Numbers: Faith, Law, and History

Phinehas

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Pentateuch

Lesson: Phinehas

Genre:

Track: 48

Dictation Name: RR181Z48

Location/Venue:

Year:

Let us worship God. O give thanks unto the Lord, call upon His name. Make His deeds known among the people. Sing unto Him. Sing psalms unto Him. Talk ye of all His wondrous works. Glory ye in His holy name. Let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord. Let us pray.

Almighty God, our heavenly Father, in this blessed season we give thee thanks that Christ is come, that He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and it is His will that shall be done. Make us joyful in the victory that is ours in Him. Make us ever mindful that, thou the heathen rage and take counsel together against thee and against thine anointed, it is that they shall be destroyed, and that thy will shall prevail. Give us faithfulness, joy in thy word, and a confidence in thy workings. In Christ’s name. Amen.

Our scripture is Numbers 25:1-18. The entire chapter. Numbers 25, and our subject: Phinehas. Numbers 25. “And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods. And Israel joined himself unto Baalpeor: and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. 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. And Moses said unto the judges of Israel, Slay ye every one his men that were joined unto Baalpeor. 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. 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; 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. And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand.

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. 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. 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. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Vex the Midianites, and smite them: 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.”

There are two references to this chapter in the New Testament; In 2 Peter 2:15 and especially Revelation 2:14, and in those passages, especially the latter, we are clearly told that Balaam was responsible for this event. He had apparently told the Midianites that their religious prostitution would be the means of destroying Israel, an enemy to both Balak and Moab, and to Midian as well.

The religious communion services of Midian were full-scale feasts, followed by religious acts of fornication whereby the people joined themselves to Baal-peor. In other words, we have here a fertility cult, and it’s open practice, and the Israelites were invited to it. Fertility cults were all naturalistic religions given to worshiping the life force, and commonly embodying it in a goddess, a female figure. The modern religious cult of Gaia is a revival of such a faith, and it involves the open practice of sexual acts, and in Antiquity, these included many instances of deviant and bestial behavior. For the men of Israel, this was an invitation to free sex, and they went after it greedily. There was little opposition until God, through Moses, ordered an intervention. The text is rather difficult as it is literally translated in the King James, and perhaps Mofat’s rendering of verses 4 and 5 will make it clear. “And the eternal bade Moses sees all the leaders of the people and execute them in broad daylight before the eternal in order to avert the eternal’s hot anger from Israel.” So Moses told all the sheriffs to put to death throughout their jurisdictions, the men who had attached themselves to the Baal of peor, that is, all the top leaders.

Because of their permissiveness, the tribal princes were all held to be responsible, but meanwhile, a plague was racing through Israel, and in verse 9, we are told that about 24,000 died in this epidemic. This is a rounded figure. In 1 Corinthians 10:8, we have a reference to this incident, and the rounded figure is given as 23,000, more important, and we’ll come to why there is a difference. We are told that they fell in one day.

Now, of late, this passage has become of interest to medical experts. The historicity has never been doubted. The question has been “What was it?” and so I am told by some doctors that now, in a time of an AIDS epidemic, this fact and its association with sexual rites have become of great interest to medical scholars. The plague is very obviously associated with the promiscuity and it struck very rapidly, but was ignored by the Israelites in their eagerness for the easy access to Midianite women. Many, of course, were distressed and were weeping at the sanctuary. Perhaps, mainly the Hebrew wives.

Now it is interesting that Joshua wrote that Zimri, the man who even after the execution of the top leaders, himself a subordinate prince, expressed his contempt for Moses, and called him a worse oppressor than Pharaoh, and said that Moses was trying to deprive them, “Of the sweetness of life, which consists in acting according to our own wills, and is the right of free men and of those who have no lord over them.” He accused Moses of acting, “under pretense of laws, and of God, wickedly to impose on us slavery and gain dominion to thyself.” Sounds as though it happened yesterday, doesn’t it? His language is so modern.

These events occurred at Abel{?} Chittim, a meadow of Acacia trees in a very lovely setting. We are told that the Midianites called the people to the sacrifice of their gods, or the word “called” could be “invited.” The destruction of Israel was disguised as a friendly act. The purpose, apparently designed, we are told in the New Testament, by Balaam, was to subvert the people and alienate them from God. Their long isolation in the wilderness made them especially susceptible to whatever plague the sexual promiscuity gave them, whereas the Midianites had apparently some high degree of tolerance to it.

