Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible · Numbers Chapter 25

Numbers 25:3. Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor— See the note on ch. Numbers 21:29. St. Jerome informs us, that Baal-peor was the same as the Greek and Roman Priapus; that this idol was like that of Priapus. That his worship consisted of gross obscenity and impurity there can be no question. See Hos 10:15 and Revelation 2:14. Those who are inclined to know more respecting this idol, (who, with his ceremonies, was of too gross a sort to engage our further attention,) may consult Calmet's Dissertation upon the subject. When it is said, Psa 106:28 that they joined themselves unto Baal-peor, and ate the offerings of the dead, it cannot be concluded from thence that Baal-peor was some dead prince idolized; for the dead, in this place, means no more than those dead idols, whom St. Paul calls, nothing in the world, 1Co 8:4 and who may be denominated dead, in opposition to the living God. See Vossius, de Idol. lib. 2: cap. 7.

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Numbers 25:4. Take all the heads of the people, &c.— The next verse very fully explains what is meant by this expression; namely, all those who had joined themselves unto Baal-peor: others, however, would interpret it, take unto thee, that is, unto thy assistance, all the heads of the people; that is, all the judges: but the word them in the next clause will, under this interpretation, be very harsh. It is probable, for the reason we shall suggest by and by, that a thousand of the Israelites underwent this punishment.

REFLECTIONS.—Balaam's counsel, before he left Moab, produced a worse effect than his intended curse could have done. The alluring arts of lascivious beauty are the strongest witchcraft of the devil. Observe,

1. The crying sins that Israel committed; whoredom and idolatry. The daughters of Moab, armed with more offensive weapons than Balak's mighty warriors, with eyes full of adultery, which cannot cease from sin, and tongues smoother than oil, yet sharper than drawn swords, beset them, and (shameful to tell!) prevail. Bound in these silken cords of pleasure's lure, they run to those sacrifices which they before abhorred; for the gratification of bestial appetites they deny their God, and sacrifice to the abomination of the Moabites. Blind to the happy land before them, even at Shittim, in full view of it, they prefer a present lust to all the promises of a covenant God. Dreadful and aggravated crime! Note; (1.) They who tempt others to sin, are the most guilty instruments of the devil. (2.) The lures of women are the most dangerous of temptations. (3.) Flight is the only conquest. (4.) If once the heart be ensnared, there are no lengths into which the miserable slave of lust and beauty may not be led. (5.) Nothing more strongly tends to effect the soul's final apostacy from God, than yielding to the solicitation of the flesh.

2. The judgment of God upon them. They will buy pleasure dear, who purchase it at the price of God's displeasure and eternal damnation. Execution is immediately done upon them. They are hung up before the Lord, and a plague consumes the people. Note; (1.) The fire of lust and the flames of hell are inseparable. (2.) The plagues of God will quickly turn the sweets of forbidden pleasure into the gall of asps, and the gnawings of the worm which never dies.

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Numbers 25:6. One of the children of Israel came and brought, &c.— One cannot conceive a higher degree of insolence and wickedness than this of Zimri; who thought, perhaps, that the eminence of his rank would secure him from punishment, even though he should carry his crime to the greatest height. Nothing could shew a stronger contempt of Moses's authority, and of the God who gave him that authority.

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Numbers 25:8. And he went, &c.— And he went after the man of Israel into the bed-room,—[apartment,—alcove] and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel. and the woman, in her bed-room. Vid. Nold. 62. 821.

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Numbers 25:9. Those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand— St. Paul mentions only twenty and three thousand, who, he says, fell in one day. 1 Corinthians 10:8. See Whitby on the place. But we observed before, that one thousand probably were put to death by the judges; and the words, in the plague, do not signify by pestilence only, but by any sudden stroke or destruction. The passage might be rendered, but in that destruction, or desolation, there fell twenty and four thousand. Thus their own iniquity brought that desolation on the Israelites, which Balaam and Balak, with all their enchantments, could never have effected; and as all that generation was to perish before their posterity could enter the promised land, (see on chap. 26: Numbers 25:1-2.) this terrible excision may be considered as the final stroke of the Divine vengeance on that perverse and devoted race.

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