1Israel stayed in Shittim; and the people began to play the prostitute with the daughters of Moab; 2for they called the people to the sacrifices of their gods. The people ate and bowed down to their gods. 3Israel joined himself to Baal Peor, and Yahweh’s anger burned against Israel. 4Yahweh said to Moses, “Take all the chiefs of the people, and hang them up to Yahweh before the sun, that the fierce anger of Yahweh may turn away from Israel.”
5Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Everyone kill his men who have joined themselves to Baal Peor.”
6Behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought to his brothers a Midianite woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, while they were weeping at the door of the Tent of Meeting. 7When Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from the middle of the congregation, and took a spear in his hand. 8He went after the man of Israel into the pavilion, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her body. So the plague was stopped among the children of Israel. 9Those who died by the plague were twenty-four thousand.
10Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 11“Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I didn’t consume the children of Israel in my jealousy. 12Therefore say, ‘Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace. 13It shall be to him, and to his offspring after him, the covenant of an everlasting priesthood, because he was jealous for his God, and made atonement for the children of Israel.’”
14Now the name of the man of Israel that was slain, who was slain with the Midianite woman, was Zimri, the son of Salu, a prince of a fathers’ house among the Simeonites. 15The name of the Midianite woman who was slain was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur. He was head of the people of a fathers’ house in Midian.
16Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 17“Harass the Midianites, and strike them; 18for they harassed you with their wiles, wherein they have deceived you in the matter of Peor, and in the incident regarding Cozbi, the daughter of the prince of Midian, their sister, who was slain on the day of the plague in the matter of Peor.”
References to the prophet and lawgiver Moses are found over 1,000 times in the Bible, demonstrating his importance in biblical history. His life ranges from being a baby hidden by his mother from the death decree ordered by the Pharoah of Egypt (Exod 2:2, 3) to his death on Mt. Nebo in Jordan (Deut 34:1, 6), not far from his brother Aaron on Mt. Ebal (Deut 10:6).
Moses was the son of Amram and Jochebed (Hebrews in Egyptian slavery). He was a descendant of Levi and brother of Aaron and Miriam. His wife's name was Zipporah, through whom was born Gershom and Eliezer. He is most known as the lawgiver of the Jews and the miracle worker in Egypt, responsible for the freeing of the Hebrew people from slavery in Egypt.
Moses was brought up in Egypt in the royal house (trained in all the ways of the Egyptians, Exod ), but afterwards the killing of an Egyptian who was beating an Israelite, he fled Egypt, staying in the desert with Jethro, a priest of Midian. Moses afterward married Zipporah, a daughter of Jethro, from whom was born Moses' first son, Gershom.
Several years later, Moses encountered Yahweh, the God of Israel, who appeared to Moses in a burning bush, revealed His personal name (see Exod ) and told Moses to return to Egypt, showing miraculous signs to the Pharoah, demanding the release of the Israelites from bondage.
For more information on Moses, see Joan Comay and Ronald Brownrigg, Who's Who in the Bible: The Old Testament and The Apocrypha, The New Testament, Two Volumes in One (New York: Bonanza Books, 1980), pp. 270-289; Herbert Lockyer, All the Men of the Bible and All the Women of the Bible, Two Books in One (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1958, 1967), pp. 246-248; Biographies of Bible Characters, People and characters in the Bible. https://www.encinardemamre.com/en/Biographies/M.html