| Joshua 24:33
| Eleazar also, the son of Aaron, died: and they buried him in Gabaath, that belongeth to Phinees, his son, which was given him in Mount Ephraim.
| Eleazar, the second high priest, was succeeded by his son Phinees. They were both of a very unexceptionable character. The Holy Ghost says, (Ecclesiasticus 45:28,) Phinees, the son of Eleazar, is the third in glory, by imitating him (his father or grandfather) in the fear of the Lord, etc. The Jews seem to have adopted the doctrine of Pythagoras, with respect to Phinees, (Haydock) as they say that he was the man of God, (3 Kings 2:27,) who appeared to Heli, (Trad. Heb. in Reg.) and that he was consulted by Jephte, and gave him advice to fulfil his vow; that he was the same person with Elias, and with one Phinees, who returned from the captivity with Esdras, 1 Paralipomenon 9:20. They will even have him to be an incarnate angel. (Ap. Munster, etc.) But without dwelling any longer on these fabulous accounts, (Calmet) he was surely a man of the greatest zeal and piety. (Haydock) --- In consideration of his extraordinary merit, the city of Gabaath was given to him, though it was not properly a sacerdotal city, and priests could not regularly possess any land as their inheritance. Grotius supposes that he obtained this city along with his wife, as she was an heiress of the tribe of Ephraim. But if that had been the case, must she not have married some of the same tribe? Numbers 36:8. (Calmet) --- Septuagint (Grabe) add, "In that day the children of Israel taking the ark of the covenant of God, carried it about among themselves, and Phinees was priest instead of his father, till he died, and he was buried in Gabaath, his own city. But the Israelites went each to his own place and city; and the children of Israel worshipped Astarte and Asteroth, and the gods of the surrounding nations, and the Lord delivered them into the hands of Eglon, the king of Moab, and he held them in subjection 18 years." See Judges 3:12, 14. Why this is recorded in this place does not appear, unless it be to insinuate that the servitude under Eglon did not commence till after the death of Phinees, who had been high priest 40 years. Abisue, his son, entered upon the pontificate in the first year of the administration of Aod, 1 Paralipomenon 6:4, 50. (Salien, in the year of the world 2641, in the year before Christ 1412.) Josue and Eleazar had reigned nearly during the same period of time, and finished their course together. They had assisted each other in keeping the people of God under due restraint. Their successors in office acted with the like zeal and concord, though they were not quite so successful. It is probable that Phinees would have the chief sway in "the aristocracy" of the ancients, which Josephus says took place between Josue and Othoniel. Their government is acknowledged by most authors, though Salien supposes that their authority, as distinct from the Sanhedrim, consisted in giving good example. Many assert that Phinees ruled the people twenty-three years. (Haydock)
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