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
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2008 Use by Permission
Kehilat
She’ar Yashuv
