Numbers 25:16 - Meaning and Application

God had already punished Israel for this sin with a plague. As a father corrects his own children with a rod, so God disciplined his people. But we are not told that any Midianites died from that plague. God dealt with them in another way, by the sword of an enemy, not by a father’s rod.

Moses, though he was the gentlest of men and far from revenge, was told to trouble the Midianites and strike them (Numbers 25:17). We must turn against whatever leads us into sin, even if it feels as close to us as a right eye or a right hand that causes us to stumble (Matthew 5:29, Matthew 5:30). This is the kind of holy anger and right response that godly sorrow produces (2 Corinthians 7:11).

The reason for this judgment was that the Midianites had troubled Israel with their tricks and lies (Numbers 25:18). Anything that pulls us toward sin should be a burden to us, like a thorn in the flesh. The harm the Midianites did by luring Israel into sexual sin was to be remembered and punished as seriously as the harm the Amalekites did when they attacked Israel after they came out of Egypt (Exodus 17:14). God will surely deal with those who do the devil’s work by tempting others to sin. Further instructions on this matter are given in Numbers 31:2.