Why does God give Phinees a covenant of peace and lasting priesthood in Numbers 25?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

God says Phinees turned away his wrath by being moved with his zeal and made atonement for Israel’s wickedness. The covenant follows Phinees’ killing of the Israelite and Madianite woman and the reported end of the scourge; the chapter gives God’s stated reason for the gift.

Chapter breakdown

Israel is staying at Settim, and the people commit fornication with Moab’s daughters. The women invite them to their sacrifices; the Israelites eat of them and worship their gods. Israel becomes initiated to Beelphegor, and the Lord is angry.

Challoner explains initiation to Beelphegor as taking up worship of that obscene Moabite idol and being consecrated to it, as it were. The last qualification belongs to his explanation.

The Lord tells Moses to take all the people’s princes and hang them on gibbets—structures for hanging—against the sun, so that his fury may turn away from Israel. Moses tells Israel’s judges that each man must kill his neighbours who have been initiated to Beelphegor. These are reported commands; their execution is not narrated in these verses.

One Israelite goes in to a Madianite harlot before his brothers, in the sight of Moses and all Israel, who are weeping before the tabernacle door. Phinees, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, sees it, rises from the multitude and takes a dagger. He follows the Israelite into the brothel house and thrusts both the man and woman through together, in the genital parts. The scourge ceases from Israel. The account then gives the toll: twenty-four thousand men were slain. It does not state when the scourge began.

The Lord tells Moses that Phinees, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has turned away his wrath from Israel because he was moved with God’s zeal against them, so that God himself might not destroy Israel in his zeal. Moses must tell Phinees that God gives him the peace of his covenant and the covenant of priesthood forever for him and his descendants, because he was zealous for his God and made atonement for Israel’s wickedness.

The Israelite killed with the Madianite woman is Zambri son of Salu, a prince of the kindred and tribe of Simeon. The woman is Cozbi daughter of Sur, a most noble prince among the Madianites.

The Lord tells Moses to let the Madianites find Israel their enemies and to slay them. He gives the reason: they have acted as enemies and deceived Israel through the idol Phogor and Cozbi their sister, a prince of Madian’s daughter, who was killed on the day of the plague for the sacrilege of Phogor.

The story inside

The chapter places God’s explanation after the action and the scourge’s end. The earlier commands address the princes and those initiated to Beelphegor. The next narrated incident concerns one Israelite and one Madianite woman, seen before the weeping assembly. Phinees follows and kills them, the scourge stops, and the account names the death toll. It does not give the beginning of the scourge or narrate the earlier commands being carried out.

God then states why Phinees receives the covenant: his zeal turned away wrath and made atonement for Israel’s wickedness. The identities of the slain pair follow, and the final command names Madian’s deception as its reason. Keeping that sequence makes the explanation accountable to the recorded words. These are particular acts and commands reported in this history; the chapter does not issue a general instruction to readers to commit private violence.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The order of the account should remain visible. Anger and commands are reported before the incident, the scourge’s end and the toll. The start of the scourge is not dated in the text.
2
God supplies the reason for the covenant. The speech names Phinees’ zeal, the turning away of wrath and atonement. No additional ongoing condition or imagined alternative reward is stated.
3
The closing command includes its grounds. Madian’s enmity is connected with the deception through Phogor and Cozbi, whose identity and death are specified. The stated reasons should accompany the command.

Test your recall

What does God say Phinees’ action accomplished, and how does that explanation lead to the covenant for him and his descendants?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 17090–17103
Numbers Chapter 25 The people fall into fornication and idolatry; for which twenty-four thousand are slain. The zeal of Phinees. 25:1. And Israel at that time abode in Settim, and the people committed fornication with the daughters of Moab, 25:2. Who called them to their sacrifices. And they ate of them, and adored their gods. 25:3. And Israel was initiated to Beelphegor: upon which the Lord being angry,
Lines 17104–17107
Initiated to Beelphegor.... That is, they took to the worship of Beelphegor, an obscene idol of the Moabites, and were consecrated, as it were, to him.
Lines 17108–17114
25:4. Said to Moses: Take all the princes of the people, and hang them up on gibbets against the sun: that my fury may be turned away from Israel. 25:5. And Moses said to the judges of Israel: Let every man kill his neighbours, that have been initiated to Beelphegor.
Lines 17115–17128
25:6. And behold one of the children of Israel went in before his brethren to a harlot of Madian, in the sight of Moses and of all the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle. 25:7. And when Phinees the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest saw it, he rose up from the midst of the multitude, and taking a dagger, 25:8. Went in after the Israelite into the brothel house, and thrust both of them through together, to wit, the man and the woman in the genital parts. And the scourge ceased from the children of Israel. 25:9. And there were slain four and twenty thousand men.
Lines 17129–17142
25:10. And the Lord said to Moses: 25:11. Phinees the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned away my wrath from the children of Israel: because he was moved with my zeal against them, that I myself might not destroy the children of Israel in my zeal. 25:12. Therefore say to him: behold I give him the peace of my covenant, 25:13. And the covenant of the priesthood for ever shall be both to him and his seed, because he hath been zealous for his God, and hath made atonement for the wickedness of the children of Israel.
Lines 17143–17149
25:14. And the name of the Israelite, that was slain with the woman of Madian, was Zambri the son of Salu, a prince of the kindred and tribe of Simeon. 25:15. And the Madianite woman, that was slain with him, was called Cozbi the daughter of Sur, a most noble prince among the Madianites.
Lines 17150–17159
25:16. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 25:17. Let the Madianites find you their enemies, and slay you them: 25:18. Because they also have acted like enemies against you, and have guilefully deceived you by the idol Phogor, and Cozbi their sister, a daughter of a prince of Madian, who was slain in the day of the plague for the sacrilege of Phogor.