Numbers 25:10–29:40 (30:1); Jeremiah 1:1–2:3; 1 Peter 3:8–4:19
“Phinehas (Eleazar’s son and Priest Aaron’s grandson) has done well. He saved the Israelites. Because he was so zealous on My account, tolerating no compromise, I did not consume the people of Israel with My jealousy. 12 So I want you to declare this: “I, your God, do pledge to Phinehas a covenant of peace, 13 not only for him but for his descendants too. I promise they will always be priests because in his jealousy (zeal) for Me, Phinehas covered the wickedness of the Israelites.” (Num25:10-13)
What action was being referred to here? For this, we need to go back a few verses to understand the context: “25 Now it happened that while Israel was biding its time at Shittim, on the edge of the wilderness near Jericho, some of the men got mixed up with Moabite women. They got friendly and had sexual relations. 2 The Moabites invited these Israelites to participate in Moabite religious rituals and worship of their gods, 3 and God’s people bound themselves to the deity Baal of Peor, which made the Eternal One furious at Israel.
Eternal One (to Moses): 4 Grab them! Every wicked leader of this people. Then in broad daylight, in front of the Eternal, string them up on stakes to twist and turn so that My burning rage doesn’t consume the entire population.
Moses (to the Israelite judges): 5 Look to your people, and kill whoever pledged himself to the deity Baal of Peor.
6 Just then, even as people were dying right and left, one Israelite returned from among the Midianites with a woman whom he planned to make a part of his family. With her in tow, he walked right past Moses and everybody else while they were mourning in front of the congregation tent. 7 When Priest Aaron’s grandson Phinehas (Eleazar’s son) saw them, he took a spear in his hand. 8 He charged into the Israelite’s tent and ran the spear straight through the bellies of the couple. That one act appeased God’s anger and put an end to the death cascading through the Israelite camp. 9 Nevertheless, 24,000 people died before it was all over.” (Num 25:1-9)
Here we see a terrible situation for Israel where they had been seduced by Ba’alim into sinning against the Lord when he found that he was unable to curse them. The issue was threefold: immorality, idolatry and inter-marrying foreign, pagan nations (murder) similar to the instructions given to Gentile christians following the Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15.
Whilst Moses was dealing with this situation, an Israelite, Zimri, the son of the Israelite prince Salu from the Tribe of Simeon, openly defied Moses and other leaders who were standing at the Tabernacle entrance with Moses by going in to Cozbi, the daughter of the Midianite. What was the general reaction from everyone? People just looked on and did nothing to address things until Phinehas took the initiative.
Phinehas, (dark-skinned; bronzed) a priest whose name as a metaphor can mean someone who is not easily ruffled or intimidated, a description which matched his character. Phinehas refused to allow spiritual godlessness to go unchallenged within the camp even when everyone else stood by as spectators, including even Moses and Aaron!
The name Phinehas is a curious one to give someone but most likely means, “the bronze-coloured one” a name originating from Egypt where he had originally come from. Bronze is mentioned in many contexts in the Bible especially in connection with the Tabernacle. Bronze is where God’s judgement deals with sin – only then can a person enter the pure and holy presence of God.
We see this also just a few chapters earlier in Num 21 where Moses fashioned a bronze serpent that was lifted up to save sinful Israel in the desert after they had been bitten by snakes.
God honoured a violent act by Phinehas which ended a plague and brought honour to him. However, it was not the violence which God was honouring but something completely different – God was honouring zeal for Himself. We see a parallel to this when Jesus, speaking to the multitudes said: “2 From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violent assault, and violent men seize it by force [as a precious prize].” (Matt.11:12)
Jesus is saying that to come into the Kingdom of Heaven requires deliberate, and determined action of those desiring all that God & heaven has for them. If we desire the best that God desires for us, we need to appropriate it zealously, passionately and aggressively. This means having zero tolerance for unrighteousness and 100% tolerance for godliness.
More and more in these end times we are in, we see parallels to this situation here in this Torah portion where sin is being tolerated and abounding within the Church and a spiritual plague is running rife as a consequence through the acceptance of ungodly seductions. Many people think nothing about being unequally yoked with others, whether by marriage or other forms of unions. We should be clear that this is not a command about ethnicity or purity of race; it is about shared purpose and complete devotion. God was primarily concerned about Israel’s protection and well-being to preserve their identities as His covenant people in the same way as He does for each one of us.
God wants us to be participators in His Kingdom, not spectators! To stand up for the Lord will often mean that we need to be prepared to be politically incorrect irrespective of the cost. The Chief Justice of South Africa did that very thing this week when the government harshly criticised him as a believer for standing for Israel and the Jewish people and demanded that he recant. Instead, he defiantly made the following statement:
Since sin has violent and destructive consequences, we must deal with it in this way whenever it seeks to enter the camp. It is in this sense that Yeshua said in (Matt 11:12) “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.” (spiritual warfare)
This is what it means to be ‘violent’ for God and it was in this sense that God honoured Phineas’ ‘violence’. God was honouring his wholeheartedness for Him. We can see a perfect contrast with the consequences of halfheartedness among believers in Rev. 3 with the Laodecian church. God’s response was violent! “But you are neither hot nor cold so I will spew you out of my mouth!”
