3 and Israel is joined to Baal-Peor, and the anger of Jehovah burneth against Israel.
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,
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.
And Moses saith unto the judges of Israel, `Slay ye each his men who are joined to Baal-Peor.'
`Your eyes are seeing that which Jehovah hath done in Baal-Peor, for every man who hath gone after Baal-Peor, Jehovah thy God hath destroyed him from thy midst; and ye who are cleaving to Jehovah your God, `are' alive, all of you, to-day.
And the anger of Jehovah doth burn against Israel, and He saith, `Because that this nation have transgressed My covenant which I commanded their fathers, and have not hearkened to My voice --
Who knoweth the power of Thine anger? And according to Thy fear -- Thy wrath?
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.