The Deep End

Creeping with the Enemy

And, behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

Numbers 25:6

In a previous lesson I discussed the reason for all this weeping. The Israelite men had been seduced by Moabite and Midianite women on the plain of Moab, and had “joined themselves” unto Baal, a false pagan god, the worship of which involved fornication in order to induce supposed fertility in the crops. God was very angry about this blatant violation of His laws against idolatry, and He commanded Moses to execute the leaders, and to hang their bodies up in broad daylight.

Psalm 106 offers a commentary on this:

They joined themselves also unto Baalpeor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead. Thus they provoked him to anger with their inventions: and the plague brake in upon them.

Psalm 106:28-29

So the people were weeping not only because of the deaths of their fathers, grandfathers, and older brothers, but because of a deadly outbreak of disease. However, before you get the idea that everyone was repentant and crying the right kind of tears, you will note the first part of Numbers 25:6: “And, behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman…” Apparently, some of the men weren’t through partying with these pagan women. Perhaps they were too clueless to realize that God was angry (not likely), or perhaps they were just so intoxicated with sin that they didn’t care.

Who was this man who brought his consort into the place of weeping and repentance right in the sight of Israel and all the congregation? Later on in the narrative the Bible tells us his name, Zimri, and that he was the son of a prince of one of the chief households in the tribe of Simeon. His name meant “my music” or “my song” – as in “they’re playing our song.”

What about the woman? Her name was Cozbi – which meant “a doctor of the house of Huxtable who likes jello pudding pops.”

Sorry, just kidding. Cozbi was a Midanite woman, and, in fact, the daughter of one of the princes or leading families of the Midianites. Her name, instead of meaning “my song,” actually meant “my lie,” possibly because her father had sired her with someone other than his wife, and either her mother or the other woman had been forced to admit the “lie,” and gave her the name as an apology or at least a reminder.

So there they were – Zimri and Cozbi – gallivanting into the camp at the most inappropriate time. It’s tough to analogize the impropriety and impudence of such an act – maybe we could describe it as the rough equivalent of a murderer bringing a date to his victim’s funeral. And that’s not all. They went right into Zimri’s tent, a very brazen sin and a big slap right in the faces of Moses, the leaders who were weeping before the Tabernacle, and, of course, Yahweh Himself.

In the previous lesson in this series I said that there are two different types of weeping. Weeping before God with a contrite heart is good and honorable. Selfish weeping is the kind of weeping that someone who remains at enmity with God would do. Now I will show that there is also a type of creeping with the enemy that is useless at best, and harmful at worst. Zimri was not a very effective creeper if he thought he could sneak into the Israelite camp with this Midianite woman, but, at the same time, he wasn’t suicidal. He must have deceived himself into thinking that he could creep around with sin and get away with it.

But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert. And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul.

Psalm 106:14-15

Zimri lusted exceedingly, and when sinful lust takes over a man’s heart, there are times when God will give that man the desires of his heart. But those desires will produce leanness in his soul. They will produce a hunger for more sin and a reckless disregard for the consequences. They will bring about the loss of all good sense.

You and I have a great capacity and opportunity to creep around with sin. However, be warned: We may creep around with the enemies of God, but we will never creep past the sight of God. We may creep around with the world, our flesh, Satan, sinful practices, materialism, covetousness, laziness, and many more, but God sees all. We will no more evade His notice than did Zimri as he crept into his own tent to enjoy the pleasures of sin while the judgment of the God he was offending rained down all around him.

And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation, and took a javelin in his hand;

Numbers 25:7

Phinehas’s name meant “mouth of brass.” He was not “silver-tongued.” He was plainspoken. His words were not not fancy, but they carried weight. Eleazar was the grandson of Moses’s brother, Aaron, the high priest. Phinehas picked up a spear. It was the weapon of a soldier, not a priest, and it was a no-nonsense weapon – a weapon normally used for throwing or thrusting – and he took it up with a deadly purpose.

And he went after the man of Israel into the tent…

Numbers 25:8

We don’t know precisely how Phinehas did this. Did he stride forcefully and ostentatiously? Or did, he, too, creep? Did he encounter people who inquired what he was doing as he followed Zimri and Cozbi from a distance, brushing them aside gruffly as he pursued? Or did he hang back stealthily, sneaking along like a spy following another spy through the alleys of Cold War Berlin? We just don’t know. However, I will say that there are times, when we go to confront sin in the midst of a Christian fellowship or in the lives or our friends or acquaintances, when we should use tact and discretion. There are other times when we are authorized to be blunt and direct – or maybe I should say “sharp” and direct.

And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly…

Numbers 25:8

I am in no way condoning murder or even vigilantism. This was an instance of Old Testament justice under the Law of God. It is not prescriptive behavior for New Testament Christianity. If we are to imitate anything from this incident, it must be only the the principles, not the practice. However, in this particular instance:

… So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel.

Numbers 25:8

Whether or not Phinehas crept up on the couple before putting a stop to their sin, two things are certain:
1. It was effective. It stopped the plague.
2. It did not displease God. In fact, it pleased the Lord very much.

And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, while he was zealous for my sake among them, that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy. Wherefore say, Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace: And he shall have it, and his seed after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was zealous for his God, and made an atonement for the children of Israel.

Numbers 25:10-13

Phinehas’s act seems so extreme, so violent, so primitive and brutal that you almost expect to find some qualifier to it somewhere in the Word of God – something at least a little cautionary or disapproving of it. But I could not find a single smudge on the character of Phinehas because of this action

Even Psalm 106, which gives the commentary on it centuries later, says this:

Then stood up Phinehas, and executed judgment: and so the plague was stayed. And that was counted unto him for righteousness unto all generations for evermore.

Psalm 106:30-31

If anything, the Holy Spirit has the psalmist make him sound like even more of a hero! Next time, we will look for clues as to what was going on in Phinehas’s mind and heart as he performed this act.