2 and they call for the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people eat, and bow themselves to their gods,
`no,' but that the things that the nations sacrifice -- they sacrifice to demons and not to God; and I do not wish you to come into the fellowship of the demons.
Thou dost not bow thyself to them, nor serve them: for I, Jehovah thy God, `am' a zealous God, charging iniquity of fathers on sons, on the third `generation', and on the fourth, of those hating Me,
`Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitant of the land, and they have gone a-whoring after their gods, and have sacrificed to their gods, and `one' hath called to thee, and thou hast eaten of his sacrifice, and thou hast taken of their daughters to thy sons, and their daughters have gone a-whoring after their gods, and have caused thy sons to go a-whoring after their gods;
Is the iniquity of Peor little to us, from which we have not been cleansed till this day -- and the plague is in the company of Jehovah,
And king Solomon hath loved many strange women, and the daughter of Pharaoh, females of Moab, Ammon, Edom, Zidon, `and' of the Hittites, of the nations of which Jehovah said unto the sons of Israel, `Ye do not go in to them, and they do not go in to you; surely they turn aside your heart after their gods;' to them hath Solomon cleaved for love. And he hath women, princesses, seven hundred, and concubines three hundred; and his wives turn aside his heart. And it cometh to pass, at the time of the old age of Solomon, his wives have turned aside his heart after other gods, and his heart hath not been perfect with Jehovah his God, like the heart of David his father. And Solomon goeth after Ashtoreth god`dess' of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites; and Solomon doth the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah, and hath not been fully after Jehovah, like David his father. Then doth Solomon build a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, in the hill that `is' on the front of Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the sons of Ammon; and so he hath done for all his strange women, who are perfuming and sacrificing to their gods.
As grapes in a wilderness I found Israel, As the first-fruit in a fig-tree, at its beginning, I have seen your fathers, They -- they have gone in `to' Baal-Peor, And are separated to a shameful thing, And are become abominable like their love.
`Thou dost not bow thyself to their gods, nor serve them, nor do according to their doings, but dost utterly devote them, and thoroughly break their standing pillars.
so as not to go in among these nations, these who are left with you; and of the name of their gods ye do not make mention, nor do ye swear, nor do ye serve them, nor do ye bow yourselves to them;
in your transgressing the covenant of Jehovah your God which He commanded you, and ye have gone and served other gods, and bowed yourselves to them, then hath the anger of Jehovah burned against you, and ye have perished hastily from off the good land which He hath given to you.'
and if any one of the unbelieving do call you, and ye wish to go, all that is set before you eat, nothing inquiring, because of the conscience; and if any one may say to you, `This is a thing sacrificed to an idol,' -- do not eat, because of that one who shewed `it', and of the conscience, for the Lord's `is' the earth and its fulness:
and what agreement to the sanctuary of God with idols? for ye are a sanctuary of the living God, according as God said -- `I will dwell in them, and will walk among `them', and I will be their God, and they shall be My people, wherefore, come ye forth out of the midst of them, and be separated, saith the Lord, and an unclean thing do not touch, and I -- I will receive you,
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Numbers 25
Commentary on Numbers 25 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 25
Israel, having escaped the curse of Balaam, here sustains a great deal of damage and reproach by the counsel of Balaam, who, it seems, before he left Balak, put him into a more effectual way than that which Balak thought of to separate between the Israelites and their God. "The Lord will not be prevailed with by Balaam's charms to ruin them; try if they will not be prevailed with by the charms of the daughters of Moab to ruin themselves.' None are more fatally bewitched than those that are bewitched by their own lusts. Here is,
Num 25:1-5
Here is,
Num 25:6-15
Here is a remarkable contest between wickedness and righteousness, which shall be most bold and resolute; and righteousness carries the day, as no doubt it will at last.
Num 25:16-18
God had punished the Israelites for their sin with a plague; as a Father he corrected his own children with a rod. But we read not that any of the Midianites died of the plague; God took another course with them, and punished them with the sword of an enemy, not with the rod of a father.