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Pinchas Drove a Spear Through Two People and Stopped a Plague

Moses' hands went slack at the tent door. Zimri dragged Kozbi past the elders by the hair, and twenty-four thousand were already dying.

Curated by Arthur · Told by Maggid ·
Table of Contents
  1. Kozbi Was Aimed at Moses
  2. Pinchas Took the Spear
  3. The Tribes Counted His Names
  4. The Covenant Was Peace

Zimri dragged Kozbi by the hair past the Tent of Meeting. He did not hide her. He did not wait for night. Twenty-four thousand Israelites were already dying at Shittim, and he walked the scandal through the center of the camp while the plague was still burning.

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Moses stood at the entrance with the elders, and they were weeping. Not commanding. Not judging. Weeping. Zimri stopped in front of him and asked whether the woman was permitted or forbidden. Moses answered, "Forbidden, she is a Midianite." Then his hands went slack.

Kozbi Was Aimed at Moses

Kozbi was the daughter of a Midianite chief. Her father had not sent her for Zimri. He had sent her for Moses. Balak had reasoned that Moses annulled every decree against Israel. Seduce Moses and the whole people would fall into his hand. Kozbi had refused Zimri when he first approached her. She wanted the king, she said, not his subjects.

Zimri boasted that he was greater than Moses, seized her by the hair, and dragged her before the man himself. Balaam had failed to curse Israel from the heights. So before leaving, the prophet had given Balak his parting advice. Send your most beautiful women into the camp. Let the young men fall in love. When they are desperate enough to keep those women, have the women demand one thing. Let them abandon the God of Israel and worship the gods of Midian. It had worked. The women came in. The men were overwhelmed. Zimri brought it to its public conclusion in front of Moses.

The elders wept. The Holy Spirit cried out that the stout-hearted were despoiled. Eleazar did not rise. The princes did not rise.

Pinchas Took the Spear

Pinchas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, watched Moses freeze. He watched Zimri walk toward the tent with Kozbi. He remembered a line Moses had taught him. A zealot may strike the man who does this in public. He remembered Levi at the Calf, three thousand down for the Name. He rose out of the assembly. He took a spear. He followed them in.

They lay together. He drove the iron through both of them in one thrust. They should have sprung apart. An angel held them joined. Their mouths should have screamed. The angel stopped the sound. The iron did not bend. Pinchas found the strength to lift both bodies and carry them out of the tent on the spear, and the lintel rose so he could pass with the weight on his shoulders. Blood did not defile him. Israel saw what he had done.

The angel of destruction that was moving through the camp stopped. The plague stopped. Twenty-four thousand were already dead. Then it was over.

The Tribes Counted His Names

Over the corpses the tribes began to mutter. Zimri, they said, had more than one name, and each name was an epitaph. Zimri, because he had gone rotten in the act. Son of Salu, because he had magnified his family's iniquity. Shaul, because he had lent himself to transgression. Son of the Canaanite woman, because the act was a Canaanite act.

Then they turned the counting on Pinchas. Have you seen, they said, this son of Putiel, whose mother's father fattened calves for idol worship, kill a prince of Israel?

That is why the verse traced him again. Pinchas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest. God spoke the lineage aloud so the muttering could not unmake the spear.

The Covenant Was Peace

God spoke to Moses in the aftermath. Pinchas had made peace. He had stood in the breach between divine fury and the people Israel, and where there might have been total annihilation, he had placed his body. God is zealous against foreign worship. That zeal, unchecked, might have devoured the whole camp. Pinchas channeled it with a single act and it stopped.

The reward God declared was unusual. Not honor. Not military rank. Peace. Because Pinchas had brought peace between Israel and their God, he received a covenant of peace in return, along with the covenant of eternal priesthood, and a shield so that no hand among the people could rise to harm him. The man who had done the most violent act in the wilderness was given peace as his inheritance.

The camp did not cheer. It breathed. Pinchas had not acted for vengeance. He had acted because the plague was consuming the tents and he was the one who remembered what could be done, and then he did it.

The spear still held both bodies where Israel could see them. The dying had stopped. Moses' hands were no longer slack. The camp had air again.

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From the tradition

Sources

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The texts behind this telling. Some cards carry a translation of the source; others are our own retelling of it, and each card says which. Every card links out to the original.

Antiquities IV.4Antiquities of the Jews (Josephus)

Retold in our words. Read the original at the link below.Antiquities of the Jews, trans. William Whiston · Public Domain

Balaam could not curse Israel. So he taught their enemies how to make Israel curse itself.

Before leaving, the prophet gave Balak and the Midianite princes a final piece of advice: send your most beautiful daughters to the Israelite camp. Let the young men fall in love. And when they are desperate enough to do anything to keep these women, have the women demand one thing, that the Hebrews abandon the God of Israel and worship the gods of Midian. This, Balaam said, was the only way to provoke God's anger against His own people.

It worked. The Midianite women entered the camp, and the Hebrew men were overwhelmed. The women consented to stay, on one condition. They told the young men that their God was foreign and exclusive, that everyone else worshipped the local gods, and that if they truly loved them, they would do the same. One by one, the men gave in. They ate forbidden food. They bowed before foreign altars. The corruption swept through the entire army like a plague.

