Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
The Hebrews commit fornication with the Midianites, and worship Beelpeor: hence up to 24 thousand, partly are hanged by Moses, partly slain by God. Phinehas stops this plague by killing Zimri and Cozbi, and therefore God grants him the priesthood in perpetuity.
Vulgate Text: Numbers 25:1-18
1. And Israel abode at that time in Shittim, and the people committed fornication with the daughters of Moab, 2. who called them to their sacrifices. And they ate, and adored their gods. 3. And Israel was initiated to Beelpeor; and the Lord being angry, 4. said to Moses: Take all the princes of the people, and hang them up on gibbets against the sun, that My fury may be turned away from Israel. 5. And Moses said to the judges of Israel: Let every man kill his neighbors who have been initiated to Beelpeor. 6. And behold one of the children of Israel went in before his brethren to a Midianite harlot, in the sight of Moses and of all the multitude of the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle. 7. And when Phinehas the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest saw it, he rose up from the midst of the multitude, and taking a dagger, 8. went in after the Israelite man into the brothel, and thrust both of them through together, both the man and the woman, in the genital parts. And the plague ceased from the children of Israel, 9. and there were slain twenty-four thousand men. 10. And the Lord said to Moses: 11. Phinehas the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest has turned away My wrath from the children of Israel, because he was moved with My zeal against them, that I Myself might not destroy the children of Israel in My zeal. 12. Therefore say to him: Behold I give him the peace of My covenant, 13. and the covenant of an everlasting priesthood shall be both for him and his seed, because he was zealous for his God, and made atonement for the wickedness of the children of Israel. 14. And the name of the Israelite man that was slain with the Midianite woman was Zimri the son of Salu, a prince of the kindred and tribe of Simeon. 15. And the Midianite woman who was slain with him was called Cozbi, the daughter of Sur, a most noble prince of the Midianites. 16. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 17. Let the Midianites find you their enemies, and slay them, 18. because they also have acted in a hostile manner against you, and have guilefully deceived you by the idol of Peor, and Cozbi the daughter of a prince of Midian, their sister, who was slain in the day of the plague for the sacrilege of Peor.
Verse 1: Israel Abode in Shittim
1. AND ISRAEL ABODE AT THAT TIME IN SHITTIM. -- This is the 42nd and last encampment of the Hebrews in the desert, that is, in the plains of Moab; for from Shittim, Joshua sent two spies, after the death of Moses, into Canaan, Joshua ii, 1. In Shittim, therefore, were done and said all the things which are described hereafter in Numbers, and throughout the whole of Deuteronomy. This place, Numbers xxxiii, 49, is called Abel-shittim, with the added word abel, that is, mourning, perhaps on account of the mourning for the idolaters, who, being Hebrews, are narrated in this chapter to have been slain in Shittim. So Abulensis.
Verses 1-2: Fornication with the Daughters of Moab
1 and 2. And the people committed fornication with the daughters of Moab, who called them to their sacrifices. -- Behold, here is the execution of the counsel of Balaam, which he at his departure from Balak had promised to give him, in the preceding chapter, verse 14. Namely, the Moabites and Midianites, in order to safeguard their own lives, lest they be overcome and killed by the Hebrews, sent their most beautiful daughters to the camp of the Hebrews, to entice them first to lust, and thence to idolatry, so that God would become angry with them, and would abandon them, and would permit them to be both conquered and slaughtered by the Moabites.
Learn here how great is the allurement and power of beauty in women. Against the Hebrew soldiers, king Balak ordered not armed troops but beautiful women to be deployed, and this on the advice of Balaam, whom Origen here introduces speaking thus: "You must fight not with the valor of soldiers, but with the beauty of women, not with the strength of armed men, but with the softness of females; remove far away the band of armed men, and gather a choice array of fair maidens: beauty conquers armed men, loveliness captivates iron; they are conquered by beauty who are not conquered in battle."
Note here first the baseness and vile spirit of the Moabites and Midianites, who prostituted all their virgins to a foreign and hostile nation -- virgins for whom and for whose chastity they all should have fought to the death. They would therefore have acted more manfully by falling bravely in battle, or by exposing themselves to any kind of death, than by persuading, indeed by allowing, their virgins to suffer such unspeakable things, indeed to do them. This was the blindness of the Gentiles, who made little of chastity and much of life. So Abulensis.