It is an interesting fact that the first whites to enter Africa as missionaries or as traders rarely lasted more than a few months to a year. They had no immunity to things with which the black Africans routinely lived and did not come down with, and it was awhile before the white man became acclimated and could survive in Africa. The same thing happened, of course, to Indians when the white man came. Measles killed them by the tens of thousands wherever the white man carried it. In fact, I can recall a time on the reservation when I was having several funerals a day, day after day, because measles after the war with vehicle transportation beginning to increase, had been brought to the reservation.

But it is a grim fact that we are not told that Israel was at all concerned by the plague. This is clearly indicated by George Bush’s commentary, in part, on verse 3. He wrote, “Israel joined himself to Baal-peor, and in the Hebrew was joined, coupled, or yoked. In the Vulgate, Israel was initiated to Baal-figor{?}, in the Greek, Israel was consecrated to Baal-figor. The Chaldean, Israel was conjoined to the worshipers of Baal-peor. In the Syriac and Arabic, Israel cleaved closely to Baal-peor.” So, they went to it like a pig to slop. In other words, Zimri’s response to Moses, as given by Josephus, did reflect Israel’s temperament. Here was a religion more to their liking than the God of Moses. People were dying, even as they celebrated their freedom from God. The parallel to the AIDS epidemic therefore, is certainly there, whatever the nature of this plague.

In this seduction of Israel, Midian and Moab worked together. In verses 1, 17-18, and in chapter 37:16, we see this clearly. Some scholars believe that the number 23,000 refers to those who died of the plague, whereas 24,000 is inclusive of those who, on the same day, were hung by Moses’ orders. Robert A. Watson wrote of Balaam’s strategy wrote, “The moral law of Jehovah and the comparative purity of the Israelite’s as His people kept them separate from the other nations, gave them dignity and vigor. To break down this defense would make them like the rest, would withdraw them from the favor of their God and even defeat God’s purposes. The scheme was one which only the vilest craft could have conceived, and it shows us too plainly the real character of Balaam. He must have known the power of the allurements which he now advised as a means of attack on those he could not touch with his maledictions, nor gain by his soothsaying. In the shadow of this scheme of his, we see the diviner and all his tribe, and indeed the whole morality of the region at their very worst.”

We should remember that all fertility religions, all sexual acts, in some instances inclusive of perverse and bestial acts, were seen as good works and were performed within the temple precincts. They insured, it was believed, the fertility of the earth, the coming of rains, and a good harvest. Now a days, publically sanitized versions of fertility cult practices are performed for tourists by many peoples and tribes, and are highly regarded by our new pagans. Rain dances and the like are regarded as great tourist attractions. Sacred prostitution was a routine part of pagan rites and cults in Canaan. It was a particularly well-developed aspect of that culture.

As a result, the truth about what Canaan was is not told in the textbooks, nor in history books. Only one or two scholars in books that are on reserve shelves, have told the truth. Of course, other cultures have not lacked their temple prostitutes, as witness Hinduism. No other culture in the modern world has given them an equal status, but no doubt our contemporary worshipers of Gaia among the environmentalists would like to bring it back. In Antiquity, a father would often dedicate a daughter to the temple for sacred prostitution and the same could be true of sons. In Deuteronomy 23:17-18, there is a strict ban on any form of prostitution, sacred or profane, and a sodomite is called a dog, a term we find also in Revelation 22:15. According to Deuteronomy 23:17-18, “There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel. Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore, or the price of a dog, into the house of the Lord thy God for any vow: for even both these are abomination unto the Lord thy God.”

The plague on Israel was stayed by Phinehas. It is called an act of atonement, a satisfaction for sin. It is important to realize that this was not a vigilante act. The order had been given to hang all the leaders of the people who had led in and tolerated the fertility cult practices.

Now, after this was done, Zimri, a son of Salu, a prince of a chief house of the Simeonites, brazenly defied the authority of Moses. He brought a prominent Midianite woman, Cozbi, the daughter of Zur, a prince of Midian, into the camp. He did so openly and contemptuously, and the godly women of Israel wept at the sight. At this point, Phinehas, a high priestly official, and probably one of those involved in the hanging of the other guilty leaders, took a javelin and went into the tent where they were copulating. He drove his javelin through the bodies of both, and killed them on the spot. God praises Phinehas for being as zealous of his honor as God Himself is for His law and honor. Since the New Testament sees Phinehas as a godly man, this poses a problem for those who try to place the Old Testament on a lower moral plane. The aftermath of Phinehas’ act was, first, that God stayed the plague. The contagion ended, as did the fertility cult practices. If any still agreed with Zimri, they kept quiet.

