The Israelites were encamped on the plains of Moab, at the area called Abel-Shittim in Numbers 33:49. Coming out of Egypt, the Israelites had over a million people; and at the base camp of mount Sinai the army alone over 603,000. This nation of Israel formed into a nomadic nation and has been on the move in their tent city for over forty years. Although people of that generation of Israel that were over age 20 when they camped at Kadish Barnea some thirty seven and a half years prior, were now dead along the trail, their offspring far out numbered that 1.2 to 1.4 million that left Egypt.

Balaak was called to place a curse on the children of Israel, but God would not allow it. However after a short period of time of camped at the foot of the mountain that was the center of Baal worship, the children of Israel started to drift out of camp, and get involved and commit whoredoms with the religious practices of the Moabites. As you start going into their religious practices, in time men of Israel took these daughter of Moab for their wives. So the religious practices would have entered into the camp, and when the children are born to those couples, those practice of their mothers will also be taught in the homes of the Israelites. This first whordom that is mentioned here in Numbers 25:1, was a physical whoredom at first, with the spiritual whordom to follow later.

Balaam could not place a curse over the children of Israel, so he counseled them to be friendly with the men of Israel. It was like the girls entertaining the soldiers off visiting the friendly town near by. So the daughters of Moab seduced the men of Israel, and relationships formed between the Moabites, and the Israelites. And after their marriages take place, so does the religious practices.

Numbers 25:2 "And they called the People unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the People did eat, and bowed down to their gods."

So after the boys had taken these Moabite women for their wives, here came the invitation to come to their church, only their church were these heathen practices, of sacrificing their children to Molech, the sexual activity of Baal-peor, and all the other heathen rituals that these Moabites were practicing.

Was Balaam a prophet of God, or of the devil. Sure God used him to say many prophecies that will come to pass, but God also used that donkey of Balaam's to speak words of instructions to Balaam also. Balaam didn't place a curse of Israel, but he harmed Israel far more than what any of his courses would have.

The whole attack started with a meal, and before you eat the meal you give thanks for the meal, only in this case, the Moabites caused the Israelites that attended this meal to bow down to their gods. Get the picture? It all started with a little prayer, but to the false God, the fake god, and that is how it shall be very shortly.

Our God YHVH, the Almighty God is a jealous God, and He will have no other God being bowed down to by His people.

Exodus 34:14 "For thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord, Whose name is Jealous, is a jealous GOD:"

Why?

Exodus 34:15 "Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice:"

This is exactly what Balaam used to trick the Israelites into following their gods. God's name is Jealous, and we serve a Jealous God YHVH. The inhabitants of the land of Moab seduced the men of Israel into marriage, and then through those family ties, others are introduced to the big meal or banquet, to where proper respect must be given before you partake of that meal. When you bow down to that heathen religious form, you have given yourself over to that religious practice.

Jesus told us of another banquet that is coming at the end of this earth age, in fact most of the people living in the world today will be alive when this happens. It is a banquet where all those that claim the name of Jesus Christ are invited, and it comes that the seventh trump, at the return of our Lord and Savior. We that claim the name of Christ are the virgin bride of Christ, and Jesus told us in His parable that ten of these virgins will be waiting for this banquet to take place.

Matthew 25:1-3 "Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom." [1] "And five of them were wise, and five were foolish." [2] "They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:" [3]

They started on their journey with no gas in their gas tank, or down the road, not knowing the directions that they were heading in.

Matthew 25:4-6 "But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps." [4] "And the bridegroom tarried while they all slumbered and slept." [5] "And at midnight there was a cry made, `Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.' " [6]

We are at this point in time right now for people are aware that it is time for the end of this earth age, and the signs of this last generation are all around us today. People have taken their lamp, repented in the name of Jesus and declared themselves to be of Christ, that right all ten of these virgins of Christ. Yet there will be a big surprise coming.

Matthew 25:7-9 "Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps." [7] "And the foolish said unto the wise, `Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.' " [8] "But the wise answered, saying, `Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves." [9]

Relate yourselves to this parable, you will either have the knowledge sealed in your mind before Satan come, to identify him as the false Christ, or you will not. That knowledge is the oil from the Holy Spirit that will keep your lamp lit, your mind ready for the deception that will come over this earth very shortly. Get it? Now is the time to prepare, for the truths from God's Word is disappearing fast from the schools, homes, and even the church houses of our land. God gave His commandments back then to even prepare us in these end times. We will be living in the land where Satan and all the people will be foreign to God's people, those of the elect that know the truth, and we are not to go whoring after their gods, or the Antichrist that will be the god of the people of this earth.

Exodus 34:16 "And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods."

