Numbers 25:6-9

6-9. One brought a Midianitish woman From Numbers 25:14-15, we learn that the man was Zimri, a prince of the Simeonites, and the woman Cozbi, the daughter of a chief of Midian.

In the sight of all the congregation This bold affront unveils the depth of the corruption which pervaded some in the camp, and fired the heart of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, with the vehemence of a zealot. Seizing a javelin he rushed into the tent of the adulterer, and with one thrust transfixed both the man and the woman. Hebrew law ever recognised what is called the zealots’ right to correct a flagrant abuse which was overstepping the law and defying the ordinary courts of justice. Jesus, simply as a Hebrew citizen, purged the temple by this right.

So the plague was stayed The stroke of the divine vengeance, which was falling like burning thunderbolts upon the camp, was arrested by this extraordinary immolation of these guilty parties.

Twenty and four thousand St. Paul says that twenty-three thousand fell in “one day.” This Ewald, Alford, and Meyer regard as a slip of memory on the apostle’s part. A better explanation is, that Paul refers only to those cut off by the plague, and that an additional thousand were executed by sentence of the courts. Note, Numbers 25:5; see note, 1 Corinthians 10:8.