Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible

"Now the name of the man of Israel that was slain, who was slain with the Midianitish woman, was Zimri, the son of Salu, a prince of a fathers' house among the Simeonites. And the name of the Midianitish woman that was slain was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur; he was head of the people of a fathers' house in Midian."

In the extremely high rank of the principals in this sordid drama one may read the undeniable evidence that nothing casual or accidental occurred here. This was a well-planned, skillfully-coordinated, and boldly-executed plan to free the people of the obligations imposed by the Decalogue. In Zimri's marriage to a Midianite princess, the purpose was to violate and negate God's prohibition against Israel's intermarriage with foreign peoples. We agree with Cook that, "Her (Cozbi's) high rank proves that Zimri had not fallen in with her by mere chance, but had been deliberately singled out by the Midianites as one whom, at any price, they must lead astray."[12] Why Zimri? Perhaps because of his popularity and open opposition to the policies of Moses. That the Midianites employed the services of Cozbi to ensnare Zimri was also due evidently to the rare beauty and attractiveness of Cozbi, the very word "Cozbi," having the meaning of "voluptuous in a sexual sense."[13]

The immediate result of the events related in this chapter was a war of extermination waged against the Midianites by Israel. In this Divine order, we read the truth that the Midianites indeed were the perpetrators of this evil assault upon God's people. The Moabites were merely tools of the Midianites in the whole episode.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Now the name of the Israelite that was slain,.... By Phinehas, as before related:

even that was slain with the Midianitish woman; who was slain also, both together with one thrust:

was Zimri, the son of Sela, a prince of a chief house among the Simeonites; or a prince of his father's house, or family; there were five families of the Simeonites, and this man was a prince of one of them, see Numbers 26:12 though Josephus^F8Antiqu. l. 4. c. 6. sect. 10. , and so the Samaritan Chronicle^F9Apud Hottinger, Smegma Oriental, l. 1. c. 8. p. 448. , make him to be a prince of the tribe of Simeon. His name is mentioned partly to the reproach of him, and partly for the honour of Phinehas, whose zeal and courage were such, that he feared not to take away the life of a person of such figure, authority, and interest among the people.

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Zimri, … a prince … among the Simeonites — The slaughter of a man of such high rank is mentioned as a proof of the undaunted zeal of Phinehas, for there might be numerous avengers of his blood.

John Trapp Complete Commentary

Numbers 25:14 Now the name of the Israelite that was slain, [even] that was slain with the Midianitish woman, [was] Zimri, the son of Salu, a prince of a chief house among the Simeonites.

Ver. 14. A prince of a chief house.] Whom yet Phineas spared not; as neither did John Baptist spare Herod; nor Nathan David; nor Bishop Lambert King Pippin, whom he freely reproved to his face for his adultery, A.D. 798, though he were afterwards therefore slain by the harlot’s brother. (a) Odo Severus, the twenty-second Archbishop of Canterbury, A.D. 934, dealt like plainly with King Edwin, excommunicated his concubines, and caused one of them, on whom the king doted unreasonably, to be fetched out of the court by violence, burnt her in the forehead with a hot iron, and banished her into Ireland. (b)

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

A prince: this is added as a proof of Phinehas’s zeal, that he durst venture upon so great a person, who was likely to have many avengers of his blood.

Of a chief house, Heb. of the house of his father. Every tribe was divided into great households, called the houses of their fathers, Numbers 1:2, and he was the prince or chief of one of these, though not of fire whole tribe.

Among the Simeonites; of the tribe of Simeon, which seems to have been too much influenced by his and other such examples, so that for 59,300, which were numbered, Numbers 1:22,23, there were now only 22,000 Numbers 26:14.

George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Kindred. Hebrew, "of a chief house among the Simeonites," as Sur was of equal nobility, "head over a people, and of a chief house in Madian," ver. 15. (Haydock) --- He is styled king, and one of the five princes of the nation, chap. xxxi. 8.

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Unabridged

Now the name of the Israelite that was slain, even that was slain with the Midianitish woman, was Zimri, the son of Salu, a prince of a chief house among the Simeonites.

Zimri ... a prince ... among the Simeonites. The slaughter of a person of such high rank is mentioned as a proof of the unflinching fidelity of Phinehas, and his undaunted courage, because there might be numerous avengers of Zimri's blood.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(14) A prince of a chief house among the Simeonites.—Better, of a father’s house, &c. It is probable that the tribe of Simeon was deeply implicated in the transgression, and that those who belonged to that tribe were the chief sufferers in the plague. (See Numbers 26:14, and Note.)

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

a prince

4,5; 2 Chronicles 19:7

chief house

Heb. house of a father. the Simeonites.

1:23; 26:14

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

14.Now the name of the Israelite. Even as the memory of the just is blessed, so also it was equitable that the author of this foul sin should be condemned to perpetual infamy. It appears, however, from the fact of a part of the disgrace being thrown upon the whole tribe, how greatly displeasing to God was this gross enormity. For although the tribe of Simeon is not here actually involved in the charge of participating in the sin, yet are they all branded with the common mark of ignominy for their humiliation, in order that each one of them may learn severely to correct whomsoever amongst his relatives he may see offending, and by no means to encourage their vices, if he desires to do credit to the founder of his race. ⁽¹⁸⁹⁾ It is recorded that both Zimri and the Midianitish woman were of noble and principal families, not only that we may be taught that God’s judgment is no respecter of persons ( ἀπροσωπόληπτον,) in that it does not spare rank, but also that the higher a person may be in position, the greater is the disgrace he is exposed to if he conduct himself dishonorably, since their very dignity renders men’s actions more conspicuous.

Because the paternal house of the harlot is said to have been in Midian, some conjecture that she was born in the land of Moab, or, at any rate, brought up there among her maternal relatives; but, as the matter is unimportant, I leave it undecided.