The people fall into fornication and idolatry; for which twenty-four thousand are slain. The zeal of Phinees.
By carnal fornication manie are drawen to spiritual. For which twentie foure thousand are slaine. 10. Phinees his Zele in stabbing to death two fornicators, is commended by God, and rewarded.
1And Israel at that time abode in Settim, and the people committed fornication with the daughters of Moab,Israele era allora in Settim, e prevaricò il popolo colle figlie di Moab,AND Israel at that time abode in Settim, and the people fornicated with the daughters of Moab,Morabatur autem eo tempore Israël in Settim, et fornicatus est populus cum filiabus Moab, 2Who called them to their sacrifices. And they ate of them, and adored their gods.Le quali gl'invitarono a' loro sacrifizii, e quelli mangiarono, e adorarono gli dei di quelle.who called them to their sacrifices. And they did eate and adore their goddes.quæ vocaverunt eos ad sacrificia sua. At ille comederunt et adoraverunt deos earum. 3And Israel was initiated to Beelphegor: upon which the Lord being angry,E Israele si consacrò a Beelphegor: e il Signore sdegnatoAnd Israel was professed to Beelphegor, and our Lord being angtie,Initiatusque est Israël Beelphegor: et iratus Dominus, 4Said to Moses: Take all the princes of the people, and hang them up on gibbets against the sun: that my fury may be turned away from Israel.Disse a Mosè: Prendi teco tutti i principi del popolo, e attacca coloro alle forche in pieno giorno, affinché il mio furore si ritiri indietro da Israele.said to Moyses: Take al the princes of the people, and hang them vp against the sunne on gibbettes: that my furie may be auerted from Israel.ait ad Moysen: Tolle cunctos principes populi, et suspende eos contra solem in patibulis, ut avertatur furor meus ab Israël. 5And Moses said to the judges of Israel: Let every man kill his neighbours, that have been initiated to Beelphegor.E Mosè disse a' giudici d'Israele: Uccida ciascuno i suoi vicini, che si sono consacrati a Beelphegor.And Moyses said to the Iudges of Israel: Kil euerie man his neighbours, that are professed to Beelphegor.Dixitque Moyses ad judices Israël: Occidat unusquisque proximos suos, qui initiati sunt Beelphegor. 6And behold one of the children of Israel went in before his brethren to a harlot of Madian, in the sight of Moses and of all the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle.Quand'ecco uno dei figliuoli d'Israele, veggendolo i suoi fratelli, entrò dov'era una meretrice di Madian sugli occhi di Mosè, e di tutto il popolo, che piangevano dinanzi alla porta del tabernacolo.And behold one of the children of Israel entred in before the face of his brethren to a whore a Madianite in the sight of Moyses, and of al the multitude of the children of Israel, who wept before the doores of the tabernacle.Et ecce unus de filiis Israël intravit coram fratribus suis ad scortum Madianitidem, vidente Moyse, et omni turba filiorum Israël, qui flebant ante fores tabernaculi.
7And when Phinees the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest saw it, he rose up from the midst of the multitude, and taking a dagger,La qual cosa avendo veduta Phinees figliuolo di Eleazaro figliuolo di Aronne sommo sacerdote, si alzò di mezzo al popolo, e preso un pugnale,Which thing when Phinees had sene the sonne of Eleazar the sonne of Aaron the priest, he arose out of the middes of the multitude, and catching a dagger,Quod cum vidisset Phinees filius Eleazari filii Aaron sacerdotis, surrexit de medio multitudinis, et arrepto pugione, 8Went in after the Israelite into the brothel house, and thrust both of them through together, to wit, the man and the woman in the genital parts. And the scourge ceased from the children of Israel.Andò dietro a quell'Israelita nel postribolo, e li trafisse ambedue, l'uomo e la donna, nelle parti, che vergogna cela: e il flagello, che infieriva sopra i figliuoli d'Israele, cessò:went in after the man of Israel into the brothel house, and thrust them through both together, to witte, the man and the woman in the genitalles. And the plague ceased from the children of Israel,ingressus est post virum Israëlitem in lupanar, et perfodit ambos simul, virum scilicet et mulierem in locis genitalibus. Cessavitque plaga a filiis Israël: 9And there were slain four and twenty thousand men.E vi rimaser morti ventiquattro mila uomini.and there were slaine fowre and twentie thowsand men.et occisi sunt viginti quatuor millia hominum. 10And the Lord said to Moses:E il Signore disse a Mosè:And our Lord said to Moyses:Dixitque Dominus ad Moysen: 11Phinees the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned away my wrath from the children of Israel: because he was moved with my zeal against them, that I myself might not destroy the children of Israel in my zeal.Phinees figliuolo di Eleazaro figliuolo di Aronne sommo sacerdote ha rimossa l'ira mia da' figliuoli d'Israele; perché egli si è investito del mio zelo contro di essi, affinché io stesso col zelo mio non isterminassi i figliuoli d'Israele:Phinees the sonne of Eleazar the sonne of Aaron the priest hath auerted my wrath from the children of Israel: because he was moued with my zele against them, that my self might not destroy the children of Israel in mine owne zele.Phinees filius Eleazari filii Aaron sacerdotis avertit iram meam a filiis Israël: quia zelo meo commotus est contra eos, ut non ipse delerem filios Israël in zelo meo. 12Therefore say to him: behold I give him the peace of my covenant,Per questo tu gli dirai, che io già gli do la pace di mia alleanza:Therfore speake to him: Behold I geue him the peace of my couenant,Idcirco loquere ad eum: Ecce do ei pacem fœderis mei, 13And the covenant of the priesthood for ever shall be both to him and his seed, because he hath been zealous for his God, and hath made atonement for the wickedness of the children of Israel.E per lui, e per la sua discendenza eterno sarà il patto del sacerdozio, perché ha avuto zelo pel Dio suo, ed ha espiata la scelleraggine de' figliuoli d'Israele.and there shal be as wel to him as to his seede the couenant of priesthood for euer, because he hath bene zelous for his God, and hath expiated the wicked fact of the children of Israel.et erit tam ipsi quam semini ejus pactum sacerdotii sempiternum: quia zelatus est pro Deo suo, et expiavit scelus filiorum Israël.
14And the name of the Israelite, that was slain with the woman of Madian, was Zambri the son of Salu, a prince of the kindred and tribe of Simeon.L'uomo Israelita che fu ucciso colla donna di Madian, avea nome Zambri figliuolo di Salu, capo di una famiglia della tribù di Simeon.And the name of the man of Israel, that was slaine with the woman of Madian, was Zambri the sonne of Salu, a prince of the kinred and tribe of Simeon.Erat autem nomen viri Israëlitæ, qui occisus est cum Madianitide, Zambri filius Salu, dux de cognatione et tribu Simeonis. 15And the Madianite woman, that was slain with him, was called Cozbi the daughter of Sur, a most noble prince among the Madianites.Quanto poi alla donna di Madian, che fu uccisa insieme, ella chiamavasi Cozbi figliuola di Sur principe nobilissimo de' Madianiti.Moreouer the Madianesse, that was slaine with him, was called Cozbi the daughter of Sur a most noble prince of the Madianites.Porro mulier Madianitis, quæ pariter interfecta est, vocabatur Cozbi filia Sur principis nobilissimi Madianitarum. 16And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:E il Signore parlò a Mosè, e disse:And our Lord spake to Moyses, saying:Locutusque est Dominus ad Moysen, dicens: 17Let the Madianites find you their enemies, and slay you them:Fate che i Madianiti vi provino nemici, e assaliteli,Let the Madianites finde you their enemies, and strike you them:Hostes vos sentiant Madianitæ, et percutite eos: 18Because they also have acted like enemies against you, and have guilefully deceived you by the idol Phogor, and Cozbi their sister, a daughter of a prince of Madian, who was slain in the day of the plague for the sacrilege of Phogor.Perocché eglino ancora hanno trattato voi da nimici, e vi hanno ingannati colle loro fraudi per mezzo dell'idolo Phogor, e di Cozbi figliuola del principe di Madian loro sorella, che fu uccisa il dì del flagello a causa del sacrilegio di Phogor.Because they also haue done like enemies against you, and haue guilfully deceiued you by the Idol Phogor, and Cozbi the daughter of the duke of Madian their sister, who was strooken in the day of the plague for the sacrilege of Phogor.quia et ipsi hostiliter egerunt contra vos, et decepere insidiis per idolum Phogor, et Cozbi filiam ducis Madian sororem suam, quæ percussa est in die plagæ pro sacrilegio Phogor.
