One of my professor's in Bible college wrote his doctoral dissertation on this incident, specifically on the blessing Phineas received from the Lord. I always wondered what he wrote, or at least what his thesis for the dissertation was, though I've never been overburdened with the idea that dissertations were incredibly interesting to read. It's such a strange, obscure, bloody little incident in the Old Testament. The people of Israel are bowing down to another God and in the midst of their discipline from the Lord, a man flaunts his disobedience in God's and Moses' and the people's faces by taking a Midianite woman to wife, right there. Phineas burns with righteous anger and puts them to death.
Note, though, that the Lord is not blessing him for the bloodiness of his actions, but that he was did what must be done out of a zeal for God, and a jealousy that Israel remain pure unto the Lord. God says, "he was jealous with my jealousy among them [the people of Israel]." There was a plague upon the people and their chiefs were sentenced to death; 24,000 people died for their disobedience. And God makes it clear that He would have punished far more for allowing this man to be so brazenly disobedient before the Lord if Phineas had not acted.
Have you ever wanted an amazing blessing from God? I know I have. Is it really as simple as having a heart full of zeal for the Lord? Psalm 37:4 says, "Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart." Does this mean that if you desire piles of riches, credit cards with million-dollar limits, four Maseratis and a mansion on your own island, that you can simply delight yourself in the Lord and you'll get everything? No. My friends and I have often talked about the fact that when you truly delight in the Lord, the desire of your heart is... the Lord. Does it mean that if you delight yourself in the Lord, nothing bad will ever happen to you? Definitely not. We're promised difficulties, only that our difficulties will come to good for our sakes (Romans 8:28). However, the example of Phineas does show that those that love the Lord do find blessings, that Psalm 37:4 is not an empty promise: that God does look to the cares of those who love Him. Really, you continue reading in that Psalm, and you'll see such promises that if you trust in Him, He will act; that He will bring forth your righteousness, that the Lord will see justice done. Isn't that a deep desire within us? That justice prevail. And if we love the Lord, that His will be done. Promises to live by.
Tomorrow's Reading: Numbers 26:1-65.
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