Living in the world, but not of the world, can be a challenge for Christ followers. The English preacher Charles Spurgeon once said, “I believe that one reason why the church of God at this present moment has so little influence over the world is because the world has so much influence over the church.”

In Numbers 25, Israel faced a grave spiritual crisis. After God’s miraculous protection from Balaam’s curses, the people had fallen into moral and spiritual compromise. The chapter opens with Israel’s tragic fall: “While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with Moabite women, who invited them to the sacrifices to their gods” (vv. 1–2). What might have seemed like a harmless cultural exchange quickly dissolved into spiritual adultery. The people “ate the sacrificial meal and bowed down before these gods” (v. 2), directly violating their covenant with the Lord.

God’s anger burned against Israel, and a plague broke out, killing 24,000 people. In the midst of this crisis, an Israelite man brazenly brought a Midianite woman into the camp “before the eyes of Moses and the whole assembly” (v. 6). This act of defiance demanded immediate action. Phinehas, Aaron’s grandson, responded with decisive action. After he killed the Israelite man and the Midianite woman, the plague stopped immediately. God responded: “Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, has turned my anger away from the Israelites. Since he was as zealous for my honor among them as I am, I did not put an end to them in my zeal” (v. 11). Phinehas showed a passionate commitment to God’s standard of holiness, and God rewarded him with “a covenant of lasting priesthood” (v. 13).