-
Kevin Corbin posted an update in the group
Constructing the Sermon 3 months, 2 weeks ago Kevin Corbin posted an update right now
Help needed on a sermon — As part of my series on Hebrews, I am preaching a subset on the covenants and am working on the Phinehasic covenant (Numbers 25) – here is my dilemma … God gives Phinehas the perpetual priesthood because … the text says … “‘Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace, and it shall be to him and to his descendants after him the covenant of a perpetual priesthood, because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the people of Israel.’ ”
Now it would seem to me from the text that the atonement was made when Phinehas killed the Israelite man and the Moabite woman while they were having sex. Atonement requires the shedding of blood and this appears to be the only blood Phineas shed. Yet, elsewhere in Scripture it seems to be always the blood of an innocent and these two were anything but. My few commentaries on numbers offer no real help other than to suggest that the atonement was made by killed the two.
Can anyone out there offer me some insights?
Hi Kevin,
I was hoping someone else might respond to you – particularly someone who had looked at this particular text a little more recently than me. I looked around a little and didn’t find a direct answer to your question, either. What I might suggest is that you stay with what the text actually gives you, which is the statement about how Phineas’ response restored the honour of God. The question about atonement and innocence is perplexing, but is not directly spoken to by the text. I usually try to stick with what can be plainly articulated.
Not sure if that helps.
Thanks Kent.