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Year of the World 2553, Year before Christ 1451.
Calmet
Settim, which had Abel, "mourning," prefixed to it, (chap. 33:49,) on account of the slaughter of 24,000 of the Israelites, ver. 6, 9. It was situated in the plains of Moab, near the Jordan, and was the last station of the Hebrews. (Calmet)
Menochius
In this neighbourhood all the following transactions occurred, which are recorded, till the end of the Pentateuch. (Menochius)
Calmet
Balaam, being convinced that the Hebrews would be invincible, as long as they continued faithful to God, advised the nations, who had sent to consult him, to let their daughters converse freely with the Israelites, but not to yield to their impure desires, unless they consented to offer sacrifice to their idols. (Calmet)
Haydock
Thus they first captivated their hearts, and then subverted their understanding: For some rejecting a good conscience, have made shipwreck concerning the faith, 1 Timothy 1:19. (Haydock)
Worthington
By the same method many have been drawn into heresy. (Worthington)
Haydock
The counsels of an able but wicked man, are often followed by the most dreadful effects. That these women were sent by the Moabites, and also by the Madianites, (ver. 6, 17,) instigated by the perverse counsels of Balaam, (Calmet) appears not only from the event being recorded in this place, but also by the express declaration of Moses, chap. 31:7, 8, and of the Apocalypse, chap. 2:14. (Salien, Mic. 6:5.) (Haydock)
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Challoner
Initiated to Beelphegor. That is, they took to the worship of Beelphegor, an obscene idol of the Moabites, and were consecrated as it were to him. (Challoner)
Calmet
Hebrew, "Israel was attached, or married to Beelphegor," the sun, Adonis or Osiris, whom the psalmist (cv. 28,) styles, the dead, because the people were accustomed to bewail the death of Adonis every year, with great solemnity. (Calmet)
Menochius
St. Jerome supposes this god "of opening, or nakedness," Beelphegor, to be the obscene Priapus. (Menochius)
Haydock
The people fell by degrees into the depth of abomination. They first defiled their bodies with women, then their souls were contaminated by the sacrifices of their idols, till they began really to adore them, and even to consecrate themselves to their service, meaning to ratify their base apostacy from the true God. (Haydock)
Salien
Yet it is probable all those who were cut off by pestilence, were not thus initiated: but only those who were the princes or ringleaders, and who are sentenced to be gibbeted. (Salien)
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Onkelos
People. Assemble the judges, and by their sentence, hang them who have been most guilty. (Onkelos)
Haydock
If any of the judges, or princes themselves, have gone astray, let them not be spared. (Haydock)
Calmet
The Jews assert, that the malefactor was always killed before his body was hung on a gibbet; and that crucifixion was not known among them. But the contrary is asserted by many. It is not clear whether these criminals were hung by the neck, or crucified, after they had been first stoned, as guilty of idolatry, or whether they were fastened to the gibbet alive, for greater torment and disgrace. (Calmet)
Menochius
Sun; publicly. See 2 Kings 12:11. (Menochius)
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Haydock
Judges, who had not been guilty. Septuagint, "to the tribes." The judges, and even private individuals, were thus authorized to exterminate the guilty, as the Levites had been before, Exodus 32:27. While punishment was inflicted but slowly, and some perhaps of the more noble were spared, so that Zambri, even became more insolent. God began to supply the defect of his ministers, by sending the plague among the people, as Onkelos insinuates. (Haydock)
25:6
Menochius
One, Zambri, ver. 14. (Menochius)
Haydock
Went in. Hebrew, "brought unto his brethren, or came....with a woman of Madian." Septuagint, "introduced one of his brethren to a Madianite woman." But the Samaritan copy agrees with the Vulgate; and the ancient edition of the Septuagint must have done so too, since the Fathers explain it in the same sense. (Philo, de vita Mos.; Origen; etc.) Josephus ([Antiquities?] 4:6,) pretends, that Zambri had married the most noble Cozbi, and that Moses finding fault with such infractions of his laws, this prince of the house of Simeon, arraigned him publicly of cruel tyranny and imposture in thus imposing his own laws upon a free people, and that for his part, he would retain his wife and ingratiate himself with many gods, that he might discover the truth. Phinees heard this with just indignation, and following him to his tent, transfixed him with Cozbi, his wife, while those young men who were desirous of imitating his zeal, treated similar offenders in like manner. "God destroyed the rest by the plague, so that not less than 14,000 perished," as Epiphanius translates, omitting dis, or ten thousand, though many copies have only 23,000, which agrees with the number specified by St. Paul, if indeed he allude to this transaction, 1 Corinthians 10:7. Philo observes, that Phinees slew the Israelite who had sacrificed to the idols, and was in the company of the harlot; and , "that 24,000 perished in one day." (Haydock)
Du Hamel
Perhaps 1000 of the heads might be gibbeted, and 23,000 of the common people slain. (Du Hamel)
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Haydock
Dagger. Josephus translates romach, by romphaia, "a sword." Septuagint by seiromasten, a long and sharp iron rod, like a spit, such as people use to try if any smuggled goods be concealed. (Haydock)
Calmet
It denotes any sort of offensive weapon. (Calmet)
Menochius
The Vulgate sometimes translates, a lance or spear. (Menochius)
25:8
Haydock
Parts. Ovid says, Lethifer ille locus, "That place where wounds so often deadly prove." Hebrew kubbak, means a brothel-house just before, a bed, vault, cistern, belly, etc. Septuagint translate, "through her womb." The plague, inflicted by God, instantly ceased, to shew the divine approbation of this exemplary punishment, and all were so much filled with terror and repentance, that it was no longer necessary for the judges to sentence any more to death. An effectual stop was also put to the spreading disorder of both carnal and spiritual fornication. (Haydock)
25:9
Haydock
Slain. Hebrew adds, "in the plague," or pestilence sent by God, (Psalm 105:29,) and in the punishments inflicted by the judges, "twenty and four thousand." (Haydock)
Haydock
The tribe of Simeon, lying to the south, had given way to greater disorders with the Madianites; (Calmet) so that they were found to have 37,100 fewer than when they were numbered before, chap. 2:13. See chap. 26:14. (Haydock)
25:12
Peace. He has the honour of restoring the people to peace and to my favour, so that my covenant shall still subsist with them. He shall surely be his father's successor in the high priesthood, and shall not be prevented by death.
