Phinehas

Phinehas was a priest who lived during the Israelites’ Exodus journey. He was the grandson of Aaron and the son of Eleazar, the High Priests. As a youth, he distinguished himself at Shittim with his zeal against the heresy of Peor. When the Moabites and Midianites tempted the Israelites to inter-marry and worship Baal-peor, Phinehas personally executed an Israelite man and a Midianite woman. This act brought an end to the plague that God had sent to punish the Israelites for embracing intermingling with the Midianites. Phinehas is commended by God in the book of Numbers chapter 25:10-13, as well as King David in Psalm 106:28-31 for having stopped Israel’s fall into idolatrous practices brought in by Midianite women, as well as for stopping the desecration of God’s sanctuary. After the entry to the land of Israel and the death of his father, he was appointed the third High Priest of Israel, and served at the sanctuary of Bethel.