Daily Devotion

August 12, 2006

Psalms 106:30 Then stood up Phinehas, and *executed judgment: and so the plague was stayed. *Executed judgment: The Hebrew verb used in this sentence is “Palal” and means: pray; entreat; judge; intercede; make supplications.

The story is of God’s judgment executed against a man who exhibited the epitome of defiance. The children of Israel were required to remain pure from the idolatrous practices of the idolatrous nations because their religious rituals involved unnatural and unhealthy sexual practices. In spite of having made a promise to obey God on these things, the people of Israel went to the nearby Moabite city, hobnobbed at the temple of Baal-Peor, and indulged in their gross practices (Numbers 25:3).

God, through Moses, showed strong disapproval, and people in the camp were in a spirit of repentance  and mourning for their sins. In spite of all this, one of the princely leaders of Israel brought the object of God’s anger to his own tent: a Moabite princess (Numbers 25:4-6; 14,15). Pinehas the priest, in zeal and indignation toward the cause of God, took a javelin and pieced them both during their contemptuous act (Numbers 25:8). Just as God caused a plague to erupt in the whole camp because of the rebellious sin of one, God also caused the plague to cease because of the righteousness of one, Pinehas.

God’s mercy is at the same level as His indignation. The devil-inspired deeds of one man can cause a group, a church, a society, or a country to be the object of God’s wrath. The God-inspired righteous zeal of one man can cause the plague to be removed.

Oh, that God may give us ‘men’ who have the ‘guts’ and righteous zeal to be moved and pray fervently about their part in eradicating the evil that affects us.
Thank God for Jesus Christ--he had the ‘guts’ to stay the plague from us by taking our sin upon his responsible shoulders, and thereby executing judgment.

Patrick Lumbroso
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