Parsha #41 Pinchas (Phineas)
Torah: Numbers 25:10-30:1
Haftarah: I Kings 18:46-19:21
B’rit Chadashah: John 2:13-22
I read through this parsha several times without understanding until I stumbled across a remarkable expository teaching here: http://www.hearoisrael.org/uploads/Pin_has_2005.pdf which goes into detail of the meanings of the words used in the parsha. Most remarkable to me was the meaning of the name Pinchas, being Pei-Nechas - image of the brass (serpent), referring back to last week’s episode of the brass serpent being raised up in the desert - in effect, another picture of Messiah.
I must admit to really struggling with the idea that Pinchas is lauded and rewarded for what essentially appears to be a ‘murder’. I’m slightly relieved at the thought that the Midianite woman might possibly be merely a metaphor, symbolic of false religion, but in the event that the whole episode is to be taken literally, what is it that makes Pinchas’ action righteous?
What was it that Zimri (the Israelite) and Kozbi (the Midianite woman) were doing that was so wrong to deserve being killed that way? Well clearly, it was something very serious - the fact that Zimri was a Prince of the tribe of Shimon, and that she was a Princess of Midian, suggests that this may have been a political alliance, a marriage which was specifically forbidden “Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.” Exodus 23:32, and the fact that the word used for tent is ‘kubah’ (bed-chamber) rather than ‘ohel’ (tent) suggests that the two were intent on sealing their covenant, or consumating a marriage.
I noted from Rabbi Yehudah ben Shomeyr (RaYbash)’s commentary that Pinchas was declared ‘zealous’, the Hebrew word being ‘Chassid’. This I found also to be a revolutionary idea: the word ‘chassid’ is usually translated as ‘kind’, or also ‘pious’. You will no doubt be familiar with the Orthodox Jewish sect the ‘Chassidim’ who are considered very ‘pious’ (or in Yiddish, ‘frum’.) I had previously considered the central idea of piety as being kindness (the book of James / Jakob talks about true religion being represented by those who visit and take care of widows and orphans and those in prison, for example), but it had never occurred to me before that the flip-side of kindness is actually zeal!
This idea in turn leads me to think about the passage in Isaiah (59:17-21) which parallel’s Rav Sh’aul / Paul’s spiritual armour of Ephesians 6:10-18, which also mentions serveral items which Paul’s list left off, including a ‘cloak of zeal’. It’s difficult to know how this ‘cloak of zeal’ can or should be applied in the life of a New Covenant believer, but the B’rit Chadashah portion listed is of course the episode where Yeshua (Baruch Hu) cleanses the Temple and turns over the tables of the money-makers in his righteous anger. Who has that kind of zeal today? Well let’s be encouraged by the Haftarah portion, which sees Eliyahu (Elijah) dejected and forlorn, telling YHWH how zealous he has been and believing he is alone in all this, but this is YHWH’s reply: “Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.”
The other thing which seems strange is that Pinchas is rewarded with , with a ‘Covenant of Peace’, whereas his action seems so ‘warlike’, but again looking at the Hebrew, ‘Shalom’ peace is not just the absence of war, not a peace at any price, it’s a wholeness, a righteous peace, perfection and rest which comes at the end of work. Shalom peace can’t be attained through sitting back and letting be. It requires action, and can only be true shalom within the safe boundaries of Torah. Once you step outside of Torah, you forfeit some of your shalom. Pinchas’ action, though horrible to our western eyes, was actually restorative, bringing Israel back into the safety of Torah.
Shabbat shalom!