Passage Overview · Free · Numbers 25:10–13
YHWH Gives Phinehas a Covenant of Peace
YHWH says Phinehas turned away divine wrath through zeal for YHWH’s covenant and grants him a “covenant of peace” and enduring priestly covenant. Psalm 106 later remembers his action and says it was counted to him for righteousness.
Test the Tradition: some older Christian commentators call Phinehas a type of Christ because of zeal, peace, priesthood, and wrath turned away. The New Testament never makes that identification, and the comparison must stop well short of Phinehas’s violent act: Jesus gives himself for sinners rather than giving Christians permission to kill in God’s name.