“Just then, in the sight of Moshe and the whole community of Israel, as they were weeping at the entrance to the tent of meeting, a man from Israel came by, bringing to his family a woman from Midian. When Pinchas the son of El‘azar, the son of Aharon the cohen, saw it, he got up from the middle of the crowd, took a spear in his hand, and pursued the man from Israel right into the inner part of the tent, where he thrust his spear through both of them — the man from Israel and the woman through her stomach. Thus was the plague among the people of Israel stopped; nevertheless, 24,000 died in the plague.”-Numbers 25:6-9
We now encounter a situation of complete and utter chaos.
The people are dying by the thousands due to a plague the Lord has sent and the rest are partying with the heathen like there’s no tomorrow.
In the midst of all this ruckus, the Torah suddenly narrows its focus on a certain Israelite man and a Midianite woman he had escorted into the HOLY camp of Israel to introduce to his kinsman.
Keep in mind that Moab and Midian had formed an alliance of sorts at this time.
Recall that some Midianites were even a part of the official entourage King Balak of Moab sent up to Mesopotamia in order to persuade the famous sorcerer Balaam to curse Israel.
At this point in history, as far as HASHEM is concerned, BOTH the Moabites and the Midianites are sworn enemies of God.
Therefore, it was CHUTZPAH beyond the pale that this Hebrew man would bring a Midianite into the holy camp of Israel and parade her right in front of Moses who was standing right there at the entrance to the Wilderness Tabernacle.
This was madness, pure and simple, and demonstrates the level of perversion the Israelites had descended to.
Phinehas, who was the priest in charge of the Tabernacle guards, saw this Hebrew man and Midianite woman wander on by as if they didn’t have a care in the world and was overcome by rage at the utter disregard for God’s HOLINESS.
He grabbed a spear probably from one of the hundreds of Levite guards stationed around the Tabernacle area and followed the Hebrew man and his new Midianite girlfriend to their tent.
And while the couple was in the midst of having sex, the Scripture tells us Phinehas thrust the man and the woman with his spear through their bellies.
Now what actually happened is a bit more stomach-turning (no pun intended).
Here’s the thing.
The “belly” is actually a Hebrew euphemism for the reproductive organs.
Got it?
So I don’t think I need to go into too much explicit detail concerning what really happened when Phinehas thrust this couple through with his spear.
The whole idea being communicated here is that is that since it was through those sexual organs that the Hebrew man and Midianite woman blasphemed against HASHEM, it was by those very same organs that they will be executed.
One major takeaway I’m getting from this scene is just how powerful and dangerous illicit sexual desire can be.
It has been said that a sex-crazed man is no different than a dope-crazed man and I believe it.
There are countless stories of men who have ruined relationships, career and reputation simply because they could not keep their sexual desires in check according to God’s HOLY boundaries as established in TORAH.
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