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Today’s Parasha is titled Pinchas or Phinehas and encompasses Numbers 25:10-30:1. It begins in the aftermath of Israel indulging in the worship of Ba’al at Peor as well as sexual immorality with Moabite women. Our people had been lingering in the land of Sheeteem across the river Jordan from Jericho. The last parasha ended with one of those revelers shamelessly bringing a female Moabite companion into his tent and Pinchas going in after them and putting a spear through both of them. This week’s parasha includes God establishing a covenant with Pinchas and his descendants that they would have an everlasting priesthood. It also includes Israel’s second census, women’s family property rights, the question of Moses’s successor, offerings, and appointed festival days.
The parasha begins with God addressing Moses saying, “Pinchas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the Priest, has turned away My anger from the sons of Israel: for he was as zealous as I am for My honor.” God then makes a covenant of peace with him and establishes a lasting priesthood.
One might wonder what this covenant of a lasting priesthood meant. Could it be connected with Messiah Yeshua? While God did promise Pinchas a covenant of a lasting priesthood, the Bible at no point connects Messiah’s priesthood to that of Pinchas. In fact, Pinchas’ family line seems to disappear into obscurity. Possibly his family preferred a smaller role out of the spotlight. However, just as Yeshua was zealous for His Father’s house, we should also look to Pinchas’ example of zeal for God, which isn’t to say that we take the law into our own hands. We obviously can’t and shouldn’t. In today’s day and age, we don’t drive spears through people for committing immoral acts; but, in the context of Israel encamped in the wilderness, this was an appropriate reaction. In that day God acted swiftly to ensure that our people stayed spiritually pure. To maintain a right relationship with God, we had to walk a straight line.
Adonai had given our people the Ten Commandments as well as the other statutes and ordinances in Leviticus, which expound on the Ten Commandments. We had also seen His mighty deeds and had verbally committed to follow His laws. We were on the threshold of entering the Land God had promised us on oath, but we forgot that it was to be on His terms. Israel was supposed to be His emissary people to show the surrounding nations and the world what could be accomplished for those who love and reverence the Lord.
The Parasha continues with Israel’s second census. When God commands a census, it is for a good reason. Israel was in the wilderness and would soon be confronting foreign armies. It was wise and essential to be prepared for war. This census was unlike the one King David took later in his life, which we read about in 1 Chronicles 21. That one was without God’s approval. It was unnecessary and done sinfully out of pride. In that instance, David was imitating the practices of the kings of the surrounding nations who liked to boast in the size of their armies. David’s action proved costly to Israel, a reminder that we need to be careful to follow God’s leading and to not imitate the strategies of the world even if those strategies seem logical.
Next, we read about the death of Zelophehad from the half-tribe of Manasseh. Zelophehad had no sons, only daughters. His daughters came before Moses, Eleazar the priest, and the leaders of the whole assembly to inquire about rights to their father’s estate. This incident shows God dealing faithfully and justly with the rights of women almost 3,500 years ago. I’ll bet His directives would have been despised and disregarded as crazy by other peoples of the time. God instructs Moses that it is right that their father’s land inheritance be given to the daughters. God goes further and decrees that, in this type of case, all avenues are covered and that a family’s property not be lost.
In contrast to God’s direction on the matter, we can look at England and much of Europe prior to World War II. They had a law called ‘Primogeniture’ in which virtually all rights and property from a family estate passed only to the first son or, if there was no son, to the nearest male relative in order of seniority. This law left any daughters out of the inheritance whatsoever. It could leave unmarried daughters in a precarious or even destitute situation forcing them to desperate measures to survive. How much better a society fares when its ways follows God’s ways.
Next, God instructs Moses to go to the top of the Abraim range to see the land He was going to give to our people. Then, after seeing it, Moses would be “gathered to his people.” Moses asks the Lord to appoint a man over the people who would lead them righteously; so God instructs Moses to appoint Joshua, a man filled with the Spirit. Moses was to lay hands on Joshua and bring him out before Eleazar the priest and all the people and to commission Joshua there in front of the entire assembly of Israel. At that time Moses was instructed to transfer some of his authority to Joshua so that, when Moses died, the people would be ready and already have a leader. Finally, God instructs Moses to go before the people and remind them to observe His required offerings and festivals and to keep them holy.
In today’s political, economical, and even sexual climate, we are in need more than ever of aligning our lives to the example of the godly men and women who came before us — those like Moses, Pinchas, and especially Messiah Yeshua. We need to be more committed to spiritual disciplines like prayer, reading God’s Word, and meeting together. Like Yeshua, we need to show a hurting world what true love looks like. While God stands and hopefully we here all stand in stark contrast to the sin of this world, we must also remember to express a godly stance in a way of love. Titus 2:8 tells us to be careful to use wholesome speech that cannot be condemned. Then your opponent will be ashamed because he or she cannot say anything bad about you.
The take-away from this parasha is this: are you as zealous for the name of God as He is for His own name? Are you making a conscious effort to live a godly life 24/7 so that you don’t discredit your testimony and bring dishonor to the faith? It is important that, when you receive an opportunity to witness, it is not tainted by your actions, words, or attitudes. Are you willing to speak truth to others in love, or are you afraid of experiencing rejection?
When I look at Israel’s history and my own past, I see how often my people have and, yes, even I, have fallen short. God established the standard for righteous living, and we continually either try to blur the lines or completely disregard the boundaries He so clearly set. Looking back at these failures could make one extremely depressed, but a better way to look at those failures is to be extremely grateful to have a God who so freely forgives.
For those who are feeling burdened by their sin, be encouraged. Remember Messiah Yeshua did not come for the sinless but for the sinner. So as Psalm 31:24 says, “Be strong; and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord.” If you truly place your hope in the Lord, He will carry you through. I hope all of us here and those listening today make a commitment to be bold in our day like Pinchas was in his day.