During the months of Is'ra-el's encampment on the plains of Mo'ab, at a place called A'bel-Shit'tim, many of the people attended a festival in which the false god called Ba'al-pe'or was worshipped in rites of an immoral nature. The Is'ra-el-ites had come to the festival at the invitation of the women of Mo'ab and Mid'i-an, but they should not have remained in a place where idol-worship was practiced. They were guilty of forsaking the True God, and of joining the heathen in acts which they knew were wrong.
The LORD punished Is'ra-el by sending a plague which resulted in the immediate death of twenty-four thousand men. An Is'ra-el-ite named Zim'ri and a Mid'i-an-ite woman named Coz'bi defamed the name of God by their evil deeds before the Tabernacle, and were put to death by Phin'e-has, who was a son of E-le-a'zar and grandson of Aa'ron. For this act of justice in upholding the laws of Is'ra-el he was praised by Mo'ses, and later was highly honored.
The plague in the camps of Is'ra-el was then removed, but the LORD directed Mo'ses to make war upon the Mo'ab-ites and Mid'i-an-ites for the bold, disgraceful manner in which they had turnt many of the Is'ra-el-ites from the worship of God into idolatry.
Because the women of Mid'i-an had been the chief offenders in leading the Is'ra-el-ites into idolatry and wickedness, the leaders of the army had been ordered to slay them. But when the war was over, Mo'ses found that many of his captains had not obeyed these orders, but had made prisoners of the Mid'i-an-it-ish women. He rebuked them severely, and ordered that all these women who had taken part in leading Is'ra-el into idolatry should be slain at once.
The territory east of the Jor'dan which had been conquered by the Is'ra-el-ites, from the brook Ar'non on the south to Mount Her'mon on the north, and extending eastward for many miles to the desert plateaus, consisted of wide, grassy plains and low hills and plateaus which were well watered by many streams, It was well adapted for stock-raising, and was noted for its fine pastures.
Two of the tribes of Is'ra-el, those descending from Reu'ben and from Gad, had very large flocks of sheep and herds of cattle, and were noted for their skill as shepherds. They came to Mo'ses and E-le-a'zar requesting that these lands be given them, and that they be excused from crossing the Jor'dan for the conquest of Ca'naan west of this river.
Mo'ses rebuked the tribes of Reu'ben and Gad for making this request, for it was both selfish and unpatriotic. Their wish to settle on the land east of Jor'dan gave no regard whatever to the welfare of their brethren in the other tribes. it appeared to Mo'ses that they were trying to avoid military service against the strong heathen tribes which held the country west of the Jor'dan, and he felt that such a course would be a reproach upon the unity of Is'ra-el, and a violation of the Covenant which they had made with God.
