It took me about 15 minutes to read this passage. Chapter 25 speaks of the immorality of a number of Israelites; God killed 24,000 who worshiped other gods and practiced their sinful rites. But there may have been more involved in the sin, some by active involvement and others by permissive allowance. But Phinehas, Aaron’s grandson, stopped the plague by show the same zeal for God’s name and God displays. We may thing that Phinehas’ actions are too graphic to discuss, impaling an Israelite leader and his adulterous/idolatrous partner to the ground, but that is because we may not view their actions with God’s eyes. Zimri not only disregarded the first, second, and sixth commandments, he did so in the full view of Moses and the other leaders of Israel. Zimri placed his own desires for selfish physical gratification above God’s law, and the call to holiness that God had put out to all of Israel. Zimri reject the value of faith in God’s provisions in order to feed his selfish appetite. I see Phinehas’ spear as God message that nothing has worth that should lead us to surrender our faith in God. Phinehas didn’t draw a line in the sand, he planted an exclamation point.
Stuart
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