(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
Numbers 25:6–15, “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.”
Israel, as a nation, had agreed to keep the Law, which included the death penalty (Ex 19:8, “And all the people answered together, and said, All that the LORD hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the LORD.”) There was no excuse for their behaviour. One man, who was a prince in one of the tribes, and therefore, should have known better, flaunted the fact that he was disobeying the Lord’s commandment. This was a serious moment in Israel’s history. The whole nation was being attacked by a plague for their sin and someone had to do something before everyone died. Phinehas, who was Aaron’s grandson, realised that stern measures needed to be taken so, in his role as priest and guardian of the Law, he executed the man who was sinning. This courageous act on his part led to the Lord’s anger being appeased and the plague was stopped.
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