Pinchas son of Elazar son of Aharon the Kohen has turned back My wrath from the children of Yisrael by being jealous with My jealousy among them, so that I did not destroy the children of Yisrael in My jealousy.
English: It was taught: Why did the verse trace his lineage to Aharon? Because after he took vengeance on Zimri the tribes began to scorn him: “Have you seen this son of Puti, whose mother’s father fattened calves for idolatry, and he killed a prince of a tribe of Yisrael?” The verse came and traced him: Pinchas son of Elazar son of Aharon the Kohen.
Type of Learning
Explanation of the extended genealogy in the verse.
What Is Learned
The Torah reasserts Pinchas’s pure Aharonic lineage against tribal scorn after the act of kanaus.