25:13
Calmet
Seed. A short interruption of 150 years (from Heli to Abiathar, of the race of Ithamar) may be accounted trifling in a duration of so many ages, during which the posterity of Phinees enjoyed this dignity. Phinees succeeded Eleazar, and had for his successors, Abiezer, Bocci, and Elsi. (Calmet)
Haydock
Some add Zararias, Meraioth, and Amarias, upon whose death, 1157 years before Christ, Heli got possession, by some means, and was followed by Achitob, Achielech, and Abiathar, of the same family, till David joined Sadoc with the latter, and he was acknowledged sole pontiff on the rebellion of Abiathar, B.C. 1014. See Lenglet's tables. (Haydock)
Haydock
We have no proof that the succeeding high priests were of a different family, (Calmet) till our Saviour's time, who re-united in his person the right both to the priesthood and to the kingdom of Israel for ever. See St. Augustine, City of God 17:6. (Haydock)
Tirinus
God did not promise that no interruption should take place. He only granted a perpetual right to the family of Phinees, (Cajetan) which they might forfeit by their misconduct. (Tirinus)
Haydock
He was certainly always disposed to comply with his promise, and really granted the effects of it to the posterity of Phinees, at least for almost 1000 years, even if we grant that the Machabees were not his lineal descendants, of which there is no positive proof either way. Thus, for ever, often denotes a long duration. Though Phinees was entitled already to the high priesthood, in quality of the eldest son of Eleazar, he had before no assurance of surviving him, nor of having a succession of children who might be capable of the high office, and free from every blemish; (Calmet) so that the promise made to him, was not only a ratification of his title, but a new and real benefit. (Haydock)
Calmet
Zealous. The Jews allow any person to kill one who publicly, or in the presence of ten people, commits idolatry, sacrilege, fornication with a strange woman, and also a priest who, being unclean, approaches to the altar. This they call the judgment of zeal. (Selden, Jur. 4:4.; Grotius, 2:20.) This practice they authorize by the example of Phinees, Mathathias, etc. (1 Machabees 2:24.) Such liberty was carried to a great excess by the Zealots, in the last siege of Jerusalem; and it would be very criminal, where such a law is not in force. (Calmet)
Worthington
Phinees was, however, either one of the judges, and thus gave an example of just severity to his fellow magistrates, or he was inspired by God to resent the public injury done to his name. It is never lawful to kill by private authority. (Roman Catechism p. 3., chap. 6:5.; St. Thomas Aquinas, 2:2. q. 60. 6.) (Worthington)
Haydock
Those who act under the influence of inspiration, must be very careful not to give in to any delusion; and the examples of holy persons who are mentioned, with applause, in Scripture, for having been the instruments of God's vengeance, will not authorize us to do the like, unless we can produce the like testimony. (Haydock)
Calmet
Atonement, by averting the scourge of God, (ver. 8, 11,) and by putting a stop to the corruption of the people, which might otherwise have greatly increased, if Zambri had escaped with impunity. (Calmet)
25:14
Haydock
Kindred. Hebrew, "of a chief house among the Simeonites," as Sur was of equal nobility, "head over a people, and of a chief house in Madian," ver. 15. (Haydock)
He is styled king, and one of the five princes of the nation, chap. 31:8.
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Menochius
Madianites. God spared the Moabites for the sake of Lot (Deuteronomy 2:19,) and of Ruth, of whom David and Christ should be born. They were perhaps less guilty, but they did not escape due chastisement under David, 2 Kings 8:2. (Menochius)
Haydock
The war against Madian was the last which the Hebrews waged in the lifetime of Moses, (Numbers 31.) (Haydock)
25:3
Initiated to Beelphegor.... That is, they took to the worship of Beelphegor, an obscene idol of the Moabites, and were consecrated, as it were, to him.
25:1
Balaam gaue this diuelish counsel to allure men by bellichere and lecherie vnto idolatrie. chap. 31. v. 16. And euen so Heretikes drawe manie in these daies to heresie. Sea Apoc. 2. v. 14.
25:4
By assistance of the princes hang the idolaters. v. 5.
25:11
Either Phinees was one of the Iudges. and so an example for such Magistrates to do iustice; or he had a particular inspiration, which is no warrant for priuate men, to do the like. For by Catholique doctrin, killing of men is neither allowed, nor excused but whē it is done by publique authoritie, or by mere casualitie, against the killers wil. Catechis. Rom. p. 3. c. 6. q. 5. D. T••. 2. 2. q. 60 a. 6.
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Tertullian † AD 220 Scorpiace 3
… Therefore the slaughter of three thousand by their nearest relatives, because they had displeased their so very near relative God, solemnly marked both the commencement and the deserts of the trespass. Israel having, as we are told in Numbers,
Tertullian † AD 220 On Modesty 6
… And of course it is a sufficient one, that so vast a number—(the number) of 24,000—of the People, when they committed fornication with the daughters of Madian, fell in one plague.
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 8
… ), but in his offspring they had. The very same may be said in this case also. For which may be called the truer son of God, he that worships a calf, and is joined to Baalpeor
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Aphrahat † AD 346 Aphrahat: Select Demonstrations 6.3
… Haman was wealthy and third in honour from the King, yet his wife counselled him to destroy the Jews. Zimri was head of the tribe of Simeon, yet Cozbi, daughter of the chiefs of Midian, overthrew him, and because of one woman twenty-four thousand of Israel fell in one day.
St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 12.6
… After a time God chose out Israel: but Israel also turned aside, and the chosen race was wounded. For while Moses stood before God in the mount, the people were worshipping a calf instead of God. In the lifetime of Moses, the law-giver who had said, Thou shalt not commit adultery , a man dared to enter a place of harlotry and transgress
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 147.9
… God says to you what He said to Cain: “Thou hast sinned: hold thy peace.” Why do you flee from the face of God and dwell in the land of Nod? Why do you struggle in the waves when you can plant your feet upon the rock? See to it that Phinehas does not thrust you through with his spear while you are committing fornication with the Midianitish woman.
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St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 On the Baptism of Christ 1
… But when we are aware of his attacks, we ought to repeat to ourselves the apostolic words, “As many of us as were baptized into Christ were baptized into His death .” Now if we have been conformed to His death, sin henceforth in us is surely a corpse, pierced through by the javelin of Baptism, as that fornicator was thrust through by the zealous Phinehas
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Treatise Concerning the Christian Priesthood 1.8
… In fact action of this kind ought not to be called deceit, but rather a kind of good management, cleverness and skill, capable of finding out ways where resources fail, and making up for the defects of the mind. For I would not call Phinees a murderer, although he slew two human beings with one stroke:
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 An Exhortation to Theodore After His Fall 2.3
… Slaughter has brought about righteousness, and mercy has been a cause of condemnation more than slaughter; because the latter has been according to the mind of God but the former has been forbidden. It was reckoned to Phinees for righteousness that he pierced to death the woman who committed fornication, together with the fornicator;
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 109.3
3. You may perhaps in your secret thoughts find fault with me for thus assailing a man behind his back. I will frankly admit that my indignation overpowers me; I cannot listen with patience to such sacrilegious opinions. I have read of the javelin of Phinehas,
Theodoret of Cyrus † AD 458 Letters of the Blessed Theodoret, Bishop of Cyprus 117
… And your holiness took this course after seeing one massacre. If you had seen the others which took place after your departure you would perhaps have emulated the fervour of the famous Phinehas.
