Parashat Pinchas

Parashat Pinchas                                                                      by Shelley Wood Gauld
Num 25: 10-30:1; 1 Kings 18: 46-19:21; Romans 11:2-32

Last week’s portion introduced us to Pinchas, the son of Eleazar the priest and grandson of Aaron. It was Pinchas who drove a spear through a Simeonite prince and a Midianite princess while they were in the act of committing fornication. On account of this zeal of Pinchas, Adonai stopped the plague amongst the people and Israel was saved from destruction... (Num 25:10-11) This week’s portion begins with Pinchas being rewarded by HaShem by the granting of a ‘covenant of peace’ and of perpetual priesthood (brit kehunat olam) ~because he was ‘jealous for his God’ and had made atonement (kafar) for the people of Israel. Herein lies a picture of Messiah....

There are more such Messianic images in this parashah... The laws concerning the scribal arts of writing the Torah (soferut) require that all Hebrew letters are well formed ~ no letters can touch any other letters, be malformed, broken or be illegible. But there is one unusual exception to these rules in the letter ‘vav’ that appears in the word ‘shalom’ in the making of this ‘brit kehunat olam’. Here the ‘vav’, the sixth letter of the alphabet and therefore ‘the letter of man’ is broken... the upright shaft of the letter is split in two...

“Behold, I am giving him my covenant of peace.” Num 25:12

Herein lies a second picture of Messiah: a man with an eternal priesthood who was ‘broken’ for the sake of a covenant that would bring peace, not only to Israel, but to all humanity. We note too that if the broken half of the letter vav is allowed to fall away,  that this letter then becomes a ‘yod’ (which is the number of divine order and completion). The word ‘shalom’ (peace) then changes to mean ‘complete’ ~ indicating that this covenant is one of completion, finality and perfection.

According to Jewish midrash, God’s promise of blessing upon Pinchas meant that he would never die... and some of the more esoteric sages say that Pinchas and Eliyahu haNavi (Elijah the prophet) are one and the same. We, however, understand the promise to Pinchas to be a picture of the priesthood of Messiah that is everlasting.

There is yet another subtle allusion to Messiah in this parashah. The Lord commanded Moses to climb Mt Avarim to “see the land which I have given to the children of Israel... And you shall see it; and then you shall be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother was gathered... “ Moses then appealed to HaShem to provide a successor to his leadership and God instructed that Yehoshuah bin Nun  (Joshua, son of Nun) be commissioned through semikhah (formal laying on of hands) before Eleazar the High Priest and all the people of Israel. It would be Yehoshua, not Moses, who would lead the people into the Land of Promise...

According to Midrash, Moses assembled all Israel together, put a crown and robe on Yehoshuah’s head, and seated him on a golden throne -- and then Moses sat down amongst the people, like a student before his teacher. This he did for thirty days before he died.... Again a picture of Yeshua, but this time his kingship ~ and a reminder that he would be not only ‘a prophet like Moses’, but greater than Moses.

The Haftarah portion also deals with new leadership. Fittingly, it is the story of Elijah, who is associated with Pinchas by some sages, who appointed Elisha to succeed him, by throwing a cloak on Him (as Moses did with Joshua) ~ indicating that Elisha had been chosen as Elijah’s successor.

It is interesting how cloaks and coats are often indicators of leadership ~ or changes in leadership. Joseph’s richly ornamented robe is associated not only with the leadership of the firstborn, but with dissension and division among the sons of Israel. It therefore seems appropriate that God chose a robe, the cloak of his prophet Ahijah, a priest of Shiloh, to warn his people of the impending clash that would divide the tribes of Israel into two independent kingdoms:

“. . . and Ahijah took hold of the new cloak he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces. Then he said to Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces for yourself, for this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘See, I am going to tear the kingdom out of Solomon’s hand and give you ten tribes. But for the sake of my servant David and the city of Jerusalem . . . he will have one tribe. I will do this because they have forsaken me. . . .’ ” (1 Kings 11:30–33).

We remember too, Yeshua being clothed by Roman soldiers, in mocked deference, with a royal robe and a crown of thorns, during his trial ~ and then his valuable seamless tunic at the foot of His cross being gambled for, again, by the Roman soldiers. Our Yeshua ~ ‘Adon Olam”, ‘Master of the Universe’ ~ gave up all power, all authority, even all dignity, to fulfill the ultimate divine Covenant of Peace... for us...