25:1–3 Fearing to attack the vast throng of Israelites (22:3) and having failed to thwart them by means of Balaam, the Moabites and Midianites (at Balaam’s instigation, 31:16) then sought to subvert and assimilate Israel through idolatry and immorality. When the world cannot eliminate the witness of the elect through direct conflict it often tries to neutralize that witness by absorbing the elect into the world. Old Testament Israel was to survive in physical separation from her neighbors (Lev. 18:24; Deut. 7:3; Josh. 23:12, 13), trusting in God’s promises of land and the Messiah.

This incident at the Baal of Peor was later seen as a prime example of the temptations to which the covenant people were exposed by the surrounding peoples (Deut. 4:3; Josh. 22:17; Ps. 106:28; Hos. 9:10).