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 17
And why do I mention these things? when killing, which among all is acknowledged to be an invention of the evil one, killing, I say, having found its proper occasion, caused Phinehas, who committed it, to be honored with the priesthood.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 106.24
… For it is one word in the Greek. Lastly, so great was their wickedness, in being consecrated to the idol, and eating the sacrifices of the dead (that is, because the Gentiles sacrificed to dead men as to God), that God would not be otherwise appeased than as Phineas the Priest appeased Him, when he slew a man and a woman together whom he found in adultery.
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Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 The Book of Pastoral Rule 3.22
… xxxii. 27 , seq .). Hence Phinehas, spurning the favour of his fellow-countrymen when they sinned, smote those who came together with the Midianites, and in his wrath appeased the wrath of God (
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Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John 6.7
… They say that he was Elijah, because he had been promised immortality (in Numbers
25:1
1. AND ISRAEL DWELT AT THAT TIME IN SHITTIM. — This is the 42nd and last encampment of the Hebrews in the desert, namely in the plains of Moab; for from Shittim Joshua sent two spies, after the death of Moses, into Canaan, Joshua ii, 1. In Shittim therefore all things which are afterwards described in Numbers, and which are described throughout all of Deuteronomy, were done and said. This place, Numer. xxxiii, 49, is called Abelshatim, with the word abel added, that is mourning, perhaps on account of the mourning of the idolaters, who, being Hebrews, are narrated to have been slain in Shittim in this chapter. Thus Abulensis.
1 and 2. And the people committed fornication with the daughters of Moab, who called them to their sacrifices. — Behold here is the execution of the counsel of Balaam, which he himself in departing from Balac had promised to give to him in the preceding chapter, verse 14. Namely, the Moabites and Midianites, in order to consult for their own lives, lest they should be overcome and slain by the Hebrews, sent the most beautiful daughters to the camp of the Hebrews, who might entice them to luxury, and thence to idolatry, so that thus God might be angry with them, and abandon them, and permit them to be conquered and slaughtered by the Moabites. Learn here how great is the allurement and power of beauty in women. Against the Hebrew soldiers, not armed troops, but beautiful women did King Balac order to be arrayed, and this from the counsel of Balaam, whom Origen here introduces speaking thus: "Not by the strength of soldiers, but by the beauty of women must we fight, nor by the vigor of armed men, but by the softness of women; remove far the hand of armed men, and gather together a chosen beauty of maidens: form conquers the armed, iron is captivated by beauty; they are conquered by appearance, who are not conquered in battle." Note here first, the baseness and vile spirits of the Moabites and Midianites, who prostituted all their virgins to a foreign and hostile nation, for whom and for whose chastity all ought to have fought even unto death. They would have acted more manfully, falling bravely in battle, or exposing themselves to any kind of death, than persuading, nay rather allowing their virgins to suffer, nay to commit such abominable things. This was the blindness of the Gentiles, who made little account of chastity, much of life. Thus Abulensis. Note secondly: These maidens brought with them their gods, namely idols of Beelphegor, and idolothyta, that is, foods immolated and consecrated to him, so that the young men of the Hebrews, first by eating idolothyta, and then through these to the worship of the idols themselves, might be enticed. Josephus beautifully describes the wiles of these maidens and the arts by which they deceived the Hebrews, in book IV of the Antiquities, chapter v; in the same manner also Julian the Apostate wished to entice, nay to compel the Christians of Constantinople through idolothyta to the worship of idols, as Nectarius, Archbishop of Constantinople, relates in an oration which he delivered at the beginning of Lent, and Theodoret, book I of the History, chapter xiv. Note thirdly, these maidens first enticed the Hebrews by their beauty, adornment and blandishments into desire for them; then when they saw them burning with love for them, they did not permit them to lie with them, until by blandishments they had enticed them to eat of the idolothyta of Beelphegor, and finally to burn incense or to sacrifice to Beelphegor himself; and thus iniquity and idolatry were consummated. Or rather, these maidens seem first to have enticed the Hebrews to intercourse; then having them bound to themselves, they enticed them to idolothyta, and finally to idols, namely to the worship of their Beelphegor. For this latter interpretation the order of the words of Holy Scripture here more signifies; and this is the manner of harlots, that they first ensnare young men with their love, then drive them whither they will. For if these maidens had first proposed idolatry to the Hebrews, their fraud would have been exposed, and the Hebrews would have turned away from them and their idols. And in this manner Solomon was led from the embrace of women to idols by the same. For love and lust madden the minds of the wise; and, as Plato says: "The mind of a lover, dying in its own body, lives in another's." Note fourthly: Almost all the Hebrews were caught by this fraud and allurement of the maidens, and this was the reason why Moses did not punish them; for because the greater part of the people inclined to them, so that they did not fear Moses, it is evident from the fact that, with Moses and all the people seeing, that Hebrew went in to the Midianite woman, verse 6. For if he had feared Moses or the rest of the people, he would either not have gone to the harlot, or would not have done it openly. Moses therefore did not dare to punish them, but wept, as it is said in verse 6, and was greatly grieved with the few who had zeal for God, and prayed to God in the usual manner at the door of the tabernacle. Whence God commanded these fornicators to be hanged, and immediately at God's command Moses recovered vigor and courage to punish them, and actually hanged them; for he knew that God commanding would give strength to execute, and would make it so that no one could resist. And thus it came to pass; for many, even of the chiefs, were hanged, with no one contradicting or daring to murmur. Thus Abulensis. Morally, that Abbot in the Lives of the Fathers, book V, title On Fornication, gave this remedy to one tempted by the spirit of fornication: "Do you know," said he, "what the Midianites did: they adorned their daughters, and set them in the sight of the Israelites; yet they did not extort from any that they should lie with them, but those who wished incurred it upon themselves. But others, being indignant, threatened, and with the destruction of those who presumed, avenged fornication: thus must one act concerning fornication. And when they begin to speak in your heart, do not answer them; but rising up, pray, and do penance, saying: Son of David, have mercy on me." With the daughters of Moab — and with the daughters of Midian, as appears in verse 6 and 17; for on account of this fraud and harm all the Midianites were slain by the Hebrews, as will appear in chapter xxxi.
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3. AND ISRAEL WAS INITIATED INTO BEELPHEGOR — that is, Israel was initiated into the sacred rites of Beelphegor, devoted itself to him, joined itself to him and consecrated itself to him. Thus the Hebrew, Chaldean and Septuagint texts. Vatablus translates it: Israel was joined to Beelphegor. For the idolater enters into a kind of marriage and union with the idol, especially with Priapus; for he was worshipped through licentious union. BEELPHEGOR. — Phegor and Phogor and Beelphegor are the same; for Baal or Beel, Bel and Belus (for all these are the same), was a general name for gods, which was determined to some particular one by adding another name, as Beelzebub was the god zebub, that is of flies, because he had freed the city of Accaron, invoked by its citizens, from flies; Beelsephon was the god of the North; Baalberith was Baal, that is the god of the covenant; Baalpharasim was the god of Pharasim. Thus Beelphegor was Baal or the god Phegor.
