The genealogy of the tribes of Reuven, Shimon and Levi is found in Shmot, Chapter 6. In verse 25, we come across Pinchas’ lineage:
Elazar, Aharon’s son, married one of the daughters of Putiel, and she bore him Pinchas.
It seems strange that Elazar’s wife is called “one of the daughters of Putiel”. Who was Putiel and who were his daughters?
This question is asked in the Talmud, Sotah 43a:
Who are the daughters of Putiel? Are they not those who descended from Yitro who was called Putiel because he fattened (pitem) calves for the sacrifice of idols?
The Gemara responds:
No. The daughters of Putiel were descended from Yosef, who was called Putiel because he scorned (pitpet) his desire and overcame it.
The Gemara resolves this difficulty:
If Pinchas’ mother’s father descended from Yosef, then his mother’s mother descended from Yitro. And if his mother’s father descended from Yitro, then his mother’s mother descended from Yosef. We can learn from here that Pinchas descended from Yitro and Yosef.
Rashi points out (Shmot 18:1) that Yitro had seven names; Reuel, Yeter, Yitro, Chovav, Chever, Keini and Putiel.
Yitro was originally a Kohen Midian (Midianite priest). Rashi explains in Shmot 2:16 that he was the most important one. Yitro abandoned the worship of idols which caused the Midianites to banish him.
Tziporah, Moshe’s wife was the only one of the seven daughters of Yitro whose name is mentioned.
It is interesting to note that Pinchas who was descendant of a Midianite woman whose family left the world of idol worship was the one who felt up to the task to stop the plague by slaying the Israelite man, Zimri, son of Salu, the leader of the ancestral house of Shimon and the Midianite woman, Cozbi, the daughter of Tzur, the tribal leader of a Midianite ancestral house.
In the Talmud, Sotah 82b, we see the reaction of the people:
After Pinchas killed Zimri and Cozbi, the other tribes began mocking him, saying: “Did you see this son of Puti whose father fattened calves for idol worship and yet killed a tribal prince of Israel?”
To counteract this strong criticism, the Torah reminds us of Pinchas’ genealogy (Bamidbar 25:11) “Pinchas, son of Elazar, son of Aharon the Kohen.” God said to Moshe “Be the first to extend to Pinchas greetings of peace” as it is stated (Bamidbar 25:12) “Therefore say to B’nai Yisrael: ‘Behold I give him My Covenant to peace.’”
Although Pinchas descended from the Midianites as did Tziporah, since Yitro separated the family from idol worship, they were no longer part of that world and there was no reason to treat them differently than the rest of B’nai Yisrael. To get this point across, God specifically singled out Pinchas as a Kohen who followed in his grandfather, Aharon’s footsteps as a pursuer of peace and who would be part of a covenant of eternal priesthood as we see in Bamidbar 25:13 “And it shall be for him and his offspring after him a covenant of eternal priesthood, because he took vengeance for his God and he atoned for B’nai Yisrael.”
