Getting Jesus Right: How Muslims Get Jesus and Islam Wrong. James A Beverley

Psalm 106, a psalm of repentance that recalls and confesses the many instances of Israel’s sin and rebellion, including the aforementioned apostasy at Peor:

      Then they attached themselves to the Baal of Peor,

      and ate sacrifices offered to the dead;

      they provoked the LORD to anger with their doings,

      and a plague broke out among them.

      Then Phinehas stood up and interposed,

      and the plague was stayed.

      And that has been reckoned to him as righteousness

      from generation to generation for ever. (Ps 106:28–31)

      Phinehas reappears in intertestamental literature and later Jewish writers. More will be said about him in the following section.

      There are other acts of zeal recorded in the Old Testament. Out of his “zeal for the people of Israel and Judah” King Saul slaughtered the Gibeonites (2 Sam 21:2, harking back to Josh 9:3–15, where Israel had been deceived by the Gibeonites). Elijah recalls his zeal for God (1 Kings 19:10, 14), which among other things includes the defeat and destruction of the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18:20–40). Jehu, newly crowned king of the northern kingdom of Israel, says to a companion, “Come with me, and see my zeal for the LORD” (2 Kings 10:16). He then kills every member of the family of Ahab, a king who earlier had ruled over Israel.

      We cite these examples because the language of “zeal” and “zealous” appears. It is likely, however, that the violent deeds of a number of other figures would have been viewed in later times as acts of zeal for God and his Law. One thinks of Joshua and Caleb in the book of Joshua, many of the judges in the book of Judges, and the daring deeds of David and other righteous kings in the books of Samuel and Kings.

      What is interesting is that most instances of zeal resulted in killing people. In other words, the writers of Israel’s ancient narratives that chronicle the history of the patriarchs, leaders and kings tend to reserve high praise for men and women of very bold action, even violent action. In short, to be zealous for God or for God’s Law often meant a willingness to die for it and, if necessary, to kill for it. This thinking takes a more definitive form in the intertestamental period and, not surprisingly, focuses on Phinehas the zealous priest.

      Examples of Zeal in the Intertestamental Period

      The zeal of Phinehas, dramatically witnessed in the incident near Peor during Israel’s wanderings in the wilderness, resulted in an almost iconic status for this priest. One of the oldest post-Old Testament testimonies is found in Sirach, who lauds Phinehas in his Praise for Famous Men (Sir 44–51). In his praise of Phinehas, one hears echoes of Numbers 25 and Psalm 106:

      Phinehas the son of Eleazar is the third in glory,

      for he was zealous in the fear of the Lord,

      and stood fast, when the people turned away,

      in the ready goodness of his soul, and made atonement for Israel.

      Therefore a covenant of peace was established with him,

      that he should be leader of the sanctuary and of his people,

      that he and his descendants should have

      the dignity of the priesthood for ever. (Sir 45:23–24)

      Joshua ben Sira (Greek: “Jesus the son of Sirach”) composed his work in Hebrew sometime around 180 BC. About 50 years later, his grandson prefaced it and translated it into Greek. Phinehas appears in exalted company indeed, preceded by Moses (vv. 1–5) and Aaron (vv. 6–22) and followed by David (vv. 25–26). The appearance of David is chronologically out of sequence, for Joshua the son of Nun, successor to Moses, will make his appearance in Sir 46:1–12. Mention of David is brought forward because he too was honored with a covenant. A covenant of peace and priesthood was established with Phinehas, and a covenant of kingship was established with David. The coupling of Phinehas with David, each blessed with a covenant, one priestly and the other kingly, is highly significant, testifying to the dyarchic nature of Israel’s ordained leadership.

      In 1 Maccabees the zealous actions of Mattathias, father of Judas Maccabeus and his brothers, are compared to the zeal and violence of Phinehas:

      When Mattathias saw it, he burned with zeal and his heart was stirred. He gave vent to righteous anger; he ran and killed him upon the altar. At the same time he killed the king’s officer who was forcing them to sacrifice, and he tore down the altar. Thus he burned with zeal for the law, as Phinehas did against Zimri the son of Salu. Then Mattathias cried out in the city with a loud voice, saying: “Let every one who is zealous for the law and supports the covenant come out with me!” (1 Macc 2:24–27)

      Phinehas is again mentioned by name in Mattathias’s farewell to his sons, a farewell modeled after Jacob’s farewell to his sons in Genesis 49, which gave rise to a genre that became very popular in the intertestamental and New Testament periods. Here is part of Mattathias’s farewell:

      Now, my children, show zeal for the law, and give your lives for the covenant of our fathers. Remember the deeds of the fathers, which they did in their generations; and receive great honor and an everlasting name…Phinehas our father, because he was deeply zealous, received the covenant of everlasting priesthood…Elijah because of great zeal for the law was taken up into heaven. (1 Macc 2:50–51, 54, 58)

      Zeal for the Law is the theme that runs throughout this farewell testament. Once again we find Phinehas in illustrious company. The author of 1 Maccabees, a book composed sometime around 100 BC, cites the examples of Abraham, Joseph, Joshua, Caleb, David, Elijah, Daniel and the three faithful young men in Daniel 3 (1 Macc 2:52–60). Mattathias is a priest (1 Macc 2:1) and can find no better example of priestly zeal than that of Phinehas, grandson of Aaron.

      Philo of Alexandria (c. 20 BC—AD 50) speaks approvingly of the zeal of Phinehas. In one place he says, “But Phineas the priest, who was zealous with a great zeal for God’s service, did not provide for his own safety by flight” (Allegorical Interpretation 3.242). No, the priest did not flee; he struck down the wicked. In another place Philo says that “warlike reason” is called Phinehas, the priest who had “received a zeal for virtue” (Confusion 57). In recounting Israel’s history, Josephus mentions Phinehas, stating that the priest “surpassed his contemporaries in the dignity of his father,” the son of Aaron, brother of Moses (Antiquities 4.152; see also 5.104, where Phinehas is numbered among the men held “in esteem among the Hebrews”).

      In summary, we have four major texts in which the zeal of Phinehas is underscored: two in the Old Testament and two in important intertestamental literature. In Numbers 25, we hear of the priest’s zeal, a promised covenant of peace and an eternal priesthood. In Psalm 106, we hear of his zeal, his action being reckoned to him as righteousness, and “from generation to generation,” which may allude to the promise of perpetual priesthood. In Sirach 45, we hear of zeal, the covenant of peace and an eternal priesthood. And in 1 Maccabees 2, we read of zeal and everlasting priesthood.