Secondly, Beelphegor or Phegor was he whom the Gentiles, with the word somewhat distorted (for Phegor is called in Hebrew Peer, whence Priapus), called Priapus; thus St. Jerome teaches, book VIII on Isaiah, chapter xxv, near the end of the book: "Beelphegor," he says, "is interpreted as Priapus;" and Isidore, book VIII, chapter On the Gods of the Gentiles: from Beelphegor, he says, the Latins call Priapus, and worship him as the God of gardens; for he himself was from Lampsacus, a city of the Hellespont, from which he was driven out, and the Greeks, on account of the magnitude of his male member, transferred him into the number of their gods, and consecrated him in the name of gardens: whence also he is said to preside over gardens, on account of their fertility. The same is taught by Andreas Masius and Arias Montanus in Joshua xiii, 20, and others throughout. Thirdly, Priapus was called Beelphegor, that is the god of desire, that is of lust, and therefore he was depicted with open mouth, says Arias Montanus in Hosea ix. Or he was called Beelphegor from the mountain Phogor on which he was worshipped; or rather Beelphegor in Hebrew is, as it were, the God of opening or nakedness; for the root paar signifies to open and to bare. For Priapus, as the presider over obscenity, displayed naked members, just as his priests did in his very sacred rites. Indeed some think that from this obscene god Phegor or Phogor the mountain Phogor was named, because he was worshipped on it. Hence St. Jerome, book II Commentary on Hosea ix: "Beelphegor," he says, "is interpreted as having in his mouth priapic tumescence, that is on the summit a skin, so as to display the turpitude of the male member." Fourthly, Beelphegor was an image of a naked man, who held the skin of a dead man in his mouth, by which it was signified that there is no remedy for mortality, nor can nature fleeing be retained, unless through the mouth food and drink supply matter for lust and generation; through which fleeing nature is held and propagated in offspring, says Christopher a Castro in Jeremiah xxvii, 7. St. Jerome, however, a little before cited says this skin was the priapic tumescence of the male member, and Ribera in chapter ix of Hosea: "Beelphegor," he says, "is interpreted as having in his mouth, that is on the summit of the pudendum, the glans uncovered."
Fifthly, the worship of Beelphegor consisted in idleness, feasting, freedom and liberty from all discipline, honesty and chastity. Hence the priests had women, namely harlots, Hosea iv, 14, of whom the chief was Maachah, mother of King Asa of Judah, whom Asa removed, and overthrew Priapus; III Kings xv, 13. Herodotus in the Euterpe, and others, recount the most shameful rites of worshipping Priapus. Sixthly, a Castro thinks, and Adrichemius in the Description of the Holy Land, page 129, and others, that Beelphegor is Chemosh: for each was a god of the Moabites, and is said in Hebrew Chemosh from the word kemas, that is, as it were touching and handling: for he was most obscene; or from kamis, that is to hide, to conceal, so that Chemosh was Bacchus νυκτέρινος, whom they worshipped by night through feasts and unbridled lusts, and from this the feasts are called κώμους, that is, lascivious songs and dances. Whence Athenaeus, book I, chapter vii: Priapus, he says, is held in great honor in Lampsacus, who by epithet is the same as Dionysius (that is Bacchus). Therefore Beelphegor, Priapus, Chemosh, and Bacchus νυκτέρινος are the same; this god therefore is worshipped by the bacchantes, and those who give themselves to lusts. By this example therefore of the Israelites bacchanting, and their punishment, which is recounted in verses 4 and 9, it can fittingly be proposed to Christians in Bacchanals. For these were the first bacchantes: for this happened in the fortieth year from the exodus from Egypt; which was before Christ 1490, of the world 2488, as I said at the beginning of chapter xx.
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4. Take all the princes, and hang them up against the sun. — Vatablus and others refer "them" to the princes, as if all of them, being guilty of the crime or matter, or consenting, or not preventing it, are ordered here to be hanged. For this sense seems plain and open. Others, however, and more truly, refer "them" not to the princes, but to the fornicators and idolaters, of whom he spoke in verse 3; as if to say: Take, or, as it is in Hebrew, gather, that is, convoke and assemble the princes, so that they, as judges, may subject to hanging against the sun those who are guilty of the fornication and idolatry of Beelphegor. Whence the Chaldean clearly translates: take all the princes of the people, that they may kill him who shall be guilty. Moses therefore ordered the princes to be assembled, not as guilty ones for hanging, but as judges, who might inquire who were accomplices in the crime, and hang them, whoever they might be, even if they were princes. That this is so is evident first, because it is not likely that all the princes here apostatized from God and were hanged; on the contrary, the opposite is clear from the fact that, after these things, Zambri, prince of the tribe of Simeon, fornicating with a Madianite woman, was not hanged, but was pierced through by the dagger of Phinees. Second, because these princes were judges of the people, to whom Moses then says in verse 5: "Let every one kill his neighbors, who have been initiated into Beelphegor." Thus Abulensis, Eugubinus, and the Hebrews. HANG THEM AGAINST THE SUN. — Note: These fornicators and idolaters are ordered to be hanged against the sun, so that the face of their shame may be exposed, they who were not ashamed to commit such great wickedness: and that tropologically this figure may proclaim, says Cyril, book XIV On Adoration, that no one can escape either the hand or that eye of the supreme Judge, who, like the sun, sees all things, even the secret things that are done in chambers and beds, and that he himself will bring forth those who sin and fornicate in secret into the public in the day of judgment, to the sight of all flesh, as Isaiah says, in the last chapter, last verse, and will exact the gravest punishments from them. Add to this: by the very fact that the Hebrews went to these harlots, there was great presumption that they ate of their idol-offerings and worshipped Beelphegor; for to accomplish this, these harlots with their idols were entirely composed for this purpose, and in fact led all their lovers to this. That my wrath may be turned away — which otherwise would rage against the whole people, either consenting or neglecting these filthiness, to punish them, as it often raged otherwise. Let Christian princes and judges learn here that God avenges adulteries, fornications and other sins, especially public ones, against the whole people, which tolerates them in its assembly or commonwealth, and therefore if they wish to be, as they ought to be, guardians of the people, let them punish the guilty, and satisfy the offense and justice of God: and thus they will turn away both from themselves and from the whole people the wrath and vengeance of God.
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5. Let every one kill his neighbors, who have been initiated into Beelphegor. — "Kill," that is, hang. For God commanded this in verse 4. Moses here orders the princes to inquire into the criminals, and to punish those whom they find guilty: whence it is clear that many were innocent. It was otherwise with the golden calf: for all worshipped it; whence all were indiscriminately killed by Moses and the Levites, Exodus chapter xxxii, verse 27. Here therefore the matter was tried judicially, and the sinners, convicted by witnesses, were condemned to hanging. It is probable what Abulensis says, that all who were convicted by witnesses had entered the tents of these Moabite girls, and by this very fact were condemned. For these tents of theirs were brothels, as is clear from verse 8. Just as therefore a soldier, or a young man purposely going to a brothel, by this very fact can be convicted and condemned of fornication. For this entrance gives a very strong presumption of the crime, which is done in secret, and cannot otherwise be proved: for who sees those lying in bed? Thus Phinees, seeing Zambri entering the tent of the Madianite woman, pursued him with a naked dagger, to kill him, and required no other proof of the crime. Therefore, by going to the Moabite harlots, they were considered to be fornicating with them, and consequently to be guilty of death, because God had most gravely forbidden the Hebrews, Exodus chapter xxxiv, 16, and Deuteronomy chapter vii, 3, not to enter into marriages with foreigners: therefore he had likewise most gravely forbidden them not to fornicate with them. For the reason of the law, namely, that they might not be seduced by them to the idols and vices of the Gentiles, held place in both these and those. Whence also among Christians the same punishment is inflicted on adulterers, sacrilegious persons, and those guilty of incest, as is inflicted on those who wish to enter into marriage with married women, nuns, or relatives. Thus Abulensis.
