I am still considering, by a very long way around, Rejoice in hope, endure in suffering, persist in prayer[1] as a description of love rather than as rules to obey. In this particular essay I’m attempting to add some detail if not some clarity to the questions asked at the end of the previous essay: Were the Benjaminites wholehearted supporters of the children of Belial’s right to know any strange man who wandered into town or to gang-rape young women? Or did they decide that it was better to die fighting than to acknowledge the children of Belial among them and give their brothers legal cause to slaughter the inhabitants of that city with the sword; annihilate with the sword everyone in it[2]?
I assumed since the story of the Levite and his concubine came late in the book of Judges that it happened late in the time period that the Judges led Israel. But the high priest at the time was none other than Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron.[3]
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The Priest Lists |
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| 1 Chronicles 6:3b-15 (NET) | 1 Chronicles 6:50-53 (NET) | Ezra 7:1-5 (NET) |
| Aaron | Aaron | Aaron |
| Eleazar | Eleazar | Eleazar |
| Phinehas | Phinehas | Phinehas |
| Abishua | Abishua | Abishua |
| Bukki | Bukki | Bukki |
| Uzzi | Uzzi | Uzzi |
| Zerahiah | Zerahiah | Zerahiah |
| Meraioth | Meraioth | Meraioth |
| Amariah | Amariah | |
| Ahitub | Ahitub | |
| Zadok | Zadok | |
| Ahimaaz | Ahimaaz | |
| Azariah | ||
| Johanan | ||
| Azariah[4] | Azariah | |
| Amariah | Amariah | |
| Ahitub | Ahitub | |
| Zadok | Zadok | |
| Shallum | Shallum | |
| Hilkiah | Hilkiah | |
| Azariah | Azariah | |
| Seraiah[5] | Seraiah | |
| Jehozadak[6] | Ezra | |
Phinehas was introduced apparently as a boy who took a javelin in his hand.[7] And now I see what I never saw before in these events (Numbers 25:1-5 NET).
When Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to commit sexual immorality (zânâh, לזנות; Septuagint: ἐκπορνεῦσαι, a form of ἐκπορνεύω) with the daughters of Moab. These women invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהיהן); then the people ate and bowed down to their gods (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, לאלהיהן). When Israel joined themselves to Baal-peor (baʽal peʽôr, פעור), the anger of the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) flared up against Israel. The Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) said to Moses, “Arrest all the leaders (rôʼsh, ראשי) of the people, and hang them up before the Lord (yehôvâh, ליהוה) in broad daylight, so that the fierce anger of the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) may be turned away from Israel.” So Moses said to the judges (shâphaṭ, שפטי) of Israel, “Each of you must execute (hârag, הרגו) those of his men who were joined to Baal-peor (baʽal peʽôr, פעור).”
Moses and the whole community of the Israelites, were weeping at the entrance of the tent of meeting.[8] I don’t know if they wept because of the sorrow believers feel when those who profess faith are found in sin or because their leaders[9] were about to be executed or because of an unspecified[10] plague that ravaged them. But as the people wept Zimri,[11] a man of Israel, paraded Cozbi,[12] a Midianite woman, before them.
When Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he got up from among the assembly, took a javelin in his hand, and went after the Israelite man into the tent and thrust through the Israelite man and into the woman’s abdomen.[13] Every other time I’ve read this I assumed that Phinehas was also a priest, acting with yehôvâh’s authority, prompted by his Holy Spirit. But suspecting now that he was an upstart boy as liable to judgment and condemnation for his action as not, I hear yehôvâh’s words differently (Numbers 25:10-13 NET):
The Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) spoke to Moses: “Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned my anger away from the Israelites, when he manifested such zeal for my sake among them, so that I did not consume the Israelites in my zeal. Therefore, announce: ‘I am going to give to him my covenant of peace. So it will be to him and his descendants after him a covenant of a permanent priesthood, because he has been zealous for his God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, לאלהיו), and has made atonement for the Israelites.’”
