Balak's plan to curse the Israelites may have failed, but he's not totally out of luck because they seem determined to do his job for him. The Israelites are seduced by Moab and some of the men start to indulge in improper sexual relations with Moabite woman and worship their god, the Baal of Peor. God is not happy and orders Moses to kill the leaders of the guilty people. However, when Moses passes the message on, he instead orders the leaders to put to death the guilty people. Moses' way seems fairer, so I'm not going to argue. We need to take responsibility for our own actions.
Unfortunately, when people are stuck in a hole, they don't always know when to stop digging. While the rest of the community are gathered outside the Tent of Meeting, apparently weeping because of a plague that is affecting them, an Israelite man brings a Midianite woman into camp. This clearly isn't going to make God any happier so Aaron's grandson, Phinehas, decides to take action. He grabs a spear and follows the couple into the man's tent, where he impales them both. God sees this and declares that because Phinehas was zealous for His honour, He has turned His anger away from the Israelites and stopped the plague. He also makes a covenant of peace and lasting priesthood with Phinehas and his descendants. I'm not suggesting we should all go out and commit double murder in God's name - we should most definitely not be doing that - but maybe we do need to be more zealous about His honour. We need to stand up for Him, not because He can't stand up for Himself, but because we care about Him that much.
God now commands Moses to take a second census of the people, which He does. There are now 601, 730 Israelites. This is slightly fewer than before, but that shouldn't really be surprising, given the number of plagues God has sent. The census also reveals that of all the men who were counted in the last census, only Caleb and Joshua are still alive. You may or may not remember that back in chapter 14, God said that none of the men who grumbled against Him after the exploration of Canaan would live to see the promised land and His word has come true. He knows what He's talking about. And now that Moses knows how many people there are, God tells him that the land is to be allotted "as an inheritance to them based on the number of names", so that larger groups get more land and smaller groups get less land. Everybody gets the same amount of land, because everybody is equal.
Now we have a slight diversion. A man named Zelophehad has died leaving five daughters but no sons. His daughters come to the Tent of Meeting to ask that they inherit his property so that his name does not disappear simply because he has no sons. I'm pretty sure guaranteeing personal wealth and security for themselves was also a factor, but that doesn't necessarily make them greedy. There's nothing wrong with wanting to be able to support yourself. Moses agrees with their request, and so they inherit their father's property. But more than that, Moses goes on to make this a permanent law, saying that daughters should always inherit if there are no sons. The law was changed and generations of Israelite women benefited because the daughters of Zelophehad dared. What can we do if we dare? Much is made of the anti-feminism of the Bible, and it is undeniable that there is a depressing amount of misogyny and female suppression within its pages, but there are the odd glimpses of something approaching equality and respect. That doesn't make the sexism any less serious, but it does weaken the argument that women are inferior because the Bible says so.
This section ends with God calling Moses up another mountain. He says He will show him the promised land, but he will die and he will not enter the land because of his previous disobedience. Moses doesn't argue - he knows he screwed up and he has to ace the consequences - but he asks God to give the people a new leader. God immediately recommends Joshua, one of the two men that did not speak out against Him and "a man in whom is the spirit". That's what God looks for in us. He doesn't look at our curriculum vitae or our personal profile. He doesn't look at our past achievements or our references. And He certainly doesn't look at our own promotional material. What He really wants to know is if we are full of the spirit. His spirit.
Moses does as God commands and commissions Joshua through the laying on of hands in front of the whole assembly, and so Israel has a new leader-in-waiting. But this isn't the end of Moses' story. Not yet.
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