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Psalm 106 · a question people ask

"That was credited to him for righteousness" (106:31). Genesis says that of Abraham's believing. Why does the psalm say it of Phinehas?

In the text

Here is what each verse says. Of Abraham: "He believed in the LORD, who credited it to him for righteousness" (Genesis 15:6). Of Phinehas: "Then Phinehas stood up and executed judgment, so the plague was stopped. That was credited to him for righteousness, for all generations to come" (106:30-31). Credited and righteousness are the same two Hebrew words in both (tap credited), and Numbers 25's chapter sets them side by side. Numbers tells what the LORD said of Phinehas: "Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace" (Numbers 25:12), "the covenant of an everlasting priesthood, because he was jealous for his God, and made atonement for the children of Israel" (Numbers 25:13). Paul quotes Genesis 15:6 of Abraham (Romans 4:3), and the New Testament never names Phinehas. The psalm doesn't explain how its words and Genesis 15:6 fit together, and these notes don't either.

The verses

“He believed in the LORD, who credited it to him for righteousness.”
Genesis 15:6 · World English Bible
“Then Phinehas stood up and executed judgment, so the plague was stopped. That was credited to him for righteousness, for all generations to come.”
Psalm 106:30-31 · World English Bible
“Therefore say, ‘Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace. It shall be to him, and to his offspring after him, the covenant of an everlasting priesthood, because he was jealous for his God, and made atonement for the children of Israel.’””
Numbers 25:12-13 · World English Bible
“For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.””
Romans 4:3 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Psalm 106

Psalm 106: We have sinned with our fathers

Psalm 106 tells Israel's whole story as a confession, "We have sinned with our fathers" (106:6), in the three Hebrew verbs Solomon's prayer gives a captive people (1 Kings 8:47). Twice a man stands where wrath breaks in: Moses "in the breach" (106:23), and Phinehas (106:30). And it ends asking God to do what it began by telling: "he saved them" (106:8); "Save us" (106:47).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions