Rabbi's Drash
Pinchas   (  )   5768
 

The parashah of this week is emphatic concerning godly leadership; beginning with Pinchas and ending with Joshua. Pinchas, who is the grandson of Aharon, takes it upon himself to render righteous judgment upon Zimri a prince of the tribe of Simeon whose rebellion caused the desecration of the G-d of Israel. By killing him and the Midianite woman, he literally saved the people of Israel from the vengeance of G-d where only 24,000 died in the plague. For that reason, G-d gave the Brit Shalom (covenant of peace) to him and his descendants forever. There are several very interesting points for us to examine in the Torah: The first is that as Cohen haGadol (High Priest), this could have created a problem for him because now he had blood on his hands. Rabbi Abarbanel explains that G-d gave his Brit Shalom to Pinchas because through his action Pinchas was considered to be performing a sacrificial offering to G-d thus making atonement for Israel. The Midrash in B'midbar Rabah states "and made atonement for the Israelites: any man who spills the blood of the wicked is considered as if he has brought a sacrificial offering before G-d." As Jewish believers, we can relate this to our Messiah, Yeshua who needed to die outside the camp having been made sinful by taking on the sins of the world. Through his sacrificial death, he brought atonement for all humanity. Another important point to note is that our rabbis relate Pinchas to Eliyahu ha navi (Elijah the Prophet) which is the Haftarah portion for the week. Rashi writes: "A covenant of peace on many levels do I render unto Pinchas and I acclaim his actions. I reward him for having endangered his life for My honor and because of his actions he established peace between Me and Israel. Therefore he will be the one to announce the coming of Messiah." Malachi 3:23-24, Targum Jonathan (Yalkut Shimoni). Thus the office or position of Pinchas would be eternal. According to the sages Pinchas becomes like a type of Eliyahu since he would be announcing the Messiah bringing in the covenant of peace for the whole world. In chapter 27:12-23, G-d announced to Moses that it was time for him to go to be with his ancestors. He asks Moses for the last time to climb Mount Avarim to see the Promised Land. In verse 17, Moses asks G-d not to leave Israel alone but to choose a man who would be his successor. "Let G-d's community not be like sheep that have no shepherd." God told Moses to take Joshua, son of Nun a man of spirit and to lay hands upon him. He did so before the Cohen haGadol in order that the whole assembly would know who their new leader would be. To Moshe it was extremely important that the people of Israel would never be without a leader. He foretold in Deuteronomy 18:15-19 that G-d would one day raise up a greater prophet from among our own people who will speak in G-d's name. Ramban himself said that Joshua could not be that prophet because he was never considered greater than Moses. We know who that prophet is: Yeshua our Messiah. John 5: 46-47 "For if you really believed Moses you would believe me, since he wrote about me." In conclusion, according our sages, Pinchas and Eliyahu are related closely with one both having an eternal covenant with G-d. Pinchas was promised an eternal covenant and Elijah was taken up to G-d without having died. Moshe and Eliyahu also have a similar story. When Eliyahu was exhausted and his work was finished, God provided his successor, Elisha in the same way that Joshua was provided to replace Moshe. G-d also took Moshe and for us he is always here even though he went to be with his ancestors. Yeshua himself said that they didn't die but went to live with their ancestors All this is tied together in a beautiful knot at the scene in Luke 9: 28-36 which took place when Yeshua took Kefa (Peter), Yochanan (John) and Ya'akov (James) up to the hill country to pray. As Yeshua was praying, the appearance of his face changed, his clothing became gleaming white and suddenly there were two men speaking with him - Moshe and Eliyahu. Peter understood very well what this meant and thinking that Yeshua was Mashiach ben David who would bring in the olam haba, the world to come, he wanted to build 3 Succahs, one each for Yeshua, Moshe and Eliyahu. (See Zechariah 14:16). He was not able to comprehend that Yeshua came in the role of Mashiach ben Yosef, the suffering servant who would die to take on the sin of mankind. Moshe had foretold that this greater prophet would come and now he was speaking to Yeshua face to face. Eliyahu would be the great prophet who would announce the coming of the Messiah and here he was doing that very thing. The three talmidim were witnesses that Yeshua was the One we have been waiting for. Baruch hu Shemo! May G-d add blessings to His Word!      Rabbi Percy Johnson      Netanel ben Yochanan      [nxy [b lantn      © 2008 Use by Permission      Kehilat She’ar Yashuv

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