Even Zimri, the head of the tribe of Simeon, openly took a Midianite woman named Cozbi, daughter of the Midianite prince Sur. When Moses addressed the assembly and urged repentance, Zimri stood up and mocked him to his face. He called Moses a tyrant and declared his right to worship whatever gods he chose and marry whomever he pleased.

The people were paralyzed. Moses would not escalate. But Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron, a young man of extraordinary courage, refused to let defiance become precedent. He walked into Zimri's tent and killed both Zimri and Cozbi with a single javelin thrust (Numbers 25:7-8). Other young men who shared his conviction followed his example, striking down the worst offenders. A divine plague consumed the rest. Twenty-four thousand Israelites died. Phinehas's act of zealotry stopped the destruction. And earned him an eternal covenant of peace from God.

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Midrash Aggadah, Numbers 25:2Midrash Aggadah

Translation of the source text.Midrash Aggadah (Buber), Public Domain, on Sefaria · CC-BY-SA

"And they bowed down to their gods." And what is written? "And Israel joined itself to Baal Peor" (Numbers 25:3). What is the meaning of "joined" (vayitzamed)? Like bracelets (tzemidim) that are upon the hand. Another interpretation: at first they entered modestly, and afterward they entered in pairs (zugot zugot), as it is said, "a yoke (tzemed) of oxen" (1 Samuel 11:7).

And when Zimri sought and went to Kozbi, and she was the daughter of Balak, she said to him: "I will not obey you, for so my father commanded me, that I should obey none but Moses your teacher, for he is a king and my father too is a king, and it is fitting for the daughter of a king to be for a king." And what was Balak's intent? He said: "Every evil deed that Israel does, Moses stands and annuls the decree. And if my daughter is able to seduce Moses, all Israel will be delivered into my hand." And Balak's daughter was very beautiful of form. Zimri said to her: "I am greater than Moses, for I am from the second tribe and he is from the third tribe." He pulled her by her hair-lock and went out before Moses. He said to him: "Is this one permitted or forbidden?" Moses said: "Forbidden, because she is a Midianite woman." Immediately Moses' hands became slack. Moses and Eleazar and the elders began to weep, as it is said, "and they were weeping" (verse 6). And the Holy Spirit cried out: "The stout-hearted are despoiled, they have slept their sleep" etc. (Psalms 76:6).

Pinchas saw this; immediately he was zealous and arose, as it is said, "And Pinchas son of Eleazar saw" etc. And what is "And Pinchas saw"? He saw that neither Eleazar nor any one of the elders nor of the princes arose. And since not one of them arose, immediately "he arose" and saw. And what did he see? He saw the deed and remembered the law, which he had learned before Moses our teacher, and he said: "You taught me, our teacher: one who has relations with an Aramean woman, the zealous strike him down."

Another interpretation: "And he saw and he arose." What did he see? He saw the law that one who is suspected of a matter may not judge it nor testify about it. He said: Reuben is suspected in the matter, as it is said, "And Reuben went and lay with Bilhah" (Genesis 35:22), one of his tribe cannot stand up in this matter, for they would say to him, "Judge yourself first, and afterward judge others." And Simeon, the great one of his tribe, committed this very transgression; the matter depends on none but me. Will he not remember that his father and my father slew all the men of Shechem over sexual immorality, when none had sinned but Hamor son of Shechem, and Zimri ought to have learned from his father's deed! Moreover, my tribe is zealous, in the affair of the Calf: my tribe arose and was zealous for His great Name, and felled of the people about three thousand men; and now it is fitting for me to be zealous for His great and awesome Name.

And he arose from amid the congregation and took a spear in his hand, in his hand was a spear (romach), and they were under the ban (cherem); for so "romach" and "cherem" are in all the numbers of their limbs, which is the number 248. And the Holy One, blessed be He, performed for him all those miracles, and they are twelve miracles: First, that it is their way to separate one from the other, but here the angel held them joined together. Second, the angel stopped their mouths so that they would not cry out. Third, the Holy One, blessed be He, aimed the spear so that it would enter into his male member and into her female part, so that the others would not say that he too entered and did his need. Fourth, He lengthened the iron so that it would pierce them both. Fifth, He put strength in his arm so that he could lift them both. Sixth, they did not slip off the weapon but stayed in their place. Seventh, the angel turned them over upon the spear, in their manner, so that all might see their disgrace. Eighth, they did not drip blood, so that Pinchas would not be defiled. Ninth, the Holy One, blessed be He, guarded their breath so that they would not die and defile Pinchas. Tenth, the angel raised up the lintel for him so that the two of them would go out between his shoulders. Eleventh, when they came out, he saw the plague destroying the people, and he cast them to the ground and stood and prayed, as it is said, "And Pinchas stood" etc. Twelfth, by his hands the plague was stayed.

