Num 25:6-15 | JFB | STEP | 6-7. behold, one of the children of Israel ... brought ... a Midianitish woman-- This flagitious act most probably occurred about the time when the order was given and before its execution. who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle-- Some of the rulers and well-disposed persons were deploring the dreadful wickedness of the people and supplicating the mercy of God to avert impending judgments.

‏ Numbers 25:6-15

6-7. behold, one of the children of Israel ... brought ... a Midianitish woman--This flagitious act most probably occurred about the time when the order was given and before its execution.

who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle--Some of the rulers and well-disposed persons were deploring the dreadful wickedness of the people and supplicating the mercy of God to avert impending judgments.

8. the plague--some sudden and widespread mortality.

9. those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand--Only twenty-three thousand perished (1Co 10:8) from pestilence. Moses includes those who died by the execution of the judges [Nu 25:5].

11-13. Phinehas ... hath turned my wrath away--This assurance was a signal mark of honor that the stain of blood, instead of defiling, confirmed him in office and that his posterity should continue as long as the national existence of Israel.

14. Zimri, ... a prince ... among the Simeonites--The slaughter of a man of such high rank is mentioned as a proof of the undaunted zeal of Phinehas, for there might be numerous avengers of his blood.