Among the quietest bombshells in Targum Pseudo-Jonathan is a single line tucked into a genealogy. Kehath, son of Levi, lived a hundred and thirty-three years, and, the Targum adds, he lived to see Phinehas, who is Elijah, the Great Priest, who is to be sent to the captivity of Israel at the end of the days (Exodus 6:18).
In three words — Phinehas is Elijah — the meturgeman binds together the zealot priest who halted the plague at Baal-Peor (Numbers 25:7-13) and the fiery prophet who would later ride the whirlwind (2 Kings 2:11). They are not two men, the Targum teaches, but one eternal priest whose career spans epochs. The covenant of peace granted to Phinehas becomes the promise that he will never see death; he simply changes names.
And Kehath, called here a saint, looks forward through his great-grandson to the end of days. The Elijah who will one day announce the redemption (Malachi 3:23-24) is already a gleam in his aging eyes.
The takeaway is a Jewish secret about time. The righteous are not trapped in their century. A deed of zeal for God, done well, can ripple forward until the messianic dawn. Phinehas standing in the breach becomes Elijah standing at every Jewish door on Seder night.