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6. And behold one of the sons of Israel went in before his brethren unto a Madianite woman. — This was a prince of the tribe of Simeon, by name Zambri; and the Madianite was the daughter of a prince of Madian, as appears from verse 14: wherefore the zeal and strength of Phinees was the greater, in that he slew both of them. For he might justly have feared lest the whole tribe of Simeon should rise up against him on account of their prince, and stone him. Josephus adds, with whatever credibility attaches to him, that Zambri wished to take this Madianite woman as his wife, and that he professed this openly before Moses, and rose up against him. The same Josephus recounts his shameless speech.
Morally, learn from Phinees that zeal is necessary for undertaking arduous deeds. Ardour of spirit makes a man diligent and vigorous, while coldness makes him sluggish and inert, such as he of whom it is written in Proverbs xxvi: "The slothful man saith: There is a lion in the way, and a lioness in the roads;" he accounts ants as lions and lionesses in the way of God; but the fervent man even esteems lions as ants, and saith: "If armies in camp should stand together against me, my heart shall not fear." Hence St. Bernard on the vigil of St. Andrew: "Adam's will, he says, had not fortitude, because it had not fervour." If therefore thou desirest noble victories over the flesh, the world and the devil, be fervent. Palm trees love fervent regions: thus victories demand fervent men. Thou sailest to heaven against the stream, the impulse of fervour is necessary that thou mayest overcome the impulse of the stream. Beautifully the Venerable Bede in Luke III: "Unless, he says, the striving of the mind burn fervently, the wave of the world is not overcome, by which the soul is ever recalled to the depths." Nay, physicians teach that anger is implanted in us by nature, that it may be the spur and stimulus of virtue: for phlegm is sluggish, torpid and cowardly. Again, observe here how God and men punish lust, and reward the avengers of chastity. Plutarch relates in the life of C. Marius, that Lucius, the nephew of Marius through his sister, when he attempted the chastity of Trebonius a soldier, was slain by him; Trebonius, accused before Marius, confessed the deed, and setting forth chastity as the cause of the slaying, was crowned by Marius. Tityus, son of Jupiter and Elara, when he attempted to violate Latona, was pierced with arrows by Apollo; they say he was cast down to the infernal regions, and bound there in such a manner that he could in no wise move himself; the poets add that his liver was torn out by two vultures. Phaon the adulterer, when caught with Sappho, was slain, according to Aelian in his Miscellaneous History. The Persians, when in their drunkenness they shamefully handled the concubines of the Macedonians, were slain at a banquet by King Alexander. Livia, sister of Germanicus, wife of Drusus, son of Tiberius Caesar, after her husband was slain, joined herself to Sejanus, and was put to death by Tiberius with the most cruel torments together with Sejanus. Valentinianus III the Emperor, when he attempted the wife of Maximus, a Roman Patrician, was slain by him, who also seized the empire. Thus Zonaras. The Argives had appointed for themselves a garrison of a thousand men: over these presided a commander named Bryas. He violated a virgin; that same night she, while Bryas was oppressed by sleep, deprived him of his eyes. When discovered, as day broke, she fled as a suppliant to the people. When the thousand men demanded her, the people refused to give her up; wherefore the matter being brought to battle, the victorious people dealt with the garrison soldiers with every kind of torture. Thus Pausanias in Corinth.
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8. And the plague ceased from the children of Israel. — Hence it is clear that a plague of pestilence, fire, or some similar scourge was sent by God upon the Hebrews who were fornicating and committing idolatry, and this before Zambri entered unto the Madianite woman and was slain by Phinees there: for Phinees, seeing this plague, to avert it slew Zambri, and upon his death the plague immediately ceased. Thus Scripture often, after a deed is done, makes mention of it as if already accomplished, and touches upon it in passing, although it had not previously narrated the manner and history of the deed. Behold here on both sides that saying of Pope John is true: "Zeal purges crime;" and: "Vengeance appeases and placates an angry God." Deservedly therefore St. Gregory, homily 15 on Ezekiel, set Phinees as an exemplar of zeal and righteousness: "Are we kindled with zeal of righteousness against vices? Let Phinees be brought before our eyes, who, piercing with the sword those who were coming together, restored the people to chastity, and being angry appeased the wrath of God."
The Annals of France record concerning St. Louis the king, that when he himself composed prayers from the Psalms of David to God, and someone who was seeking grace for a certain man guilty of a capital crime intervened, and the king, as if attending to something else, had assented, but soon thereafter came upon that verse, Psalm 105: "Blessed are they that keep judgment, and do justice at all times;" he immediately ordered him to whom he had granted the grace to be recalled, and made that grace void, having issued a memorable judgment: "A prince who is able to punish a crime and does not punish it, is no less guilty before God than if he himself had perpetrated it; and to do justice is a work of piety, not of cruelty." So it is indeed. "Nor (as Seneca says) can a fatter victim be sacrificed to God than a wicked man." And it is rightly said: "He who spares the wicked harms the good." For this reason they say that the Emperor Maximilian I was accustomed to pass by places designated for the punishment of criminals with this solemn utterance worthy of reverence: "Hail, Justice," And indeed justice is the basis and pillar of the commonwealth, and is, as Aristotle says, like the evening star, nay the sun of the world. M. Cato used to say, "that magistrates who do not restrain evildoers with punishments are not only not to be tolerated, but ought to be buried under stones, lest from the neglect of punishment the safety of the commonwealth be undermined," as Plutarch relates.
This is the seventh plague which in this book of Numbers is related to have been sent upon the Hebrews on account of their sins: for the first was at the Sepulchres of Lust, where while the flesh was still in their teeth, the wrath of the Lord struck them with a very great plague, Num. xi, 33; the second was in Core, Dathan and Abiron, who were swallowed up by the earth, and went down alive into hell, Numer. xvi, 33; the third was on the same day, when namely fire going forth from the Lord killed 250 rebellious men offering incense, in the same place verse 35; the fourth was on the following day of those murmuring against Moses and Aaron, and saying: You have killed the people of the Lord, and 14,700 were struck, in the same place verse 49; the fifth was when on account of murmuring because of the labour of the journey, God sent fiery serpents upon them, Num. xxi, 6; the sixth was here, verse 4, when namely God commanded those fornicating with Beelphegor to be hanged; the seventh was in this verse, when God sent a plague on account of the same crime, which Phinees turned aside and dispersed by his zeal. Thus Rupertus.
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9. And there were slain (namely, both by the plague sent by God and by the sentence and hanging of the judges, of which verse 5 speaks) twenty-four thousand men. — For if this number did not comprehend those hanged by the judges, Scripture would certainly have numbered them separately. Thus Abulensis. Behold here, says Rupertus, how God, like a rhinoceros, or rather a unicorn, is a lover of chastity, and punishes and destroys the most foul Beelphegor and his followers.
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12. Behold I give to him (Phinees) the peace of my covenant — that is, security and certainty of my pact, as if to say: I firmly decree for Phinees on account of his zeal, and as it were make a pact with him, and promise to him.
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13. And there shall be to him and to his seed a covenant of everlasting priesthood — namely that he himself with his line, after his father Eleazar, shall succeed to the pontificate, so that the pontificate shall remain inviolably in his family and posterity always, namely as long as the commonwealth of the Jews and Judaism shall stand. Thus Abulensis. Others think that priesthood is here called the peace of the covenant, that is, the covenant of peace or a peaceful one, by hypallage, for two reasons: the first is that priests seem to be in peace, friendship and society with God more than other men. For daily they are occupied in the sight of God, they converse with him, they receive answers: they offer their prayers, oblations and vows and those of the people; the second, that priesthood rightly administered was the cause of peace, concord, and all tranquility and happiness between God and men, on account of the prayers and sacrifices of priests by which God is appeased to the world.
