He seized his spear—an iron one—entered the pavilion where the two were, and pierced them both with a single thrust. He then came out before the people with the couple still transfixed, the spear in his hand, leaning on his hip and bracing the shaft against his beard, raising them toward the sky while repeating, “O Allah, thus do You deal with those who defy You!” At that moment the plague was lifted.
Those who perished in that single hour numbered seventy thousand, although some give the lower figure of twenty thousand. Phinehas was the first-born of his father, Eleazar son of Aaron; for that reason the Children of Israel allotted to the descendants of Phinehas from every sacrifice the fat tail, the foreleg, and the jowls, and they assigned to them the firstborn of all their wealth and even of themselves.
What Ibn Isḥāq has related about the story of Balaam is sound, and more than one of the early scholars has reported it. It may be that this occurred when Moses first sought to enter Jerusalem after leaving Egypt—perhaps this is what Ibn Isḥāq intended, though some transmitters misunderstood him. We have already cited passages from the Torah that support part of this, and Allah knows best. It could also be another incident that took place during their wandering in the wilderness, for the present account mentions Ḥusbān, which lies far from Jerusalem; or perhaps it happened with Moses’ army under Joshua son of Nun when he led them out of the wilderness toward Jerusalem, as al-Suddi explicitly stated—Allah knows best.
In any case, the majority view is that Aaron died in the wilderness about two years before his brother Moses. Moses himself then died in the wilderness as well, as we have mentioned, after asking his Lord to bring him close to Jerusalem, and that request was granted. Thus the one who finally led them out of the wilderness and directed them toward Jerusalem was Joshua son of Nun—peace be upon him.