Corruption of the Israelites

(Book of Numbers 25:1 - 25:18)
While the Israelites were camping at Shittim [Acacia Grove], some of the men started having sex with the local Moabite women, who then encouraged them to attend services to their gods.  These Israelites participated in the sacred feasts and bowed down to the Moabite gods.  Israel joined the cult of Baal of Peor!  This incurred the wrath of Jehovah against the Israelites.

Jehovah told Moses, "Round up the ring leaders and execute them before Jehovah’s altar in broad daylight so that the anger of Jehovah may no longer be directed toward the Israelites."

Moses then told the judges of Israel, "Kill any of your people who have dedicated themselves to Baal of Peor!”

At that moment, one of the Israelites was bringing a Midianite woman home to his family in full view of Moses and the whole congregation of Israel -- while they were weeping before the entrance to the Tabernacle!  When Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of the priest Aaron, saw this, he immediately rose and left the assembly.  He grabbed a spear and followed the man into his tent.  He thrust the spear through the man's body and into the stomach of the woman.  This put an end to the plague that was afflicting the Israelite people.  Even so, 24,000 people had already perished as a result of it.

Jehovah told Moses, "Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of the priest Aaron, has succeeded in turning my anger away from the Israelites.  Since he was as zealous to defend my honor as I am, I did not put an end to the Israelites in my jealous wrath.  Therefore I declare, 'I hereby make with him a personal covenant of peace by which I grant to him and his descendants the exclusive and everlasting right to the priesthood.  Because of his zeal to defend the honor of his god, he has made atonement for the people of Israel."

The name of Israelite man who was killed with the Midianite woman was Zimri son of Salu, leader of a Simeonite clan.  The name of the Midianite woman who was killed was Kozbi, the daughter of Zur, a tribal chief of an ancestral Midianite clan.

Jehovah told Moses, "Regard the Midianites as your enemies.  Kill them, because they acted towards you with treachery when they tricked you into worshiping Baal at Peor as well as in the matter of Kozbi, their countrywoman, the daughter of a Midianite leader, who was killed during the time of the plague (which resulted from what had happened at Peor).

Notes
1. One might have thought that the Israelite camp was isolated and that there would not have been any flow of people in and out of it to the neighboring land of Moab, pretty much enemy territory.  Such, apparently, was not the case.  Some Israelite men, probably like sailors on liberty, were straying in to Peor and, guess what, seeking out some available females.  This cannot be surprising.  For 40 years or so the Israelites had been wandering the desert where there was a girl behind every tree -- only there weren't many trees.  The Moabite gals must have looked a lot better than the weather-beaten women back at the Israelite camp.

2. Betraying Jehovah by worshiping another god, like Baal, is the ultimate sin as far as Jehovah is concerned, and he demands the death penalty for violators.  There is no trial or clemency for any who might express remorse or argue that they were coerced or compelled.  Freedom of worship is the greatest of evils.  Those who do not conform and worship Jehovah are to be purged from Israelite society.  There will be fewer, but better Israelites!
 
3. Aaron's grandson, Phinehas is the ultimate Jehovan hero, a man after Jehovah's heart, an unreasoning zealot and a cold-blooded killer.  He allows his victims, Zimri and Kozbi no quarter.  He simply murders them ruthlessly, as is typical, even today, of honor killings.  Of course, Phinehas is pretty gutsy, murdering someone of considerable stature, with a family that might take it upon themselves to avenge the murder.

4. This incident allows considerable insight into the nature of early Israelite society and the thought processes of the primitive, tribalistic mind.  A basic and universal primitive belief is that catastrophes, disasters, diseases, and so forth are not due to natural causes, but are punishments from the gods, divine retribution for sins, often involving lapses in worship.  Here, Jehovah is mad at the Israelites for two-timing him with Baal of Peor, so he unleashes a plague against his own people.

5. The plague will kill 24,000 Israelites.  (Some of 24,000 may have been executed by the judges.  Traditionally this number is 1000.)   It is not targeted at the offenders, who are being killed by the Israelites themselves, but at the general population.  Jehovah is ready once again to destroy the entire Israelite community for the actions of a few.  Instead of being placated by Moses, it is Phinehas' murderous actions that assuage his ire.

6. It is difficult to determine what is the nature of the plagues that Jehovah has several times inflicted upon the Israelites.   As a result of them, people, randomly it seems, die in great numbers and within a very short period of time.  Here, the impression is given that the plague lasts but a single day.  Diseases, though, must incubate and people perish from them after a period of time.  These plagues always miraculously end immediately after Jehovah is placated.  It is hard to see these plagues are anything but elements of fable, conveying the message, "Defy Jehovah and your people will die!"

7. As a result of Phinehas' "heroic" actions, Jehovah rewards his descendants by giving them the exclusive right to be his priests.  But Jehovah has done this several times before, why again?  Is it now necessary to find a reason for making his hereditary priesthood a perk of the Aaronite clan?

8. Phinehas' victims are important people, the son and the daughter of tribal leaders.  One might have thought that a union such as that of Zimri and Kozbi might have cemented peace and encouraged cooperation between the Israelites and the Midianites.  But this is contrary to the xenophobic Israelite mindset and an anathema to Jehovah, the original racial bigot.

9. It is unstated why Zimri was taking the Midianite Kozbi into his tent.  To have sex with her seems to be the usually accepted reason.  Some even conclude that Zimri and Kozbi were killed in the “act.”  But Phinehas followed them into the tent.  Would he have waited until they were “doing it” before killing them?  Their relationship is presented as immoral, but was it only because they were of different ethnicities?  Maybe Zimri wanted to marry Kozbi and was introducing her to his family.  She was, after all, his equal, the daughter of a chief, and not likely to be a whore, as she is often assumed to be.  If they were to have a sexual tryst, why would he, the son of a tribal chief, do it in the family tent, apparently in the presence of his family and not seek a more suitable place in Peor or outdoors someplace.

10. Jehovah pronounces the Midianites as enemies of Israel.  He does not include the Moabites, although we may conclude that the Midianites are a part of the Moabites or connected with them.  Is it forgotten that Moses, during his exile from Egypt, lived with the Midianites, that his wife Sephora is a Midianite, that his father-in-law Jethro counseled him during the Exodus?  One might theorize that Jehovah was originally a Midianite god, but that they eventually shunned or rejected him.  And so he became the god of the Israelites, still harboring hard feelings toward his former, faithless worshipers who now prefer Baal of Peor,  (Elsewhere he is called Chemosh, Baal being the generic term for a god or idol.)  The rites of Chemosh were notoriously licentious, which would furnish another reason for Jehovah’s disapproval.  If Chemosh, like Jehovah, was an actual entity, an extraterrestrial being, then Jehovah's jealousy and the competitive relationship he had with him (and other "deities”) makes great sense.