The Holy One, blessed be He, said: "I hold much good in store for Pinchas." Pinchas son of Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, of him it is said, "The wrath of a king is messengers of death, but a wise man will pacify it" (Proverbs 16:14). A parable: to what is the matter like? To a king who was passing by, and a band of youths were standing there. One of them arose and reviled the king, and the king was filled with wrath against them. One who was sitting among them arose and struck the one who had reviled the king. The king saw what he did, and immediately the king's wrath subsided. Who caused the king to turn back from his wrath? The one who was sitting and arose and struck the other. So too, who caused the Holy One, blessed be He, that His wrath should turn back and He not destroy the children of Israel? You must say: Pinchas, to fulfill what is said, "The wrath of a king" etc. The Holy One, blessed be He, said: "By right he should receive his reward," as it is said, "Behold, I give to him My covenant of peace." Great is peace, for the Torah is called peace, as it is said, "Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace" (Proverbs 3:17).

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Bamidbar Rabbah 21:3Bamidbar Rabbah

Retold in our words. Read the original at the link below.The Sefaria Midrash Rabbah, 2022 · CC-BY

God Himself steps in to clarify Pinḥas's lineage. But why now? What did God see that prompted this?

The Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary), specifically Bamidbar Rabbah 21, digs deep into this. The Rabbis of old, in their insightful way, suggest that Zimri, son of Salu, wasn't just known by one name. In fact, they say he had six names! (Though some suggest it was actually five – the texts can be tricky sometimes! See Sanhedrin 82b). They list them: Zimri, son of Salu; Shaul, son of the Canaanite woman; Shelumiel, son of Tzurishadai. Each name, they argue, reflects a different aspect of his transgression.

Zimri, they say, shares a root with the word muzeret, meaning "rotten." He was like a rotten egg, devoid of life, spent from his illicit encounter. Son of Salu? He magnified, sila, his family's iniquity. Shaul? He lent, shehishil, himself to transgression. And son of the Canaanite woman? He performed a Canaanite act, an idolatrous act.

In Midrash, as Zimri lay slain, the tribes murmured, questioning Pinḥas's right to act as he did. "Have you seen," they said, "this son of Putiel, whose mother's father fattened calves for idol worship, kill a prince of Israel?" The commentary Etz Yosef and others explain that Pinḥas's mother was a descendant of Yitro, who was also called Putiel (see Shemot Rabba 7:5). So, the question was: did Pinḥas, with his potentially questionable lineage, have the right to take such drastic action?

That's why the verse emphasizes his lineage: "Pinḥas, son of Elazar, son of Aaron the priest." God Himself validates his lineage and, more importantly, His covenant with him: "Therefore, say: Behold, I am giving him My covenant of peace" (Numbers 25:12). This covenant of peace, according to some interpretations, continues to this day! The Etz Yosef even suggests this alludes to the belief that Pinḥas is actually Elijah, still alive and active in the world. We see echoes of this promise in (Malachi 2:5): "My covenant was with him, life and peace, and I gave it to him for the fear that he feared Me."

But what about the act itself? Did Pinḥas offer a sacrifice? Not in the traditional sense. Instead, the Midrash teaches that "anyone who sheds the blood of the wicked, it is as though he sacrificed an offering." A powerful, and perhaps unsettling, statement about the weight of justice.

The Torah then contrasts Pinḥas's legacy with Zimri's: "The name of the Israelite man who was slain, who was slain with the Midianite woman, was Zimri son of Salu, prince of a Simeonite patrilineal house" (Numbers 25:14). Just as God praises the righteous, He also publicly shames the wicked. Pinḥas is praised; Zimri is defamed. As (Proverbs 10:7) says, "The memory of the righteous is for blessing, and the name of the wicked will rot."

The Midrash sees Zimri as someone who breached a fence, violating a boundary set by his ancestors. "One who breaches a fence, a serpent will bite him" (Ecclesiastes 10:8). His ancestor Simeon, along with Levi, had acted zealously against harlotry (Genesis 34:25). Zimri, in his actions, undermined that legacy.

Even Kozbi, the Midianite woman, isn't spared scrutiny: "And the name of the Midianite woman who was slain: Kozbi daughter of Tzur; he was head of the nations of a patrilineal house in Midian" (Numbers 25:15). The Midianites, the Midrash emphasizes, went to great lengths to lead Israel astray. Tzur, Kozbi's father, was even a king who sacrificed his daughter's reputation for this cause. He was the greatest of them all, a king who "demeaned himself and publicized his daughter in disgrace."

So, what does it all mean? This passage isn't just about a single event. It's about lineage, legacy, and the consequences of our choices. It's about how we uphold or betray the values of our ancestors. And it's about the enduring power of God's covenant, a covenant that extends not just to individuals, but to generations.

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Midrash Aggadah, Numbers 25:12Midrash Aggadah

Translation of the source text.Midrash Aggadah (Buber), Public Domain, on Sefaria · CC-BY-SA

"Therefore say: Behold, I give to him My covenant of peace" (Numbers 25:12). Just as he made peace between Me and the children of Israel, so that they were not destroyed by My zeal, for I am zealous against idolatry, therefore I cut a covenant with him, that he shall have peace from them all, so that they shall not be able to harm him.

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