First comes the daughter of the Moabites into the Israelite's camp as their daughters in law, then the daughter's in lay drag her husband off to the high places of Moabites, with first the husband, then the whole family following to those high places of sex orgies, and burnt offerings of their children on the altar of Moleck. God warned the children of Israel of this happening thirty seven years prior, while they were encamped at the foot of Sinai, and Moses was bringing the tablets down off the mountain. And now it is happening? The Israelites have taken that first step to stir up a jealous God against them.

Numbers 25:3 "And Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor: and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel."

Many of the people of Israel then had married into ties with Moab, and these marriages tied them directly in their families to Baal-peor; which is the religious form of the Moabites. "Baal" means "Lord" and "Peor" was the hill where this sexual religious practice was done. Keep in mind that this was a Moabitish idol, and those that were called the Israelites became the prostitutes necessary for this worship by others, men and women alike. It was a religion of whoredoms physically. Was Israel forced to do this, now the little darling ladies that married to the men of Israel, got their husbands to be the male prostitutes to this idol. The men of Israel became their whores voluntarily.

So what do you think God is thinking of all this while he is looking down from heaven, and seeing all this going on? The Israelites have turned their backs on God for this heathen form of practice; "And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel."

When you follow your preacher out at Satan's coming, expecting him to be the true Christ, and you bow to Satan, what do you think our Lord's opinion of you will be. When that anger of the Lord is kindled against those that confess Jesus Christ, yet bow to Satan in his role Antichrist; do you actually believe that anything that you do will please Him, when you stand before Jesus as a harlot. Do you see how these things were written to us living in this end generation, as a warning, as Paul wrote in First Corinthians 10:1-12. The oil in your lamps or minds of the truth from God's Word would have prepared you from doing what these Israelites did, and what most of the world will do: and that is following a false God, Satan.

Numbers 25:4 "And the Lord said unto Moses, "Take all the heads of the People, and hang them up before the Lord against the sun, that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel."

What this is actually saying is that Moses took all the leader of Israel, and called them into a meeting, to warn them as to what was going on right in their camp under their noses. The point here is to find out just who is heading up on mount peor, and who wasn't. Which families had married into the Moabites, and which had not. Then take those men and their Moabite wives and hand them up. Remember their hadn't been enough time for the children to be born yet, so this doesn't deal with young children.

"Hang them up": i.e. impaled or nailed to a stake, as in a crucifixion, which means the same. Moses had to do something to stop this movement from the Israelite camp to the hill of Baal-peor. However as we read in Leviticus the stoning would have caused the death, and the hanging would have come later, to be an example to the rest of the people in the camp.

Numbers 25:5 "And Moses said unto the judges of Israel, "Slay ye every one his men that were joined unto Baal-peor." "

Remember from the start of the Book of Numbers, there were men assigned over the army of each of the tribes, and there were men even now, forty years later responsible for what went on in their tribe. These judges were told to identify each of these men under him that married a Moabitist woman, and take the man and his wife and slay them, every last one of them, then hang their dead bodies so the rest of the people would witness it. This was done so God would release His anger against the Israelites. There will be a few events in the next few verses that will stop this from happening. However it did happen to a certain extent.

Numbers 25:6 "And, behold, on of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation."

After Moses had told these leaders of the tribes what to do, as we read in verse five, this man made no attempt to hid the fact that he not only had a midianitish woman for a wife, but that she was also pregnant. He flaunted her right in public before the entire congregation. The people wept because they knew the wrath of God that could come down on them, that they saw in the serpents and many other events. They had seen twenty four thousand die in one of the plagues, and many thousands die from the serpents. Yet at the same time they knew that they were guilty, they had taken part in apostasy to Baal. So what God wasn't killing, the heads of the household were killing of those that had taken part. Remember, one son, would have many other of his family members grieving over his actions.

Numbers 25:7 "And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation, and took a javelin in his hand;"

When Phinehas the son of Eleazar saw this musical clown making fun of what Moses had said, with the thousands weeping all around the camp. This man of God, a priest took his javelin in his hand, and came to the front of the congregation. This man was in the line to the Priesthood of God, and he would not stand for such a thing going on in the camp. He is going to get the job done and make things right in the camp again.

Numbers 25:8 "And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly, So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel."

"After" as used here, in the Hebrew text is "Achar", #310 in the Strong's Hebrew Bible dictionary, Phinehas went right into the man's tent, and sleeping quarters, and thrust both of these people with his Javelin. The moment that this Israelite man, and Midianite woman were killed, the plague was lifted from the children of Israel's camp.

Numbers 25:9 "And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand."

After this man was caught in the act and killed the deaths in the camp from the plague had stopped, but by this time twenty four thousand people had died from this plague. What does it take a nation in crisis to come to the point of realizing that you don't mess around with a Jealous God, or His Laws. Would this please the Lord? Paul mentioned this in I Corinthians 10:8 "Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them committed [fornification] and fell in one day three and twenty thousand." Friend, each of these things that we are reading about, are a warning to each of us living in this final generation.

