Act of Zealotry in killing two caught in adultery, rewarded

“And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, while he was zealous for my sake among them, that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy.

“Wherefore say, Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace: And he shall have it, and his seed after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was zealous for his God, and made an atonement for the children of Israel.

“Now the name of the Israelite that was slain, even that was slain with the Midianitish woman, was Zimri, the son of Salu, a prince of a chief house among the Simeonites.   And the name of the Midianitish woman that was slain was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur; he was head over a people, and of a chief house in Midian.

“And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Vex the Midianites, and smite them: For they vex you with their wiles, wherewith they have beguiled you in the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of a prince of Midian, their sister, which was slain in the day of the plague for Peor’s sake. (Numbers 25:18).

RECAP:

1.) GOD SPEAKS 2.) GOD TURNS HIS WRATH AWAY FROM THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL 3.) BECAUSE HE WAS ZEALOUS FOR HIS GOD 4.) THEY HAD BEEN BEGUILED BY THE DAUGHTERS OF PEOR 5.) THE PLAGUE CAME 6.)  BROUGHT ON BY ADULTERY, THE SIN OF WALKING AWAY FROM GOD AND GOING TO THE IDOLS OF PEOR

THE REWARD TO ALL WHO COME IN THE NAME OF THE LORD

I give unto him my covenant of peace: And he shall have it, and his seed after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was zealous for his God, and made an atonement for the children of Israel.

“There we sat down and cried—by the rivers of Babylon—as we remembered Zion.   On the willows there we hung our harps,   for it was there that our captors asked us for songs and our torturers demanded joy from us, “Sing us one of the songs about Zion!”  How are we to sing the song of the LORD on foreign soil?  If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand cease to function.   May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I don’t remember you, if I don’t consider Jerusalem to be more important than my highest joy.   Remember the day of Jerusalem’s fall, LORD, because of the Edomites, who kept saying, “Tear it down! Tear it right down to its foundations!”   Daughter of Babylon! You devastator! How blessed will be the one who pays you back for what you have done to us. How blessed will be the one who seizes your young children and pulverizes them against the cliff! (Psalms 137:1-9)