The Wilderness · c. 1407 BC
Chapter 10
Phinehas
Therefore say, ‘Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace.It shall be to him, and to his offspring after him, the covenant of an everlasting priesthood, because he was jealous for his God, and made atonement for the children of Israel.’”
For parents
At Shittim, men of Israel sleep with women of Moab and join in the sacrifices to their gods (Numbers 25:1–3). The Lord tells Moses to take all the chiefs of the people and hang them up in the sun, and Moses tells the judges to kill their men who have joined in worshiping Baal Peor (25:4–5). Then Phinehas drives a spear through an Israelite man and a Midianite woman, and a plague that has killed twenty-four thousand people stops (25:6–9). The count of the tribes recalls how the earth swallowed Dathan, Abiram and Korah, and fire burned up 250 men (26:9–10). It is all told plainly, without detail.
was staying at , and there the men began sleeping with the women of . The women invited the people to the for their own gods, and the people ate and bowed down to those gods.
Israel joined in worshiping , and the ’s anger burned against Israel.
The Lord said to , “Take all the chiefs of the people and hang them up for the Lord, out in the sun, so that the Lord’s fierce anger will turn away from Israel.”
Moses said to Israel’s judges, “Each of you must kill any of your men who have joined in worshiping Baal Peor.”
Then one of the Israelites arrived, bringing a woman to his brothers. He did it in full view of Moses and of the whole congregation of Israel, while they were weeping at the door of the .
saw it. He was the son of and the grandson of the . He got up from among the congregation and took a spear in his hand.
He went after the Israelite man into the inner tent and thrust the spear through them both, the man and the woman. So the among the Israelites stopped.
Twenty-four thousand people had died in the plague.
The Lord told Moses, “Phinehas, the son of Eleazar and the grandson of Aaron the priest, has made my anger turn away from the Israelites, because there among them he felt my own . So I didn’t put an end to the Israelites in my jealousy.
“So say this: ‘Look, I am giving him my of peace. It will belong to him and to his descendants after him. It is the covenant of a priesthood that lasts forever, because he was jealous for his God and made for the Israelites.’”
was the name of the Israelite man who was killed with the Midianite woman. He was the son of and a leader of one of the families in the tribe of . The Midianite woman who was killed was named . She was the daughter of , and Zur was head over the people of one of Midian’s families.
The Lord said to Moses, “Harass the Midianites and attack them, because they have harassed you with their tricks. They deceived you over what happened at , and over Cozbi, the daughter of the prince of Midian, one of their own. She was killed on the day of the plague, over what happened at Peor.”
After the plague, the Lord spoke to Moses and to Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest. “Count the whole congregation of the Israelites, family by family. Count everyone in Israel twenty years old or older who is able to go out to war.”
Moses and Eleazar the priest spoke to the people in the plains of Moab, by the at . “Count everyone twenty years old or older,” they said, “as the Lord commanded Moses and the Israelites.” This is the count of the Israelites who had come out of the land of .
First came , Israel’s firstborn. His descendants were counted family by family, and each family was named for one of his sons. They numbered 43,730.
Reuben’s family line had included two brothers, and . They were the same Dathan and Abiram who rebelled against Moses and Aaron as part of ’s group, when they rebelled against the Lord. The ground opened its mouth and swallowed them up together with Korah when that group died. At that time the fire burned up two hundred fifty men, and they became a warning sign. But the sons of Korah didn’t die.
The other tribes were counted the same way, family by family. Simeon’s families numbered 22,200, and ’s families numbered 40,500.
’s sons and had died in the land of . Judah’s families numbered 76,500.
’s families numbered 64,300, and ’s families numbered 60,500.
’s descendants were counted under his two sons, and . In Manasseh’s tribe, the son of had no sons, but he had daughters: , , , and . Manasseh’s families numbered 52,700.
Ephraim’s families numbered 32,500. These were Joseph’s descendants, family by family.
’s families numbered 45,600. ’s families were the families of the Shuhamites, and they numbered 64,400.
had a daughter named . Asher’s families numbered 53,400, and ’s families numbered 45,400.
In all, 601,730 Israelites were counted.
The Lord told Moses, “Divide the land among these people as their inheritance, their own land. Go by the number of names counted. Give more land to those who are many, and less to those who are few. Each one is to get its inheritance by how many of its people were counted.
“But divide the land by . They are to inherit it by the names of their ancestors’ tribes. The lot will decide how the inheritance is divided between the many and the few.”
The were counted by their families too: the families of , and . The Levite families also included the Libnites, Hebronites, Mahlites, Mushites and Korahites. Kohath was the father of .
Amram’s wife was , the daughter of , born to Levi in Egypt. She and Amram had Aaron and Moses and their sister . Aaron’s sons were and , Eleazar and . Nadab and Abihu died when they offered in the Lord’s presence.
The Levites numbered 23,000, counting every male a month old or older. They weren’t counted with the other Israelites, because they were given no inheritance among the Israelites.
Moses and Eleazar the priest made this count of the Israelites in the plains of Moab, by the Jordan at Jericho. Moses and Aaron the priest had counted the Israelites earlier, in the wilderness of . But not one man from that count was in this one.
This was because the Lord had said about those men, “They will surely die in the wilderness.” Every one of them was gone, except the son of and the son of .