So the plague was stopped from the Israelites. Those that died in the plague were 24,000.[14] And Phinehas lived to become the high priest advising the brotherhood assembled at Gibeah demanding the lives of the children of Belial. Unless he lived three hundred[15] or more years (and that remarkable feat wasn’t mentioned) this was not at the end of the rule of the Judges. So I consider again the preamble of the book of Judges (Judges 2:18, 19 NET):
When the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) raised up leaders (shâphaṭ, שפטים) for them, the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) was with each leader (shâphaṭ, השפט) and delivered the people from their enemies while the leader (shâphaṭ, השופט) remained alive. The Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) felt sorry for them when they cried out in agony because of what their harsh oppressors did to them. When a leader (shâphaṭ, השופט) died, the next generation would again act more wickedly than the previous one. They would follow after other gods, worshiping them and bowing down to them. They did not give up their practices or their stubborn ways [Table].
It is disheartening and a bit disconcerting (though not entirely implausible) to place the events at Gibeah at or near the top of this downward spiral rather than at its bottom. But dating it nearer Israel’s conquest of annihilation against the prior inhabitants of Canaan may go a long way toward explaining the vindictiveness of the brotherhood toward their brothers. Consider Phinehas’ formative education (Numbers 31:1-3 NET).
The Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) spoke to Moses: “Exact (nâqam, נקם; Septuagint: ἐκδίκει, a form of ἐκδικέω) vengeance (neqâmâh, נקמת; Septuagint: ἐκδίκησιν, a form of ἐκδίκησις) for the Israelites on the Midianites – after that you will be gathered to your people.”
So Moses spoke to the people: “Arm men from among you for the war, to attack the Midianites and to execute the Lord’s (yehôvâh, יהוה) vengeance (neqâmâh, נקמת; Septuagint: ἐκδίκησιν, a form of ἐκδίκησις) on Midian.
So Moses sent them to the war, one thousand from every tribe, with Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest, who was in charge of the holy articles and the signal trumpets.[16] They killed all the men, including Balaam son of Beor.[17] But Moses was furious[18] (Numbers 31:15-18 NET):
Moses said to them, “Have you allowed all the women to live? Look, these people through the counsel of Balaam caused the Israelites to act treacherously against the Lord (yehôvâh, ביהוה) in the matter of Peor – which resulted in the plague among the community of the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה)! Now therefore kill every boy, and kill every woman who has had sexual intercourse (mishkâb, למשכב) with a man. But all the young women who have not had sexual intercourse (mishkâb, משכב) with a man will be yours.
I want to pause a moment to consider Balaam, to challenge and enlighten my own parochialism. The Israelites killed Balaam son of Beor, the omen (qâsam, הקוסם) reader, along with the others.[19] When you enter the land the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) your God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהיך) is giving you, Moses said to Israel, you must not learn the abhorrent practices of those nations. There must never be found among you anyone who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, anyone who practices divination (qesem, קסם), an omen (qâsam, קסמים) reader, a soothsayer (nâchash, ומנחש), a sorcerer, one who casts spells, one who conjures up spirits, a practitioner of the occult, or a necromancer. Whoever does these things is abhorrent to the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) and because of these detestable things the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) your God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהיך) is about to drive them out from before you.[20] Balaam was not a son of Israel but was of Pethor in Aram Naharaim.[21] He was certainly no follower of Jesus.
Yet while not denying the truth of any of this I must accept that yehôvâh used Balaam as his prophet to Balak. But the angel of the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but you may only speak the word that I will speak to you.” So Balaam went with the princes of Balak.[22] Then the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) put a message in Balaam’s mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and speak what I tell you.”[23] Then the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) met Balaam and put a message in his mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and speak what I tell you.”[24]
Balaam was affected by his association with yehôvâh. He uttered his oracle[25] (mâshâl, משלו; also translated discourse and speech). How can I curse one whom God (ʼêl, אל) has not cursed, or how can I denounce one whom the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) has not denounced?[26] Must I not be careful to speak what the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) has put in my mouth?[27] Did I not tell you, ‘All that the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) speaks, I must do’?[28] When Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) to bless Israel, he did not go as at the other times to seek for omens (nachash, נחשים), but he set his face toward the wilderness.[29]
This is not to say that Israel was wrong to kill Balaam when they found him in Midian. If yehôvâh wanted to spare him, He could have warned Moses or Balaam himself. If Balaam was warned but refused or was too fearful to flee, that is another story I won’t know for the time being. And Balaam was not made perfect. He still tried to accommodate his employers’ desire to destroy Israel by counseling them [in the name of Baal-peor(?)] how to use women to trip them up. The Children of God called it “Flirty Fishing.” Balaam was not fit to be a prophet of Israel (Deuteronomy 18:13-15 NET):
You must be blameless before the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) your God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהיך), Moses continued. Those nations that you are about to dispossess listen to omen (qâsam, קסמים) readers and diviners, but the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) your God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהיך) has not given you permission to do such things. The Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) your God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהיך) will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you – from your fellow Israelites; you must listen to him [Table].
