Chapter 25

1 When Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to commit sexual immorality with the daughters of Moab. 2 These women invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods; then the people ate and bowed down to their gods.⁠ 3 When Israel joined themselves to Baal Peor, the anger of the Lord flared up against Israel.⁠ 4 The Lord said to Moses, “Arrest all the leaders of the people, and hang them up before the Lord in broad daylight,⁠ so that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel.” 5 So Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Each of you must execute those of his men who were joined to Baal Peor.” 6 Just then one of the Israelites came and brought to his brothers a Midianite woman in the plain view of Moses and of the whole community of the Israelites, while they were weeping at the entrance of the tent of meeting. 7 When Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he got up from among the assembly, took a javelin in his hand, 8 and went after the Israelite man into the tent and thrust through the Israelite man and into the woman’s abdomen. So the plague was stopped from the Israelites. 9 Those that died in the plague were 24,000.⁠ 10 The Lord spoke to Moses: 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.’” 14 Now the name of the Israelite who was stabbed—the one who was stabbed with the Midianite woman—was Zimri son of Salu, a leader of a clan of the Simeonites. 15 The name of the Midianite woman who was killed was Cozbi daughter of Zur. He was a leader over the people of a clan of Midian. 16 Then the Lord spoke to Moses: 17 “Bring trouble to the Midianites, and destroy them, 18 because they bring trouble to you by their treachery with which they have deceived you in the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of a prince of Midian, their sister, who was killed on the day of the plague that happened as a result of Peor.”

Texts in conversation

Compare Numbers 25:12 and Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 47:8

Hebrew Bible · Rabbinic

Summary

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.

Passages

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.’”

750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Numbers

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 at once 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).

630–1030 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer

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. ...

Rachel Adelman, Can We Apply the Term "Rewritten Bible" to Midrash? The Case of the Pirqe de-Rabbi Eliezer (Leiden: Brill, 2014), 303–305.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

Numbers36 chapters

Compare Numbers 25:12 and Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 47:8

Summary

Passages

Numbers 25:12

Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 47:8

References

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