20131213 Friday, December 13 2013
Numbers 25: The Moabite Seduction

by Wayne Blank
See also 1 Year Holy Bible Reading Plan

"And Israel joined himself unto Baalpeor: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel"

The united kingdom of Israel, and then the independent kingdoms of Israel and Judah (see the Fact Finder question below) repeatedly suffered military defeat that ended their sovereignty. Every single time however their military and political defeat was brought about by their self-inflicted moral defeat that always manifested itself in a religion of perversion.

The Moabite seduction was not the first, nor the last, time that the Israelites turned away from the LORD (Who was and is Jesus Christ - see Genesis 1: In The Beginning Was The Word and The Kingdom Of The LORD God) to "commit whoredom."

"25:1 And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab." (Numbers 25:1 KJV)

Notice carefully that it was not the adultery and fornication by the men of Israel alone. The people of Israel, men and women, degenerated into a lewd religion of "whoredom" i.e. "they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods."

"25:2 And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods.

25:3 And Israel joined himself unto Baalpeor: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel." (Numbers 25:2-3 KJV)

The LORD's response, just as it was every time before (e.g. see Exodus 32: The Mount Sinai Riot) and every time after (see the Fact Finder question below) was the same.

"25:4 And the LORD said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the LORD against the sun, that the fierce anger of the LORD may be turned away from Israel.

25:5 And Moses said unto the judges of Israel, Slay ye every one his men that were joined unto Baalpeor." (Numbers 25:4-5 KJV)

Much like the rampant pornography of the present day world, the people's lewdness was "in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel" - before the LORD delivered unto them "the plague" that they were delivering within themselves (see Leviticus 18: Sexual Abominations).

"25:6 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. 25:7 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; 25:8 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. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel. 25:9 And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand." (Numbers 25:6-9 KJV)

Also, as was the case every time, before and after, the Levites were the last to become corrupt - primarily because they were "separated" from the general population (see Numbers 3: When Were The Levites Set Apart?).

"25:10 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 25:11 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. 25:12 Wherefore say, Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace: 25:13 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.

25:14 Now the name of the Israelite that was slain, even that was slain with the Midianitish woman, was Zimri, the son of Salu, a prince of a chief house among the Simeonites. 25:15 And the name of the Midianitish woman that was slain was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur; he was head over a people, and of a chief house in Midian." (Numbers 25:10-15 KJV)

It was a lesson yet-again repeated in the history of Israel. Not the first time. Not the last time.

"25:16 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 25:17 Vex the Midianites, and smite them: 25:18 For they vex you with their wiles, wherewith they have beguiled you in the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of a prince of Midian, their sister, which was slain in the day of the plague for Peor's sake." (Numbers 25:16-18 KJV)

Fact Finder: (a) What caused the northern kingdom of "Israel" to fall? (b) What caused the southern kingdom of "Judah" to fall?
(a) See Israel In History and Prophecy: Israel and Judah and Israel In History and Prophecy: The Lost Ten Tribes
(b) See Israel In History an