Phinehas: How to End A Plague
In light of the holiday, I guess it would be a great opportunity for me to write a little something about Thanksgiving. To the believer, I’d say that this year, especially, we need to take time to really, really, give thanks to The LORD GOD ALMIGHTY for his many blessings. Not the cursory thanks given as a memorized standard prayer delivered when blessing a meal.
Face it, there just isn’t a whole lot that can be said about the year 2020 that hasn’t already been spoken of, written about, or offered in the form of a meme or TikTok post. There just hasn’t been a lot of positives born out of the year 2020.
At this time of thanksgiving, I’m recalling yesterday when I was driving to my brother-in-law and sister-in-law’s home for our thanksgiving meal. As I neared their home, the thought occurred to me that my sister-in-law always calls on me to bless the meal. This, for any readers who are not from the “Bible Belt” South in these the United States of America, is an important part of most meals where family and friends gather, especially on the Christian holidays of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter. Not that we, the people of the deep south holds the patent on the act of saying grace before a meal, I just know that we practice it often.
As I drove, I considered the prayer that I’d deliver this year, in light of this being Thanksgiving in a year of such prophetic events. I realized how difficult it is to recognize blessings in a time of a plague on Earth. Then I made a turn and thoughts of traffic replaced contemplation of my upcoming prayer. In fact, the prayer never crossed my mind again until a line was forming before the food and I heard my name being called. I said a very quick silent prayer for the Lord to give me words to speak. Then I prayed over our meal and attempted to thank God for his blessing, especially in light of the pandemic.
Earlier today, while browsing and reading as I do daily, I ran across an article about a wildfire that occurred on October 8, 1871, which completely destroyed the Wisconsin town of Peshtigo. From over a century of daily recorded weather statistics, meteorologists have been able to reproduce a very accurate scenario for the weeks leading up to that fateful day. The article painted a picture of the conditions that came together to form a “perfect storm” of fire, a fiery hurricane, if you will, that killed around 800 people and left almost nothing behind. One of the artifacts left behind is a charred Bible, open to Psalms 106 and 107.
After reading this fascinating story, I opened my Bible and read the books spared from the inferno. I’ve read these pages in the past, on occasion, more than once, based upon some markings. Believers know that the Bible is more than a collection of writings, it is a dynamic and supernatural entity, housing not only words, verses, chapters, and stories, but possessing a live connection to a living omnipotent being we know as CREATOR, LORD, and SAVIOR.
Psychiatrists use the term apophenia to describe the tendency of a person to perceive meaningful connections between two unrelated things. Apophenia has been used as a term related to early schizophrenic behavior. It has been in the rationalization of gamblers, who believe there are patterns in lottery numbers, or how one result of a dice roll will bring a certain combination on a subsequent roll. The term has also been used to explain errors in statistics, and often seen in financial forecasting.
Right or wrong, and mental defect notwithstanding, I cannot deny the parallel between my reading about an 1871 fire and that act being a catalyst for me to open the HOLY BIBLE and read. The entire exercise from the contemplation of a Thanksgiving Day prayer to an 1871 Wisconsin fire to a Biblical act of murder that served to end a plague should be cause enough to make me wonder if they are coming to take me away. But this is often how the Holy Spirit works.
Specifically, Psalms 106 begins and ends speaking of giving thanks. Psalms 106 reminds the reader of many of the acts of God to deliver his people from the many perils brought upon them, usually as a result of their own disobedience. It also references accounts from the book of Numbers, about men who attempted to rise up in rebellion against Moses and Aaron, and how God opened up the Earth and Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, along with their families and their possessions were “swallowed up” and how God sent fire to consume 250 followers in the rebellion.
Then there is the account of Phinehas, another character from the book of Numbers referenced in Psalms 106. The story of Phinehas is more pertinent to my story about a Thanksgiving pandemic prayer and an account of a 149-year-old fire. I recall my Uncle Mac T. Bracey telling me back when I was a teenager that “the Old Testament has better stories than any fiction you can find in a bookstore.”
The story of Phinehas referenced in Psalms 106 is found in the 25th chapter of the book of Numbers. Here, the Bible tells us that God’s anger burned against the men of Israel because they had given themselves into sexual immorality with Moabite women. Specifically, along with the sexual sin, came the worship of a Baal of Peor. One commentary on the subject said that the women of Moab would even put a statue of Baal in their “bosom” and invite the men of Israel to “worship” Baal. God became so incensed by the state of the children of Israel that he called upon Moses, Aaron, and the spiritual leaders of the nation to identify and deal with the idolaters. The scripture continues that the offenders became so bold, (as we have seen) that they would flaunt their activities in front of God’s people, daring those righteous to give in to temptation and follow the group.
I guess that it should be noted that the bible doesn’t exactly follow a timeline always. Often one thing occurs in one chapter or passage and something is going on at the same time, but we don’t see it until chapters later. In the case of God’s vengeance upon Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, as well as the events surrounding Phinehas, the timeline seems to be nearly simultaneous, all occurring just months from the children of Israel entering the Promised Land.
So we have the events going on with Israel giving into disobedience and we find that Moses and Aaron at a loss as to how to address it. God instructs Moses to gather the leadership for a meeting to begin to deal out justice and to set the people back on the straight and the narrow. As the council and the people gather, a man of Israel brings a Moabite woman into camp and begins having sex right in front of everyone.
To sum it all up, we have 3 men with 250 followers working on a rebellion against Moses and Aaron. We have men of Israel being seduced by Moabite women to the point that they are “yoking themselves” to the false god, Baal of Peor. There is a plague that kills 24,000. The Earth opens up and swallows whole families, fire consumes evildoers, and then there is this couple who have the nerve to walk up and as an “in-your-face” as possible gesture, begin having public sex. The Grandson of Aaron, Phinehas, overcome by it all, grabs a spear and drives it through the fornicators, killing them both.
The zealous act so moves God that he immediately puts an end to the plague and rewards Phinehas and all his descendants with a covenant of lasting priesthood and gives atonement for the disobedience of the Israelites.
Apophenia? Maybe. Maybe old DBeazy is ready for the straight jacket, the paddy wagon, and the padded room. Or maybe, here in 2020, the contemplation and consideration of a prayer of thanks, and subsequent journey through the Old Testament, ends up being a valid connection. I won’t argue the validity of any catalyst that causes me to open the living word of GOD. I only pray that any reference to that word on my part is sanctioned by the Holy Spirit and falls upon ears willing to listen, or in this case, eyes that will see.
In conclusion, I ask these questions. Is the Covid pandemic of 2020 punishment for a disobedient world? Have we finally angered GOD to the point of vengeance? Who among us will drive a spear through an offender who is responsible for this mess? Is there something we can do collectively to assuage our fears and bring an end to the plague we are under? And finally, where is Phinehas when we need him?
For more reading:
And of course:
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%20106-107&version=NIV
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Numbers%2016&version=NIV
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Numbers%2025&version=NIV