbers 26:11 But the sons of Korah did not die.
Numbers 26:12 The sons of Simeon according to their clans: of Nemuel, the clan of the Nemuelites; of Jamin, the clan of the Jaminites; of Jachin, the clan of the Jachinites;
Numbers 26:13 of Zerah, the clan of the Zerahites; of Shaul, the clan of the Shaulites.
Numbers 26:14 These are the clans of the Simeonites, 22,200.
Numbers 26:15 The sons of Gad according to their clans: of Zephon, the clan of the Zephonites; of Haggi, the clan of the Haggites; of Shuni, the clan of the Shunites;
Numbers 26:16 of Ozni, the clan of the Oznites; of Eri, the clan of the Erites;
Numbers 26:17 of Arod, the clan of the Arodites; of Areli, the clan of the Arelites.
Numbers 26:18 These are the clans of the sons of Gad as they were listed, 40,500.
Numbers 26:19 The sons of Judah were Er and Onan; Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan.
Numbers 26:20 And the sons of Judah according to their clans were: of Shelah, the clan of the Shelanites; of Perez, the clan of the Perezites; of Zerah, the clan of the Zerahites.
Numbers 26:21 And the sons of Perez were: of Hezron, the clan of the Hezronites; of Hamul, the clan of the Hamulites.
Numbers 26:22 These are the clans of Judah as they were listed, 76,500.
Numbers 26:23 The sons of Issachar according to their clans: of Tola, the clan of the Tolaites; of Puvah, the clan of the Punites;
Numbers 26:24 of Jashub, the clan of the Jashubites; of Shimron, the clan of the Shimronites.
Numbers 26:25 These are the clans of Issachar as they were listed, 64,300.
Numbers 26:26 The sons of Zebulun, according to their clans: of Sered, the clan of the Seredites; of Elon, the clan of the Elonites; of Jahleel, the clan of the Jahleelites.
Numbers 26:27 These are the clans of the Zebulunites as they were listed, 60,500.
Numbers 26:28 The sons of Joseph according to their clans: Manasseh and Ephraim.
Numbers 26:29 The sons of Manasseh: of Machir, the clan of the Machirites; and Machir was the father of Gilead; of Gilead, the clan of the Gileadites.
Numbers 26:30 These are the sons of Gilead: of Iezer, the clan of the Iezerites; of Helek, the clan of the Helekites;
Numbers 26:31 and of Asriel, the clan of the Asrielites; and Shechem, the clan of the Shechemites;
Numbers 26:32 and of Shemida, the clan of the Shemidaites; and of Hepher, the clan of the Hepherites.
Numbers 26:33 Now Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, had no sons but daughters. The names of the daughters of Zelophehad were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.
Numbers 26:34 These are the clans of Manasseh, and those listed were 52,700.
Numbers 26:35 These are the sons of Ephraim according to their clans: of Shuthelah, the clan of the Shuthelahites; of Becher, the clan of the Becherites; of Tahan, the clan of the Tahanites.
Numbers 26:36 And these are the sons of Shuthelah: of Eran, the clan of the Eranites.
Numbers 26:37 These are the clans of the sons of Ephraim as they were listed, 32,500. These are the sons of Joseph, according to their clans.
Numbers 26:38 The sons of Benjamin according to their clans: of Bela, the clan of the Belaites; of Ashbel, the clan of the Ashbelites; of Achiram, the clan of the Achiramites;
Numbers 26:39 of Shephupham, the clan of the Shuphamites; of Hupham, the clan of the Huphamites.
Numbers 26:40 And the sons of Bela were Ard and Naaman: of Ard, the clan of the Ardites; of Naaman, the clan of the Naamites.
Numbers 26:41 These are the sons of Benjamin according to their clans, and those listed were 45,600.
Numbers 26:42 These are the sons of Dan according to their clans: of Shuham, the clan of the Shuhamites. These are the clans of Dan, according to their clans.
Numbers 26:43 All the clans of the Shuhamites, as they were listed, were 64,400.
Numbers 26:44 The sons of Asher according to their clans: of Imnah, the clan of the Imnites; of Ishvi, the clan of the Ishvites; of Beriah, the clan of the Beriites.
Numbers 26:45 Of the sons of Beriah: of Heber, the clan of the Heberites; of Malchiel, the clan of the Malchielites.
Numbers 26:46 And the name of the daughter of Asher was Serah.
Numbers 26:47 These are the clans of the sons of Asher as they were listed, 53,400.
Numbers 26:48 The sons of Naphtali according to their clans: of Jahzeel, the clan of the Jahzeelites; of Guni, the clan of the Gunites;
Numbers 26:49 of Jezer, the clan of the Jezerites; of Shillem, the clan of the Shillemites.
