Numbers 25:1

Israel’s Harlotry in Moab

1 Now Israel remained in ^aAcacia Grove, and the ^bpeople began to commit harlotry with the women of Moab.

2 ^aThey invited the people to ^bthe sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and ^cbowed down to their gods.

3 So Israel was joined to Baal of Peor, and ^athe anger of the Lord was aroused against Israel.

4 Then the Lord said to Moses, ^a“Take all the leaders of the people and hang the offenders before the Lord, out in the sun, ^bthat the fierce anger of the Lord may turn away from Israel.”

5 So Moses said to ^athe judges of Israel, ^b“Every one of you kill his men who were joined to Baal of Peor.”

6 And indeed, one of the children of Israel came and presented to his brethren a Midianite woman in the sight of Moses and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, ^awho were weeping at the door of the tabernacle of meeting.

7 Now ^awhen Phinehas ^bthe son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose from among the congregation and took a javelin in his hand;

8 and he went after the man of Israel into the tent and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her body. So ^athe plague was ^bstopped among the children of Israel.

Commentaries:

Forerunner Commentary
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What Does Numbers 25:1 Mean?

Israel, always easily seduced, fell into idolatry through fornication, as physical fornication produced spiritual fornication. Notably, the verse says "the people," not merely the men, pointing to temple prostitution in which both men and women participated. This same problem haunts the church in Revelation, surfacing in the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which God hates; in Pergamos, where some held "the doctrine of Balaam"; and in Thyatira, where "that woman Jezebel" seduced His servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. In Numbers 25, sex was the inducement to idolatry; today, it is constantly used to induce people to buy, go into debt, and become slaves of the lender, so one must be very careful.

Numbers 25:1-5

Israel fell into idolatry through fornication. The physical fornication produced spiritual fornication, which is idolatry.

In Revelation 2:14, within the comments to the seven churches, we find this problem still haunting the church. It actually surfaces in Revelation 2:6, where it speaks of the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which God hates, but it is more clearly stated in verse 14 to the church in Pergamos.

But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality.

It is a problem in two of the first three churches, and it surfaces again in verse 20, this time in Thyatira.

Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.

Today, we are bombarded on every side with sex. It is something that, even if one is blind, cannot be escaped because we hear about it. It is presented to us as an inducement to do something.

In Numbers 25, the inducement is to idolatry. Today, the inducement is to get us to buy, to get us in debt, to get us to be slaves of the lender. So sex is thrown at us in things in which it should not even appear—selling pipe wrenches or automobiles. It is used as an inducement, and we have to be very careful because it is so incessantly shoved in our faces.

John W. Ritenbaugh
Passover and I Corinthians 10

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