Num 25:1-9 | JFB | STEP | 1. Israel abode in Shittim-- a verdant meadow, so called from a grove of acacia trees which lined the eastern side of the Jordan. (See ).

‏ Numbers 25:1-9

CHAPTER 25 Nu 25:1-18. The Israelites' Whoredom and Idolatry with Moab.

1. Israel abode in Shittim--a verdant meadow, so called from a grove of acacia trees which lined the eastern side of the Jordan. (See Nu 33:49).

3. Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor--Baal was a general name for "lord," and Peor for a "mount" in Moab. The real name of the idol was Chemosh, and his rites of worship were celebrated by the grossest obscenity. In participating in this festival, then, the Israelites committed the double offense of idolatry and licentiousness.

4. The Lord said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up--Israelite criminals, who were capitally punished, were first stoned or slain, and then gibbeted. The persons ordered here for execution were the principal delinquents in the Baal-peor outrage--the subordinate officers, rulers of tens or hundreds.

before the Lord--for vindicating the honor of the true God.

against the sun--that is, as a mark of public ignominy; but they were to be removed towards sunset (De 21:23).

5. judges of Israel--the seventy elders, who were commanded not only to superintend the execution within their respective jurisdictions, but to inflict the punishment with their own hands. (See on 1Sa 15:33).

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].