Phinehas
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Phinehas or Pinhas - פִּינְחָס, Standard Hebrew Pinəḥas, Tiberian Hebrew Pīnəħās is the name of two characters in the Bible.
Grandson of Aaron
Son of Eleazar, the high priest (Ex. 6:25). While yet a youth he distinguished himself at Shittim by his zeal against the immorality into which the Moabites had tempted the people (Num. 25:1-9), and thus "stayed the plague" that had broken out among the people, and by which twenty-four thousand of them perished. He killed an Israelite man, Zimri, and a Midianite woman, Cozbi, who were sleeping together (Book of Numbers 25:6-15). This has been used to justify attacking interracial couples, notably by some Christian Identity believers under the banner of the Phineas Priesthood.
For his faithfulness on that occasion he received the divine approbation (10-13). He afterwards commanded the army that went out against the Midianites (31:6-8). When representatives of the people were sent to expostulate with the two and a half tribes who, just after crossing Jordan, built an altar and departed without giving any explanation, Phinehas was their leader, and addressed them in the words recorded in Josh. 22:16-20. Their explanation follows. This great altar was intended to be all ages only a witness that they still formed a part of Israel. Phinehas was afterwards the chief adviser in the war with the Benjamites. He is commemorated in Ps. 106:30, 31. (See ED.)
Son of Eli the Judge
One of the sons of Eli, the high priest (1 Sam. 1:3; 2:12). He and his brother Hophni were guilty of inreverence in doing their priestly duties, for which destruction came on the house of Eli (31). He died in battle with the Philistines (1 Sam. 4:4, 11); and his wife, on hearing of his death, gave birth to a son, whom she called "Ichabod," and then she died (19-22).
Source
- This entry incorporates text from Easton's Bible Dictionary, 1897, with some modernisation.