The Spear of Phineas
A Test of Leaders
Sometimes, in our Western mindset, we really don’t want to be reminded of things that “upset” our worldview. Biblical realities often do this; they disrupt our modern sensibilities with a laser-clear focus that makes us flinch. One such story comes out of Numbers 25, the Spear of Phinehas.
One of the reasons for this is because the judgment is so quick, so sudden, and final. Another reason is that this speaks to the core of our modern free-sex culture that has invaded the Leadership of the Body of Christ.
Often, people's views of stories like these are a “surface view,” so a deeper investigation is required to get a fuller understanding. One of the ways to do this is by looking at people's names in the Bible. In the case of this story, the Bible deliberately gives us the names of all the key players.
First off, you have Phinehas, whose name means “Mouth of Brass or a Brass Oracle.” The next man is Zimri, whose name means “My Musician, My Gardener, Song Of Yah.”
And then of course the woman of the story, Kozbi, whose name means, “False, Lying.”
In a traveling community like the Jews were at this point in history, I am sure Phinehas and Zimri knew each other. They probably even played together as kids. And like all kids at one point, they had to stand in front of an angry parent or two for something dumb they did.
But in this story, twenty-four thousand people died, I’m sure there was a lot of crying, weeping, and yelling. Emotions were on high, nerves were frayed, and I am sure the men were tired of digging graves.
The reason for this was sexual immorality; various men were sleeping with the local Moabite women as well as eating food sacrificed to demons. And to make matters even worse, they were now worshiping false gods. In doing so, verse two records, “Israel yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor.”
Baal of Peor, what this name means is “Lord Of The Wide Opening.” Or saying it another way, lord of the wide open mouth.”
This is when the Lord told Moses, “Take all the leaders of these people, kill them
and expose them in broad daylight before the Lord, so that the Lord’s fierce anger may turn away from Israel.”
So picture this: the camp already has a lot of dead people, and the Lord just put his finger on the cause of the problem. Now, it should be noted where the judgment fell… on the leaders. But now something far more defiant and brazen takes place. Zimri was just made aware of why the plague had come. He takes a Midianite woman whose name means “false lying.” He parades her right in front of everyone, including Moses, on his way to a tent to have sex with her.
It’s kind of like the ultimate self-centered flip of the middle finger: I don’t care about the message. I’m sure everyone's eyes and mouths were open at the brazen stupidity of it all.
When Phinehas saw it, I am sure there was an intense flash of emotion. Here is someone, like I said, that he probably knew and knew well. Grabbing a spear, he followed them into the tent and shoved the spear through both of them, killing them both.
So let's take a deeper look.
Leadership failed in the camp. And this judgment speaks directly to that issue. It's recorded that the men were having sex with the Moabite women. So, God’s judgment fell on the leaders. Because of this, it could easily be argued that it hit the leaders because they were not doing their job.
As Zimri Means, “My Musician, My Gardener, Song Of Yah.” God had meant a special place for this man. He was most likely a leader; he might have even been a worship leader. When people worship, what do they do? They open their mouths in love and respect for the God who created them. But Zimri had found Kozbi. And a lying spirit was now present. Kozbi was from Midian, and Midian means “Place Of Judgment.”
So, this worship leader was now spiritually compromised. For his love and respect was now given to a spirit of lies. Question: if a worship leader is drinking from a well of lies and he is leading worship, what is he spiritually leading the people of God into?
So another mouth quickly comes into the picture, Phinehas, the mouth of brass. Do you catch the picture? It took one mouth to shut the other mouth. How can I say this?
You see the place where this all happened was Baal of Peor, “the place of wide open mouth.”
Phinehas actions were seen as righteous by God, and he extended a blessing to all of Phinehas future children because of this action. This leader essentially passed the test.
Sexual temptation is a test of many leaders, in one way or another, regardless of whether they want it or not, so few have passed the test.
So please note, among the Moabite women, a lone woman from a place of judgment had arrived to tempt Zimri. After Phinehas ended the plague, it was the Lord’s judgment that fell on the land of judgment. “The Lord said to Moses, “Treat the Midianites as enemies and kill them. They treated you as enemies when they deceived you in the Peor incident involving their sister Kozbi, the daughter of a Midianite leader, the woman who was killed when the plague came as a result of that incident.” Numbers 25:16-18
This means there was intent, and preplanning on the part of Midian.
Joseph
As a future leader, Joseph had his own test with sexual immorality and passed the test. Yes, it cost him on a human level, but on a spiritual level, he gained ground. “When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, “This is how your slave treated me,” he burned with anger. Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined. But while Joseph was there in the prison, the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden.“ Genesis 39:19-21
So many fallen leaders like to compare their sins to those of David, I say it’s better to be a Joseph than a David.
David and Bathsheba
As a leader, David failed his test, but he did not fail the test of repentance. After having sex with a woman he was not married to, David tried to find ways to cover up his actions. Ultimately failing, he resorted to the only option he felt he had left. He created a plausible death for Bathsheba’s husband on the battlefield.
But God knew, and he sent Nathan, the Prophet, to confront the king. Even though David responded and repented (something certain current leadership is not doing when confronted), by openly admitted his actions caused a future divide in the kingdom.
Even though he repented and God accepted the repentance, he still had to pay the price of his actions.
Leaders are tested at a higher level. If the leader passes the test like Joseph, he will go on and be given greater responsibilities before God. If he fails, then any host of things could happen, from loss of life to diminished duties.
No matter what, don’t fail the test of repentance.
The New Testament
Consider the following in the Book of Acts, when the Apostolic leadership meets to discuss the Holy Spirit bringing the Gentiles into the faith. They made a simple decision that one could argue that all of us Gentile believers are still under. They said, “You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.” Acts 15:29
These are the very things the people and their leaders failed at in Numbers 25
This was also a problem in Revelation 2 with the congregations in Pergamum and Thyatira. In the case of Pergamum the Lord was going fight against those who teach his people to do these things. In Thyatira, he was going to toss these teachers onto a bed of suffering.
The devil knows how to set traps for sinful leaders, and he does it well, as evidenced by the many modern failures. Unfortunately, for many leaders, we are at a very important place right now. And I do not believe, by evidence of the constant exposures going on, that the Lord will tolerate this kind of action anymore.
The Lord is coming, and he will be the shepherd of his pasture (Ezekiel 34) and he will not tolerate the actions of any leader who rapes the flock (Spiritually or Physically) Those days are coming to an end.