Note secondly: These girls brought with them their gods, namely the idols of Baal-Peor, and idol-offerings, that is, foods sacrificed and consecrated to the idol, so that they might entice the young men of the Hebrews, first to eat the idol-offerings, and thence through them to worship the idols themselves. Their enticements and the arts by which they deceived the Hebrews, Josephus beautifully narrates, Antiquities book IV, ch. v; in the same manner also Julian the Apostate sought to entice, indeed to compel, the Christians of Constantinople through idol-offerings to worship idols, as Nectarius Archbishop of Constantinople narrates in the oration he delivered at the beginning of Lent, and Theodoret, Ecclesiastical History book I, ch. xiv.
Note thirdly, that these girls first enticed the Hebrews into desire of them by their beauty, adornment, and blandishments; then when they saw them burning with love for them, they did not allow them to have intercourse with them until through their enticements they led them to eat of the idol-offerings of Baal-Peor, and finally to offer incense or sacrifice to Baal-Peor himself; and thus the iniquity and idolatry was consummated. Or rather, it seems that these girls first enticed the Hebrews to intercourse; then, having already bound them to themselves, they enticed them to idol-offerings, and finally to idols, namely to the worship of their Baal-Peor. For this latter interpretation is more indicated by the order of words here in Sacred Scripture; and this is the custom of harlots, to first ensnare young men with their love, then drive them wherever they wish. For if these girls had first proposed idolatry to the Hebrews, their fraud would have been exposed, and with their idols the Hebrews would have rejected them. And in this manner Solomon was led from the embraces of women to idols by the same women. For love and lust drive the minds of the wise to madness; and, as Plato says: "The soul of a lover, dying in its own body, lives in another's."
Note fourthly: Almost all the Hebrews were captured by this fraud and the enticement of the girls, and this was the reason why Moses did not punish them; for that the greater part of the people turned aside to them, so that they did not fear Moses, is clear from the fact that, in the sight of Moses and the whole people, that Hebrew man went in to the Midianite woman, verse 6. For if he had feared Moses or the rest of the people, either he would not have gone to the harlot, or he would not have done so openly. Moses therefore did not dare to punish them, but was weeping, as is said in verse 6, and was greatly grieving with the few who had zeal for God, and was praying to God as usual at the door of the tabernacle. Whence God commanded these fornicators to be hanged, and immediately at God's command Moses recovered his vigor and courage to punish them, and did in fact hang them; for he knew that God who commanded would give the strength to carry it out, and would bring it about that no one could resist. And so it happened; for many, even among the chief men, were hanged, with no one contradicting or daring to open his mouth. So Abulensis.
Morally, that Abbot in the Lives of the Fathers, book V, title On Fornication, gave this remedy to someone tempted by the spirit of fornication: "You know," he said, "what the Midianites did: they adorned their daughters, and set them in the sight of the Israelites; yet they did not force anyone to have intercourse with them, but those who wished fell upon them. Others, however, being indignant, threatened, and with the destruction of those who had presumed, avenged the fornication: thus one must deal with fornication. And when they begin to speak in your heart, do not answer them; but rise up and pray, and do penance, saying: Son of David, have mercy on me."
With the daughters of Moab -- and with the daughters of Midian, as is clear from verses 6 and 17; for on account of this fraud and crime all the Midianites were slain by the Hebrews, as will appear in ch. xxxi.
Verse 3: Israel Was Initiated into Baal-Peor
3. AND ISRAEL WAS INITIATED TO BEELPEOR -- that is, Israel was initiated into the sacred rites of Beelpeor, it devoted, joined, and consecrated itself to him. So the Hebrew, Chaldean, and Septuagint. Vatablus translates: Israel was married to Baal-Peor. For the idolater enters into a kind of marriage and union with the idol, especially Priapus; for this one was worshipped through harlot-like copulation.
BAAL-PEOR. -- Peor and Phogor and Baal-Peor are the same; for Baal or Beel, Bel and Belus (for all these are the same) was the general name for gods, which was determined to a particular one by adding another name, so that Beelzebub was the god of zebub, that is, of flies, because when invoked by the citizens he had freed the city of Ekron from flies; Baal-Zephon was the god of the North; Baal-Berith was Baal, that is, the god of the covenant; Baal-Pharasim was the god of Pharasim. So Baal-Peor was Baal or the god of Peor.
Baal-Peor and Priapus
Secondly, Beelphegor or Phegor was the one whom the Gentiles, with the name somewhat distorted (for Phegor in Hebrew is called Peer, whence Priapus), called Priapus; so teaches St. Jerome, book VIII on Isaiah, ch. xxv, near the end of the book: "Beelphegor," he says, "is interpreted as Priapus;" and Isidore, book VIII, ch. On the Gods of the Gentiles: from Beelphegor, he says, the Latins call Priapus, and worship him as the God of gardens; for he was from Lampsacus, a city of the Hellespont, from which he was expelled, and on account of the size of his male member, the Greeks transferred him to the number of their gods, and consecrated him under the name of gardens: whence he is also said to preside over gardens, on account of their fertility. The same is taught by Andreas Masius and Arias Montanus on Joshua xiii, 20, and others throughout.
