Phinehas Series

Phinehas

Phinehas, or Phineas, is the grandson of Aaron. His father is Eleazar, and he appears to be an only child.

Phinehas slaying Zimri and Cozbi, the Midianite

According to the Hebrew Bible, Phinehas or Phineas was a priest during the Israelites' Exodus journey. The grandson of Aaron and son of Eleazar, the High Priests (Exodus 6:25), he distinguished himself as a youth at Shittim with his zeal against the heresy of Peor. Displeased with the immorality with which the Moabites and Midianites had successfully tempted the Israelites (Numbers 25:1–9) to inter-marry and worship Baal-Peor, Phinehas personally executed an Israelite man and a Midianite woman while they were together in the man's tent, running a javelin or spear through the man and the belly of the woman, bringing to an end the plague sent by God to punish the Israelites for sexually intermingling with the Midianites.

God commends Phinehas in the book of Numbers chapter 25:10-13, as well as King David in Psalm 106:28-31 for having stopped Israel's fall into idolatrous practices, brought in by Midianite women, as well as for stopping the desecration of God's sanctuary. After he entered the land of Israel and his father's death, he was appointed the third High Priest of Israel and served at the sanctuary of Bethel (Judges 20:28).

The name "Phinehas" probably comes from the Egyptian name Pa-nehasi, Panehesy. The Oxford Companion to the Bible says, "the Bible also uses Egyptian and Nubian names for the land and its people ... For the Egyptians used to these color variations, the term for their southern neighbors was Ne?esi, 'southerner,' which eventually came to mean 'the black' or 'the Nubian.' This Egyptian root (n?sj, with the performative p? as a definite article) appears in Exodus 6.25 as the personal name of Aaron's grandson, Phinehas (= Pa-ne?as)." The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament interprets the name to mean "the bronze-colored one."

Heresy of Peor

The account appears immediately after the story of Balaam, who had been hired by the Moabite chieftain, Balak, to curse the Israelites. Balaam failed to do so because God had put words in his mouth of blessing for Israel instead (the first prayer said by Jews as part of their daily prayer service comes from this exact text). Having failed to curse them, Balaam left for his own country. The Book of Numbers asserts a direct connection between Balaam and the events at Peor, stating that the Moabites "caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor." Moses gave orders to kill all the idolaters. However, Zimri, the son of the Israelite prince Salu from the Tribe of Simeon, openly defied Moses and publicly showed his opinion to those standing at the Tabernacle entrance with Moses by going into Cozbi, the daughter of the Midianite prince Sur. In a moment of great strength born of holy zeal, Phinehas went after them and ran them through with a spear. He thus "halted the plague" that had broken out among the people and by which twenty-four thousand of them had already perished. God noticed that Phinehas showed loyalty and bravery to God. God decided not to destroy all the children of Israel in anger because Phinehas had made atonement for their sins. God declared that Phinehas, and his sons' sons for all eternity, would receive divine recognition for this; a covenant of peace and the Covenant of an everlasting hereditary priesthood.

The Christian book of Revelation mirrors this sentiment. Revelation describes Jesus as speaking to one of seven Christian churches: "Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: You have people there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality."

Giving a more elaborated version of events, the 1st-century Romano-Jewish historian Flavius Josephus asserts that Balaam sent for Balak and the princes of Midian and told them that if they wished to bring evil upon Israel, they would have to make the Israelites sin. Balaam advised that they send the most beautiful women to seduce the Israelites to idolatry. This strategy succeeded, and soon many of the Israelites were seduced.

Later activities

Phinehas later led a 12,000-strong Israelite army against the Midianites to avenge this occasion. Among those slain in the expedition were five Midianite kings, Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, and Balaam, Beor's son. According to the Israelite rollcalls, the Israelites did not lose a man in the expedition.

Phinehas, son of Eleazar, appears again in the book of Joshua. When the tribes of Reuben and Gad, together with the half-tribe of Manasseh, depart to take possession of their lands beyond the Jordan, they build a great altar on the other side; the remainder of the Israelites mistake this for a separatist move to set up a new religious center and send Phinehas to investigate.