The God of the Bible

📌 (First, please read Numbers 25 and 1 Corinthians 10:22)

Phinehas had just witnessed the heads of all the chiefs of the people of Israel (approximately 1,000 men) hanged (or impaled) because of their gross sexual and spiritual unfaithfulness with Moab. This was the LORD’s wrath against His people’s violation of Exodus 20:1,5.

Can YOU imagine the level of grief and emotion had YOU witnessed:

1. This flagrant disregard of your thrice-holy God
2. The horrific consequences of the 1,000 hangings that followed?

The Audacity of Zimri

NEXT: While Israel were coming to terms with what had just happened among them (while they were weeping and in repentance — Numbers 25:6), one petulant and abominable Israelite brought a Moabite woman in full view of the whole of Israel to have sex with her.

In other words, the very cause of the 1,000 executions was being REPEATED by one disgraceful young Israelite man named Zimri.

Phinehas (the grandson of Aaron the Priest) was SO ANGRY that he picked up a spear, followed Zimri and Cozbi into their adulterous boudoir, and ran the spear through their two bodies (Ancient Jewish thought is that this spear could have been run through their actual genitals). This act of spiritual violence (Numbers 25:11) was immediately commended by God (Who later told Moses to go and harass the Midianites, 25:17) as an act of godly human jealousy.

Radical Action vs. Petulant Whining and Whinging

LISTEN: This jealous zeal of Phinehas directly resulted in the plague of Yahweh’s wrath being stemmed.

In very specific terms, what this means is that the number of Israelites who died as a result of the situation at Peor was 24,000 instead of over 2 to 2.5 million people had Phinehas’ jealousy not converted into radical spiritual action.

I’ll say it again: if Phinehas had not acted among the people of God with the divine jealousy of God in light of such flagrant sin and rebellion, over 2 million people would have died.

A Warning to the Critics

Dear egalitarian, cessationist, ecumenical: think about these numbers before you start leaving us your petulant little comments on YouTube.

The LORD God Jealous rebuke you!

😭 WEEP WITH US 👇🏻

(This is Guatemala’s Fuego last week)