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Date: January 12, 2025
You may be seated. Please turn in your Bible to Numbers chapter 25. If you're using the Pew Bible, that will be found on page 133. Numbers 25, we see that the people of Israel begin intermixing with those of Moab, specifically the sons marrying the daughters of Moab, and this is described as whoring with the daughters of Moab because it represents a spiritual adultery, the people to be committed to the Lord, being turned away to other gods by marrying with those that they have been commanded not to marry with.
This kindles the anger of the Lord. He sends a plague on the people and calls for them to kill those who have been guilty in this, the chiefs of the people who have permitted this to happen. And one, Phineas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, the priest, on an occasion when people are hearing this, people are hearing that people will have to die for this sin there is a man who brings one of these Midianite women into the congregation unaware or not as aware as he ought to be, not as conscious as he ought to be of the fact that this is the very thing that had brought death upon the congregation.
So he brings in this Midianite woman. When Phineas sees this, he spears the man and the woman through and this ceases the plague that had been brought upon Israel. So the Lord rewards Phineas with what is called a covenant of peace for him and his children.
And this is something that's supposed to be remembered as a time when zeal for the right worship of God saved Israel from the plague. Several things to note from this. One is the implications for ourselves in marrying in the Lord.
God has called us to marry in the Lord in 1 Corinthians 7. We should not think that we would not be spiritually affected by union to one that God has forbidden. We will be drawn away to other things and so we should not consider ourselves above temptation in that area.
Two, that this zeal for right worship is what protects God's people from great harm. We should stir up within ourselves a zeal for right worship. We should be eager to pursue good worship. We should have a hatred for false worship.
We do not have the particular circumstances that they have where the right solution would be, we don't have a kingdom where we have the power of the sword in our hands to approach this with a spear or a sword, but we should have a hatred of false worship and be eager to remove it in every way that it exists.
We'll note on a personal level, this passage is meaningful to me because I remember it coming up in my Bible reading the weekend before the first lockdown in California in 2020. And so here's this passage where it is talking about a zeal for right worship and a plague being brought upon the people and right worship ending the plague.
Something to consider that God's, that the disasters that he brings upon mankind are not just matters of chance, they're not haphazard, but they are because of sin. There would be no disasters in the world if it were not for sin.
And worship is what God calls from his people. Even considering the fires down south in California, it should stir up in us a fear of the Lord. His power is great and mighty. We should certainly have compassion on those who are affected by the fires, but it should stir up within us a recognition of how great and how awesome God is and how deserving he is of true worship.
With that, let me read Numbers 25. While Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to whore with the daughters of Moab. These invited the sacrifices of their gods and the people ate and bowed down to their gods.
So Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. And the Lord said to Moses, take all the chiefs of the people and hang them in the sun before the Lord that the fierce anger of the Lord may turn away from Israel.
Moses said to the judges of Israel, each of you kill those of his men who have yoked themselves to Baal of Peor. And behold, one of the people of Israel came and brought a Midianite woman to his family in the sight of Moses and in the sight of the whole congregation of the people of Israel while they were weeping in the entrance of the tent of meeting.
When Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, saw it, he rose and left the congregation and took a spear in his hand and went after the man of Israel into the chamber and pierced both of them, the man of Israel and the woman, through the belly.
Thus the plague on the people of Israel was stopped. Nevertheless, those who died by the plague were 24 ,000. And the Lord said to Moses, Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, the priest, has turned back my wrath from the people of Israel and that he was jealous with my jealousy among them so that I did not consume the people of Israel in my jealousy.
Therefore say, behold, I give to him my covenant of peace and it shall be to him and to his descendants after him the covenant of a perpetual priesthood because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the people of Israel.
The name of the slain man of Israel who was killed with the Midianite woman was Zimri, the son of Sallu, chief of a father's house belonging to the Simeonites. And the name of the Midianite woman who was killed was Cosby, the daughter of Zer, who was the tribal head of a father's house in Midian.
And the people spoke to Moses saying, harass the Midianites and strike them down for they have harassed you with their wiles with which they beguiled you in the matter of Peor and in the matter of Cosby, the daughter of the chief of Midian, their sister, who was killed on the day of the plague on account of Peor.
Amen.