Phinehas

Introduction

Numbers 25:6–9 KJV 1900

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. 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; 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. 9 And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand.

Pray — Be Seated

Body

Early Life of Phinehas

The first mention of Phinehas is found in Exodus 6:25

Exodus 6:25 KJV 1900

25 And Eleazar Aaron’s son took him one of the daughters of Putiel to wife; and she bare him Phinehas: these are the heads of the fathers of the Levites according to their families.

Eleazer his father is third oldest of his siblings, and at this point, Phinehas is either a baby or a very young child.

At this point no law given, and so no priesthood established.

Nothing particularly remarkable about Phinehas as of yet. Quite ordinary.

That’s it for his early childhood!

Adult Years

The next time we see Phinehas is in the book of Numbers 25

The children of Israel were sinning by joining themselves with the daughters of Moab

God sent a plague in judgment against the sin of Israel

Moses, Aaron, and the elders of Israel were weeping and interceding before God

Phinehas, however, took a javelin and thrust through two who were openly sinning before all the congregation.

This act stayed the judgment of God and saved the nation of Israel.

Next is in Numbers 31

The Lord commanded Moses to gather some of the nation of Israel and arm them for battle against the Midianites.

God was wroth with Midian for what they did against His people in Numbers 25

Phinehas was among those numbered to go to war against Midian.

Next in Joshua 22

At the beginning of the chapter Joshua had discharged the Reubenites and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh and sent them back across Jordan to the land of their possession.

Remember they had sworn to Moses that they would not enter into their possession until all their brethren were able to enter into theirs.

After they had returned home those tribes on the other side Jordan built a great altar by Jordan.

The other tribes saw this and thought it was in rebellion against the Lord and gathered themselves together against the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh.

It was here that Phinehas, with ten princes of the tribes of Israel, approached them and asked them what they were doing.

Then those tribes declared their intentions. Not for rebellion’s sake, but for fear of that, did they build the altar.

Phinehas and the princes that were with him were pleased with their words, and Phinehas declared that God was indeed with them because no trespass had been committed.

Lastly in Judges 20

A certain Levite went to Bethlehem-Judah to retrieve his concubine who had ran away.

He retrieved her and, after several days tarrying at his father-in-law’s house, he left for home.

He left in the evening time, and soon had to pull off the road and find somewhere to sleep.

He decided to turn into a city named Gibeah, which belonged to the tribe of Benjamin, and was taken in by a certain man.

The men of the city gathered themselves together against that man’s house and demanded to send the stranger out to them that they may know them.

The man refused but instead they sent the Levite’s concubine out to the men.

The morning after, the concubine was dead, and the Levite took a knife and divided her into twelve pieces and sent the pieces into all the coasts of Israel.

Israel was horrified that such a thing was done, and gathered themselves together against Benjamin.

After twice inquiring of the Lord, and after unsuccessful attempts against Benjamin, Phinehas inquired of the Lord and asked if they should continue against Benjamin.

The Lord told them this time that He would deliver Benjamin into their hand, and this time they soundly defeated Benjamin.

The Zeal of Phinehas

The reason I like Phinehas so much, and the main reason for the character study, is because of the events of Numbers 25. Lets dig in to that for a bit.

Israel had just defeated Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan easily and soundly.

When we are in submission to the Law and the Will of God, God fights for us.

The more ridiculously we’re outmatched, the better the outcome for us!

Balak, king of the Moabites, was very afraid of the Israelites.

When you’re right with God, when you live to serve Him, the enemy trembles at the sound of your voice.

He’s not afraid of you, of course, but he’s afraid of the God that he knows fights for you.

So Balak hired a man by the name of Balaam, son of Beor to curse the Israelites so that Moab would be able to prevail against Israel.

God would not allow Balaam to curse Israel because it was God’s good pleasure to bless them.

One strategy the enemy uses against God’s people is an overt attack.

This is easy to see coming, and although things can get tough for us, the fight is pretty straightforward.

This is not the most effective method against God’s people

Exodus 1:12 KJV 1900

12 But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel.

Acts 8:1–4 KJV 1900

1 And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles. 2 And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him. 3 As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison. 4 Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word.

Pre-Constantine Roman era vs. Post-Constantine Roman era.

Balaam knew that as long as Israel was obedient to God, God would fight for them, but if they forsook God’s commandments, He would not fight for them.

At Balaam’s counsel, Moab began to become very friendly with Israel, to the point that Israel was taking the daughter of Moab and bowing down to Baal-peor.

This is the preferred and most effective method against God’s people.

He gets us to tolerate sin and ungodliness

Then he gets us to accept it as normal

Then he gets us to participate in it

To be easily tolerant of sin, in ourselves as well as others, demonstrates in us a heart far from a Holy and a Righteous God.

God HATES sin as much as He LOVES the sinner!!! And so we must also hate sin and love the sinner

Almost the entire book of Judges details this

The frontal attacks, the obvious assaults he launches against us serve only to wake us up.

The enemy does not want you awake, but asleep!

God’s fierce anger was kindled against Israel and He commanded Moses to “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.” (v.4)

A prince of the tribe of Simeon, one named Zimri, brought a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and of all Israel, into a tent.

It was bad enough that this sin was going on in Israel, but now we have this joker flaunting it right out in the open in the sight of God and everybody!

He has completely lost his shame, and his ability to be convicted of sin

He has become so bold and so arrogant in his sin that he has lost his fear of God

Doesn’t this describe exactly our society today?

Phinehas immediately grabbed a javelin and went after Zimri into the tent and thrust him and the woman through.

First of all, I am NOT advocating we go out and run people through with spears!

Lets look at this in light of our New Covenant

2 Corinthians 7:11 KJV 1900

11 For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.

This is that holy indignation and revenge which godly sorrow worketh

We are sorrowful against sin because of our relationship with, and our love for, a Holy and a Righteous God.

We desire to be like Jesus!

That means we love what He loves, and we hate what He hates!

He was not zealous in his actions because he desired to stop the plague. He was zealous because what Zimri did was a slap in the face of Jehovah.

This is what separates a holy zeal from all other forms of religious fanaticism in the world today.

We have to be zealous for a God who is not only righteous and holy, and jealous of rivalry from any other god whatsoever, but also loving, and who desires to see the sinner delivered from his sin.

After this, the plague that went out from the Lord was stayed after slaying 24,000.

Numbers 25:10–13 KJV 1900

10 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 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. 12 Wherefore say, Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace: 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.

We learn thus that there is more than one way of making an atonement to God. In both cases it is by the manifestation of the righteousness of God , but in different ways. By his holy wrath flaming forth against sin, whether immediately, or through the zeal of a man of God. The weeping of the people was not an atonement, for it did not manifest the righteousness of God as the act of Phinehas did.

There is most certainly a time for praying and weeping before God. But there comes a time where we must take action.

Conclusion

So much does God delight in showing mercy that he is well pleased with those that are instrumental in turning away his wrath.

The real reward for every one faithful to his present opportunity is to enlarge his opportunity and give him more and higher service.