Baalpeor, The Javelin of Phinehas and Appeasement Based Atonement

Num 25:1-9  And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab.  (2)  And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods.  (3)  And Israel joined himself unto Baalpeor: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel.  (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.  (5)  And Moses said unto the judges of Israel, Slay ye every one his men that were joined unto Baalpeor.  (6)  And, behold, one 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.  (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;  (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.  (9)  And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand.

A13 The Crown of Thorns

The significance of the crown of thorns upon the head of Jesus carries a far deeper meaning than most imagine. When Adam sinned the earth produced thorns as a response to his sinfulness. 

The Bible tells us clearly that when men sin the earth is defiled and the rebellion that is in man is stored up in the earth like pressure of a fault line until it bursts forth and causes destruction. 

The principles in this chapter are vital to many of the stories in the Bible. 

The earth is also defiled under its inhabitants, Because they have transgressed the laws, Changed the ordinance, Broken the everlasting covenant. Isa 24:5

Yet despite all this sinfulness affecting the earth Christ holds back as long as possible these effects and it is like wearing a crown of thorns as He groans and travails under the weight of it. Rom 8:2

A12 Putting the Sword in Its Place

How do we reconcile the wholesale slaughter of nations by Israel with the sword against the words of Christ? 

…for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. 

Not only men, women and children also. 

Deut 2:34  And we took all his cities at that time, and utterly destroyed the men, and the women, and the little ones, of every city, we left none to remain:

Were the Israelites truly in tune with the character of God? Why were they regularly afraid that He had brought them out into the desert to kill them? Was the deep darkness that fell upon Abraham in any way related to his taking of the sword to save his nephew and family?

Did the slaughter of the Shechemites by Levi and Simeon have any influence on the vow of Israel to utterly destroy their enemies?

The use of the sword by Israel is completely out of character with the life of Christ in the New Testament. How do we reconcile this apparent contradiction? 

A11 The Anger of the Lord

What does it mean for the Lord to be angry? Let us look to Jesus to define God's anger for He is the way to the Father. 

When Jesus stood before the leaders of Israel and told them they were hypocrites he was certainly angry. Was the culmination of this anger?

Matt 23:37-38  O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!  (38)  Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.

It causes the Lord incredible grief to finally have to allow his wayward children have their decision to reject Him. The anger of the Lord is to leave the house of the wicked desolate while experiencing terrible grief. 

A common word anger in Hebrew is aph and it means rapid breathing through the nose. It can be either anger or grief or both. It depends on how you view God. 

When you see the biblical meaning of anger your heart will go out to our Father in sorrow for all the suffering He has endured because of our sins. We we allow Him to gather us to him or will our house be left desolate for the serpent to come and destroy?

A10 Putting the Fear of God into you

What does it mean to have the fear of God put into you? Most people understand this to mean that God causes a person to feel that He will destroy them if they don't submit to Him. 

If we wish to look at what God is like we must look to Christ and we get a picture of the fear of God when Jesus cleansed the temple. If we examine this story carefully we can discern more clearly that the fear of God is a conviction of sin that leads us to see the love and care of God for us. God never wants to harm us. He does not want anyone to perish. If we know that God is merciful, when He gently shows us our sins and we feel overwhelmed by them with fear, we can know that God is not against us and He does not seek to harm us but simply to be free from our sins which destroy us. Look and live. 

This video is from the book called Agape.