Hear here a paradox of Blessed Peter Damian, epistle 12, chapter 11, to Nicholas II, Roman Pontiff, where he says that God willed that henceforth Phinehas himself, as a reward for this glorious deed, should live until the end of the world, and he thinks that this same Phinehas was he who was afterwards called Elias; some of the ancient Hebrews held the same opinion, as Origen testifies, volume VII on John. For there Damian, citing these words of this chapter: "Behold I give him my covenant of peace, and it shall be to him and to his seed a covenant of an everlasting priesthood," thus says: "The Lord indeed gave him peace of his covenant, because, with all disturbance of the flesh quieted, He established him to live until the end of the world in the pleasantness of paradise. He himself is, unless I am mistaken, Elias the prophet, who was indeed carried up to heaven in fiery chariots: to whom certainly the name Phinehas was given by his parents, but the name Elias is an accidental name acquired through the event: for Elias is interpreted as God the Lord, which is believed to have been imposed upon him on this occasion, because when he was sent as a legate by the people to Reuben and Gad, who had built a new altar, he received this answer of excuse from them: The Almighty God the Lord Himself knoweth, if we have built this altar with a mind of transgression. Hence therefore Phinehas was called Elias, so that their answer might appear to be the origin of his name." This opinion is new and improbable, which Torniellus refutes in many ways. Damian proves it, however, first from St. Jerome, who in the Hebrew Questions on the first book of Paralipomenon teaches the same thing. I answer that that book is either not by St. Jerome, as some have noted, or St. Jerome states these things, as also others, not from his own opinion but from the opinion of the Hebrews. Secondly, he proves it from I Paralipomenon ix, 19, where Scripture, speaking of those who had returned from the Babylonian captivity, thus says: "These are the Corites over the works of the ministry, etc., and Phinehas the son of Eleazar was their leader;" therefore Phinehas lived even after the Babylonian captivity. I answer that this Phinehas is another from our Phinehas: for that one was a Levite, this one was a priest: that one was from the descendants of Core, this one was the grandson of Aaron: wherefore also the Eleazar, father of Phinehas, there was different from our Phinehas.
Only the continuation of the priesthood of Phinees in his descendants is promised here. This was a great reward. For the priest of the Jews was held in the highest honor and in the greatest wealth: for he alone received the greatest part of the offerings, firstfruits and tithes, indeed, as many wish, a tenth of the tenth, that is, a hundredth part of all the fruits of all Judaea. Hence he himself was the supreme judge of all, Deuteronomy chapter xvii, 9, and he joined marriages with kings, indeed even the scepter itself of the kingdom he finally obtained. For the Maccabees were at the same time priests and at the same time leaders, and shortly after kings of Israel. For Aristobulus, the son of John Hyrcanus and grandson of Simon Maccabaeus, was priest, and the first to place a diadem of the kingdom upon himself, as Josephus teaches, book XIII of the Antiquities, chapter xix; and after him his son Alexander reigned, to whom Aristobulus the younger succeeded, who were at the same time priests and kings: and all these were descended from Phinees, as their parent Mattathias also says and boasts, I Maccabees ii, 54. See here what zeal and the zealous merit with God. You will say: By law and the right of nations, Phinees, as the firstborn, ought to have succeeded his father Eleazar in the priesthood: therefore nothing new is conferred upon him here. I answer that something new is conferred upon him here: first, indeed, a longer life is assured to him, namely that he himself will outlive his father, and thus will actually become priest. Second, it is assured to him that the priesthood will remain in his family. You will say secondly: The priesthood, shortly after Phinees, was transferred from his family to the family of Ithamar, namely to Heli: for, as Josephus teaches, book V of the Antiquities, chapter last, and book VIII, chapter 1, to Eleazar in the priesthood succeeded the son of Phinees, to him the son Abiezer, to him the son Bocci, to him the son Ozi; from whom it was transferred to Heli (who was of the family of Ithamar, as is clear from I Paralipomenon xxiv, 3), to whom succeeded from the son of Phinees, the grandson Ahitob, to him the son Ahias, to him the brother Ahimelech, to him the son Abiathar, from whom Solomon again transferred the priesthood to Sadoc, who was of the family of Eleazar and Phinees: how therefore is Phinees promised an eternal priesthood here? Cajetan answers first that this promise is of right, not of fact: for by right it was owed to the family of Phinees that the priesthood be in perpetuity; but in fact it was transferred to Heli, for a short time; second, Dionysius the Carthusian answers that an eternal priesthood is promised to Phinees here, not absolutely, but under the condition that if the descendants of the father follow his piety, and do not merit to be deprived of the priesthood on account of their sins: but now the descendants of Phinees sinned, and therefore by their own fault fell from the priesthood for a time; third, and it can easily be said that an eternal priesthood is promised to Phinees here in this sense, that he is not to be despoiled of it continually, as Heli was despoiled; but that the priesthood of his family will adhere until the end of the Synagogue of Judaism, even if it be interrupted for a short time and transferred to Heli and his descendants: for shortly after it returned to the family of Phinees, and remained in it continually until Christ. Thus it is said in Genesis xlix, 10, that the scepter shall not depart from Judah, until Christ comes: but it is certain that this scepter departed in the first year of the reign of Herod, whereas Christ was born in the 35th year of the reign of Herod; therefore before Christ the scepter had departed from Judah for 35 years. But sacred Scripture does not count or esteem this small number in so great a multitude. Thus it does here also.
Because he was zealous for his God, and expiated the sin of the children of Israel. — "Expiated," first, that is, he punished and avenged the guilty and the wicked. For thus judges, while they punish the guilty, as it were expiate their commonwealth before God and before the whole world. For just vengeance of crimes is the expiation of the commonwealth. Second, "expiated," that is, he cleansed: because he effected that no one would dare to commit similar things; third, "expiated," that is, he removed the sin of the negligence of the Israelites, by which namely they themselves were negligent in correcting and punishing this sin; fourth, "expiated," because he offered the blood of Zimri, as it were a propitiatory victim, to God for the safety of others. Thus Abulensis.
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15. Of the Midianites, etc., was called Cozbi, daughter of Sur, a most noble prince of the Midianites. — In Hebrew it is, Cozbi daughter of Sur: he himself was the head of the peoples, and the head of the family of his father in Midian. For in Midian reigned five kings, as is clear in chapter xxxi, verse 8, but small ones, who therefore in Joshua xiii, 11, are called princes: among these five the most noble and supreme was Sur, who prostituted his daughter here to the Hebrews, so that by the counsel of Balaam he might in this way deceive them, and turn them away, or overcome them. So great was the fear of him and of all, so great was the love of life and kingdom. For these Gentiles did not know the good of honesty, chastity and virtue.
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16 and 17. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Let the Midianites feel your enmity, and strike them down. — Here God commands that the authors of the crime and fraud of Beelphegor, namely the Midianites, be avenged by war; but He tacitly excepts the Moabites, who had been a great part and cause of the crime and disaster, because He wished to preserve the Moabites: and this partly on account of the merits of Lot, as it is said in Deuteronomy ii, 19; partly on account of Ruth, from whom David (for David was the great-grandson of Ruth) and Christ were to derive their origin; for Ruth was a Moabitess, and born in Moab: whence before Ruth was born, the Hebrews had not waged wars against the Moabites; but after she was born, and migrated from Moab to the Jews, David wonderfully chastised the Moabites and struck them down, as appears in II Kings viii, 2. Thus Abulensis. By the law of nature and nations, the Hebrews could have attacked the Midianites, by whom they had been injured, with war, but they waited for the command of the Lord; for the Lord directed them in the desert and at the encampments, and in wars, and in all other things, as the leader of His people. Whence immediately after the crime of Beelphegor, He commanded war to be waged against the Midianites.
