Tuesday, August 06, 2019

Josephus on Phinehas

DR. YONATAN MILLER: Sedition at Moab: Josephus’ Reading of the Phinehas Story (TheTorah.com).
The Torah describes Phinehas as a zealot, who kills Zimri in an act of vigilante fervor, and is rewarded by God with eternal priesthood. Anticipating the rabbis’ discomfort with Phinehas’ vigilantism, Josephus transforms Phinehas into a military general and Zimri’s sin into a dangerous sedition requiring a military response.

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