Num. 25:11a| fornication| Num. 31:16;| 1|Cor. 10:8;| Rev. 2:14
| [ par. 1 2 ]
Num. 25:11 [1]| Unable to defeat Israel militarily, politically, or through the use of religion, Balak, under the evil counsel of Balaam (31:16; Rev. 2:14), induced Israel to fall into fornication and idolatry (vv. 1-3a). Fornication destroys the person of the God-created man, and idolatry insults the divine person of God. According to the record of the Bible, fornication and idolatry go together (Acts 15:29; 1|Cor. 10:7-8; Eph. 5:5).
Num. 25:11 [2]| God’s view of Israel, revealed in Balaam’s parables (chs. 23—24), is altogether positive; but according to their actual situation and condition in their adamic nature, the children of Israel were fallen and sinful, a people of fornication and idolatry. The situation is the same with the believers in Christ. On the one hand, in Christ we are a heavenly people (Eph. 2:6; Phil. 3:20a; Col. 3:1-3); on the other hand, in ourselves we are a fallen and sinful people, worthy to be judged by God (Rom. 7:18; Eph. 2:1-3).
Num. 25:2a| ate| Exo. 34:15-16;| Rev. 2:14
Num. 25:3a| Baal-peor| Deut. 4:3;| Psa. 106:28;| Hosea 9:10
Num. 25:4a| hang| cf. Deut. 21:22-23;| 2|Sam. 21:6;| Gal. 3:13
Num. 25:5a| slay| cf. Exo. 32:27
Num. 25:6a| Midianite| Num. 22:7;| 31:2
Num. 25:7a| Phinehas| Psa. 106:30
Num. 25:91| plague
| The plague was a purification of God’s people, a sifting that dealt with the mixture among them (cf. 11:4). Since the history of Israel is a complete type of the church (1|Cor. 9:24—10:11), the mixture among the children of Israel is a type of the mixture in the church (cf. Acts 4:32—5:11; 1|Tim. 1:20; 2|Tim. 2:17-21; 4:10, 14-15). God uses the failure and turmoil among His people to purify them from mixture. God also uses the frustrations suffered by His chosen and redeemed people as a means to humble them and test them in their journey with Him (Deut. 8:2). The punishment in this chapter was the last purification of the children of Israel before they entered into the good land.
Num. 25:9a| twenty-four| cf. 1|Cor. 10:8
Num. 25:11a| jealousy| Exo. 20:5;| cf. 2|Cor. 11:2
Num. 25:12a| covenant| cf. Mal. 2:5
Num. 25:13a| everlasting| Exo. 40:15;| cf. Psa. 106:31
Num. 25:17a| Midianites| Num. 31:2, 7-8