A Driving Force

Number 25:11

"Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, while he was zealous for my sake among them, that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy."

The events that led up to Phinehas' zeal being revealed were tragic.

Walking Dead Men

Numbers 14:29

"Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me,"

When God told the children of Israel that all those from twenty years of age and above were going to die in the wilderness, it was as if it was a death sentence.