Thirdly, Priapus was called Beelphegor, that is, the god of desire, that is, of concupiscence, and therefore was depicted with an open mouth, says Arias Montanus on Hosea ix. Or he was called Beelphegor from Mount Phogor on which he was worshipped; or rather Beelphegor in Hebrew means, as it were, the God of opening or of nakedness; for the root paar signifies to open and to uncover. For Priapus, as the patron of obscenity, displayed naked members, as did his priests in his sacred rites. Indeed some think that from this obscene god Phegor or Phogor the mountain Phogor received its name, because he was worshipped on it. Hence St. Jerome, book II Commentary on Hosea ix: "Beelphegor," he says, "is interpreted as having in his mouth a swelling, that is, having the skin at the tip, so as to display the shameful part of the male member."
Fourthly, Beelphegor was an image of a naked man, who had the skin of a dead person in his mouth, by which was signified that there is no remedy for mortality, nor can fleeting nature be retained, unless through the mouth, by food and drink, material is supplied for lust and generation; through which fleeting nature is held and propagated in offspring, says Christopher a Castro on Jeremiah xxvii, 7. St. Jerome, however, cited a little before, says this skin was the foreskin of the male member, and Ribera on ch. ix of Hosea: "Beelphegor," he says, "is interpreted as having in the mouth, that is, at the tip of the shameful part, the uncovered glans."
The Cult of Baal-Peor
Fifthly, the worship of Beelphegor consisted in idleness, feasting, freedom and liberty from all discipline, honor, and chastity. Hence the priests had women, namely harlots, Hosea iv, 14, whose chief was Maacah, mother of Asa king of Judah, whom Asa removed, and overturned Priapus; III Kings xv, 13. The most shameful rites of worshipping Priapus are recounted by Herodotus in Euterpe, and others.
Sixthly, Castro thinks, and Adrichemius in the Description of the Holy Land, p. 129, and others, that Beelphegor is Chemosh: for both were gods of the Moabites, and it is said in Hebrew Chemosh from the word kemas, that is, as if groping and fondling: for he was most obscene; or from kamis, that is, to hide, to conceal, so that Chemosh was Bacchus the nocturnal, whom they worshipped at night through feasting and unbridled lusts, and from this the feasts are called komos, that is, lascivious songs and dances. Whence Athenaeus, book I, ch. vii: In great honor, he says, is Priapus held in Lampsacus, who from his epithet is the same as Dionysius (that is, Bacchus). Therefore Beelphegor, Priapus, Chemosh, and Bacchus the nocturnal are the same; therefore those who revel and give themselves to lusts worship this god. Therefore this example of the Israelites reveling, and their punishment, which is recounted in verses 4 and 9, can fittingly be proposed to Christians during Carnival. For these were the first revelers: for these things happened in the fortieth year from the departure out of Egypt, which was 1490 before Christ, 2488 of the world, as I said at ch. xx, at the beginning.
Verse 4: Hang Them up Against the Sun
4. Take all the princes, and hang them up against the sun. -- The word "them" Vatablus and others refer to the princes, as if all of them, being guilty of the crime, or consenting to it, or not preventing it, are here ordered to be hanged. For this sense seems plain and obvious. Others however, and more truly, refer "them" not to the princes, but to the fornicators and idolaters, of whom he spoke in verse 3; meaning: Take, or, as the Hebrew has it, receive, that is, convoke and assemble the princes, so that they, as judges, may subject to hanging against the sun those who are guilty of fornication and the idolatry of Beelphegor. Whence the Chaldean clearly translates: take all the princes of the people, that they may kill whoever shall be guilty. Moses therefore here ordered the princes to be assembled, not as guilty persons to be hanged, but as judges, who would investigate who were implicated in the crime, and hang them, whoever they might be, even if they were princes.
That this is so is clear, first, because it is not likely that all the princes had here apostatized from God and were hanged; indeed the contrary is established from the fact that, after this, Zambri, prince of the tribe of Simeon, fornicating with the Midianite woman, was not hanged, but was pierced through with a dagger by Phinehas. Secondly, because these princes were judges of the people, to whom Moses then said in verse 5: "Let every one kill his neighbors, who have been initiated into Beelphegor." So Abulensis, Eugubinus, and the Hebrews.
