The Zeal of Phinehas

While the congregation weeps before the Tent of Meeting, an Israelite man brazenly brings in a Midianite woman. Phinehas rises from the assembly, kills them both, and the plague is stopped, though twenty-four thousand have died.

J⁶ust then an Israelite man brought to his family a Midianite woman in the sight of Moses and the whole congregation of Israel while they were weeping at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. ⁷On seeing this, Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, got up from the assembly, took a spear in his hand, ⁸followed the Israelite into the tent, and drove the spear through both of them— through the Israelite and on through the belly of the woman. ⁹So the plague against the Israelites was halted, but those who died in the plague numbered 24,000.

The LORD interprets Phinehas's act as zeal for His sake that turns away divine wrath from Israel. He gives Phinehas a covenant of peace and a permanent priesthood for him and his descendants.

¹⁰Then the LORD said to Moses, ¹¹“Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned My wrath away from the Israelites; for he was zealous for My sake among them, so that I did not consume the Israelites in My zeal. ¹²Declare, therefore, that I am granting him My covenant of peace. ¹³It will be a covenant of permanent priesthood for him and his descendants, because he was zealous for his God and made atonement for the Israelites.”

The chapter records the names of the slain pair: Zimri, a Simeonite leader, and Cozbi, daughter of a Midianite chief.

¹⁴The name of the Israelite who was slain with the Midianite woman was Zimri son of Salu, the leader of a Simeonite family. ¹⁵And the name of the slain Midianite woman was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur, a tribal chief of a Midianite family.

The LORD tells Moses to attack the Midianites because they deceived Israel in the matter of Peor and through Cozbi. The seduction that brought the plague now becomes grounds for open hostility.

¹⁶And the LORD said to Moses, ¹⁷“Attack the Midianites and strike them dead. ¹⁸For they assailed you deceitfully when they seduced you in the matter of Peor and their sister Cozbi, the daughter of the Midianite leader, the woman who was killed on the day the plague came because of Peor.”