Hidden Heroes: Phinehas

by David Chadwick

There are so many heroes in the Bible. Whether big or small, each person who made it into the Bible for doing something for God’s kingdom is worthy of honor.

Phinehas is my next hidden hero. Who was he? He was the grandson of Aaron. If you remember biblical history, Aaron and Hur were the two that came alongside Moses in Exodus 17:12-13 to hold up his arms in battle.

Well, by the time Aaron’s grandson Phinehas came around in Numbers 25:7-13, the Israelites had started to worship the idols of Moab. The men were sleeping with Moabite women and quite frankly, God was sick and tired of it! God was fully prepared to wipe Israel from the face of the earth with a plague because of the unrighteous behavior taking place.

But Phinehas, because of his zeal for God, went in and personally executed an Israelite man and a Moabite woman in a tent, putting an end to the plague. God commended him to Moses in Numbers 25:10-13 by establishing a covenant of perpetual priesthood through him and his descendants. Later on, he was appointed as the third High Priest in Israel’s history.

What we learn from the life of Phinehas is this: there is tremendous power in zeal for the Lord. His zeal literally stopped God’s judgment from coming to this world.

God hates a lukewarm faith. We see this in Revelation 3 when he addresses one of the churches as having a lukewarm faith and tells them he will spit them out of his mouth. He is disgusted by lukewarm convictions. Be hot or cold. But never lukewarm.

My friends, I urge you to give your whole life to him. Use Phinehas as an example. Not to kill someone, obviously! But as an example of someone who sought God’s holiness above all and was willing to stand strongly against a decrepit culture.

In a world filled with too many Christians compromising in their faith, be set apart. Live what you say you believe. Steward the power of the Gospel with integrity. In Psalm 69:9, King David says, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” Jesus’s disciples remember the importance of this verse in John 2:17 after Jesus cleansed the temple.

We, too, must be consumed with zeal for the Lord and for his house until Jesus returns!