Daily Devotions
Phineas
Title: Phineas
Reading for February 17: Numbers 25-26
And the Lord said to Moses, “Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has turned back my wrath from the people of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I did not consume the people of Israel in my jealousy.
Numbers 25:10-11
An argument used by critics against the Christian faith (and one that has gained in popularity recently) is that the "God of the Old Testament" is vindictive and capricious in his judgments against nations; that he engages in and sanctions violence; that this God, in short, is some kind of monster.
It is not my intent to answer all of these arguments in this short devotion. However, I believe there are a few salient points that should be made from this narrative about Phinehas's zeal for God. When Phinehas killed that Israelite who was committing fornication with the Midianite woman, he did so because:
- He was stamping out a cancer that was spreading in the camp (idolatry and fornication).
- He was showing a godly concern for extreme sin.
- He knew God had made specific warnings about the consequences of these sins.
- He was exercising the righteous judgment of God.
- He was doing so under a theocratic system (where God's moral laws are enforced by the government).
However, all of these points assume that there is such a thing as sin. Of course, this is where we part ways with most liberal critics of the Bible. They see these judgments as "vindictive" and "capricious" because they don't believe in sin in the first place. "They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is isn them, due to their hardness of heart." (Eph 4:18)
We should not apologize for God's righteous judgments recorded for us in the Bible. Rather, we should have the same zeal for God that Phinehas had. While we have no right to enforce God's justice against sin by putting people to death (and are not called to do so under the new covenant--see point #5 above), we should be bothered by sin and engage in this holy war against sin by warning those who do not know Christ of the wrath of God that is coming against the sons of disobedience (Eph 5:6-14; 6:10-20).
"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil." 2 Corinthians 5:10
Father, help us to see sin as you see it and to be filled with your zeal as Phinehas was. And help us to "speak the truth in love" to those who don't know you.
