Zealous for the Lord

By William R. Cunningham
November 12, 2006

Introduction

What are you zealous for?  Are you zealous for the things of God or has the day-to-day things pertaining to life consumed you. Do you consider what the Lord wants you to do during the course of your life or are you too busy living day to day. It is very important that we consider the work of the Lord and that we are zealous for that work. Overall we should be zealous for the Lord God himself in that we desire him above all else.

This sermon will look at the zeal of a man named Phinehas and how God rewarded him for that zeal. That will be a segue into a short discussion on the zeal that we have for the Lord.

Background

We are going to focus our attention on Numbers 25:1-13, but please read Numbers chapters 22 thru 25 to get a better perspective of our topic.  Let me summarize the events that led up to Numbers 25 before we begin discussing it.

In Numbers 22 Balak, king of Moab sent for the prophet Balaam to hire him to curse the Israelites because he was afraid of them and had herd of their previous conquests particular to the Amorites.  It is also evident that there was some type of alliance between the Moabites and the Midianites.  Balak wanted Balaam to come and curse the Israelites.

Numbers 22:5-6 (NKJV) -- {5} Then he sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor at Pethor, which is near the River in the land of the sons of his people, to call him, saying: “Look, a people has come from Egypt. See, they cover the face of the earth, and are settling next to me! {6} Therefore please come at once, curse this people for me, for they are too mighty for me. Perhaps I shall be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land, for I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed.”

Balaam, who interestingly enough was a heathen soothsayer, was able to communicate with God.  Therefore, one thing we can learn hear is that the mere ability to communicate with God does not constitute godliness.  Balaam sought the Lord and was told not to go with the messengers of Balak and not to curse the Israelites because they were blessed.  So the messengers returned to Balak empty handed.

Balak did not give up.  He sent more princes than before with more of a financial incentive.

Numbers 22:16-17 (NKJV) -- {16} And they came to Balaam and said to him, “Thus says Balak the son of Zippor: ‘Please let nothing hinder you from coming to me; {17} for I will certainly honor you greatly, and I will do whatever you say to me. Therefore please come, curse this people for me.’”

What can we learn from this?  Well we see that temptation does not necessarily end just because you were able to resist the first time.  Here, Balaam told Balak no and yet Balak still came at him to entice him to curse Israel.  We should not think that just because we win a battle of temptation that the war is over.  The enemy may come at you another time or by some other means.

However, again Balaam refused to curse the Israelites stating that he could only say what God told him to say and God.

Numbers 22:18 (NKJV) -- {18} Then Balaam answered and said to the servants of Balak, “Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the word of the Lord my God, to do less or more.

Now God came to Balaam and told him to go with the princes of Balak if they came to him again, but that he should only speak what God says.  So Balaam did go with the princes of Balak.

Now interestingly enough the Bible tells us that God was angry with Balaam because he went with the princes of Balak when in fact God gave him permission to go.  However, it is believed that it was the motive or the intentions of Balaam that really angered the Lord (See v32).  Balaam was not supposed to curse the Israelites, but it appears that he had every intention to in order to collect the money that was offered to him.  We see the same type of thing in Exodus 4:19-26.
 
Next you have the incident of the talking donkey, which we are very familiar with from childhood Sunday school lessons.  In short the donkey saw the angel of the Lord ready to kill Balaam and changed directions each time he saw the angel.  Balaam, unaware of the angel, beat the donkey the three times it did that until the donkey was cornered by the angel and he simply laid down on the ground.

God had intended to kill Balaam for his sin (note that the sin here was related to his intentions and not something that he had already done).  What we think about and intend on doing is just as much sin as the actual act.

Balaam goes on to speak the blessing that God had already placed on Israel.  He spoke a series of oracles to Balaam and yet never cursed Israel as Balak wanted him to do.  Balak and Balaam go their separate ways after.

Scripture Lesson

Numbers 25:1-13 (NKJV) -- {1} Now Israel remained in Acacia Grove, and the people began to commit harlotry with the women of Moab. {2} They invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. {3} So Israel was joined to Baal of Peor, and the anger of the Lord was aroused against Israel. {4} Then the Lord said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of the people and hang the offenders before the Lord, out in the sun, that the fierce anger of the Lord may turn away from Israel.” {5} So Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Every one of you kill his men who were joined to Baal of Peor.” {6} And indeed, one of the children of Israel came and presented to his brethren a Midianite woman in the sight of Moses and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. {7} Now when Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose 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 body. So the plague was stopped among the children of Israel. {9} And those who died in the plague were twenty-four thousand. {10} Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: {11} “Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned back My wrath from the children of Israel, because he was zealous with My zeal among them, so that I did not consume the children of Israel in My zeal. {12} Therefore say, ‘Behold, I give to him My covenant of peace; {13} and it shall be to him and his descendants after him a covenant of an everlasting priesthood, because he was zealous for his God, and made atonement for the children of Israel.’ ”

Now we learned that Balak had tried to get Balaam to curse Israel, but Balaam did not do that at least through soothsaying or spiritual means.  It turns out that Balaam offered Balak another way of defeating his enemies.  Balaam evidently counseled Balak to seduce the Israelites in order to overpower them.

