Bible Strands
Numbers 25:18
For they assailed you deceitfully when they seduced you in the matter of Peor and their sister Cozbi, the daughter of the Midianite leader, the woman who was killed on the day the plague came because of Peor.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The LORD addresses Moses, providing the rationale for the command to strike the Midianites dead in Numbers 25:17. This statement occurs within the narrative of Israel's crisis at Peor, where Midianite women and their leadership led the people into idolatry and sexual immorality.
The words — The text emphasizes נִכְּל֥וּ (ni.ke.Lu), rendered literally as "they have dealt deceptively," to define the method of the Midianite assault. This verb directly modifies the claim that the enemy assailed Israel through calculated seduction rather than open warfare.
The thread — The deception motif recurs in Revelation 2:14, where the same pattern of leading believers into idolatry and sexual sin through false teaching is condemned. The narrative also echoes Genesis 3:13, where deception is identified as the mechanism for breaking covenant boundaries.
Why it lands — The text requires a reader to recognize that spiritual compromise often arrives through calculated seduction rather than obvious hostility. It demands vigilance against any teaching or relationship that systematically redirects loyalty away from the covenant command.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
For they vex you with their wiles, wherewith they have beguiled you in the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of a prince of Midian, their sister, which was slain in the day of the plague for Peor’s sake.
Cross-references
- Revelation 2:14 But I have a few things against you, because some of you hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to place a stumbling block before the Israelites so they would eat food sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality.
- Genesis 3:13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” “The serpent deceived me,” she replied, “and I ate.”
- Genesis 26:10 “What is this you have done to us?” asked Abimelech. “One of the people could easily have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.”
- Exodus 32:21 “What did this people do to you,” Moses asked Aaron, “that you have led them into so great a sin?”
- Exodus 32:35 And the LORD sent a plague on the people because of what they had done with the calf that Aaron had made.
- Numbers 31:15 “Have you spared all the women?” he asked them.
- 2 Corinthians 11:3 I am afraid, however, that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may be led astray from your simple and pure devotion to Christ.
- 2 Peter 2:14 Their eyes are full of adultery; their desire for sin is never satisfied; they seduce the unstable. They are accursed children with hearts trained in greed.
- 2 Peter 2:18 With lofty but empty words, they appeal to the sensual passions of the flesh and entice those who are just escaping from others who live in error.