Though there is a difference between Numbers 25:9, and I Corinthians 10:8, the difference is in the fact that one thousand were caught, stoned, and hung on the trees. That made the twenty four thousand that would lose their life over Baal worship.

Numbers 25:10 "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,"  God liked what Phinehas had done, and here comes a covenant between God and Phinehas; Phinehas' reward.

Numbers 25:11 "Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned My wrath away from the children of Israel, whicle he was zealous for My sake among them, that I consumed not the children of Israel in My jealousy."

"Zealous for My sake" would be better translated, "with my zeal". This is God speaking, and pointing out that by that act of Phinehas killing those people in their heathen act, God's anger was done away with.

As you do the things that you do, and mess around with the things of this world, keep in mind that Our Lord Jesus Christ is watching what you do, our Heavenly Father is keeping the record, when you place an idol before Him, it makes him angry. Sure when we do things His Way, He blesses us and we buy the toys of this world with those blessings, but don't let those toys, like your car, house and what not get in the way of your relations our Heavenly Father.

This is the danger of this end time. Antichrist will return first, and millions will be deceived into accepting the gifts, and falling into the supernatural deceptions that he will be using, and they will be apostatizing and falling away from the truths from God's Word. That falling away is going on right now. To worship anything other than Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is an abomination to our Heavenly Father. Our God is Zealous, and he just doesn't like His people doing that. Expect it to happen for it is in His Word.

Numbers 25:12 "Wherefore say, `Behold, I give unto him My covenant of peace:"

This "My covenant of peace" are all those things that were promised in the covenant that were made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Numbers 25:13 "and he shall have it, and his seed after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was zealous for his God, and made an atonement for the children of Israel."

No only will Phinehas receive this Covenant promise, but it will be eternal, passed on to his children and their children. God is even throwing in the "covenant of an everlasting priesthood". Phinehas received this because He had the zeal of God. The only time that this covenant was interrupted, was during the days of Eli, for the priesthood remained in this priest line.

Numbers 25:14 "Now the name of the Israelites that was slain, even that was slain with the Midianitish woman, was Zimri, the son of Salu, a prince of a chief house among the Simeonites."

This man that was spoken of in verse six was a person that should have know better, he was the son of a prince of the tribe or house of Simeon, one of those men that God had selected to lead over His people. He was the one that should have set the example over the thousand that he was to take care of, yet he defied the instructions by Moses to him, and went out of voluntarily take this heathen woman and practice her religion.

Numbers 25:15 "And the name of the Midianitish woman that was slain was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur; he was head over a people, and of a chief house in Midian."

"Cosbi" in the Hebrew, means "false"; and "Zur" in the Hebrew means "rock". Do you get the lesson here? This Midianitish woman was the "false rock" . So what is the warning to us? Look out for those false rocks. God doesn't like it when you chase after the false rocks, and that is exactly what Satan is the false rock. Moses warns of of this in the Song of Moses, in Deuteronomy 32:30, 31; "How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, Except their Rock had sold them, and the Lord had shut them up?" [30] "For their rock is not as our Rock, Even opur enemies themselves being judges." [31]

This chapter starts out with the Israelites whoring after the dieties of the false rock, Satan. In our day, watch out for false rocks, for our Rock, Christ is not as their rock, Satan, and don't be led into the pleasure and false security that the false rock Satan offers to those that will bow to him at his feasts.

Numbers 25:16 "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,"

Numbers 25:17 "Vex the Midianites, and smite them:"

God has now changed His mind about the Midianites, for he had given Midian a blessing before, and now God is asking Moses to kill them off. We will learn also in Numbers 31:8, that God knew that Balaam was at the root of this apostasy that had gone on, and His order to slay the Midianites also included Balaam. When Christ was addressing the church at Pergamos in the end times, in our generation: He said.

Revelation 2:14 "But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication."

Balaam's end will be that he will be slain with the Midianites, and the Moabites. Friend, this should absolutely verify the fact that Balaam was not a prophet of YHVH, and after God's Spirit stopped talking through him, he went back to his old nature, and following Satan.

Numbers 25:18 "For they vex you with their wiles, wherewith they have beguiled you in the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of a prince of Midian, their sister, which was slain in the day of the plague for Peor's sake."

For the Midianites vesed you with their false religious practices and idolatry, and became a stumbling block to the Israelites at mount Peor. That is where the Baal practices took place. This order to destroy the Midianites, Balaam and Cozbi will be studied in detail in Numbers 31. The reason that the Midianites even attempted to pull the Israelites in this manner was formed at the council of Balaam, and the Moabites.