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Welcome to Psalms!

No book has the power to encourage, motivate, challenge or uplift as does Psalms. As I read and study passages from Psalms each day, golden nuggets of truth and inspiration bless me deeply. The purpose of this blog is to have a means of sharing those insights with you...so you too can be blessed...and encouraged, motivated, challenged and lifted high!

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Thursday, January 26, 2012

Where is Our Phinehas?

Heroes aren’t born.  That is, people are not born heroes.  Heroes are ordinary people who in a moment of trial or crises do something most others cannot or will not do: they act.  They see a problem and they respond; often immediately and with no thought of themselves.  This is what makes their act heroic, and what gains them the status of hero.

In the church, in our city and in America today we need a hero.  We need someone who will see the crises and will act.  Someone who will respond immediately and decisively, with no thought of themselves.  We need Phinehas.

Who is Phinehas?” you are asking.  He was a hero; one man who acted immediately and decisively when it was critically important that someone do so.  And by his act, thousands were saved; and possibly, a whole nation.

Never heard of him?  Well then, it’s time you meet Phinehas!

Psalm 106 chronicles Israel’s continual unfaithfulness to God.  Verse six sets the tone: “Both we and our fathers have sinned; we have gone astray and have acted wickedly.

The next 37 verses relate different instances of their sin and rebellion.  In the midst of this, a particularly heinous sin of the people is mentioned along with what happened as a result.

“They aligned themselves with Baal of Peor and ate sacrifices offered to lifeless gods.  They provoked the Lord with their deeds, and a plague broke out against them.” (Psalm 106:28-29)

Nothing could be worse than for the people of God to begin worshipping Baal, a false god.  And not only did they worship Baal (literal translation: they offered sacrifices for dead ones) they “aligned themselves” with him.  They changed their allegiance.

God was not pleased.  He was provoked by their deeds.  And notice the result of their rebellion: “…a plague broke out against them” (vs. 29b).  This means significantly more than a plague occurred and begin to spread; but rather, this plague was purposefully attacking them.  It literally “broke out against them.”  They were under attack by the plague because of their rebellion against God.  Not a good situation.  This was a moment of crises.

Read what happened next.

“But Phinehas stood up and intervened, and the plague was stopped.  It was credited to him as righteousness throughout all generations to come.” (Psalm 106:30-31)

Our hero shows up!  Phinehas acted…immediately and decisively.  I love the way the HCSB states this: “[he] stood up and intervened.”  Apparently he was sitting among the Israelites, part of the camp.  He saw the sin and the resulting plague.  He saw thousands dying.  He saw…and he stood up!  I love this!
Apparently there is a whole genre of Chuck Norris jokes.  Chuck Norris is the actor who starred in Walker: Texas Ranger, among many other roles.  He typically portrays tough guys; on the side of good, beating the bad guys.

There are web-sites with nothing but Chuck Norris jokes…not making fun of him, but exalting his toughness.  Google “Chuck Norris jokes” and you will get 6,980,000 results; this many websites with these words.  I didn’t know this universe existed, until recently.

Here are a few Chuck Norris joke examples:

·         Chuck Norris doesn't play "hide-and-seek." He plays "hide-and-pray-I-don't-find-you."
·         Superman owns a pair of Chuck Norris pajamas.
·         Death once had a near-Chuck-Norris experience.
·         Chuck Norris can win a game of Connect Four in only three moves.
·         Brett Favre can throw a football over 50 yards. Chuck Norris can throw Brett Favre even further.

You get the idea…there are tons of them.  Perhaps an older generation would have developed such websites about John Wayne; another tough guy.

Phinehas, however, is the original.  He saw.  He had enough.  This has got to stop, and it’s got to stop now!” he said.  And then he stood up!

And the moment Phinehas stood up and acted, the plague was stopped.  That’s a John Wayne response…that’s a Chuck Norris result!

Here was an ordinary man, who in a moment of crises stood up and responded!  As a result, righteousness was credited to his account; and he is recorded in history as an example for “all generations to come.”  He was a hero.  And now every generation since his day can know about him and his heroic act.

Let’s look at little closer at our hero, Phinehas, and exactly what he did.  Warning: it’s gruesome, and probably would have an “R” rating were it made into a movie.