Second, God promised to Phinehas and his posterity a covenant of peace. They would continue in his service and be blessed therein. Then third, since a Midianite princess had been killed, war would follow, and God ordered Moses to take the initiative, which he did, although a full scale war was delayed since Israel’s manpower had been diminished by the plague. Apparently, as with AIDS thus far, men were the primary if not the sole victims of this plague.

Modern commentators, such as James Philip, have called Phinehas’ act and others like it in the Bible, acts of a brutal and barbarous nature. Are we to assume that the breakdown of civilization taking place under the leadership of our modernists like James Philip represents civility in culture? Where are their condemnations of the pornography, abortion, euthanasia, crime, and lawlessness of our time? To them, apparently these represent advances.

Zimri was a Simeonite, and the Simeonite encampment was closest to Moab and most exposed to the temptation. The census in Numbers 36 showed that the Simeonites had the greatest loss in population. A comment in Lang is pertinent here, “The history shows that the curse causeless never comes. God’s people are safe from the curse unless they bring it upon themselves. They never experience it unless they have practically renounced God and His law. The floodgates are open then, and nothing but a devindicated divine right will stem the tide.” He is right. The curse causeless never comes, but our age has invited God’s curse, and needs to repent. Let us pray.

Almighty God, our heavenly Father, we thank thee for this, thy word. We thank thee that thy vengeance is operative against the ungodly, that there is an end to thy patience, and that thy justice is thorough. Teach us therefore, day by day, to look unto thee, to pray unto thee, and to move in faithfulness to thy word, so that in an age of curse, we may be blessed by thy grace and of mercy. In Christ’s name. Amen. Are there any questions now about our lesson? Yes?

[Audience] I think the most striking example of a temple prostitute was Marilyn Monroe and her liaisons with President John F. Kennedy.

[Rushdoony] Yes, and apparently, the recent books on Kennedy and on Peter Lawford indicate that they regarded it as their right and would order men to bring to them whomever they chose. Yes?

[Audience] Do you see any resemblance to the distribution of condoms to the high school students of New York, and the fertility cults?

[Rushdoony] Very good point. I think so. Now I think one of the interesting things that was reported to me this past week by one of you that apparently, the condoms being distributed to students are “second.” Factory seconds, and one in three is no good. So, they certainly are not teaching them very well. If it’s safe sex they want, they’re going about it the wrong way. Yes?

[Audience] I spoke to Brian this past week. He told me when they distribute the condoms down in Los Angeles, it was more in teaching them to have sex than it was in safe sex or not having sex. It was teaching them to have sex.

[Rushdoony] Yes. Well, Earth First wants 90% of the human race dead, so they will have the right kind of population on earth, and nature will flourish without interference from men. Now, certainly, with all their teaching in the schools, they’re preparing the way for the elimination of 90%. Any other questions or comments? This particular chapter, as I said, it very, very upsetting to our liberals. It’s a demonstration to them of how terrible a book the Bible is, and it’s amazing as I said, these same people will not condemn euthanasia or abortion, or anything else. The innocent must die, but the guilty should live. Yes?

[Audience] They’re running into a shortage of female children in India.

[Rushdoony] And in China where, of course, as I pointed out, they are kidnapping them from Vietnam and other places because of the tremendous shortage, and yet they don’t see the connection between that and their other practices. One analysis I read recently gave a glowing report of much of the world, but said the one area that has gone downhill dramatically in every respect since World War 2 is Africa, and it has become a disaster area of history. Well, before long, Asia is likely to catch up with it, and Europe and America. Any other questions or comments? Well, if not, let us conclude with prayer.

Our Father, we thank thee that thy judgments are true and altogether righteous. The justice shall be done by thy hand when men fail to do it. We wait therefore, upon thy justice, and we pray that thou wouldst make us instruments to the restoration of thy justice upon earth, thy law, to the end that the kingdoms of this world might become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ. And now go in peace. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost bless you and keep you, guide and protect you this day and always. Amen.

End of tape