Numbers 26:50 These are the clans of Naphtali according to their clans, and those listed were 45,400.
Numbers 26:51 This was the list of the people of Israel, 601,730.
Numbers 26:52 Yahveh spoke to Moses, and this is what he said,
Numbers 26:53 “Among these the land will be divided for inheritance according to the number of names.
Numbers 26:54 To a large tribe, you will give a large inheritance, and to a small tribe, you will give a small inheritance; every tribe will be given its inheritance in proportion to its list.
Numbers 26:55 But the land will be divided by lot. They will inherit according to the names of the tribes of their fathers.
Numbers 26:56 Their inheritance will be divided according to lot between the larger and the smaller.”
Numbers 26:57 This was the list of the Levites according to their clans: Gershon, the clan of the Gershonites; Kohath, the clan of the Kohathites; and Merari, the clan of the Merarites.
Numbers 26:58 These are the clans of Levi: the clan of the Libnites, the clan of the Hebronites, the clan of the Mahlites, the clan of the Mushites, the clan of the Korahites. And Kohath was the father of Amram.
Numbers 26:59 The name of Amram’s wife was Jochebed, the daughter of Levi, who was born to Levi in Egypt. And she bore to Amram Aaron and Moses and Miriam, their sister.
Numbers 26:60 And to Aaron were born Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.
Numbers 26:61 But Nadab and Abihu died when they offered unauthorized fire to the face of Yahveh.
Numbers 26:62 And those listed were 23,000, every male from a month old and upward because they were not listed among the people of Israel, because there was no inheritance given to them among the people of Israel.
Numbers 26:63 These were those listed by Moses and Eleazar the priest, who listed the people of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho.
Numbers 26:64 But among these there was not one of those listed by Moses and Aaron the priest, who had listed the people of Israel in the open country of Sinai.
Numbers 26:65 Because Yahveh had said of them, “They will die in the open country.” Not one of them was left except Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua, the son of Nun.
Numbers 26 quotes:
“The Lord is a God who knows people by name. The recitation of names is boring only when one expects to know no one on the list. Contrast this with the breathless excitement of reading lists for good or ill where one might expect to see a familiar name, such as a roster for teams, a blotter for criminals, or a roll call of faithful donors. What is most remarkable about this list is that everyone on it is known by God and is being used by God to move this story forward. For a people of faith, we should read this listing as we would read the faint script of a long-lost family genealogy, for it is through this generation that we gain a link with all the promises that have gone before. Not only will a single person not disappear from the Lord’s roster without some accounting, but everyone on the list also will be known by name by God and be properly sorted into clans and tribes. The Lord does not work through humanity in general, but through tribes and disciples with names and particular stories.”
Boyce Richard Nelson. Leviticus and Numbers. 1st ed. Westminster John Knox Press 2008. p. 233.
“The names of those enrolled in this second census follow precise instructions about the Midianites who, on Balaam’s advice, had ‘deceived’ the Israelites (25:16-18; 31:16) and were the cause of widespread death in the camp. All the men twenty years old or more who were able to serve in the army of Israel were to be enlisted as the community’s soldiers, preparing themselves for conflict not only with Midian’s forces in the Transjordan region (31:1-24) but aiso on a more widespread scale when they entered Canaan. After such huge losses in the Baal-Peor apostasy, Israel’s leaders needed to know exactly how many able-bodied men they could count on in the inevitable conflicts of the future.”
Brown Raymond. The Message of Numbers : Journey to the Promised Land. InterVarsity Press 2002. p. 234.
“All those who rebelled in the wilderness died according to the word of the Lord—indeed, to the very last man. Caleb and Joshua, who displayed courage and went against the popular sentiment, did cross over into the land the Lord gave Israel and were rewarded for their faith Qosh. 15:13-19; 19:49-50).”
Martin, Glen, and Max E. Anders. Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers. Broadman & Holman, 2002. p. 355.
“God now commands that Moses and the high priest number the people. You remember at Sinai, nearly forty years before, the children of Israel had been numbered. But all along the journey we have seen them falling by the wayside, sometimes one by one, and sometimes in large numbers together. “Their bleaching bones along the way tell the sad story of unbelief and disobedience.” Probably the last remnant of those who started from Egypt, and were numbered at Sinai, have been swept away in this plague. Those now to be numbered are the new generation, who started from Egypt as children, or were born in the wilderness. A large majority of them have never eaten anything but manna, and this is the generation who go over and conquer and possess Canaan. People who feed all their lives on the bread of life, which is the true manna (John 6), are always able to conquer and possess.”
Saxe, Grace. Studies in Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Grace Saxe, 1921. p. 51.
