The Courage of Phinehas (Num. 25:6-15)

2/7/2009 5:53 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time                                        Focus:  The courage of Phinehas

Bible Reading & Meditation                        Reference:  Numbers 25:6-15

            Message of the verses:  “6 ¶ Then behold, one of the sons of Israel came and brought to his relatives a Midianite woman, in the sight of Moses and in the sight of all the congregation of the sons of Israel, while they were weeping at the doorway of the tent of meeting.  7  When Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he arose from the midst of the congregation and took a spear in his hand,  8  and he went after the man of Israel into the tent and pierced both of them through, the man of Israel and the woman, through the body. So the plague on the sons of Israel was checked.  9 Those who died by the plague were 24,000.  10  Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 11  "Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned away My wrath from the sons of Israel in that he was jealous with My jealousy among them, so that I did not destroy the sons of Israel in My jealousy.  12  "Therefore say, ‘Behold, I give him My covenant of peace; 13  and it shall be for him and his descendants after him, a covenant of a perpetual priesthood, because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the sons of Israel.’"  14 Now the name of the slain man of Israel who was slain with the Midianite woman, was Zimri the son of Salu, a leader of a father’s household among the Simeonites.  15 The name of the Midianite woman who was slain was Cozbi the daughter of Zur, who was head of the people of a father’s household in Midian.”

            Phinehas was Aaron’s grandson and when he saw Zimri bring Cozbi home to his tent to make her is wife, for she was a Midianite woman, Phinehas showed his zeal for the Lord and went into the tent and killed both Zimri and Cozbi, who were probably engaging in sexual activity, for he killed them both at the same time with his sword.  Both of them were from prominent families of their respective nations and perhaps they thought that would make it alright to do the things they were doing, but God is no respecter of people and so that made no difference to Him and because of Phinehas’ deed God rewarded him as seen in verses 12-13.  His deed was similar to Abraham’s deed when he was to offer up his son as found in Genesis 22, for it is written of Abraham in the book of James that he showed his faith by his deeds and so it says the same of Phinehas in Psalm 106:28-31, “28  They joined themselves also to Baal-peor, And ate sacrifices offered to the dead.  29 Thus they provoked Him to anger with their deeds, And the plague broke out among them.  30 Then Phinehas stood up and interposed, And so the plague was stayed.  31 And it was reckoned to him for righteousness, To all generations forever.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I would like to have the same zeal for the Lord that Phinehas had and also the same courage that he had as He demonstrated his zeal for the Lord through is work for the Lord.

My Steps of Faith for the Lord:

1. To be more diligent in my work of memorizing the Scripture.
2. Tocontinue to seek to know my Lord better through the reading and memorizing of His Word and the listening to his servants messages and the reading of their books.
3. To continue to strive to lean contentment.
4. I do not want to be overwhelmed by all of the new things that I have learned in the “Miracle of Life Change” series, but allow the Lord to convict me and show me what it is that He wants me to follow up on, and then follow up on it.

2/7/2009 6:22 AM