HANG THEM UP AGAINST THE SUN. -- Note: These fornicators and idolaters are ordered to be hung up against the sun, so that their faces may be exposed to shame, who were not ashamed to commit so great a wickedness: and so that tropologically this figure may proclaim, says Cyril, book XIV On Adoration, that no one can escape either the hand or the eye of that supreme Judge, who like the sun beholds all things, even the secrets which are done in chambers and beds, and that He Himself will bring those who sin and fornicate in secret into public on the day of judgment, for all flesh to see, as Isaiah says, last chapter, last verse, and will exact from them the most grievous punishments.
Add: by the very fact that the Hebrews went to these harlots, there was a strong presumption that they would eat their idolatrous offerings and worship Beelphegor; for to accomplish this end, these harlots with their idols were entirely devoted, and in reality they led all their lovers to that point.
That My fury may be turned away -- which otherwise would rage against the whole people, either consenting to or negligently failing to punish these abominations, as it often raged on other occasions. Let Christian princes and judges learn here that God avenges adulteries, fornications, and other sins, especially public ones, upon the whole people that tolerates them in its assembly or republic, and therefore if they wish to be guardians of the people, as they ought, let them punish the guilty, and satisfy God's offended justice: and thus they will turn away God's wrath and vengeance both from themselves and from the whole people.
Verse 5: Let Every One Kill His Neighbors
5. Let every one kill his neighbors who have been initiated into Beelphegor. -- "Kill," that is, hang. For this is what God commanded in verse 4. Moses here orders the princes to investigate the criminals, and to punish those whom they find guilty: whence it is clear that many were innocent. It was different with the golden calf: for all had worshipped it; whence all were slain indiscriminately by Moses and the Levites, Exodus ch. xxxii, verse 27.
Therefore here the matter was conducted judicially, and sinners convicted by witnesses were condemned to hanging. It is likely, as Abulensis says, that all who were proved by witnesses to have entered the tents of these Moabite girls were thereby condemned. For these tents of theirs were brothels, as is clear from verse 8. Just as therefore a soldier or a young man going purposefully to a brothel can thereby be convicted and condemned for fornication. For this entry gives the strongest presumption of the crime, which is done in secret and cannot be proved in any other way: for who can observe those lying in bed? So Phinehas, seeing Zambri entering the tent of the Midianite woman, pursued him with a drawn dagger to kill him, and required no other proof of the crime. Therefore by going to the Moabite harlots, they were deemed to have committed fornication with them, and consequently to be guilty of death, because God had most gravely forbidden the Hebrews, Exodus ch. xxxiv, 16, and Deut. ch. vii, 3, to enter into marriages with foreigners: therefore He had equally most gravely forbidden them to fornicate with them. For the reason for the law, namely lest they be enticed by them to the idols and vices of the Gentiles, applied in both cases equally. Whence also among Christians, adulterers, those who commit sacrilege, and the incestuous are punished with the same penalty as those who wish to enter into marriage with married persons, nuns, or relatives. So Abulensis.
Verse 6: Zambri and the Midianite Woman
6. And behold, one of the children of Israel came before his brethren to a Midianite harlot. -- This was a prince of the tribe of Simeon, named Zambri; and the Midianite woman was the daughter of a prince of Midian, as is clear from verse 14: all the greater was the zeal and courage of Phinehas, who killed both of them. For he could rightly fear that the whole tribe of Simeon would rise up against him on behalf of their prince and stone him.
Josephus adds -- let the reader decide how much credence to give -- that Zambri wished to take this Midianite woman as his wife, and professed this before Moses, and rose up against him. The same Josephus recounts his insolent speech.
The Zeal of Phinehas
Morally, learn from Phinehas that zeal is needed for undertaking difficult things. Ardor of soul makes one diligent and vigorous; coldness makes one lazy and sluggish, like the one in Proverbs xxvi: "The sluggard says: There is a lion in the way, and a lioness in the paths;" he thinks ants are lions and lionesses in the way of God; but a fervent man considers even lions as ants, and says: "If armies should stand together against me, my heart shall not fear." Hence St. Bernard on the vigil of St. Andrew: "Adam's will," he says, "did not have fortitude, because it did not have fervor." If therefore you desire noble victories over the flesh, the world, and the devil, be fervent. Palm trees love hot regions: so victories demand fervent men. You are sailing to heaven against the current; the force of fervor is necessary to overcome the force of the stream. Beautifully the Venerable Bede on Luke III says: "Unless the striving of the mind burns fervently, the wave of the world is not overcome, by which the soul is always drawn back to the depths." Indeed, natural philosophers teach that anger is implanted in us by nature, to be the whetstone and spur of virtue: for phlegm is slow, torpid, and sluggish.