Numbers 25:1 While Israel stayed in Shittim, the people began to prostitute themselves with the daughters of Moab.
Numbers 25:2 These invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods.
Numbers 25:3 So Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor. And Yahveh’s nose was ignited against Israel.
Numbers 25:4 And Yahveh said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of the people and hang them in the sun in the sight of Yahveh, that the fierce anger of Yahveh may turn away from Israel.”
Numbers 25:5 And Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Each of you kill those of his men who have yoked themselves to Baal of Peor.”
Numbers 25:6 And notice, one of the people of Israel came and brought a Midianite woman to his family, in the sight of Moses and the sight of the whole congregation of the people of Israel, while they were weeping in the entrance of the conference tent.
Numbers 25:7 When Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, the priest, saw it, he stood up and left the congregation and took a spear in his hand
Numbers 25:8 and went after the man of Israel into the chamber and pierced both of them, the man of Israel and the woman, through her belly. This is how the plague on the people of Israel was stopped.
Numbers 25:9 Nevertheless, those who died by the plague were twenty-four thousand.
Numbers 25:10 And Yahveh said to Moses,
Numbers 25:11 “Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, the priest, has turned back my wrath from the people of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them so that I did not consume the people of Israel in my jealousy.
Numbers 25:12 Therefore say, ‘notice, I give to him my covenant of peace,
Numbers 25:13 and it will be to him and his seed after him the covenant of the permanent priesthood because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the people of Israel.'”
Numbers 25:14 The name of the slain man of Israel, who was killed with the Midianite woman, was Zimri, the son of Salu, leader of a father’s house belonging to the Simeonites.
Numbers 25:15 And the name of the Midianite woman who was killed was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur, who was the tribal head of a father’s house in Midian.
Numbers 25:16 And Yahveh spoke to Moses, and this is what he said
Numbers 25:17 “Attack the Midianites and strike them down,
Numbers 25:18 because they attacked you treacherously when they deceived you in the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of the leader of Midian, their sister, who was killed on the day of the plague on account of Peor.”
Numbers 25 quotes:
“This story thus serves as a prologue and a warning for all that is to follow. As great as the trials and temptations of the wilderness may be, they are always and ever minor in comparison to the major temptations of “settled” life. At the beginning of this story, Israel got into major trouble when they became a little too “settled” while waiting for Moses to come down from Mount Sinai (read the story of the golden calf in Exod. 32). For the rest of Israel’s story (beginning in Joshua), sins of the “settled” will be the focus of the tirades of Israel’s prophets and the tears of Israel’s God. This is what all the testing and preparation of Leviticus and Numbers is getting Israel ready for, and here at almost the end (as at the beginning and the rest of the way through), Israel fails. This too then becomes a sharp word and a critical story for any people or congregation whose leading verb becomes “to dwell.””
Boyce Richard Nelson. Leviticus and Numbers. 1st ed. Westminster John Knox Press 2008. p. 228.
“While these sordid events took place in the Moabite camp, the Lorp’s anger burned against them (3). The Israelite men had offended his holiness, ignored his word, dishonoured his name, marred his testimony and incurred his wrath. Moses was told to act in judgment towards the leaders whose clansmen had participated in this outrage, presumably because they had not used their influence to restrain them. Those who had joined in worshipping the Baal of Peor (5) were to be executed. The offence was such a public act of apostasy that it could not possibly be overlooked. Along with the golden-calf incident, with which it has many parallels,’ it went down in Israelite history as one of their worst acts of idolatrous behaviour, an ugly stain impossible to obliterate from their corporate memory.”
Brown Raymond. The Message of Numbers : Journey to the Promised Land. InterVarsity Press 2002. p. 230.
“There comes a time when the person who is obedient to God must act in judgment on that which is evil. The time when acceptance of evil is widespread is a call for someone to rise up from the ranks and openly do what God wants done.”
Gutzke, Manford George. Plain Talk on Leviticus and Numbers. Zondervan Pub. House., 1981. p. 121.
“It is a sad scene pictured in the first three verses of this chapter. Here was the nation which had been chosen of God, and destined for high purposes, though just on the border of the Promised Land, lapsed into idolatry and abominations worse than those of Egypt. No wonder the anger of the Lord was kindled, and at God’s command all the men who were joined unto Ballpeor are slain by the judges of Israel.
How God’s dealings with this nation remind us of a parent’s dealings with a child. In our last lesson we saw that when an enemy came against the people, God stepped in front of them, as it were, and would not allow a hair of their head to be touched, or a word to be spoken against them by an outsider. But He must train the nation aright, both for His own glory and their highest good ; and in this lesson we see Him chastising them severely for their faults.”
Saxe, Grace. Studies in Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Grace Saxe, 1921. p. 51.
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