Legands of the Jews > Volume 3 >
PHINEHAS REWARDED
While God expressed His entire satisfaction with Phinehas's act, if
found many adversaries among Israel, who would scornfully call
after him, "Behold, this man, the grandson of one who fattened
calves to offer them up to an idol, daring to slay a prince among
Israel!" This spiteful remark referred to the fact that Phinehas was
descended on his mother's side not only from Joseph, but from
Jethro also who, before his conversion to Judaism, had been a
priest of idols. God therefore said to Moses, "Phinehas the son of
Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hast turned My wrath away
from the children of Israel, hence I offer him My greeting of peace,
for it was he who, zealous for My sake, preserved the seed of
Abraham." The reason God designated Phinehas as the son of
Eleazar and the grandson of Aaron was that He wanted to stop the
mouths of Phinehas's detractors, who pretended that he was
nothing but a grandson of the heathen priest Jethro, ignoring the
fact that he was at the same time the grandson of Aaron, the high
priest before the Lord. [800]
God was not content with the greeting of peace, but bade Moses
tell Phinehas: "With thy mouth hast thou defended Israel, therefore
as thy priest's portion shalt thou receive the jawbone of animals;
with thy lance didst thou aim at the bellies of the shameless
couple, hence shalt thou receive the bellies of the animals; and as
with thy arm thou didst labor to slay the sinners, so for thy portion
shalt thou receive the shoulder of the animals. As, moreover, thou
didst strive to make peace among mankind, so shalt thou bestow
the priestly blessing upon My children, and bless them with
peace." [801] As a reward for his pious deed Phinehas was
appointed by God as a priest with all the rights of priesthood, that
enabled him to lay claim to the twenty-four tributes to priests.
[802]
But the highest reward to Phinehas was that God granted him everlasting priesthood. For Phinehas is none other than the prophet of Elijah. His task it is to make atonement for Israel, and without tasting of death, he constantly discharges the duties of his everlasting priesthood until the resurrection of the dead, offering up daily two sacrifices for the children of Israel, and upon the skins of these animals recording the events of each day. [803] God furthermore said to Phinehas: "Thou hast in this world established peace between Me and Israel; in the future world also shalt thou establish peace between Me and them." He was therefore destined to be the forerunner of the Messiah to establish before his coming peace on earth. [804]
When Israel addicted themselves to an immoral life at shittim, the nations of the world rejoiced greatly, for they knew that God had distinguished Israel before all other nations, and had given them the Torah, only because their life had been moral. "Now," said they, "the crown has been taken from Israel's head, their pride is departed, for now they are no better then we." God, however, raised up Israel from their fall by sending the plague upon the sinners at Shittim, and thus purified Israel from them, so that they could again, as of yore, be proud of their family purity, through which they had been distinguished from all other nations.
God therefore ordered them to take a census, to show in this way that Israel remained true to the traditions of their ancestor Abraham by keeping their family life pure. [805] This census showed that several tribes had lost entire divisions since the time that passed between the entrance of Israel into Egypt, and their entrance into the promised land. Among the tribes that had perished were such as had already lost their lives in Egypt, those, namely, who had died during the days of darkness because they were such sinners that they did not want to leave Egypt. But heaviest of all were the losses in the tribes of Benjamin and of Simeon, for in the battle between the Levites and the other tribes after Aaron's death, when the latter, for fear of the Canaanites, wanted to return to Egypt, the Benjamites lost no less than seven divisions. All of the twenty-four thousand men that died from the plague at Shittim belonged, however, to the tribe of Simeon which, at the end of the march through the desert, had dwindles down to less than half its number. The tribe of Dan, on the other hand, had turned out to be very fruitful, for whereas at the entrance of Egypt it had consisted of only one division, it later exceeded in number all the other tribes, except the tribe of Judah. [806]
