Chapter 11: God’s Eternal Character

Page 34

Moses and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping at the door of the tabernacle of meeting [because of God’s plague on the people]. Now when Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of

Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose from among the congregation and took a javelin in his hand; 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 the plague was stopped among the children of

Israel. And those who died in the plague were twenty-four thousand.” Numbers 25:6-9

“Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ‘Phinehas the son

of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned back My wrath from the children of Israel, because he was zealous with My zeal among them, so that I did not consume the children of Israel in My zeal.’ ” Numbers 25:10-11

Here again, Paul Hill gets his Bible facts wrong. First of all, God had already commanded Moses that the offenders be killed. Moses had issued the command to kill the offenders to the judges of Israel. Both of these

occurred before Phinehas ever picked up his javelin. Second, the plague had killed 24,000 people. This was serious business and no doubt passions were high. That is why the people were “weeping.” Then there is the issue of Phinehas himself who was the grandson of Aaron the high priest. He was no

doubt a priest himself or at least was in line to be one. Also, as grandson of Aaron, he was trained in God’s laws and His ways.

Phinehas took his righteous action because God already commanded it. He did not act without that godly authority. He certainly did not preplan

the murder of someone solely because they were wicked. It was “My zeal.”

Paul Hill supposes that he will get a “great reward” because like

Phinehas God will be pleased with his righteous zeal. However, Phinehas’ zeal was inline with God’s command to kill those specific offenders. God had already given the order. Phinehas was obeying that order. Yet, Paul Hill does not inform us that he received such a command from God against