How to know if there’s a leader worth following (Numbers 25–29)

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Pinchas: Murderer or judge?

Phineas did not kill Zimri and Cozbi in the context of a judicial decision, yet God did not command Phineas to be executed as a murderer. Why? The answer is in Numbers 25:11.

““Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned away My wrath from the sons of Israel in that he was jealous with My jealousy among them, so that I did not destroy the sons of Israel in My jealousy. “Therefore say, ‘Behold, I give him My covenant of peace; and it shall be for him and his descendants after him, a covenant of a perpetual priesthood, because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the sons of Israel.’””

Numbers 25:11–13 NASB

God states that Phineas saved the lives of many people by killing these two people. Not only does God not have Phineas tried and executed as a cold, blooded murderer, but he and his family line is granted the high priesthood not only in his generation but in future generations. The “avenger of blood” who would normally have had a right to present a case against Phineas was silenced.

It was a difficult thing for Phineas to kill someone who you did not have any prior relationship or interaction with, who, strictly speaking, did nothing against him personally. Yet Phineas did something very difficult because it was the right thing to do. He did it to save more lives.

After this last plague, God calls for Moses and Eliezer to do another census to confirm whether all of the prior generation were dead. This was not merely a ½ shekel census, they also had to verify that the people being counted were not a part of the original census 40 years earlier.

Daughters of destiny: When women became heirs

After the census was completed, the daughters of Zelophehad, came to Moses and asked for an inheritance in the land, as their father did not have sons. Moses presented the issue to God and God made a rule for their situation. He gave them the right to inherit the land of their father, but he also gave them a responsibility along with that right. There are no rights without responsibilities.

Their responsibility was that they had to marry a man within their own tribe. They could not marry outside of their tribe “because I love him.” If they wanted to inherit their father’s property, they had to marry a husband within their family tribe.

They didn’t open Rebellion & Sons

“The sons of Eliab: Nemuel and Dathan and Abiram. These are the Dathan and Abiram who were called by the congregation, who contended against Moses and against Aaron in the company of Korah, when they contended against the LORD, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up along with Korah, when that company died, when the fire devoured 250 men, so that they became a warning. The sons of Korah, however, did not die.”

Numbers 26:9–11 NASB

The children of Dathan and Abiram did not stand up against their father’s rebellion against God and they died with their fathers, while the sons of Korah, rebelled against their father. Korah’s sons accepted God’s judgment of the death in the wilderness, they stoically accepted God’s judgement in a way that their father Korach was not.

Differences between Moshe and Yehoshua as shepherds of Israel 

“Then Moses spoke to the LORD, saying, “May the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation, who will go out and come in before them, and who will lead them out and bring them in, so that the congregation of the LORD will not be like sheep which have no shepherd.””

Numbers 27:15–17 NASB

God chose Joshua as the next leader for Israel, after Moses, in a peaceful transfer of power. Moses spoke with God directly, but Joshua doesn’t.

Joshua was a righteous man, he was Moses’ protege, he was a righteous spy. The sun stopped spinning on Joshua’s word so it’s obvious that God’s spirit was in him. Joshua also had some weaknesses. For, example, he allowed himself to be deceived by the Gibeonites, who pretended to be from a far away land. He didn’t go to Eliezer to ask God to confirm the truthfulness of their testimony.

Joshua also went headlong into the battle of Ai, presuming that was all well. He didn’t ask God first if the people were ready to go into battle. If he had approached God first, he could have rooted out the sin of Achan first, and Israel would have won their first battle against Ai, rather than the humiliating defeat with the loss of life.

Moses was called “the most humble man who live on earth” because even though Moses knew the law, He always went to God before establishing new precedents. He went to God when the man was caught gathering sticks on the Shabbat. He went to God with the matter of Zelophehad’s daughters. Moses lived with such great humility that he didn’t use his own judgement. He went to God and went by His judgement. Moses was diligent in deferring to God than Joshua was.

Jeremiah 1:1–2:3: Warning for the shepherds of Israel

Now, we will go to the opening chapter of the book of Jeremiah, the parallel passage (haftarah) for the Pinchas reading. Jeremiah was a descendant of Aaron the high priest through his father Hilkiah, who was one of the priests at Anathoth. Jeremiah was a descendant of the Elide priest Abiathar. King Solomon expelled Abiathar from Jerusalem to Anathoth in the land of Benjamin so that Zadok’s line would serve as the sole high priestly line in Jerusalem.

Jeremiah was allowed to serve as a preist in the temple but he would never be allowed to serve as high priest. We see that God is calling him a prophet, but Jeremiah didn’t want it. He didn’t think he could do it. The truth is that Jeremiah could do the job because God is the one calling him to it. Jeremiah’s fear of God was strong enough for him to accept God’s calling and His insistence made Jeremiah believe Him. Jeremiah believed in God and believed God.

Jeremiah is not only given a sermon or a message to speak, but God also warns Jeremiah that the mission He is embarking upon is going to be so hard that the most powerful men in the nation of Judah will be against him, yet God will be with him and keep him strong.

Jeremiah’s first message to the people was a very powerful message. God calls out the shepherds of Judah because they did not inquire of God about how to lead His people. God calls them worthless leaders and warns that He is going to bring a foreign army in to take their status away.

Peaceful transfer of power is worthless if the former leaders and the new leaders ignore God. The only leaders who are worth following are those who inquire of God and lead the way He wants. When we look for leaders, we need to see if they have the humility of Moses and Jeremiah or if they have the arrogance of the rebellious leaders who Moses and Jeremiah confronted.

Summary: Tammy