Sin in the Camp

We see in the scripture above that the Israelites begin to commit harlotry with the women of Moab.  Many of the Israelites were seduced by the Baal cult at Peor.  They participated in the fertility rites of the Canaanites.  This was all part of a scheme to defeat them, which Balaam had a major part in.

Numbers 31:16 (NKJV) -- {16} Look, these women caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to trespass against the Lord in the incident of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the Lord.

Revelation 2:14 (NKJV) -- {14} But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality.

So the Moabites enticed the Israelites to sin and many fell for it.  Some of the Israelites began to eat food sacrificed to their gods and to bow down to their gods.  One could say that they began to worship the gods of the Moabites, which of course would make the Lord God very angry.  Recall what God told them before.

Exodus 20:1-3 (NKJV) -- {1} And God spoke all these words, saying: {2} “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. {3} “You shall have no other gods before Me.

Judgment on the Offenders

God commanded Moses to kill all the offenders, i.e., those who committed harlotry with the Moabite gods.  Now in the midst of all of this, an Israelite man (Zimri, see v 14) brought a Midianite cult prostitute (Cozbi, see v15) into the camp.  The nature of his sin is not stated, but it appears that he did it in the sight of Moses and everyone else at the Temple.  This man was very bold with his sin.

Now Phinehas found out about this and killed both Zimri and Cozbi.  He went after Zimri with a javelin and impaled him and Cozbi with it.  This stopped the plague that came upon the people and it killed about 24,000 people.

The Zeal of Phinehas

Phinehas’ zeal for the Lord was rewarded by the Lord.  He was zealous for the honor of God that he killed both Zimri and Cozbi.  Some say that he thrust the javelin through their bodies as they were in the act of sexual intercourse, but the text does not say that.  However, that could be inferred from the text because the other would surely have run after the first was impaled by the javelin.  In any case we do know that Phinehas killed both of them because of the honor he had for God.

Phinehas was the grandson of Aaron, the son of Eleazar the priest.  Phinehas’ descendants would be priests until Rome destroyed Jerusalem in AD 70.

The name Phinehas means “mouth of brass” and comes from old Egyptian, “the nubian.”

The zeal of Phinehas impressed God and it stopped the plague and caused him and his descendants to be rewarded.

Lessons Learned

What are you zealous for? 

The word zeal means fervor for a person, cause, or object; eager desire to endeavor; enthusiastic diligence (enthusiastic, eager, fervid, fervent, intense, and passionate).  What are you passionate about?  What things drive you in your life?

I believe that a person’s heart is revealed by the things that they act upon, which typically is based on their passions or what is most important to them.  We tend to be zealous for the things that we care about most.  Some people are zealous about upholding justice or education.  Others are zealous about quality, family bonds, etc.  Phinehas was zealous about God’s honor and killed those who would blatantly sin against God in the presence of the congregation.

I ask you again, “What are you zealous for?”  Talk is cheap.  Anyone can say anything, but what is most important are the things that you do.  We would have no problem realizing that Phinehas took God’s honor seriously based on his response to the Peor situation.  We would get more insight into Pinehas’ character in later chapters.

We should realize that this life isn’t all there is.  There is a whole eternity after this one.  One could argue, “why do anything now when we will have eternity later?”  The problem here again is the heart.  If you are not zealous for God now then why do you think that you will all of a sudden become zealous for him in eternity?  It is easy to be zealous when the son is shining so to speak.  It is easy to take a stance when there are no detrimental consequences.  However, what happens when opposition comes or when your well being is threatened?  Would we still be zealous?

We should be zealous for the vision that God has given us and for the cause of God because these are all that ultimately matter.  This doesn’t mean that we should not be zealous for other things, but we should be sure to set our priorities correctly.  

Matthew 6:33 (NKJV) -- {33} But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

Ultimately we should be passionate about the things of God.  We should practice pleasing the Lord as much as we can.  We do know that God is doing one major thing in the earth and that is calling the lost back to him.  We can be a part of that by doing whatever we can to tell people about the everlasting life, forgiveness, and wonderful relationship that they could have with the Lord.  People need to know the good news and we should be passionate about telling them this good news.

So let’s be zealous about the Lord and the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Promote goodness and love.  Promote the things that God is about.  Talk with the waiters at the restaurants that you frequent.  Be kind to the cashiers of the stores that you frequent.  Build relationships with people and be the light that shines in darkness so that people would come to know God ultimately.  Be a shining light by being zealous for the Lord, which means that those things would have to be important to you and you would have to develop a passion for them.

Don’t allow life to tear you down and wear you out.  Realize that God is on your side.  I am always encouraged by something that Paul said.

Romans 8:28 (NKJV) -- {28} And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

Life isn’t about your appeasement.  Life is a journey that we are on as we move towards eternity with God or eternity without God.  Life is a moment in time in your life and you have an opportunity to make a huge difference in the life of someone else that could effect eternal life for that person. 

We tell others about a good movie we saw, a great sale at a store, or the game of the week and yet we are slow to share the joy that we have in the Lord.  Now if you are not experiencing that joy then the first step would be to find out how to realize the joy of the Lord.  In any case, we should be zealous about sharing our faith with others just as we would share any other good news in our lives.  The faith that you have in God can shine like a flood light and help many to come to a realization of the necessity of Jesus Christ.

Be zealous for the Lord in your normal everyday life.  Amen!