“While Israel was staying in Acacia Grove, the people began to have sexual relations with the women of Moab.  The women invited them to the sacrifices for their gods, and the people ate and bowed in worship to their gods.  So Israel aligned itself with Baal of Peor, and the Lord’s anger burned against Israel.  The Lord said to Moses, ‘Take all the leaders of the people and execute them in broad daylight before the Lord so that His burning anger may turn away from Israel.”  So Moses told Israel’s judges, ‘Kill each of the men who aligned themselves with Baal of Peor.’” (Numbers 25:1-5)

I want you to understand what happened.  The Israelites, some of the men, begin having relations with some Moabite women who were living in the area.  The women lured them into worshipping their pagan idols; which the men did.  Look at verse 3: “So Israel aligned itself with Baal of Peor, and the Lord’s anger burned against Israel.
In response, God told Moses to execute all the leaders.  And Moses told the judges of Israel: “Kill each of the men who aligned themselves with Baal of Peor” (vs. 5).

What happened next is remarkable, both in its audacity and stupidity!

“An Israelite man came bringing a Midianite woman to his relatives in the sight of Moses and the whole Israelite community while they were weeping at the entrance to the tent of meeting.”  (Numbers 25:6)

While the people were weeping over the death of the men who had joined in worship of Baal, this foolish Israelite man brings a foreign women into the camp… “in the sight of Moses and the whole Israelite community!”  Was he that brazen?  Or that stupid?

I don’t know; but in either case, it was a bad decision.

“When Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, saw [this], he got up from the assembly, took a spear in his hand, followed the Israelite man into the tent, and drove it through both the Israelite man and the woman – through her belly.  Then the plague on the Israelites was stopped, but those who died in the plague numbered 24,000.” (Numbers 25:7-9)

And this is Phinehas; grandson of Aaron the priest.  He saw the plague of death.  He was among his people, likely weeping with them.  He saw this Israelite man bring a pagan woman into the camp.  And he stood up and took action.

“When Phinehas…saw [this], he got up from the assembly, took a spear in his hand…and drove it through both the Israelite man and the woman.”

Wait a minute…is this okay?  Is it alright that Phinehas murdered this man and woman?  Apparently it was okay with God.

“The Lord spoke to Moses, ‘Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has turned back My wrath from the Israelites because he was zealous among them with My zeal, so that I did not destroy the Israelites in My zeal.  Therefore declare: I grant him My covenant of peace.  It will be a covenant of perpetual priesthood for him and his descendants, because he was zealous for his God and made atonement for the Israelites.” (Numbers 25:10-13)

What does God say about Phinehas?

·         He turned back God’s wrath from the people.  One act – one man saw a crises and took action – stopped the death of thousands more Israelites.  I’m not sure John Wayne nor Chuck Norris ever did anything on this magnitude, even in the movies.

·         He was zealous with “My zeal.”  So Phinehas wasn’t acting out of sinful anger, but righteous zeal.  I know we have to be careful taking this point too far.  But, there is a righteous zeal for God, His Name, His Truth, His Law, etc.  Jesus displayed this same righteous zeal when He ran the money-changers out of the temple.

·         He was granted God’s covenant of peace, perpetual priesthood.  Eternal rewards for his act of zealousness for God.  “Covenant of peace” has great significance.  What we receive when our sins are forgiven is a relationship with God or peace.  He becomes our Father, no longer our Judge.  Phinehas received this peace with God as well.  I believe, therefore, that you will see him in Heaven.  It will be interesting to meet this man.

·         He was zealous for God and made atonement for Israel.  One man stopped the tide of death.  Reminds me of a passage that says through one man sin entered creation (Adam) and through one man atonement for all sin was paid (Jesus).  One man, or woman, who acts zealously for the Kingdom of God can accomplish much.

These are the details of Phinehas – what he did.  Now read again the summary statement of these events we started with in Psalms.

“They aligned themselves with Baal of Peor and ate sacrifices offered to lifeless gods.  They provoked the Lord with their deeds, and a plague broke out against them. But Phinehas stood up and intervened, and the plague was stopped.  It was credited to him as righteousness throughout all generations to come.” (Psalm 106:28-31)

Now that we have met the hero, Phinehas; I have one question:

Where is our Phinehas today?