Phinehas the son of Eleazar

The Bible account of the deed of this young man is quite inspiring. It happened at a time when the children of Israel forgot who they were and practiced the worship of BaalPeor with the Midianites, God was really angry and thought of destroying them all. In fact, He asked Moses to take the heads of all the people who practiced the act and hang them up before the LORD against the sun. At this dispensation, God punished men for their sins instantly, except something is done quickly to calm the wrath of God, all the victims wound be consumed. That was how serious it was then.

Calmly follow through the Bible story below. (Message Bible)

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Numbers 25:1 While Israel was camped at Shittim (Acacia Grove), the men began to have sex with the Moabite women.

:2 It started when the women invited the men to their sex-and-religion worship. They ate together and then worshiped their gods.

:3 Israel ended up joining in the worship of the Baal of Peor. God was furious, his anger blazing out against Israel.

:4 God said to Moses, "Take all the leaders of Israel and kill them by hanging, leaving them publicly exposed in order to turn God's anger away from Israel."

:5 Moses issued orders to the judges of Israel: "Each of you must execute the men under your jurisdiction who joined in the worship of Baal Peor."

:6 Just then, while everyone was weeping in penitence at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, an Israelite man, flaunting his behavior in front of Moses and the whole assembly, paraded a Midianite woman into his family tent.

:7 Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw what he was doing, grabbed his spear,

:8 and followed them into the tent. With one thrust he drove the spear through the two of them, the man of Israel and the woman, right through their private parts. That stopped the plague from continuing among the People of Israel.

:9 But 24,000 had already died.

:10 God spoke to Moses:

:11 "Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has stopped my anger against the People of Israel. Because he was as zealous for my honor as I myself am, I didn't kill all the People of Israel in my zeal.

:12 So tell him that I am making a Covenant-of-Peace with him.

:13 He and his descendants are joined in a covenant of eternal priesthood, because he was zealous for his God and made atonement for the People of Israel."

:14 The name of the man of Israel who was killed with the Midianite woman was Zimri son of Salu, the head of the Simeonite family.

:15 And the name of the Midianite woman who was killed was Cozbi daughter of Zur, a tribal chief of a Midianite family.

:16 God spoke to Moses:

:17 "From here on make the Midianites your enemies. Fight them tooth and nail.

:18 They turned out to be your enemies when they seduced you in the business of Peor and that woman Cozbi, daughter of a Midianite leader, the woman who was killed at the time of the plague in the matter of Peor."

Phinehas was the son of Eleazar the Priest, present day Pastor's son. Unlike other Priest's children who misbehaved and brought the wroth of God upon themselves and their families just as some Pastor's children do today, Phinehas did set a different example even as a youth. He calmed the anger of the LORD and preserved the life of the people. The man of Israel who brought in a woman into the Camp defiled the camp which inturn could have brought great consequences to everyone in the camp even those who never joined in the worship of BaalPeor but thank God for Phinehas who knew what to do and did it at the right time. Before 24,000 had already been killed. How many more could gone for one man's sin? Things keep going wrong around us because we failed to do we ought to have done. The man Phinehas killed was a Prince and the woman too was a Princess for their fathers were chiefs in their respective lands but that did not stop Phinehas from killing them.

Sometimes, we are biased by favoritism and all that, sometimes we fear man rather than God, child of God know that God is counting on you.

Don't keep quiet when your brother's and sister's are doing wrong, speak out and stop them if you can. Don't keep quiet when people around you are misbehaving, speak out! Don't keep quiet when people the litre the road or destroy public properties. You are God's extension on earth, you are an Ambassador.

Stop feeling less concerned, it concerns you.

Moral Lesson:

From this story we can see that sin is an absolute "no go area" for the children of God. If we think the punishment for idolatry in this Bible story is too severe, we need to understand how much our sins grieve the holy heart of our loving Heavenly Father.

Phinehas action could be due to his upbringing as a third generation from Aaron. The challenge to Christian parents is clear. What legacy are you leaving for your children and grandchildren?

The Midianites also brought the wrath of God upon themselves by luring the Israelites to sin, you can see that in the last 2 verses. Don't ever think you will go free for luring any servant of God to sin.

Know that the soul that sins shall die.