In Numbers 22-24 we have the dramatic tale of Balaam, a gifted prophet and scholar of the ancient religions of nomadic Semite tribes. He was familiar with the religious lore and practices of people like the Midianites. It was Jethro, a Midianite priest who taught Moses the ways of God under the name El, so that in the end, it was this God who revealed Himself to Moses by the name Jehovah. Balaam didn’t know the much about the Covenant, but he knew plenty about the God who established that covenant.
When it became obvious that there was no way Balaam could use sorcery to find a way to persuade El to curse His own nation, he went to the fallback plan: defiling the people. Working with Balak and the Midianites still residing east of the Jordan Rift Valley, Balaam concocted a way to get the people to curse themselves before God, using a common pagan religious practice. Women living there could raise money for their patron goddesses’ temples by selling themselves as ritual prostitutes.
Thus, chapter 25 opens with this practice in full swing, sending their women on a sacred mission to seduce the men of Israel. The patron goddess in this case was the Asherah consort to Baal of Peor, for whom Mount Peor was named. Historical records indicate this was a particularly degrading sexual cult.
God told Moses the only way to mitigate this vile self-curse on the people was to execute the Israeli men who had indulged in this cult worship, by impaling them with poles and standing those poles out in the heat of sun. Moses thus ordered his Sanhedrin to take responsibility each for the guilty men in their own feudal domains within the tribe and begin the grisly executions.
Now this consultation between Moses and the Sanhedrin took place during a gathering at the Tabernacle, where elders of the tribes had gathered to meet with Moses about this hideous moral plague in their camp. No sooner had Moses given this grim command, but one of the battle chiefs came into the camp escorting a Midianite prostitute, and in full view of this distraught conference, presented her to his brethren as their new hired play-toy. He then took her to his own tent first, before passing her off to others.
Among those standing near the Tabernacle to watch this flagrant evil was Phinehas, a grandson of Moses’ brother Aaron. He grabbed a spear, ran to the tent and nailed them both to the ground with one stroke. The narrative uses the term “plague” to describe the moral weakness that had compromised so very many men. When people saw what the Sanhedrin were going to do when they caught someone involved in the cultic ritual sex, they were turned away from the temptation to join in. Thus, the plague was stopped.
This dramatic act also spurred the rest of the leadership to get to work. Most translations tell us that some 24,000 died in this tragedy. For his zeal, Phinehas was rewarded with a personal covenant promise from God to keep his household in the priesthood. Granted, as one of the Sons of Aaron, this was already something God had commanded, but the implication here is God’s special favor. This wouldn’t excuse the sins of his descendants, but it promises they would prosper as leaders among the priests. Phinehas clearly understood the gravity of this situation.
The two executed in the tent are named, and then the Lord says that from here on out, there could be no peaceful alliance between Israel and Midian. While massive slaughter wasn’t in order here, there could be no trust in these former allies. They were too willing to sell themselves into moral corruption.
It’s no surprise that the New Testament warns us how sexual impropriety is such a grave sin against oneself. Worse, it cannot be removed from its idolatrous associations. When sexual morals are loose, demonic presence is inevitable. The hard choice of Phinehas took away the demons’ power to corrupt Israel.
