And the Lord said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the Lord against the sun, that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel. (Numbers 25:4)
By so drastic a course the judges (see v. 5) would prove their zeal for God and His worship.
Against the sun.
Literally, “in sight of the sun,” that is, publicly, as a warning to the entire camp (see 2 Sam. 12:12; Jer. 8:2).
Before the Lord.
Probably in front of the tabernacle of the Lord, whose worship they had forsaken. There was no offering for sin such as theirs (Heb. 6:4-6; 10:26); therefore their own blood was shed to pay the penalty for their transgression.
Hang them up.
The chiefs of the tribes, if guilty, were to be executed. Their position among the people and their participation in idolatry made them primarily responsible. Just what form the punishment took is difficult to say from the Hebrew. The same verb is used in Gen. 32:25 of the dislocation of Jacob’s thigh, except that here the causative form of the verb is used. It appears also in 2 Sam. 21:6 for the execution of Saul’s seven sons. Many commentators think the form of punishment here referred to was hanging or impalement.