Cozbi

Cozbi appears briefly but decisively in the account of Israel’s apostasy at Shittim: identified as a Midianite woman and the daughter of Zur, she is killed by Phinehas alongside Zimri, and her death stands at the center of a crisis that ends a plague and leads to a command against the Midianites.

Identity and Context

The narrative identifies Cozbi as a Midianite woman and names her father as Zur, a leader of a Midianite clan. She enters the account after Israelites at Shittim have begun sexual relations with Moabite women, joined in sacrifices to their gods, and worshipped Baal of Peor.

Death at Shittim

While the congregation is weeping at the entrance of the tent of meeting, an Israelite man brings a Midianite woman before Moses and the assembled people. Phinehas, son of Eleazar and grandson of Aaron, sees the pair, takes a spear, follows them into a chamber, and kills both. The man is subsequently named Zimri, a prince of a Simeonite household; the woman is identified as Cozbi, Zur’s daughter. The account does not describe Cozbi’s speech or motives.

Consequences and Narrative Role

The narrative directly connects Phinehas’s action with the stopping of the plague, which has killed twenty-four thousand Israelites. The LORD commends Phinehas for turning divine wrath away and grants him a covenant of peace and an enduring priesthood for his descendants, saying that he made atonement for Israel. Cozbi’s death is thus part of a public episode of violence and atonement, not an individually narrated story of her life.

The Midianite Conflict

After naming Cozbi and Zimri, the account records the LORD’s command to harass and strike the Midianites, citing their conduct in the affair at Peor and Cozbi’s death. Her identity as the daughter of a Midianite leader links the specific killing to the wider conflict, although the text gives no further account of her family or personal history.