Num
25:6-9, 14-15 (NIV) Then an Israelite man brought to his family a Midianite
woman right before the eyes of Moses and the whole assembly of Israel while
they were weeping at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. 7 When Phinehas son
of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, saw this, he left the assembly, took
a spear in his hand 8 and followed the Israelite into the tent. He drove the
spear through both of them — through the Israelite and into the woman's body.
Then the plague against the Israelites was stopped; 9 but those who died in the
plague numbered 24,000.
. . .
14 The
name of the Israelite who was killed with the Midianite woman was Zimri son of
Salu, the leader of a Simeonite family. 15 And the name of the Midianite woman
who was put to death was Cozbi daughter of Zur, a tribal chief of a Midianite
family.
NOTE: The brazenness
of the action is unbelievable-- the man walks right by the tent of meeting. The
plague killed 24,000 (Paul says 23K but that is easily understood as he says
"in one day" or possible does not include the additional leaders who
were killed as a result of God's command). The name of two participants are
listed and this gives us more insight. One was a leader from the tribe of
Simeon, a "prince" in one sense. The other was a "princess"
from a Midianite family. Clearly, some sort of diplomatic maneuvering was
working as well. There are hints that the tribe of Simeon probably camped
closest to the Midianites. Not only is a Simeon leader identified, but the
survey at the beginning of Numbers lists 59K in Simeon, but by the end of
Numbers, there are only 22K left. Most tribes saw only small growths or
decline. Simeon is unusual in that it declined by 60 percent. Simeon was camped
on the south side of the main force with Gad and Reuben. Both Gad and Reuben
are ten percent smaller than their original size. The original southern flank
numbered 151K and prior to entering the land numbers 107K. Their loss of
strength is directly attributable to their sin. There is a message here for us
as well. Sin cuts into our spiritual strength and makes us weaker. If we want
to be mighty men and women of God, we must deal with those persistent sins that
attack our spiritual life.
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