An Army of Phinehases – Part 5
Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “ Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned away My wrath from the sons of Israel in that he was jealous with My jealousy among them, so that I did not destroy the sons of Israel in My jealousy. Therefore say, ‘ Behold, I give him My covenant of peace...because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the sons of Israel.’” [Numbers 25:10-12]
So how was the sin of the pubescent Israelites atoned for? It happened like this:
Phinehas grabbed his spear and followed the dufus Israelite into his tent. Inside the tent Phinehas pinned both the Israelite boy and the Midianite girl to the desert floor with his spear, like a shish kabob. Then the plague on the Israelites was stayed.
You see, the Israelites judged the sin in their camp, so the Lord no longer had to do so. If we judge our own sins, we won’t have to be judged.
And this brings us back to the five questions we itemized at the start of this study. We just narrated how a mere man can turn away God’s wrath (answer to question #1). The mere man simply did what the Word of God commanded to be done. The Law of Moses was already given to the Israelites to govern their national existence. It afforded the answers for holy living and judging society accordingly.
This Law commanded the Israelites to follow the doctrine of separation: no intermingling with the heathen peoples of the world. The Law also forbade idolatry: no worshiping other gods. The priests were assigned to be God’s judges in Israel. Phinehas the priest judged the lawbreaker guilty and executed him according to the Law.
How can a mere man have God’s jealousy? Just the way Phinehas did. He didn’t get mad at the dufus Israelite for personal reasons and exact his personal revenge. Rather, Phinehas recognized from the Law that the Lord loved the Israelites as His own bride.
The Lord was betrayed by His bride, when the Israelites slept with the daughters of foreign gods and then worshiped those gods. This aroused the Lord’s righteous jealousy. So that is what God’s jealousy is (answer to question #3). When Phinehas acted on behalf of God’s jealousy, he displayed God’s jealousy (answer to question #2).
Because the Lord is always faithful, He never steps out on those with whom He is in covenantal relationship. The Lord expects the same in return. When His people play spouse-swapping and intermingle with the heathen gods, they forfeit any claims to being God’s people and willingly join the camp of the enemy.
The word “holy” means that God is the one and only. For a man to be holy means that he sides with God against all other gods or anything else. When a man doesn’t do so, then he is no longer holy and God cannot abide with him.
Yikes! That didn’t spell good news for those pubescent Israelites, did it? We’ll learn the specifics in our next study. Off to the Lord I’m going now.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Numbers: Volume 4 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
So how was the sin of the pubescent Israelites atoned for? It happened like this:
Phinehas grabbed his spear and followed the dufus Israelite into his tent. Inside the tent Phinehas pinned both the Israelite boy and the Midianite girl to the desert floor with his spear, like a shish kabob. Then the plague on the Israelites was stayed.
You see, the Israelites judged the sin in their camp, so the Lord no longer had to do so. If we judge our own sins, we won’t have to be judged.
And this brings us back to the five questions we itemized at the start of this study. We just narrated how a mere man can turn away God’s wrath (answer to question #1). The mere man simply did what the Word of God commanded to be done. The Law of Moses was already given to the Israelites to govern their national existence. It afforded the answers for holy living and judging society accordingly.
This Law commanded the Israelites to follow the doctrine of separation: no intermingling with the heathen peoples of the world. The Law also forbade idolatry: no worshiping other gods. The priests were assigned to be God’s judges in Israel. Phinehas the priest judged the lawbreaker guilty and executed him according to the Law.
How can a mere man have God’s jealousy? Just the way Phinehas did. He didn’t get mad at the dufus Israelite for personal reasons and exact his personal revenge. Rather, Phinehas recognized from the Law that the Lord loved the Israelites as His own bride.
The Lord was betrayed by His bride, when the Israelites slept with the daughters of foreign gods and then worshiped those gods. This aroused the Lord’s righteous jealousy. So that is what God’s jealousy is (answer to question #3). When Phinehas acted on behalf of God’s jealousy, he displayed God’s jealousy (answer to question #2).
Because the Lord is always faithful, He never steps out on those with whom He is in covenantal relationship. The Lord expects the same in return. When His people play spouse-swapping and intermingle with the heathen gods, they forfeit any claims to being God’s people and willingly join the camp of the enemy.
The word “holy” means that God is the one and only. For a man to be holy means that he sides with God against all other gods or anything else. When a man doesn’t do so, then he is no longer holy and God cannot abide with him.
Yikes! That didn’t spell good news for those pubescent Israelites, did it? We’ll learn the specifics in our next study. Off to the Lord I’m going now.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Numbers: Volume 4 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
No comments have been added yet.
