Rev. Thomas Eckstein, pastor of Concordia Lutheran Church in Jamestown, North Dakota, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Numbers 25.

Why does God make such a big deal about sex? This is the reaction that many have to chapters like Numbers 25. The thing is, sex always means so much more than the physical act itself. In this case, Israel’s leaders had joined the people to Baal of Peor’s fertility cult, which threatened to totally unmake Israel. There would no longer be a holy people.

Phinehas takes action—not out of anger, but out of mournful repentance and faithful trust in God’s promise to bless the seed of Abraham. His action makes atonement, prefiguring the work of our Lord Jesus Christ, who was impaled by His hands and feet on the Cross. In all this, we see that God’s wrath is ultimately an expression of His love: it works repentance to save lives, and is thus the opposite of hateful apathy.