Righteous Phinehas (c. 1500 BC)

The righteous Phinehas (c. 1500 BC), grandson of the high priest Aaron and son of the high priest Eleazar, was himself a priest.

When the Israelites, whom the holy Prophet Moses (commemorated 4 September) had brought out of bondage in Egypt, drew near to the promised land, their neighbours the Moabites and Midianites were filled with fear and envy; they summoned the sorcerer Balaam and asked him to curse the Hebrews. By the will of the Lord Balaam blessed the chosen people three times. Then the Moabites led the Israelites astray with the idol of Baal-peor. The Lord punished the apostates: thousands of Hebrews died of pestilence. At that time a certain Zimri, of the tribe of Simeon, brought a Midianite woman in the sight of Moses and the whole congregation. The enraged Phinehas thrust through both the Israelite and the woman with a sword. “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, while he was zealous for my sake among them, that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy. Wherefore say, Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace: and he shall have it, and his seed after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was zealous for his God, and made an atonement for the children of Israel” (Num. 25:10–13). After this, at God’s call, the army of the Israelites, led by the righteous Phinehas, defeated the Moabites. After the death of Eleazar, Saint Phinehas was unanimously chosen high priest. Phinehas died in deep old age (c. 1500 BC).