Text: Psalm 106:29
OT Text Referred to: Numbers 25:11
Subject: zealous intervention
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Allusion
Connection Method(s): None
Significance: Numbers 25:11 attributes the end of God's plague to Phinehas's zeal (קִנְאָה, qin'ah): he was "zealous with My zeal among them, so that I did not consume the Israelites in My zeal." Psalm 106:29 recalls the provocation: "They provoked the LORD to anger with their deeds, and a plague broke out among them." The psalm contextualizes the Baal-Peor incident within Israel's broader history of covenant violations, treating it as one episode in a recurring pattern. Numbers emphasizes Phinehas's personal role in averting wrath; the psalm focuses on the people's guilt while still acknowledging in the following verses that Phinehas's intervention restrained the plague.