Texts in Conversation
In Numbers, God grants Phinehas a covenant of peace for his zeal at Baal-Peor. Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer identifies Phinehas with Elijah, reading the covenant as the gift of everlasting life and Elijah’s later prophetic role.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Numbers 25:12
Hebrew Bible
11 “Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned my anger away from the Israelites, when he manifested such zeal for my sake among them, so that I did not consume the Israelites in my zeal. 12 Therefore, announce: ‘I am going to give to him my covenant of peace. 13 So it will be to him and his descendants after him a covenant of a permanent priesthood, because he has been zealous for his God, and has made atonement for the Israelites.’”
Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 47:8
Rabbinic
He arose like a great spiritual leader and he judged Israel, as it is said, "Then stood up Phineas, || and he executed judgment" (Ps. 106:30). What is the meaning of this expression, "And he executed judgment"? Like a great judge. Just as thou dost say, "And he shall pay as the judges determine" (Ex. 21:22). And he smote the young men of Israel so that all Israel should see and fear, as it is said, "And all Israel shall hear, and fear" (Deut. 21:21). The Holy One, blessed be He, saw what Phineas had done, and forthwith was He filled with compassion; the plague was stayed, as it is said, "And so the plague was stayed" (Num. 16:50). Rabbi Eliezer said: He called the name of Phineas by the name of Elijah—Elijah of blessed memory, (who was) of those who repented in Gilead, for he brought about the repentance of Israel in the land of Gilead. The Holy One, blessed be He, gave him the life of this world and the life of the world to come, as it is said, "My covenant was with him of life and peace" (Mal. 2:5). He gave to him and to his sons a good reward, in order that (he might have) the everlasting priesthood, as it is said, "And it shall be unto him, and to his seed after him, the covenant of an everlasting priesthood" (Num. 25:13). Rabbi Elazar of Modein said: Phineas arose, and pronounced the ban upon Israel by the mystery of the Ineffable Name, and with the script which was written on the tables (of the Law), and by the ban of the celestial Court of Justice, and by the ban of the terrestrial Court of Justice, that a man of Israel should not drink the wine of the nations unless it had been trodden by the feet, as it is said, "And as for my sheep, that which ye have trodden with your feet they eat, and they drink that which ye have fouled with your feet" (Ezek. 34:19). Because all the wine of the nations was devoted to idolatry and immorality, for they took the first of their new wine for idolatry and immorality, as it is said, "Whoredom and wine || and new wine take away the heart" (Hos. 4:11).
Date: 630-1030 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
... Elijah as Phinehas (Pirqe deRabbi Eliezer 47) and the Parabiblical Sources. Also in chapter 47, Phinehas is identified with Elijah for different yet complementary reasons, the “exegetical hook” being the reward of the “covenant of peace” granted to Phinehas and his association with “the guardian of the covenant” (qua Elijah) in Malachi. At the scene of Phinehas’ debut in Shittim, the Israelite men and the Moabite women engage in a form of ritual prostitution entailing idolatry, known as Baal-peor (Numbers 25:1–2). A plague breaks out in the camp, and God commands Moses to hang the leaders of the rebellion in order to stay the wrath of the Lord (verse 4). But when the head of the Simeonite tribe engages in relations with a Midianite princess, they all sit at the entrance of their tents and weep (verse 6). Phinehas, vigilante-like, seizes a lance, enters the tent, and spears the couple in the act of coitus, thereby halting the plague. God then rewards him with “the covenant of peace” (Numbers 25:12–13). Pirqe deRabbi Eliezer renames “Phinehas” “Elijah,” not because of the resonance between the term “jealous” or “zealous” (as in Pirqe deRabbi Eliezer 29), but because both Phinehas and Elijah enact atonement on behalf of the nation. ...
Adelman, Rachel
Can We Apply the Term "Rewritten Bible" to Midrash? The Case of the Pirqe de-Rabbi Eliezer
(pp. 303-305) Brill, 2014
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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