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Person

Phinehas פנחס

Aharon's grandson, granted the "covenant of peace" and eternal priesthood

Pinchas is the son of Elazar and grandson of Aharon. He appears at the darkest moment of the forty years: after Bilam's counsel Israel falls into immorality and the cult of Baal Peor, a plague breaks out, and a tribal prince openly takes a Midianite woman into his tent. Moshe and the elders weep at the entrance of the sanctuary; Pinchas acts.

The Torah reports the deed without enthusiasm and without condemnation—as the fact that halted the death of 24,000. Then God says: "Behold, I give him My covenant of peace." The sages dwell on that word: the violent man is given peace, because the aim was not rage but the end of a catastrophe. The Talmud stresses that the law here "is not taught"—it cannot be turned into a rule.

He and his line receive eternal priesthood; he serves as High Priest under Yehoshua and into the age of the judges, and averts a civil war over the altar built by the Transjordanian tribes.

Midrash identifies Pinchas with Eliyahu the Prophet.

Chain of transmission

Link no. 3 of 40 in the enumeration of Maimonides (Introduction to the Mishneh Torah): “from Rav Ashi back to Moses our teacher — forty men”. Maimonides’ own count runs the other way, making this number 38.
Joshua → Phinehas → Eli the High Priest

On the timeline

2487 · 1274 BCEBalak and Balaam: the Curse That Became a Blessing2488 · 1273 BCEThe War against Midian2488 · 1273 BCEThe Entry into the Land under Joshua and the Fall of Jericho2503 · 1258 BCEThe Division of the Land among the Tribes2516 · 1245 BCEThe Death of Joshua son of Nun2516 · 1245 BCEThe Era of the Judges: "Everyone Did What Was Right in His Own Eyes"

Places

Shiloh

Related

AaronMosesJoshuaElijah the Prophet

Sources

Tanakh

  • Bamidbar 25; 31 — the deed at Shittim, the “covenant of peace”, and the campaign against Midian
  • Yehoshua 22 — Pinchas at the head of the embassy to the Transjordanian tribes

Chazal: Mishnah, Talmud, midrash, Zohar

  • Sanhedrin 82a–82b — the analysis of the act: “the law exists, but one does not instruct so”
  • Pirkei deRabbi Eliezer 47 — the identification of Pinchas with Eliyahu

Rishonim

  • Yalkut Shimoni, Pinchas — the collection of midrashim

Basis: tradition.

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