Again, see here how God and men punish lust, and reward the defenders of chastity. Plutarch reports in his Life of C. Marius that Lucius, Marius's nephew by his sister, when he attempted the chastity of the soldier Trebonius, was killed by him; Trebonius, accused before Marius, confessed the deed, and giving his reason for the killing as the defense of chastity, was crowned with a garland by Marius.
Tityus, son of Jupiter and Elara, when he assailed Latona for defilement, was pierced with arrows by Apollo; they record that he was cast down to the underworld, and so bound there that he could in no way move; the poets add that his liver was torn apart by two vultures.
Phaon the adulterer, caught with Sappho, was killed, as Aelian testifies in his Various History.
The Persians, when drunk and immodestly fondling the concubines of the Macedonians, were killed at a banquet by King Alexander.
Livia, sister of Germanicus, wife of Drusus, son of Tiberius Caesar, after her husband was killed, having been joined to Sejanus, was put to death by Tiberius with the most atrocious torments together with Sejanus.
Valentinian III, the Emperor, when he assaulted the wife of Maximus, a Roman Patrician, was killed by him, who also seized the empire. So Zonaras.
The Argives had established for themselves a garrison of a thousand men: the commander Bryas was in charge of them. He violated a maiden; she, that same night, deprived Bryas of his eyes while he was overcome by sleep. Discovered when dawn came, she fled as a suppliant to the people. When the thousand soldiers demanded her back, the people refused to surrender her; wherefore, the matter having come to battle, the victorious people attacked the garrison soldiers with every kind of punishment. So Pausanias in his Corinthian book.
Verse 8: The Plague Ceased
8. And the plague ceased from the children of Israel. -- From this it is clear that a plague of pestilence, fire, or something similar had been sent by God upon the Hebrews who were fornicating and worshipping idols, and this before Zambri entered to the Midianite woman and was killed there by Phinehas: for Phinehas, seeing this plague, killed Zambri to avert it, and once he was killed, the plague immediately ceased. Thus Scripture often after the fact mentions a thing as if already done, and touches upon it briefly, even though it has not previously narrated the manner and history of the event. Behold, on both sides that saying of Pope John is true here: "Zeal purges the crime;" and: "Vengeance soothes and appeases an angry God." Rightly therefore St. Gregory, homily 15 on Ezekiel, sets up Phinehas as an exemplar of zeal and uprightness: "Are we," he says, "inflamed with the zeal of uprightness against vices? Let Phinehas be brought before our eyes, who, piercing those who were coupling with a sword, restored the people to chastity, and angry himself, appeased the wrath of God."
On the Necessity of Justice
The Annals of France record of St. Louis the king that, when he was reciting prayers from the psalms of David to God, and someone who was seeking a pardon for a criminal condemned to death had intervened, and the king, as if attending to something else, had nodded assent, but soon after fell upon that verse of Psalm 105: "Blessed are they who keep judgment and do justice at all times;" he immediately ordered the man to whom he had granted the pardon to be recalled, and revoked it, issuing this memorable sentence: "A prince who can punish a crime but does not punish it is no less guilty before God than if he himself had committed it; and it is a work of piety, not of cruelty, to execute justice." And so it truly is. "Nor (as Seneca says) can a fatter victim be sacrificed to God than a wicked man." And rightly it is said: "He who spares the wicked harms the good." For this reason they say that Emperor Maximilian I was accustomed to pass reverently by the places designated for the punishment of criminals with this solemn saying: "Hail, justice." For justice is the foundation and pillar of the republic, and is like the evening star, says Aristotle, nay, the sun of the world. M. Cato used to say, "those magistrates who do not restrain evildoers with punishments should not only not be tolerated, but should be overwhelmed with stones, lest from the neglect of punishment the welfare of the republic should be undermined," as Plutarch reports.
The Seven Plagues of Numbers
This is the seventh plague which in this book of Numbers is narrated as having been sent upon the Hebrews on account of their sins: for the first was at the Graves of Craving, where while the meat was yet between their teeth, the fury of the Lord struck them with a very great plague, Num. xi, 33; the second was upon Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, who were swallowed by the earth and descended alive into hell, Numbers xvi, 33; the third was on the same day, when fire went forth from the Lord and killed 250 rebellious men offering incense, ibid. verse 35; the fourth was on the following day, of those murmuring against Moses and Aaron and saying: You have killed the people of the Lord, and 14,700 were struck, ibid. verse 49; the fifth was when, on account of murmuring about the labor of the journey, God sent fiery serpents upon them, Num. xxi, 6; the sixth was here, verse 4, when God ordered those who fornicated with Beelphegor to be hanged; the seventh was in this verse, when God sent a plague on account of the same crime, which Phinehas by his zeal averted and dispersed. So Rupertus.