To pick up again with Phinehas’ formative education: The Israelites sent Phinehas, son of Eleazar, the priest, to the land of Gilead to the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh[30] to investigate why they had built an impressive altar[31] near the west bank of the Jordan River. Tensions were running high, as high if not higher, then when the descendants of Reuben and Gad petitioned[32] Moses, Eleazar the priest, and the leaders of the community[33] for possession of the conquered land east of the Jordan. Moses, forbidden to enter the promised land and near death, assumed that the descendants of Reuben and Gad plotted to discourage Israel from entering that land. He said (Numbers 32:14, 15 NET):
Now look, you are standing in your fathers’ place, a brood of sinners, to increase still further the fierce wrath of the Lord (yehôvih, יהוה) against the Israelites. For if you turn away from following him, he will once again abandon them in the wilderness, and you will be the reason for their destruction.
This is the end of a fearful diatribe that twice mentions yehôvâh’s anger: So the anger of the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) was kindled that day,[34] and, So the Lord’s (yehôvâh, יהוה) anger was kindled against the Israelites.[35] Whatever the fear of the Lord meant to yehôvâh, to Moses at that moment it meant fearing what yehôvâh could do to the whole of Israel if any disobeyed Him.
The descendants of Reuben and Gad joined their brothers in the conquest of Canaan west of the Jordan, but after they were blessed by Joshua and released to return home they built a strange altar. When the Israelites heard this, the entire Israelite community assembled at Shiloh to launch an attack against them.[36] They sent Phinehas and ten leaders with this message instead: “The entire community of the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) says, ‘Why have you disobeyed the God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, באלהי) of Israel by turning back today from following the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה)? You built an altar for yourselves and have rebelled today against the Lord (yehôvâh).’”[37] The same fear, what yehôvâh might do to the whole community, is evident (Joshua 22:17, 18, 22a NET):
The sin we committed at Peor was bad enough. To this very day we have not purified[38] ourselves; it even brought a plague on the community of the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה). Now today you dare to turn back from following the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה)! You are rebelling today against the Lord (yehôvâh, ביהוה); tomorrow he may break out in anger against the entire community of Israel….When Achan son of Zerah disobeyed the command about the city’s riches, the entire Israelite community was judged…
The descendants of Reuben and Gad replied (Joshua 22:24-27 NET):
We swear we have done this because we were worried that in the future your descendants would say to our descendants, ‘What relationship do you have with the Lord (yehôvâh, וליהוה) God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהי) of Israel? The Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) made the Jordan a boundary between us and you Reubenites and Gadites. You have no right to worship the Lord (yehôvâh, ביהוה).’ In this way your descendants might cause our descendants to stop obeying (yârêʼ, ירא) the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה). So we decided to build this altar, not for burnt offerings and sacrifices, but as a reminder to us and you, and to our descendants who follow us, that we will honor the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) in his very presence with burnt offerings, sacrifices, and tokens of peace. Then in the future your descendants will not be able to say to our descendants, ‘You have no right to worship the Lord (yehôvâh, ביהוה).’
It is remarkable that soldiers on their way home to wives and families would even consider such a thing. But in such tense times the descendants of Reuben and Gad had faced heightened suspicion from Moses and apparently the rest of Israel ever since they expressed a desire for land east of the Jordan that was ideal for cattle: Now the Reubenites and the Gadites possessed a very large number of cattle.[39] Phinehas had even insinuated that there might be something wrong with the land: But if your own land is impure, cross over to the Lord’s (yehôvâh, יהוה) own land, where the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) himself lives, and settle down among us.[40] (Gibeah, by the way, was west of the Jordan in the Lord’s own land, where the Lord himself lives.)
