Wednesday, January 16, 2013

The spear of Phinehas

In chapter 25 of Numbers, the Israelites engage in some unfavorable conduct: not only do the men have sex with the Moabite women, these same women invited them to eat a feast in honor of their god Baal.

This angered God so much that He ordered Moses to execute all of the leaders who were engaged in this unholy worship.

One day, Phineahas was at an assembly and witnessed one of the Israelites take a Midianite woman into one of the tents.  He then took up a spear and drove it through them both.  This act pleased the Lord, who then ordered the executions to cease, for he was no longer angry by Phineahas's brave act.  The Lord then appointed Phineahas with a covenant that established his people are priests.

In chapter 26, there is a census of all the families of Israel.  Tribe after tribe is counted, and what's interesting to note at the end is that not one man, except a mere handful, is left of whom started out their trek in the wilderness--all of this in accordance to what the Lord said, that they would all die in the wilderness.

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