A certain man coolly brings a
Midianitish woman into the camp before the very eyes of Moses and
the weeping children of Israel: then the young hereditary priest
Phinehas takes a spear, transfixes the godless pair, and by this
zeal averts the anger of Jehovah. This narrative is based on the
Jehovistic one, which is also preserved to us only in part (Numbers
xxv. 1-5), about the backsliding of Israel in the camp of Shittim
to the service of Baal-Peor, to which they were seduced by the
daughters of Moab. In the Priestly Code the idolatry has quite
disappeared, all but some unconscious reminiscences, and no
sin is alleged but that of whoredom, which in the original story
merely led up to the main offence. This is done manifestly with
the idea that marriage with foreign women is in itself a falling
away from Jehovah, a breach of the covenant. This change was
extremely suitable to the circumstances of exilic and post-exilic
Judaism, for in these later days there was no immediate danger of
gross idolatry, but it took a good deal of trouble to prevent
heathenism from making its way into the midst of the people under
the friendly form of mixed marriages.
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