Hophni and Phinehas

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Hophni (Hebrew: חָפְנִי, Standard Hofni Tiberian Ḥop̄nî) and Phinehas (or Pinhas) (Hebrew: פִּינְחָס, Standard Pinehas Tiberian Pînəħās) were two brothers described in Samuel as having been the officiating priests at the sanctuary of Shiloh at the time of Hannah. At face value they are both sons of Eli, and thus brothers, though some textual critics believe that Eli is a cipher for El, and that the phrase son of Eli is simply a generic term for a senior priest (cf son of God).

In the Biblical narrative, Hophni and Phinehas are criticised for engaging in illicit behaviour, such as appropriating the best portion of sacrifices for themselves, and having sexual relations with the sanctuary's serving women. Their misdeeds provoked the indignation of the people and lead to a divine curse being put on them, and they subsequently both died on the same day, during a battle against the Philistines at Eben-ezer. On hearing of his death, Phinehas' wife gave birth to a son that she named Ichabod, and then she herself died.

In the Talmud, some commentators argue that Phinehas was innocent of the crimes ascribed to him, and that Hophni alone committed them, though Jonathan ben Uzziel declares that neither was wicked, and that this part of the Biblical narrative, in which the crimes are imputed to them, should be regarded as having a figurative meaning. Some modern biblical critics^{[citation needed]} have argued that the wickedness, and the subsequent curse, are later redactions to explain away how Israelite leaders supposedly favoured by God could ever have been killed.

According to another part of the Books of Samuel, Ichabod had a brother, Ahitub. That he is referred to as Ichabod's brother, rather than as another son of Phinehas, is considered by biblical scholars to suggest that Ichabod, barely mentioned in the Bible, was actually an important figure (the details of this significance having unfortunately been lost)^[1].

[edit] References

^ Jewish Encyclopedia, Ichabod

This article incorporates text from the 1901–1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, a publication now in the public domain. This entry incorporates text from the public domain Easton's Bible Dictionary, originally published in 1897.