PHINEHAS TO THE RESCUE

NUMBERS

CHAPTER 25

          Greetings to all of you, and it's time to return to our study of the book of Numbers to find out what Moses and the children of Israel are up to.  To refresh your memory a bit, they recently took over the land of the Amorites and Bashan.  The people of Moab are afraid they'll be taken over next, and their king Balak even tried to hire a prophet to curse Israel to no avail. 

            Israel is staying in Shittim now, and the people began to commit whoredoms with the women of Moab.  They invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods and the children of Israel ate and bowed down to their gods.  They worshipped Baalpeor and you bet God's anger was lit up against Israel.  God started a plague among them.

            The Lord told Moses, Take all the heads of the people and hang them before the Lord against the sun, so the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel.  Moses told the judges of Israel, Kill everyone that you're in charge of who worshipped Baalpeor.

            Now, one of the children of Israel brought a woman from Midian to his brethren in the sight of Moses and all the congregation that were repenting in front of the door of the tabernacle.  Phinehas (Aaron's grandson) saw it, got up, took a javelin (spear) in his hand and went after the man into the tent.  He thrust both of them through together with the javelin, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly.

            This stopped the plague, but the number of people that had already died from the plague was 24,000.  Now just think about that for a moment.  There are disasters that happen in the world today, and we gasp because people die.  But back then, tens of thousands died because of things that in today's world our society accepts as normal.  Things sure have changed, and praise our merciful God every day for His grace.

            The Lord told Moses, Phinehas has calmed my anger from the children of Israel because he was devoted to me, so I didn't destroy all of Israel in my jealousy.  Tell him that I give him my promise of peace and he and his descendants after him will have the promise of an everlasting priesthood because he was devoted to his God and made reconciliation for the children of Israel. 
 
            The name of the Israelite that was slain was Zimri, a son of an elder from the tribe of Simeon.  The name of the woman from Midian was Cozbi, who was the daughter of an elder in Midian.

            Then the Lord told Moses, Fight against the Midianites and destroy them.  They destroy Israel with their trickery.  They've misled Israel in the matter of Peor and Cozbi who was killed in the day of the plague because of Peor.

            If you stop and think about it, there are plagues of many kinds that affect mankind today.  The worst one to watch out for is the plague of the mind.  Don't let anything make you believe that what's wrong is right.  That's the plague that the children of Israel were infected with by the women of Moab before the Lord sent His plague.  Sin can kill, in one way or another.  All kinds of diseases, new and old are out there spreading themselves far and wide each and every day.  The best immunization you can get is the Lord.  Don't let your soul be unprotected.

            Be sure to come back and check out more great stories, right here!
 

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