Sin is like Zimri and Cozbi...we must kill it. We must MURDER them..

And Moses said to the judges of Israel, "Each of you kill those of his men who have yoked themselves to Baal of Peor."
------------------------The thoughts of Phinehas before killing Zimri and Cozbi-----



Its in the camp
this pestilence lingers....
my flesh is puss, seeping thick white mucous
irritating pain
my vision is blurred and skewed the blue sky
is orange to me. At night it is blood red foreshadowing a death ignominious
awaiting (us all)
irregular heartbeats disrupt my dreams:
my lone solace from this torment
I would hold my wife, if it weren't for the blisters (jagged)
I would kiss her, if it weren’t for my dry lips

The origins of our plight foment a bastion of anger
about my conscience
Inconsolable to any talk of pardon
I am sick of what you’ve done
I am sick of what Ive become as a result
My people wail in agony, they weep at the tent of meeting
fervently
Little children scream inaudibly, their vocal cords decayed from the infection
Overtaking them
Misery walks among us in her pure form, unadulterated, unmitigated

At this fate my hands tremble
I CANT LET THIS HAPPEN
the spirit of retribution has possessed me...I can feel it inside
(I remember the outcasts in the sun before the Lord hanging
their feet dangling from their stoned torsos
purged from our camp with the daughters of Moab, exotic)
I must find a cure, freedom from my vile lot
I have resolved to wash myself in the purifying streams of murder
Anoint my head with the of oil my enemies' graves
I must leave my people to find a panacea for our ills
Before the Lord I will kneel
Before the jealousy of our God I will grab my spear

I WILL BATHE IN THE BLOOD OF THE ENTRAILS OF ZIMRI
MY SPEAR WILL BRUTALIZE THE SKIN OF COZBI
I AM SICK OF YOU TWO
REST WILL NOT COME UNTIL I SLEEP ON YOUR SEVERED HEADS
THIS EVENING
I swear it




(The Lord will not consume Israel because of their sinfulness, I swear it)


Numbers 25:1-13
While Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to whore with the daughters of Moab. These invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. So Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. And the Lord said to Moses, "Take all the chiefs of the people and hang them in the sun before the Lord, that the fierce anger of the Lord may turn away from Israel." And Moses said to the judges of Israel, "Each of you kill those of his men who have yoked themselves to Baal of Peor." And behold, one of the people of Israel came and brought a Midianite woman to his family, in the sight of Moses and in the sight of the whole congregation of the people of Israel, while they were weeping in the entrance of the tent of meeting. When Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose and left the congregation and took a spear in his hand and went after the man of Israel into the chamber and pierced both of them, the man of Israel and the woman through her belly. Thus the plague on the people of Israel was stopped. Nevertheless, those who died by the plague were twenty-four thousand. And the Lord said to Moses, “Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has turned back my wrath from the people of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I did not consume the people of Israel in my jealousy. Therefore say, '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.'"