Verse 9: Twenty-Four Thousand Slain
9. And there were slain (namely, both by the plague sent from God and by the sentence and hanging of the judges, about which see verse 5) twenty-four thousand men. -- For if those hanged by the judges were not included in this number, Scripture would certainly have counted them separately. So Abulensis. Behold here, says Rupertus, how God, like a rhinoceros or rather a unicorn, is a lover of chastity, and punishes and routs the most shameful Beelphegor and his followers.
Verse 12: The Peace of My Covenant
12. Behold, I give him (Phinehas) the peace of My covenant -- that is, the security and certainty of My pact, meaning: On account of this zeal of Phinehas, I firmly decree, and as it were make a pact, and promise to him.
Verse 13: The Covenant of Everlasting Priesthood
13. And it shall be both to him and to his seed, a covenant of everlasting priesthood -- namely that he with his line, after his father Eleazar, shall succeed to the pontificate, so that the pontificate shall remain inviolably in his family and posterity forever, that is, as long as the republic of the Jews and Judaism shall stand. So Abulensis.
Others think that the priesthood is here called the peace of the covenant, that is, a covenant of peace or a peaceful covenant, by hypallage, for two reasons: the first is that priests above other men seem to be in the peace, friendship, and fellowship of God. For daily they dwell in the sight of God, converse with Him, and receive His responses: they offer to Him the prayers, offerings, and vows of themselves and of the people; the second, that the priesthood rightly administered was the cause of peace, concord, and all tranquility and happiness between God and men, on account of the prayers and sacrifices of the priests by which God is appeased toward the world.
Phinehas and Elijah
Hear here the paradox of Blessed Peter Damian, in letter 12, ch. 11, to Nicholas II, the Roman Pontiff, where he says God willed that henceforth Phinehas himself, as the reward for this noble deed, should live until the end of the world, and he thinks that Phinehas was the same person who was later called Elijah; certain ancient Hebrews held the same opinion, as Origen testifies, tome VII on John. For there Damian, citing these words of this chapter: "Behold I give him the peace of My covenant, and it shall be both to him and to his seed a covenant of everlasting priesthood," says thus: "The Lord indeed gave him the peace of His covenant, because, all bodily disturbance having been calmed, He established him to live until the end of the world in the delights of paradise. For he is, unless I am mistaken, Elijah the prophet, who was translated to heaven by fiery horses: to whom indeed the name Phinehas was given by his parents, but Elijah is a name acquired through the event: for Elijah is interpreted as the Lord God, which is believed to have been imposed on him on this occasion, because when he was sent as an envoy from the people to Reuben and Gad, who had built a new altar, he received from them this response of excuse: The Lord God most mighty Himself knows, if we built this altar with a spirit of transgression. Therefore Phinehas was called Elijah, so that their response seems to be his name."
This opinion is novel and improbable, which Torniellus refutes with many arguments. Damian nevertheless proves it, first, from St. Jerome who in the Hebrew Questions on the book 1 Chronicles teaches the same thing. I answer that that book either is not by St. Jerome, as some have noted, or that St. Jerome says these things, as he does others, not from his own opinion, but from the opinion of the Hebrews.
Secondly, he proves it from 1 Chronicles ix, 19, where Scripture, speaking of those who had returned from the Babylonian captivity, says thus: "These are the Korahites over the works of the ministry, etc., and Phinehas son of Eleazar was their leader;" therefore Phinehas lived until and even after the Babylonian captivity. I answer that that Phinehas is different from our Phinehas: for that one was a Levite, this one was a priest: that one was of the descendants of Korah, this one was the grandson of Aaron: wherefore also the Eleazar who was the father of that Phinehas was different from our Eleazar.
The Pontificate of Phinehas
Therefore, only the continuation of the pontificate in his descendants is promised here to Phinehas. This was a great reward. For the high priest of the Jews was in the highest honor and in the greatest wealth: for the largest share of the offerings, firstfruits, and tithes -- indeed, as many hold, the tithe of the tithe, that is, the hundredth part of all the fruits of the whole of Judea -- he alone received. Hence he was the supreme judge of all, Deut. ch. xvii, 9, and he contracted marriages with kings, indeed he finally obtained the very scepter of the kingdom. For the Maccabees were at the same time high priests, and at the same time leaders, and shortly after, kings of Israel. For Aristobulus, son of John Hyrcanus and grandson of Simon Maccabeus, was high priest and the first to place on himself the royal diadem, as Josephus teaches, book XIII of the Antiquities, ch. xix; and after him his son Alexander reigned, whom the younger Aristobulus succeeded, and these were simultaneously high priests and kings: and all of these were descended from Phinehas, as their ancestor Mattathias says and boasts, 1 Maccabees ii, 54. See here what zeal and the zealous merit before God.
