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| 1 And Israel dwelleth in Shittim, and the people begin to go a-whoring unto daughters of Moab, |
Whoredom – Guided by Balaam, Balak had Midianite women seduce Israelites so they would be cursed by God's Law. R5323:3
Spiritual fornication is any illicit fellowship with the world by those betrothed to Christ; friendship in spirit with those who have not the Lord's spirit. R2300:1
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| 2 and they call for the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people eat, and bow themselves to their gods, |
Sacrifices of their gods – "Balaam taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit fornication." (Rev. 2:14) R5323:3
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| 3 and Israel is joined to Baal-Peor, and the anger of Jehovah burneth against Israel. |
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| 4 And Jehovah saith unto Moses, 'Take all the chiefs of the people, and hang them before Jehovah over-against the sun; and the fierceness of the anger of Jehovah doth turn back from Israel.' |
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| 5 And Moses saith unto the judges of Israel, 'Slay ye each his men who are joined to Baal-Peor.' |
Slay – The death of thousands of Israelites on such occasions was the whole penalty for their sin. They did not drop into a hell of torment. R5323:4
God also punished the Midianites and Balaam. (Num. 31:2, 8) R5323:5
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| 6 And lo, a man of the sons of Israel hath come, and bringeth in unto his brethren the Midianitess, before the eyes of Moses, and before the eyes of all the company of the sons of Israel, who are weeping at the opening of the tent of meeting; |
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| 7 and Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, the priest, seeth, and riseth from the midst of the company, and taketh a javelin in his hand, |
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| 8 and goeth in after the man of Israel unto the hollow place, and pierceth them both, the man of Israel and the woman unto her belly, and the plague is restrained from the sons of Israel; |
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| 9 and the dead by the plague are four and twenty thousand. |
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| 10 And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying,
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| 11 'Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, hath turned back My fury from the sons of Israel, by his being zealous with My zeal in their midst, and I have not consumed the sons of Israel in My zeal. |
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| 12 'Therefore say, Lo, I am giving to him My covenant of peace, |
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| 13 and it hath been to him and to his seed after him a covenant of a priesthood age-during, because that he hath been zealous for his God, and doth make atonement for the sons of Israel.' |
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| 14 And the name of the man of Israel who is smitten, who hath been smitten with the Midianitess, [is] Zimri son of Salu, prince of the house of a father of the Simeonite; |
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| 15 and the name of the woman who is smitten, the Midianitess, [is] Cozbi daughter of Zur, head of a people of the house of a father in Midian [is] he. |
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| 16 And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying, |
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| 17 'Distress the Midianites, and ye have smitten them, |
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| 18 for they are adversaries to you with their frauds, [with] which they have acted fraudulently to you, concerning the matter of Peor, and concerning the matter of Cozbi, daughter of a prince of Midian, their sister, who is smitten in the day of the plague for the matter of Peor.' |
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