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Numbers 25 |
God Kills 24,000 Israelites
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| 25:1
And Israel abode in
Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters
of Moab.
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| 25:2
And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the
people did eat, and bowed down to their gods. |
 (25:1) "The people began to commit whoredom with the daughters
of Moab.."
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| 25:3
And Israel joined himself unto Baalpeor: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against
Israel. |
(25:3-5) "Take all the heads of the people and hang them up before the Lord."
After the people "commit whoredom with
the daughters of Moab," Moses has them all killed and hangs them up in front of the Lord.
Is God merciful?
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| 25:4
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.
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| 25:5
And Moses said unto the
judges of Israel, Slay ye every one his men that were joined unto Baalpeor.
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| 25:6
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. |
(25:6-9)
While God is talking to Moses about hanging
up the dead bodies, one of the Israelite men brings home a foreign woman. When "Phinehas
(Aaron's grandson) sees the happy couple he throws a spear "through the man .. and the
woman through her belly." This act pleases God so much that
"the plague was stayed from the children of Israel." But not before
24,000 (1 Cor.10:8 says 23,000) had died.
How many did God kill for "committing whoredom with the daughters of
Moab"?
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| 25:7
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;
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| 25:8
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.
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| 25:9
And those that died in
the plague were twenty and four thousand. |
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| 25:10
And the LORD spake unto
Moses, saying, |
(25:10-13)
"Phinehas ... hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel."
For impaling the interracial couple,
God rewards Phinehas and his sons with the everlasting priesthood.
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| 25:11
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.
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| 25:12
Wherefore say, Behold,
I give unto him my covenant of peace: |
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| 25:13
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. |
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| 25:14
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. |
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| 25:15
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. |
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| 25:16
And the LORD spake
unto Moses, saying, |
God tells Moses how to care for his
neighbors by saying: "Vex the Midianites, and smite them."
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| 25:17
Vex the Midianites,
and smite them:
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| 25:18
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.
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