You will object: By the law and right of nations, Phinehas, as the firstborn, was bound to succeed his father Eleazar in the pontificate: therefore no new benefit is here conferred upon him. I answer that certain new things are here conferred upon him: for first, a longer life is here assured to him, namely that he will survive his father, and thus will actually become high priest. Secondly, he is assured that the pontificate will remain in his family.
You will object secondly: The pontificate, shortly after Phinehas, was transferred from his family to the family of Ithamar, namely to Eli: for, as Josephus teaches, book V Antiquities, last chapter, and book VIII, ch. 1, Eleazar was succeeded in the pontificate by his son Phinehas, him by his son Abiezer, him by his son Bukki, him by his son Uzzi; from whom it was transferred to Eli (who was of the family of Ithamar, as is clear from 1 Chronicles xxiv, 3), who was succeeded by Ahitub, a grandson through his son Phinehas, him by his son Ahijah, him by his brother Ahimelech, him by his son Abiathar, from whom again Solomon transferred the pontificate to Zadok, who was of the family of Eleazar and Phinehas: how then is an eternal pontificate here promised to Phinehas?
Cajetan answers first that this promise is of right, not of fact: for the pontificate was owed by right to the family of Phinehas in perpetuity; but in fact it was transferred to Eli, for a short time; secondly, Dionysius the Carthusian answers that an eternal pontificate is here promised to Phinehas, not absolutely, but on the condition that his descendants follow the father's piety, and do not deserve to be deprived of the pontificate for their sins: but that the descendants of Phinehas did sin, and therefore by their own fault lost the pontificate for a time; a third response, and one easily given, is that an eternal pontificate is here promised to Phinehas in this sense, that it should not be permanently stripped from him, as it was stripped from Eli; but that the pontificate would adhere to his family until the end of the Synagogue of Judaism, even if for a short time it were interrupted and transferred to Eli and his descendants: for shortly after it returned to the family of Phinehas, and remained with it continuously until Christ. So it is said in Genesis xlix, 10 that the scepter shall not depart from Judah until Christ comes: but it is established that this scepter failed in the first year of the reign of Herod, while Christ was born in the 35th year of the reign of Herod; therefore the scepter had departed from Judah 35 years before Christ. But Sacred Scripture does not count or reckon this small number amid such a great multitude. It does the same here.
He Made Atonement for the Sin of the Children of Israel
Because he was zealous for his God, and made atonement for the sin of the children of Israel. -- "He atoned," first, that is, he punished and avenged the guilty and wicked. For thus when judges punish the guilty, they as it were make atonement for their republic before God and the whole world. For just vengeance upon crimes is the expiation of the republic. Secondly, "he atoned," that is, he cleansed: because he brought it about that no one would dare to commit similar things anymore; thirdly, "he atoned," that is, he took away the sin of the negligence of the Israelites, by which they were neglecting to correct and punish this crime; fourthly, "he atoned," because he offered the blood of Zambri, as a piacular victim, to God for the safety of the others. So Abulensis.
Verse 15: Cozbi Daughter of Zur
15. The Midianite woman, etc., was called Cozbi, daughter of Zur, the most noble prince of the Midianites. -- In Hebrew it reads: Cozbi daughter of Zur: he was the head of the peoples, and the head of the ancestral house in Midian. For in Midian five kings reigned, as is clear from chapter xxxi, verse 8, but petty ones, who are therefore called princes in Joshua xiii, 11: among these five, the most noble and the chief was Zur, who here prostituted his daughter to the Hebrews, in order to deceive, and turn away, or overcome them by this means, following the counsel of Balaam. So great was his and everyone's fear, so great their love of life and kingdom. For these Gentiles did not know the good of honor, chastity, and virtue.
Verses 16-17: Let the Midianites Feel You as Enemies
16 and 17. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Let the Midianites feel you as enemies, and smite them. -- Here God commands that the authors of the crime and fraud of Beelphegor, namely the Midianites, be avenged by war; but He tacitly exempts the Moabites, who had been a great part and cause of the crime and disaster, because He wished the Moabites to be preserved: partly on account of the merits of Lot, as is said in Deut. ii, 19; partly on account of Ruth, from whom David (for David was the great-grandson of Ruth) and Christ were to draw their origin; for Ruth was a Moabitess, born in Moab: whence before Ruth was born, the Hebrews had not waged war against the Moabites; but after she was born and migrated from Moab to the Jews, David remarkably chastised and defeated the Moabites, as is clear from 2 Kings viii, 2. So Abulensis.
