How Balaam Led Israel Into Sin
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the vengeance of God and mock the judges of the nation. Phinehas,
the son of Eleazar the high priest, rose up, and seizing a javelin “went
after the man of Israel into the tent” and slew them both. Thus the
plague was stayed. The priest who had executed the divine judgment
was honored before all Israel.
Phinehas Made an Atonement for Israel
Phinehas “hath turned My wrath away from the children of Israel,”
was the divine message. “He was zealous for his God, and made an
atonement for the children of Israel.”
The judgments visited upon Israel destroyed the survivors of that
vast company who, nearly forty years before, had incurred the sentence,
“They shall surely die in the wilderness.” During their encampment
on the plains of Jordan, “of them whom Moses and Aaron the priest
numbered, when they numbered the children of Israel in the wilderness
of Sinai, ... there was not left a man of them, save Caleb the son of
Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.”
Numbers 26:64, 65
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God had sent judgments upon Israel for yielding to the enticements
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of the Midianites, but the tempters were not to escape the wrath of
divine justice. “Avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites,” was
the command of God to Moses; “afterward shalt thou be gathered
unto thy people.” One thousand men were chosen from each of the
tribes and sent out under the leadership of Phinehas. “And they warred
against the Midianites, as the Lord commanded Moses... . And they
slew ... five kings of Midian: Balaam also the son of Beor they slew
with the sword.”
Numbers 31:1-8
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Such was the end of them that devised mischief against God’s
people. When men “gather themselves together against the soul of the
righteous,” the Lord “shall bring upon them their own iniquity, and
shall cut them off in their own wickedness.”
Psalm 94:21, 23
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Strong Men Conquered by Women
When through yielding to temptation the Hebrews transgressed
God’s law, their defense departed from them. When the people of
God are faithful to His commandments, “there is no enchantment
against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel.”
Numbers