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The name of this week’s parasha is Pinchas, which is named after the priest who was zealous for God, and covers Numbers 25:10-30:1. Adonai compliments Pinchas for his actions, which turned away Adonai’s wrath from the Israelis, and states that He will make a covenant of a perpetual priesthood with Pinchas and his descendants.
We see in last week’s parasha that Pinchas (who was Aaron’s grandson) took a spear and stabbed it through both an Israeli man and Midianite woman who both shamelessly entered the Israeli man’s tent before the entire Israeli community and engaged in sexual immorality. Sadly, this type of wicked behavior was running rampant throughout the Israeli community; while the Israelis were at Shittim, the Moabite women enticed the Israeli men to participate in sexual immorality and worshipping the Baal of Peor, which angered God.
Pinchas’ actions made atonement for the Israelis, stopping the plague that took 24,000 Israeli lives. The chapter ends with God’s commandment that the Israelis treat the Midianites as enemies due to the Midianites’ hostility and deception towards the Israelis.
Chapter 26 describes the census Adonai told Moses and Eleazar (Pinchas’ father) to take of all the Israeli men 20 years old and older that could fight for Israel. The total number of Israeli men counted in the census was 601,730 and the land inherited by each tribe would be based on the tribe’s size – larger tribes would receive more land, and smaller tribes less land. The male Levites a month old and older were also numbered – their total number was 23,000, but they were not counted with the other Israelis because they were not given an inheritance among the Israelis.
The Israelis counted in this census excluded anyone counted by Moses and Aaron in the census from Numbers 1, because Adonai’s promise from Numbers 14 was restated here that those Israelis (except for Caleb and Joshua) would die in the wilderness.
In chapter 27, Zelophehad’s daughters from the tribe of Manasseh presented their claim regarding their father’s inheritance – since Zelophehad died without any sons, his daughters asked for an inheritance among his relatives. God agreed with their request and commanded that Zelophehad’s daughters would receive property as an inheritance among their father’s relatives and would keep their father’s inheritance. The Israelis were then instructed on determining who is eligible to receive a man’s inheritance within his family after he dies.
The chapter ends with the selection of Joshua as Moses’ replacement. Adonai told Moses he will see the Promised Land but will die outside of it like his brother Aaron, due to their rebellion against Adonai’s command to honor Him as holy at the waters of Meribah Kadesh in Numbers 20. Moses would select Joshua as his replacement in front of Eleazar the priest and the entire Israeli community and would give Joshua some of his authority so that the Israelis will obey Joshua, and Moses obeyed God’s commandments.
The Israelis are then instructed on how they are to present specific offerings to God – these include instructions for daily, Sabbath, and monthly offerings; additional instructions are given regarding offerings for Passover, the Feast of Weeks, the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Booths.
Parasha Pinchas shows us that God delights to reward those who honor Him and obey His commandments, but those who disobey Him will receive His anger and punishments. Pinchas’ zeal for Adonai caused him to act righteously and he was blessed by God with a perpetual priesthood for him and his descendants. All the Israelis who were counted in the census from Numbers 1 would die outside the Promised Land for disobeying Adonai, except for Joshua and Caleb, who would enter because of their faithful obedience to Adonai.
This parasha also shows us that we can trust God to provide for what we need. The census ensured the Israeli tribes were given the right amount of land to handle each tribe’s population. Zelophehad’s daughters sought to preserve their father’s inheritance within their family, and we see in Numbers 36 that Adonai honored their request. God provided the Israelis a successor to Moses by choosing Joshua to lead them into the Promised Land.
We see from Parasha Pinchas that serving as a leader carries great responsibilities and expectations, and is not to be taken lightly, because the consequences for a leader’s failure are extremely serious. Although Moses served God faithfully as Israel’s leader for many years, he would die outside the Promised Land due to his failure to honor God at Meribah Kadesh. Let’s remember to pray for those in leadership within Messiah’s community, so that they will seek to glorify and honor Adonai through obedience to His will, and that they will set a positive example for those under their leadership to imitate.
Finally, we would do well to remember from this parasha that what a person believes about God is shown through their actions. Proverbs 27:19 states that “As water reflects a face, so a man’s heart reflects the man.” Pinchas had a heart dedicated to serving Adonai, and through his actions, we see that he lived zealously for Adonai.
As followers of Messiah Yeshua, our zeal for Him should be evident in every part of our lives, so let’s dedicate ourselves to serving Him with zeal by loyally following Him as Lord and Savior, so that we can receive the blessings that come from being His good and faithful servants!