Sotah 43A

מונחין בארון. וכן הוא אומר: ״וישלח אתם משה אלף למטה לצבא אתם ואת פינחס״. ״אתם״⁠ — אלו סנהדרין, ״פינחס״⁠ — זה משוח מלחמה, ״וכלי הקדש״⁠ — זה ארון ולוחות שבו, ״וחצצרות התרועה״⁠ — אלו השופרות.

were resting in the Ark. And similarly, it says in the verse with regard to the war against Midian: “And Moses sent them, 1,000 of every tribe, to the war, them and Pinehas the son of Elazar the priest, to the war, with the holy vessels and the trumpets for the alarm in his hand” (Numbers 31:6). The verse is interpreted as follows: “Them”; these are the Sanhedrin. “Pinehas”; he was the priest anointed for war. “And the holy vessels”; this is the Ark and the tablets that were within it. “And the trumpets for the alarm”; these are the shofarot.

תנא: לא לחנם הלך פינחס למלחמה, אלא ליפרע דין אבי אמו, שנאמר: ״והמדנים מכרו אתו אל מצרים וגו׳״. למימרא דפינחס מיוסף אתי? והא כתיב: ״ואלעזר בן אהרן לקח לו מבנות פוטיאל לו לאשה״. מאי לאו, דאתי מיתרו שפיטם עגלים לעבודה זרה? לא, מיוסף שפיטפט ביצרו.

A tanna taught: It was not for nothing that specifically Pinehas went to war with Midian; rather, it was to exact the rightful judgment of his mother’s father, Joseph, as it is stated: “And the Midianites sold him into Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh’s” (Genesis 37:36). The Talmud asks: Is this to say that Pinehas came, on his mother’s side, from the family of Joseph? But it is written: “And Elazar, Aaron’s son, took himself a wife from the daughters of Putiel; and she bore him Pinehas” (Exodus 6:25). What, is it not that Pinehas came from the family of Yitro, who was also called Putiel because he fattened [pittem] calves for idol worship? They answer: No; he was descended from Joseph, who mocked [pitpet] his desire by resisting the advances of Potiphar’s wife.

והלא שבטים מבזין אותו: ראיתם בן פוטי זה, בן שפיטם אבי אמו עגלים לעבודה זרה, יהרוג נשיא מישראל! אלא: אי אבוה דאימיה מיוסף ⁠— אימיה דאימיה מיתרו, ואי אימיה דאימיה מיוסף ⁠— אבוה דאימיה מיתרו. דיקא נמי, דכתיב: ״מבנות פוטיאל״, תרי משמע. שמע מינה.

The Talmud asks: But is it not the case that, according to an oral tradition, the tribes were denigrating Pinehas after he killed Zimri, saying: Did you see this son of Puti, the son whose mother’s father fattened cows for idol worship? Should this man kill a prince of Israel? Evidently, his grandfather Puti was Yitro, not Joseph. The Talmud answers: Rather, Pinehas was descended from both Joseph and Yitro. If his mother’s father descended from Joseph, his mother’s mother descended from Yitro. And if his mother’s mother descended from Joseph, his mother’s father descended from Yitro. The Talmud confirms this resolution: The language is also precise, as it is written: Elazar took a wife “from the daughters of Putiel,” which implies that she came from two daughters of men named Putiel. The Talmud concludes: You may learn from the verse that this is so.