affair, and it preparei us to learn without bestowed upon the act of Phinehl\8 see the surprise that they wero in reality the authors note at the end of the chapter. . In the of this mischief. All the congregation, .. Hebrew Bible a new section begins here. who were weeping. According to the loose Ver. 11.-While he was Bealoua for m:, sense in which this expression is used through- sake. Rather, ",vhile he was zealous with out the Pentatcuch, it endently means that my zeal" ('t'~?irn~_. Septuagint, Iv rt; those who truly ref.resented the nation, not Z:~).w,mi µ011 rov l;ij).o,,, where po11 ste.nds only as a politica , but also as a religious emphatically before l;ij).ov). In my jealousy. community, were gathered in this distress Rather, " in my zeal ; " the Mme word i& before the presence of their in visible King. used. They wept on account of the wrnth of God Ver. H.-Now the no.me of the Israelite provoked ; probably also on account of the These details as to names seem to have been wrath of God e.lready gone forth in the form added as an after-thought, for they would of a pestilence. naturally have been given in ver. 11, where Ver. 7.-Phinehas, the son of Eleazar. the man and the woman a.re first mentioned. See on Exod. vi. 25. He seems to have been The ,votnan's name is given o.ga.in in ver. 18, the only son of Eleaza.r, and his natural suc- as if for the first time. We may probably cessor in the office of high priest. conclude that vers. 14, 15 were inserted into Ver. 8.-Into the tent. i1f~iJ-';,~. Sep- the narrative either by the hand of Moses tna,.,«int, Eii; r17v raµn•ov. The word signi- himself at a later date, or possibly by some fies an arched recess (cf. the Arabic "alcove," subsequent hand. Zimri. This was not an from the same root, and the Latin forniz), uncommon name, but the individual who and means probably the inner division which bears it here is not elsewhere mentioned. served as the women's room in the larger Ver. 15.-Head over a people, and of a. tents of the wealthier Israelites. There is chief house in Midie.n. Rather, "head of no sufficient ground for supposing that a tribes (ni~~. for the use of which cf. Gen. special place had been erected for this eru x:xv. 16) of afather'R house in Midian." It purpose ; if it had been, it would surely seems to mean that several clans descended have been destroyed. Throngh her belly. from one tribe-father looked up to Zur i'll,~~-,t:'· Septna.gint, Jui riji; µfirpai; avr;;,. as their head. In eh. xxxi 8 he is called So the plague was stayed. No plague has one of the five "kings" of Midian. That been mentioned, but the narrative evidently the daughter of such a. man should have beeu deals with an episode the details of which selected, and should have been willing, to were very fresh in the memory of all, and is play such a pa.rt throws a strong light upon extremely concise. , That a plague would the studied character and the peculiar danger follow Bllch an apostasy might be certainly of the seduction. expected from the previous experiences at Ver. 17. -Vex the Midie.nites. The Kibroth-hatta.avah, at Ka.desh, and after the Moabites, although the evil began with them, rebellion of Kora.h. were passed over ; perhaps because they Ver. 9.-Were twenty and four thousand. were still protected by the Divine injunction " Fell in one day three and twenty thou- (Deut. ii. 9) not to meddle with them; more sand," says St. Pa.nl (1 Cor. L 8). As the probably because their sin had not the same Septuagint does not deviate here from the studied and deliberate character e.s the sin Hebrew, the Afostle must have followed of the Midianites. We may think of the some Rabbinica tradition. It is possible women of Moab e.s merely indulging their enough that the odd thousand died on some individual passions after their wonted manner, other day than the one of which he speaks, but of the women of Midian as employed by or they may have died by the hands of the their rulers, on the ad vice of Balaam, in e. judges, and not by the plague. deliberate plot to entangle the Jsra.elites in Ver. 10.-The Lord 1pake unto Moses, heathen rites and heathen sins which would Hying. On the Divine commendation here alienate from them the favour of God.
NOTE ON THE ZEAL OF PHINEHAS. The act of Phinehas, the sou of Eleazar, in slaying Zimri and Cozbi is one of th" most memorable in the Old Testament ; not eo much, however, in itself, ae in the commendation bestowed upon it by God, It is unquestionably surprising at first eight that an act of unauthorised zeal, which might eo readily be me.de (ae indeed it was CB, XXV. 1--18.] THE BOOK OF NUMBERS. 345