Phinehas, the Son of Eleazar

2023-03-14

And Phinehas the son of Eleazar was the ruler over them in time past, and the LORD was with him. (1 Chronicles 9:20)

Phinehas was the son of Eleazar and grandson of Aaron. The Lord was with this man to execute judgment among the people and to go out to battle.

Phinehas was first mentioned in Exodus 6:25. If he was born in Egypt, he would have been a baby there, and Eleazar would have to be 19 or younger at the time, because he was reported to go into the promised land (Joshua 24:33).

Regarding the issue with Baalpeor, Phinehas killed a prince from the tribe of Simeon who had joined himself to a daughter to a chief of Midian. Clearly this issue, engineered partially by Balaam, was designed to join Israel permanently to another nation and their false gods. Phinehas put an end to it. “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” (Numbers 25:10-11). This event was commemorated in the Psalms: “Then stood up Phinehas, and executed judgment: and so the plague was stayed” (Psalms 106:30).

Phinehas also led the people to war against Midian. “And Moses sent them to the war, a thousand of every tribe, them and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war, with the holy instruments, and the trumpets to blow in his hand” (Numbers 31:6).

Phinehas also confronted the eastern tribes concerning the altar they built. “And the children of Israel sent unto the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the half tribe of Manasseh, into the land of Gilead, Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest...” (Joshua 22:13).

The priest was still around in the days of the judges during the civil war and the matter with Benjamin. “And the children of Israel enquired of the LORD, (for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days, And Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days,) saying, Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother, or shall I cease? And the LORD said, Go up; for to morrow I will deliver them into thine hand” (Judges 20:27-28). When Phinehas came forward, the Benjamites finally lost to the rest of Israel.

Most importantly, “the LORD was with him,” as we have seen in these events. He left a legacy where his actions pleased the Lord.

His successor to the high priesthood was his son Abishua (1 Chronicles 6:4, 50; Ezra 7:5).