Numbers 25:14

Num 25:14 Now the name of the Israelite that was slain, [even] that was slain with the Midianitish woman, [was] Zimri, the son of Salu, a prince of a chief house among the Simeonites.

Ver. 14. A prince of a chief house.] Whom yet Phineas spared not; as neither did John Baptist spare Herod; nor Nathan David; nor Bishop Lambert King Pippin, whom he freely reproved to his face for his adultery, A.D. 798, though he were afterwards therefore slain by the harlot’s brother. {a} Odo Severus, the twenty-second Archbishop of Canterbury, A.D. 934, dealt like plainly with King Edwin, excommunicated his concubines, and caused one of them, on whom the king doted unreasonably, to be fetched out of the court by violence, burnt her in the forehead with a hot iron, and banished her into Ireland. {b}

{a} Epitome Hist. Gall., p. 30.

{b} Godw., Catal.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Hebrew, of the house of the father.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Zimri, . . . a prince . . . among the Simeonites--The slaughter of a man of such high rank is mentioned as a proof of the undaunted zeal of Phinehas, for there might be numerous avengers of his blood.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(14) A prince of a chief house among the Simeonites.—Better, of a father’s house, &c. It is probable that the tribe of Simeon was deeply implicated in the transgression, and that those who belonged to that tribe were the chief sufferers in the plague. (See Num_26:14, and Note.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the name of the Midianitish woman that was slain was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur,.... One of the five kings of Midian, Num 31:8 and so the Samaritan Chronicle says (k), it was the daughter of a king that came to a prince of the tribe of Simeon, and enticed him to eat of her food, and worship her idols. The Targum of Jonathan says she was called Selonae, the daughter of Balak, chief of the nation of Moab, whose habitation was in Midian:

he was head over a people, and of a chief house in Midian; that is, Zur, the father of Cozbi, was; there were five sons of Midian, whose names are given, Gen 25:4 from whence Jarchi concludes, that there were five principal families in Midian, and that this man was the head or chief of one of them, which is not improbable; and that also makes for the honour of Phinehas, that he spared not any for their rank and quality, of whatsoever nation they were.

(k) Apud Hottinger, ut supra. (Smergma Oriental, l. 1. c. 8. p. 448.)

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Kindred. Hebrew, "of a chief house among the Simeonites," as Sur was of equal nobility, "head over a people, and of a chief house in Madian," ver. 15. (Haydock) --- He is styled king, and one of the five princes of the nation, chap. xxxi. 8.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

A prince: this is added as a proof of Phinehas’s zeal, that he durst venture upon so great a person, who was likely to have many avengers of his blood.

Of a chief house, Heb. of the house of his father. Every tribe was divided into great households, called the houses of their fathers, Num 1:2, and he was the prince or chief of one of these, though not of fire whole tribe.

Among the Simeonites; of the tribe of Simeon, which seems to have been too much influenced by his and other such examples, so that for 59,300, which were numbered, Num 1:22,23, there were now only 22,000 Num 26:14.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Now the name of the Israelite. These details as to names seem to have been added as an after-thought, for they would naturally have been given in verse 11, where the man and the woman are first mentioned. The woman"s name is given again in verse 18, as if for the first time. We may probably conclude that verses 14, 15 were inserted into the narrative either by the hand of Moses himself at a later date, or possibly by some subsequent hand. Zimri. This was not an uncommon name, but the individual who bears it here is not elsewhere mentioned.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Now

This switches from the main story line to background information about Zimri and Kozbi. (See: Background Information)

who was killed

This can be stated in active form. AT: "whom Phinehas killed" (See: Active or Passive)

Zimri ... Salu ... Zur

These are names of men. (See: How to Translate Names)

Kozbi

This is the name of a woman. (See: How to Translate Names)

translationWords

name

Midian

Simeon

head

tribe

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

ושם איש ישראל וגו׳ AND THE NAME OF THE ISRAELITE [WHO WAS SMITTEN] — Wherever it gives the genealogy of a good man in praise of him, it gives the genealogy of a bad man mentioned in the same story to disparage him (Midrash Tanchuma, Pinchas 2).

נשיא בית אב לשמעני A PRINCE OF A FATHER’S HOUSE AMONGST THE SIMEONITES — of one of the five 'father’s houses' which were of the tribe of Simeon. — Another explanation: This is stated to tell the praiseworthiness of Phineas: that although this man was a prince he did not refrain from showing his zeal against the profanation of the Divine Name — on this account Scripture tells you who it was (a prince!) that was smitten by him.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.