By Joseph Shulam.
This week’s Torah reading is another one of my favorites because it demonstrates that our God, the creator of this universe, the father of Yeshua our Messiah, and the Lord of our planet Earth, is not a legalistic, harsh, and autocratic ruler. Our reading is a dramatic approval of human dignity by divine authority.
We read this Shabbat from the book of Numbers 25:10-30:1, five chapters that describe the last events that occurred not long before the children of Israel crossed the Jordan.
From the prophets (the Haftarah) is from Jeremiah 1:1 – 2:3. Our reading from the New Testament is from John 2:13-22.
There is one thing that I can testify about the reading and discussion of our Torah and Prophets and New Testament, it is always interesting and challenging to my interests and inspiring to my spirit to read and see how God deals with people, with us as individuals and collectively. I strongly recommend that you read every week the same portions from God’s word that all religious Israelis read on Shabbat.
Two things will happen to you:
1) Your knowledge and understanding of the Bible will increase dramatically in three years.
2) You will suddenly enjoy the biblical narrative and understand that the Bible is a book with a beginning, a middle, and an end. It contains the autobiography of humanity with important implications for your life now! Of course, it was recommended by the apostles in the Acts 15 meeting in Jerusalem to decide how to receive the new converts from among the non-Jewish nations into the fold and community of the disciples of Yeshua inside the greater Israel. Here is the text from the book of Acts:
“Therefore, I judge that we should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to God, but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood. For Moses has had throughout many generations those who preach him in every city, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath.” Acts 15:19-21 NKJV
The name of our Torah reading on this Shabbat is also unusual. It is named after a person, not an event. We don’t have a Torah portion named after Moses or Aaron, or Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron. Our reading is called Pinchas.
So what is so important about the name of this young Levite mentioned in a Torah portion from the family of Aaron? Pinchas was a grandson of Aaron, the brother of Moses.
Here is the story of Pinchas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest:
“Now when Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose from among the congregation and took a javelin in his hand; and he went after the man of Israel into the tent and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her body. So the plague was stopped among the children of Israel. And those who died in the plague were twenty-four thousand. Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: “Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned back My wrath from the children of Israel, because he was zealous with My zeal among them, so that I did not consume the children of Israel in My zeal. Therefore say, “Behold, I give to him My covenant of peace; and it shall be to him and his descendants after him a covenant of an everlasting priesthood, because he was zealous for his God, and made atonement for the children of Israel.” (Numbers 25:7-13 NKJV).
What is going on here, my dear friends and brothers? This young man, Pinchas, took the law into his own hands. Moses, Aaron, and the elders of Israel stood there and watched the abomination that was going on right at the entrance to the Tabernacle of the Lord, right under the presence of God and His glory. Do you remember the reading from last week where the magic and curses of Balaam and his donkey tried to put on Israel, but didn’t work?
Balaam still wanted his payment in gold, and he advised how to win the battle against Israel. Take the beautiful young girls of Moab and send them to seduce the men of Israel. This is a sure way that will make Israel fall. This is what Barak did, and now we see that God was so displeased with Israel’s young and old men that a plague was sent to punish Israel for being so weak and unaware of what was going on in the camp of Israel. It is hard to understand this story without reading a good portion of the biblical text:
“Now Israel remained in Acacia Grove, and the people began to commit harlotry with the women of Moab. They invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. So Israel was joined to Baal of Peor, and the anger of the LORD was aroused against Israel. Then the LORD said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of the people and hang the offenders before the LORD, out in the sun, that the fierce anger of the LORD may turn away from Israel.” So Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Every one of you kill his men who were joined to Baal of Peor.” And indeed, one of the children of Israel came and presented to his brethren a Midianite woman in the sight of Moses and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. Now when Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose from among the congregation and took a javelin in his hand; and he went after the man of Israel into the tent and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her body. So the plague was stopped among the children of Israel. And those who died in the plague were twenty-four thousand.
Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: “Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned back My wrath from the children of Israel, because he was zealous with My zeal among them, so that I did not consume the children of Israel in My zeal. Therefore say, “Behold, I give to him My covenant of peace; and it shall be to him and his descendants after him a covenant of an everlasting priesthood, because he was zealous for his God, and made atonement for the children of Israel.’ ”
Now the name of the Israelite who was killed, who was killed with the Midianite woman, was Zimri the son of Salu, a leader of a father’s house among the Simeonites. And the name of the Midianite woman who was killed was Cozbi the daughter of Zur; he was head of the people of a father’s house in Midian.” (Numbers 25:1-15 NKJV).
Now I would like to understand and share with you how God sees things from the heavens above and how different God’s perspective is from our views below. What did this young man, Pinchas, actually do by publicly killing Zimri and Cozbi, the two noble children of Israel and Midian? This young man, Pinchas, sees the weakness and the confused leaders of Israel, Moses, Aaron, and all the elders of Israel, standing outside the Tabernacle of the Lord, helpless and standing and watching the pornographic show in the courtyard of the Tabernacle of the Lord, ringing their hands, bewildered by the horror of this event and the desecration of the tabernacles of the Lord.
Pinchas, a young man, sees the elders of Israel helpless and doing nothing. Although he has no authority or permission, Pinchas takes the law into his own hands, doesn’t ask permission from Moses and the elders to take action, and spears the two sex offenders through their bodies right into the ground. Usually, such unauthorized action, murder, would be condemned by the leadership of the people of Israel. We in Israel had similar events happen. Events where a young soldier still in training shot a terrorist dead without asking for permission from his superior officer. He hit the terrorist when he tried to stab another soldier with a knife.
The Israeli soldier had a military court case and was sentenced to be jailed for a time. However, in our Torah reading, we see that God praises and rewards Pinchas, the priest son of Aaron, for his initiative, his courage, and his quick action and demonstration of courage and creative execution of the sex offenders in the court of the Tabernacle of the Lord.
What can we learn from this Torah portion called Pinchas?
1. When the leadership of Israel is dumbfounded and does not know how to deal with horrible, unspeakable, and unimaginable events, someone has the unauthorized right to do what is right and righteous to stop the damage and abomination, even without authorization by the authorities and leaders of the camp.
2. God is not legalistic and picky when action is taken in the face of danger and lawless action of the enemy. You do what you must, even if the government leaders don’t know what to do and are petrified, frozen in their shoes. You like (almost) every human being who knows God has a built-in compass that guides them to do what is right and righteous. In times of uncertainty, it is best to do something rather than wait for the wheels of the law to turn and give permission.
3. Pinchas did what he understood to be right and was ready to take the consequences of his action even before the law of the land.
4. On the other hand, God sees Pinchas’s actions and stops the plague. He rewards Pinchas for his bravery and initiative and makes him the chief of staff of the Army of Israel.
This lesson is hard for every law-abiding citizen of a lawful country with a healthy operating legal system. In the case of Pinchas taking the law into his own hands = Pinchas is not punished by God and is used as a good example of someone who cares more about the people and righteousness than about himself. The consequences of his action before God are more important to him than before the law of the Land.
I am not suggesting that everyone with a whim should take the law into their own hands. But if a person sees the weakness of the law, the helplessness of the leadership, and the abominations of the enemy, yes, he should use what he has in his hands to stop the enemy’s abominable actions and stop the danger of exposing the citizens to an existential danger to the very fabric of a society and nation.
Yes, I like Pinchas, the son of Eliezer the Priest! If there is no man in the room, please be the man! God rewarded Pinchas and didn’t punish him. He made this young man from the tribe of Levi the chief of staff of the Israeli armed forces. This Pinchas is mentioned 25 times in the Bible, all the way to the prophets of Israel and the books of Chronicles. He is a hero in the history of Israel. It is worth studying our Torah portion more deeply for this Shabbat.