The results are the same as it was with the Israelites here in this Parasha. The wages of sin is death. Spiritual death is far more terrible than the physical equivalent. The most terrible thing anyone can ever experience is to be rejected by God and this is what the Laodecian congregation were in danger of experiencing because the greatest enemy of love is not hatred but apathy.
God has demonstrated the full extent of His love to us through Yeshua who laid down His life as a propitiation for our sins – a love so great that demands no less than 100% from us in return. It was a violent action.
Phinehas’ action stemmed a plague sent by God where already 24,000 Israelites had perished. How zealous are we for the honour of God or are we content to stand on the sidelines? The greatest plague we are experiencing throughout the world today which most people are unaware of is the spiritual plague of ungodliness and lawlessness unprecedented in our history which Yeshua referred to as like the “Days of Noah.”
God is calling out a people of Phinehas warriors who will stand for righteousness and biblical principles to wage war against all forms of ungodliness that we see permeating the core of society snd even within the Body of believers. Who are the spectators and who the Phinehas’ ?
God is preparing His people in these perilous times; things will not get any better. Satan is seeking to divide and rule and one of his tactics is through isolation. The Bible clearly states that we need one another to stand in love and unity, because we will overcome and prevail only in this way rather than as a scattered remnant.
Phinehas’ action brought salvation to the Israelites by ending a plague that was a direct consequence of their sin but God also rewarded him with a covenant of peace. ““Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, has saved the Israelites from my anger. He hates sin as much as I do. Since he tried to save my honor among them, I will not kill them. 12 So tell Phinehas that I am making my peace agreement with him. 13 He and his descendants will always be priests, because he had great concern for the honour of his God. He removed the sins of the Israelites so they would belong to God.”
So it is for every believer, to receive the reward of the righteous which is the promise of peace with God through Yeshua so that no matter what we may be facing, He will keep us safe in the storm.
Phinehas has been compared by the rabbis to Elijah. He also walked in Godly zeal and passion for the Lord. He confronted the false prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel and demonstrated that our God is the One true God who is the Creator of the universe and all creation must bow the knee to Him!
Under the reign of Ahab and Jezebel, Baal worship had become the official cult. God’s prophets were being killed and the rest were in hiding. Elijah responded by issuing a public challenge at Mount Carmel to the prophets of Baal to demonstrate who was the true God. If it was Baal, fire would consume the offering prepared by its priests. If it was God, fire would descend to Elijah’s offering. Elijah won the confrontation.
What was it that moved Elijah to act with such boldness and passion? As with Phinehas, Elijah was, ‘moved by zeal for the Lord, the God of Hosts….’ (I Kings 9:9-10. I Kings 19:13-14).
2. Some time after, the devastation of this plague, God commanded that a census be taken, the second census of the Israelites to help prepare each tribe to receive their fair share of inheritance once they enter their Promised Land.
After the devastation of this plague, the Lord commanded that a census be taken. It would be the second census of the Israelites; the first one was taken after their deliverance from Egypt almost 40 years earlier.
Like a shepherd, whose flocks had been depleted by an attack of wolves, when the catastrophe is over, the shepherd lovingly counted his sheep in order to ascertain how many were left alive. (Rashi)
But, there is something deeper hidden here regarding the love and mercy of God. The census revealed that some clans survived even though God’s wrath had consumed their ancestors—in particular were the ancestors of Korach, the Levite who led a rebellion of 250 chieftains against Moses and tried to take over the priesthood. Korach, his home and the men with him were consumed by an earthquake and fire.
But not all of his family line were wiped out; some had been spared (Num16:32; 26:11;) Some of their descendants wrote 11 of the 150 Psalms used in worship during the period of the Temple: (42, 44–49, 84–85, 87–88). Prophetically, number 11 stands for paradigm shifting. (e.g., ‘Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.’ King David – adultery did not irrevocably determine his future, but alongside judgement came also grace and mercy with gemuine repentance.)
True worship unto God was a mighty weapon employed by the priestly tribe of Korach to restore that which had been smeared by the reckless actions of their forefathers.
Even as with Korach, our future need not be determined by the shadows of our ancestral bloodline. God desires to set the captives free from the things that bind a person in chains that define who we are—however great the sin or rebellion committed by earlier generations, these chains can be broken by the shed blood of Yeshua.
Therefore, we renounce every sin or curse that would bind us, and yield our lives under the full control of the Ruach ha Kodesh who finds residence in our lives. Every demonic contamination must flee as we rise up in the authority of the living God in accordance to His word – “Resist the Devil and he must flee!”.
