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Numbers 25 Bible study: A covenant of peace

It began with an invitation to a meal: the daughters of Moab "called the people to the sacrifices of their gods" (25:2), just as Exodus 34:15 had warned. Phinehas "was jealous with my jealousy", the LORD said (25:11), and gave him "my covenant of peace" (25:12). And Jesus himself warns his church against "the teaching of Balaam" (Revelation 2:14), which Numbers ties to Peor (31:16).

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“Therefore say, ‘Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace.”
Numbers 25:12 · World English Bible

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“In Numbers 25, the congregation was weeping at the door of the Tent of Meeting when the man brought the Midianite woman.”

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What's really going on

It began with an invitation

In the text

Israel had come to "the plains of Moab" (22:1), and "Israel stayed in Shittim" (25:1). The chapter doesn't open with an army. It opens with an invitation: the daughters of Moab "called the people to the sacrifices of their gods. The people ate and bowed down to their gods" (25:2). The LORD had warned of this at Sinai: "lest they play the prostitute after their gods, and sacrifice to their gods, and one call you and you eat of his sacrifice; and you take of their daughters to your sons" (Exodus 34:15-16). In Hebrew, play the prostitute, call, eat, sacrifice (the noun, as in "his sacrifice") and daughters are the same words in both passages.

Where it leads to Jesus

The teaching of Balaam

In the text

Numbers 25:2leads toRevelation 2:14

Jesus himself speaks of what happened here. In Revelation, the one who says, "I was dead, and behold, I am alive forever and ever" (Revelation 1:18), speaks to the church in Pergamum: "you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to throw a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality" (Revelation 2:14). That is what happened at Peor: "the people began to play the prostitute with the daughters of Moab" (25:1), and "The people ate and bowed down to their gods" (25:2). Numbers says it came "through the counsel of Balaam" (31:16). Jesus uses Balaam's teaching as a warning to his own church, and calls them to turn: "Repent therefore" (Revelation 2:16).

Honest questions

Questions people ask about Numbers 25

That was a taste

The rest of Numbers 25 is waiting in Favor

  • "Israel joined himself to Baal Peor"
  • Weeping at the door of the Tent
  • "Jealous with my jealousy"
  • "Credited to him for righteousness"
  • An everlasting priesthood
  • Where was Balaam?
  • 12 questions as you read
  • 12 more Hebrew words
  • A short check at the end
  • Your notes, saved as you go
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The Hebrew word behind it

קִנְאָהqin'ahsay kin-AH

Brown-Driver-Briggs: "ardour, zeal, jealousy". Strong's: "jealousy or envy". The LORD uses it twice in one verse, both times of his own: Phinehas "was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I didn’t consume the children of Israel in my jealousy" (25:11). Numbers used it before only in the law of jealousy (5:14-30). The LORD had called himself "a jealous God" (Exodus 20:5), with a related word, qanna, and "the LORD, whose name is Jealous" (Exodus 34:14).

For your group

Numbers 25 Bible study questions

  1. 1It began with an invitation: the daughters of Moab "called the people to the sacrifices of their gods" (25:2). What invitations in your life look harmless but slowly pull your heart away from God?
  2. 2The LORD says Phinehas "was jealous for his God" (25:13). What does caring about God's honor look like in your own life this week, starting with your own heart?
  3. 3Paul writes of the wilderness that "they were written for our admonition" (1 Corinthians 10:11), and that God "will with the temptation also make the way of escape" (1 Corinthians 10:13). Where do you need to look for that way of escape right now?

Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads Numbers 25 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.

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Questions

What is Favor?

Favor is a Bible study app that explains every chapter as you read: the Hebrew and Greek behind the words, the details most readers miss, and how each part of the Bible leads to Jesus. Read on your own, or start a Bible study with friends, family or your church.

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