I will sharpen my lightning-like sword, and my hand will grasp hold of the weapon of judgment (Septuagint: κρίματος, a form of κρίμα); yehôvâh said, I will execute vengeance (Septuagint: δίκην, a form of δίκη) on my foes, and repay those who hate me![41] He chose the soldiers of Israel as his weapon against the inhabitants of Canaan. But his work is perfect (Septuagint: ἀληθινὰ, a form of ἀληθινός), for all his ways are just (Septuagint: κρίσεις, a form of κρίσις). He is a reliable (Septuagint: πιστός) God (ʼêl, אל) who is never unjust (Septuagint: ἀδικία), he is fair (Septuagint: δίκαιος) and upright.[42]
To be that weapon those soldiers and all Israel must be that perfect in his sight. Jesus knew what He was talking about when He taught: Do not judge (κρίνετε, a form of κρίνω) so that you will not be judged (κριθῆτε, another form of κρίνω). For by the standard (κρίματι, another form of κρίμα) you judge (κρίνετε, another form of κρίνω) you will be judged (κριθήσεσθε, another form of κρίνω), and the measure you use will be the measure you receive.[43]
To achieve that perfection through a kind of “natural selection” (e.g., the death of those who did not achieve it) and the fear of that death, or the fear of whatever else yehôvâh’s anger might do to the living, puts the flesh, the Belial if you will, under tremendous pressure. Perfection achieved in this manner exists only as long as the pressure that created it. Relax that pressure ever so slightly and the flesh, the Belial, erupts as it did among the sons of Belial at Gibeah. And so we find Phinehas, who lived his entire life under that kind of pressure, attempting to put the toothpaste back in the tube by the only means he knows.
Granted, the descendents of Benjamin didn’t respond to the situation like innocent men. As a case in point hear the response of the descendents of Reuben and Gad (Joshua 22:22, 23 NET):
El (אל), God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהים), the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה)! El (אל), God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהים), the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה)! He knows the truth! Israel must also know! If we have rebelled or disobeyed the Lord (yehôvâh, ביהוה), don’t spare us today! If we have built an altar for ourselves to turn back from following the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) by making burnt sacrifices and grain offerings on it, or by offering tokens of peace on it, the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) himself will punish (bâqash, יבקש; Septuagint: ἐκζητήσει, a form of ἐκζητέω) us.
Reach agreement quickly with your accuser while on the way to court, Jesus taught, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the warden, and you will be thrown into prison.[44] When Phinehas the priest and the community leaders and clan leaders who accompanied him heard the defense of the Reubenites, Gadites, and the Manassehites, they were satisfied. Phinehas, son of Eleazar, the priest, said to the Reubenites, Gadites, and the Manassehites, “Today we know that the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) is among us, because you have not disobeyed the Lord (yehôvâh, ביהוה) in this. Now you have rescued the Israelites from the Lord’s (yehôvâh, יהוה) judgment (yâd, מיד; Septuagint: χειρὸς, a form of χείρ).”[45]
I’ll pick this up in the next essay.
Back to Paul’s Religious Mind Revisited, Part 3
[4] Johanan was the father of Azariah, who served as a priest in the temple Solomon built in Jerusalem. (1 Chronicles 6:10 NET)
[5] 2 Kings 25:18, Jeremiah 52:24 (NET)
[6] Jehozadak went into exile when the Lord sent the people of Judah and Jerusalem into exile by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar. (1 Chronicles 6:15 NET)
[9] The leaders of the people were rôʼsh, not baʽal, and not belı̂yaʽal.
[10] Frankly, I don’t know if this plague was a deadly disease, the execution of the leaders of the people, the rampant ἐκπορνεῦσαι (Hebrew: zânâh, לזנות) of the people (and the word is people not men) with the daughters of Moab, or both of the latter.
[11] Numbers 25:14 (NET)
[12] Numbers 25:15 (NET)
[15] Judges 11:26 (NET)
[18] Numbers 31:14a (NET)
[20] Deuteronomy 18:9-12 (NET)
[31] Joshua 22:10 (NET)
[32] Numbers 32:5 (NET)
[33] Numbers 32:2 (NET)
[34] Numbers 32:10 (NET)
[35] Numbers 32:13 (NET)
[38] Did Phinehas’ zeal bring a “premature” halt to the execution of those who were joined to Baal-peor? The Lord spoke to Moses: “Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned my anger away from the Israelites, when he manifested such zeal for my sake among them…”
[43] Matthew 7:1, 2 (NET) Table