The Hebrews could, by the law of nature and of nations, have attacked the Midianites by whom they had been harmed in war, but they waited for the command of the Lord; for the Lord in the desert directed them both to their encampments, and to wars, and to all other things, as He was the leader of the people. Hence immediately after the crime of Beelphegor, He commanded war to be waged against the Midianites.
Verse 18: Because They Deceived You
18. Because they also acted as enemies against you, and deceived you with snares (with frauds, about which I spoke at verse 1) through the idol Phogor (that is, Beelphegor, as I said at verse 3), and through Cozbi, the daughter of a prince of Midian, their sister (that is, their kinswoman; for Cozbi was a Midianite, and consequently was a sister, that is, a relative and kinswoman of the Midianites. For she deceived Zambri, the leader of the tribe of Simeon, whose example, as the leader, many from the same tribe, as will be clear in the following chapter, verse 14, and from other tribes followed. For the sins of princes and lords have many imitators), who was struck (by Phinehas) on the day of the plague -- for on the same day the plague raged, sent by God, verse 8; but after Phinehas killed Cozbi with Zambri, the plague immediately ceased.
Moral: The Danger of Association with Women
Morally, learn from this chapter how dangerous is association with women, and how much men ought to flee women, and women men. Eve seduced Adam, Bathsheba David, women Solomon. That old man in Sophronius, in the Spiritual Meadow, ch. cxix, says beautifully: "Little children," he says, "salt is from water, and if it approaches water, it is immediately dissolved and perishes: and a monk likewise is from woman; and so if he approaches a woman, he himself is dissolved, and comes to this, that he is no longer a monk."
All the Saints taught this both by word and by example. St. Dominic remained a virgin until death, to such a degree that he even breathed virginity upon others. Whence a certain student, kissing his hand, drew from it such fragrance and grace that thenceforth he was chaste both in mind and body. And yet St. Dominic urged those devoted to chastity to flee all women entirely, and he himself also did so, and moreover afflicted himself with fasts and penances.
St. Francis declared that conversation with a woman was frivolous, except for confession alone, or the briefest instruction.
St. Jordan, who immediately succeeded St. Dominic in the generalate, rebuked a certain Brother because he had touched a woman's hand; and when the Brother replied: This woman is pious and devout; Jordan answered: "Rain is good, and earth is good, and yet from their mixing mud is made."
St. Thomas Aquinas, when tempted by his brothers through a lascivious woman, put her to flight with a firebrand, and forming the sign of the cross with it on the wall, and praying there with tears, and asking for perpetual virginity, he fell asleep, and saw two angels who bound his loins (so tightly that he cried out from pain), saying: Behold, we gird you with the girdle of chastity, which shall never be loosed. Whence he himself was free from all sense of lust thereafter: and yet he himself ever after always shuddered at and fled from all women as from serpents.
The Queen of Sicily, mother of St. Louis, Bishop from the Franciscan family, when he came to her at Naples, wished to kiss him as her son, according to the French custom; St. Louis refused; then she said: "Am I not your mother?" to whom he replied: "I know it, but you are a woman, whom a servant of God is not permitted to kiss;" for, as St. Bernard says: "A woman's whole body is fire." Thus Joseph fled from his lascivious mistress, leaving his cloak in her hands. Thus St. Augustine, as Possidius testifies, would not even have his own sister live in his house. Thus St. Bernard fled more than once, when on account of his remarkable beauty he was solicited to sin by impure women. On other occasions he drove the same women away at night, crying out: Robbers! Robbers! and finally, to free himself from all temptation, he fled to the cloister of the Cistercian monastery, just as the Wise Man says: "From a garment comes the moth, and from a woman the iniquity of man;" and: "Better is the iniquity of a man than a woman doing good."
So finally fled the great St. John the Anchorite, who predicted victory for Emperor Theodosius. For, as Palladius narrates in the Lausiac History, ch. xliii, he saw no woman for 40 years. And when he was 90 years old, earnestly entreated by a Tribune that he allow his wife, who was importunately requesting it, to see him, he replied: "This night I will appear to her in a dream, and let her no longer persist in seeing my face in the flesh." Therefore he appeared to her in a dream as a phantom, and did not allow himself to be seen by her in any other way; and in chapter xliv, he relates the sorrowful fall of a certain hermit through a woman. I gave more examples at Genesis ch. xxxiv, verse 1.