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18. Because they also acted hostilely against you, and deceived you by stratagems (by frauds, of which I spoke verse 1) through the idol Phogor (that is Beelphegor, as I said verse 3), and through Cozbi, daughter of the prince of Midian, their sister (that is their kinswoman; for Cozbi was a Midianitess, and consequently was a sister, that is a kinswoman and relation of the Midianites. For she deceived Zambri, a prince of the tribe of Simeon, whose example, as being a prince, many from the same, as will appear in the following chapter, verse 14, and from other tribes followed. For the sins of princes and lords have many imitators), who was struck down (by Phinees) on the day of the plague — for on the same day the plague was raging, sent by God, verse 8; but after Phinees killed Cozbi with Zambri, immediately the plague ceased.
Moral: On the Danger of Conversation with Women Morally, learn from this chapter how dangerous is conversation with women, and how much men ought to flee women, and women men. Eve seduced Adam, Bathsheba seduced David, women seduced Solomon. That excellent elder in Sophronius in the Spiritual Meadow, chapter cxix, speaks most finely: "My children," he says, "salt is from water, and if it approaches water, it is immediately dissolved and destroyed: and a monk likewise is from a woman; therefore if he approaches a woman, he too is dissolved, and comes to this, that he is no longer a monk." All the Saints taught this both by word and by example. St. Dominic remained a virgin even unto death, so much so that he breathed virginity into others as well. Whence a certain zealous man kissing his hand drew from it such fragrance and grace, that thereafter he was chaste both in mind and body. And yet St. Dominic advised those devoted to chastity to flee all women entirely, and he himself did likewise, and moreover afflicted himself with fastings and penances. St. Francis asserted that conversation with a woman was frivolous, except only in confession, or in the briefest instruction. St. Jordan, who succeeded St. Dominic next in the generalate, rebuked a certain Brother because he had touched a woman's hand; and when he regretted it: "This woman is pious and devout," Jordan answered: "Rain is good, and earth is good, and yet from the mixture of these two mud is made." St. Thomas Aquinas, tempted by his brothers through a lascivious woman, drove her away with a burning brand, and forming the sign of the cross on the wall there, and praying there with tears, and begging for perpetual virginity, he fell asleep, and saw two angels, who bound his loins (so tightly that he cried out in pain) saying: Behold, we gird thee with a girdle of chastity, which shall never be loosed. Whence he himself thereafter lacked all sense of lust: and yet that same man thereafter always shunned and fled all women as if they were serpents. The Queen of Sicily, mother of St. Louis, of the Franciscan family of Bishops, when he came to her at Naples, wished to kiss him after the Gallic manner as her son; St. Louis refused; then she said: "Am I not thy mother?" to whom he replied: "I know," he said, "but thou art a woman, whom it is not lawful for a servant of God to kiss;" for, as St. Bernard says: "The whole body of a woman is fiery." Thus Joseph fled his lascivious mistress, leaving his cloak in her hands. Thus St. Augustine, as Possidius testifies, would not even have his sister in his house. Thus St. Bernard fled more than once, when on account of his exceptional beauty he was solicited by impure women to wickedness. At other times he drove them away at night, crying out: Robbers! robbers! and finally, to free himself from all temptation, he fled to the cloister of a Cistercian monastery, namely, as the Wise Man says: "From a garment cometh the moth, and from a woman the iniquity of a man;" and: "Better is the iniquity of a man, than a woman doing good." Thus finally fled that great St. John the Anchorite, who predicted victory to the Emperor Theodosius. For, as Palladius relates in the Lausiac History, chapter xliii, he saw no woman for 40 years. And when he was 90 years old, earnestly begged by a Tribune, that he would show himself to his wife who was importunately requesting it, he answered: "This night she shall see me in dreams, and let her no longer seek to see my face in the flesh." In dreams therefore he appeared to her through a phantom, and would not suffer himself to be seen by her in any other way, he who also in chapter xliv recounts the sad fall of a certain Hermit through a woman. I have brought forward more in Genesis, chapter xxxiv, verse 1.
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
25:1
Abel (Hebrew 'Abhēl 'meadow'; possibly Aramaic from Canaanite 'Abil 'channel')
… Camp of the Israelites before crossing the Jordan (Num. 25:1; 33:49; Josh. 2:1; 3:1; Mic. 6:5); today Tell Kefrein, 11 km east of the Jordan, in the direction of Jericho (according to a few, Wadi es-Sejale, 5 km farther south).
In the vicinity of Shittim, Israel allowed itself to be drawn by the women of Moab and of neighboring Midian (Num. 25:1-17) into idolatrous feasts and debaucheries. …
… over to the obscene worship of Baal of Mount Phegor (v. BEELPHEGOR), for which 24,000 Israelites were struck down by a plague, and Phinehas distinguished himself by his zeal, to whom as a reward God granted his "covenant of an everlasting priesthood" (Num. 25, 1-18). It was called Abel (v.) S. "in the plains of Moab" (ibid. 33, 49; Septuagint Βέλων cod. B, βελοκτίμ cod. A). From there the spies were sent to Jericho, which stood opposite; …
25:6
Midian and Midianites (Hebrew Midhjān; Septuagint Μαδιάμ)
Settled in the 'Arbhāth Mā'ābh to the northeast of the Dead Sea, they became a scandal for Israel, which defeated in war four vassal princes of Sehon, Amorite king of Heshbon (Num. 22:47; 25:6-15;
… seeing that "a man of the children of Israel," Zimri son of Salu, had brought "into the midst of his brethren the Midianite woman Cozbi in the sight of Moses and in the presence of all the congregation... went into the tent and pierced them both through" (Num. 25:6-8).
25:13
… Before Jesus Christ, the value of expiation through suffering, death and above all martyrdom seems moreover to have been universally recognized (II Mach. 7, 37; Siphrē on Num. 25, 13, etc.). …
25:14
The Midianites (v.) mentioned in the story of Moses (Ex. 2:15 ff., etc.), in the exodus from Egypt (Num. 25:14-18; 31:2), and finally in the account of Gideon's victory (Judg. 6-8), were northern Arabs. …
Zamri (Heb. Zimri; LXX Zápařá)
1. A member of the tribe of Simeon, son of Salu, who was killed by Phinehas because he was caught in an intrigue with a Midianite woman (Num. 25:14, Vulgate Zambri; 1 Macc. 2:26, 54).
25:16
… B. himself was swept away in their ruin (Num. 25:16, 17; 31:1-16). He had therefore lingered in Midianite territory on the return journey, since the events of Num. 31 follow at a short distance those of Num. 22-25 (chapters 26-30, besides …
25:17
Midian and Midianites (Hebrew Midhjān; Septuagint Μαδιάμ)
Name of a region south of Palestine (Ex. 2:15) and of its inhabitants (Ex. 3:1; 4:19; 18:1; Num. 24:47), sometimes indicated by the patronymic "Midianites" (Gen. 37:38; Num. 25:17).
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · Vulgata Clementina · original Douay-Rheims (Douay 1609-10), transcription by EEBO-TCP (CC0) · La Sacra Bibbia, tradotta dalla Volgata da Antonio Martini (1769-1781) (LaParola (laparola.net), Martini OSIS text, Public domain (LaParola's electronic edition marks it 'Dominio pubblico')). Public domain.