The spear pierced through both bodies with surgical precision. In one violent moment, Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, ended not only two lives but a devastating plague that had already claimed twenty-four thousand souls. The biblical narrative presents this act of zealous violence as righteousāso righteous, in fact, that God Himself entered into two eternal covenants with Phinehas. Yet this same Bible condemns other acts of religious fervor with harsh rebuke. The tension is unmistakable and demands resolution.
The Torah portion of Phinehas opens with divine approval cascading down upon the grandson of Aaron. After the Israelites fell into sexual immorality and idol worship with the daughters of Moab and Midian at Shittim, Phinehas rose up in his jealousy for God and killed Zimri the son of Salu and Cozbi the daughter of Zur. The plague ceased immediately. God’s response was not merely approval but covenant:
The zealot is given a covenant of friendship, or peace, and becomes a priest.
But zealotry elsewhere in Scripture receives drastically different treatment. When Simon and Levi massacred the men of Shechem in revenge for their sister Dinah, their father Jacob responded with sharp rebuke:
Years later, on his deathbed, Jacob made clear his disapproval transcended mere political calculation: “Let my soul not come into their council; to their assembly let my glory not be united…Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce, and their wrath, for it was cruel” (Genesis 49:5-7).
Even more striking is God’s response to the zealotry of Elijah the prophet. After his dramatic victory over the prophets of Baal at Mount Carmel, Elijah fled from Jezebel and declared:
The Sages highlight the similarity between Phinehas and Elijah with the assertion that “Phinehas and Elijah are one.” Yet God did not praise Elijah’s zeal but rather instructed him to anoint Elisha as prophet to replace him.
What separates divine approval from divine rebuke when zealotry stands at the center? Why does Phinehas merit eternal reward while Simon and Levi receive curses, and Elijah faces removal from his prophetic role?
The answer lies in understanding the sacred balance that authentic zealotry must maintain. Rabbi Baruch Gigi teaches that proper zealotry requires two essential conditions: it must stem from genuine heartache, and it must pursue both the honor of the Father and the honor of the sonāboth God’s honor and Israel’s honor.
The Sages illuminate this principle through their analysis of three prophets: “Three prophets there are. One sought the honor of the Father and the honor of the son, one sought the honor of the Father but not the honor of the son, and one sought the honor of the son but not the honor of the Father. Jeremiah sought the honor of the Father and the honor of the son, as it says ‘We have transgressed and we have rebelled, and You have not forgiven’ (Lamentations 3:42). Therefore his prophecy was doubled, as it says ‘There were added to them many like words’ (Jeremiah 36:32). Elijah sought the honor of the Father but not the honor of the son, as it says ‘I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts’ (I Kings 19:14). And what was said to him? ‘Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus…and Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint to be king over Israel, and Elisha the son of Shaphat you shall anoint to be prophet in your place’āthe phrase ‘in your place’ means I no longer want your prophecy. Jonah sought the honor of the son but not the honor of the Father, as it says ‘And the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time’ (Jonah 3:1)āa second time He spoke with him, but not a third time.”
This teaching reveals the fatal flaw in Elijah’s zealotry. Elijah sought to rectify the insult to God’s honor, but not the insult to the honor of Israel. He decreed three years of drought against his own people before he slaughtered the prophets of Baal. Since he did not pursue the honor of Israel, he was ordered to anoint Elisha in his place. His accusation, “the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant,” demonstrated zeal that was incomplete, unbalanced, and ultimately destructive. He became so focused on divine honor that he lost sight of divine mercy.
In the case of Simon and Levi, they did come to rectify the insult to the son, as they acted zealously on behalf of their sister in the wake of the offense committed by Shechem, the son of Hamor. But they were not concerned about the honor of the Father, the honor of Heaven that was desecrated by the breaking of the covenant that they had entered into with the people of Shechem. Since they did not pursue the honor of the Father, they were reprimanded by Jacob.
Phinehas, says Rabbi Gigi, was different in that he pursued the honor of both the Father and the son. As for the honor of the Father, God Himself testifies that Phinehas “was very jealous for My sake” (Numbers 25:11). That is, the zealotry was for the sake of God. As for the honor of the son, the Sages relate: “An angel came and wrought destruction among the people. Then he [Phinehas] came and struck them down before the Almighty, saying: Sovereign of the Universe! Shall twenty-four thousand perish because of these? As it is written: ‘And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand.’ Hence it is written: ‘Then stood up Phinehas, and executed judgement [va-yefalel].’ Rabbi Elazar said: [Va-yitpalel] [he prayed] is not written, but va-yefalel, as though he argued with his Maker [on the justice of punishing so many]” (Sanhedrin 82b). In other words, Phinehas’s goal in killing Zimri and Cozbi was to stop the plague that had killed so many of the people. Only after he argued with God and killed them did the plague stop and the rest of the people survived.
Only when it is driven by a twofold concern for the honor of Heaven and for the honor of man, both the individual and the collective, can an act of zealotry be one of righteousness and truth. This sacred balance explains why Phinehas alone merited the covenant of peace. True zealotry creates peace precisely because it serves both divine justice and divine mercy. It upholds God’s standards while protecting God’s people. It burns with holy fire but never loses sight of holy compassion.
The lesson resonates powerfully in our contemporary world. We witness countless acts of zealotry today: religious movements that claim divine mandate, political activists who invoke moral authority, cultural warriors who fight for sacred causes. Yet how many of these zealots achieve the balance of Phinehas? How many burn simultaneously for God’s honor and for the welfare of His children?
Religious zealotry that seeks only divine honor without concern for human dignity becomes fanaticism that destroys rather than builds. Political zealotry that pursues only human concerns without regard for divine justice becomes mere ideology that corrupts rather than elevates. But zealotry that perfectly balances both, that fights for God’s truth while aching for human welfare, becomes the very foundation of righteous transformation.
In our fractured age, where zealots of every stripe claim divine sanction for their causes, the model of Phinehas stands as both a challenge and a hope. His spear served divine justice while his heart ached for human mercy. He argued with God on behalf of the people even as he killed to preserve God’s honor. Only those who act with such sacred balance, burning for Heaven’s glory while caring for the good of humanity, will merit divine covenant and eternal reward.
