Adonai said to Moshe, “Pinchas the son of El‘azar, the son of Aharon the cohen, has deflected my anger from the people of Isra’el by being as zealous as I am, so that I didn’t destroy them in my own zeal. Therefore say, ‘I am giving him my covenant of shalom, making a covenant with him and his descendants after him that the office of cohen will be theirs forever.’ This is because he was zealous on behalf of his God and made atonement for the people of Israel.”-Numbers 25:10-13
Last time we read how Phinehas had put a licentious couple to death by thrusting both of them through their genitals with his spear while they were in the midst of having sexual intercourse.
We’re told it was this brazen act that was responsible for stopping the plague, but not before 24,000 people perished from it.
Now let’s just stop here for a second to take a breather and ask ourselves a question that may be a bit more challenging for some than others.
Do you have trouble with this priest Phinehas taking the law into his own hands and killing this couple?
How do you really feel about it?
I mean let’s take a good hard and objective look at what really happened here.
A Hebrew man took a foreign woman and while they were having consensual sex, Phinehas in a righteous burst of anger took it upon himself to kill this couple in cold blood while they were in the midst of a sex act.
Can you think of a similar situation in our society today where Phinehas would not have immediately been arrested on the spot and tried for murder?
Probably Phinehas would have been labelled as a right-wing extremist religious nutcase and as somebody who should be locked up forever.
Well, if you feel that way, you’re not alone.
The ancient Rabbis also had trouble with Phinehas taking the law into his own hands and they tried to put forth a variety of interpretations that would NOT paint Phinehas in a positive light.
Nevertheless, I think this is one of those parts of Scripture where the truthfulness of the words “Your ways are not my ways and your thoughts are not my thoughts…” become all the more apparent.
HASHEM declared that what Phinehas did was not only NOT murder but it was a righteous act that served to atone for the people’s sins at the time.
God went on to declare of Phinehas, “I am giving him my covenant of shalom, making a covenant with him and his descendants after him that the office of cohen will be theirs forever”.
Make no bones about it, Phinehas was blessed and the Lord declared that Phinehas would be the clan out of all the Levite clans that would become the priests.
I find this declaration really fascinating because under normal circumstances Phinehas’s clan would still have become the clan that would become the priests.
The reason is because Phinehas was Eleazar’s son and Eleazar was Aaron’s son.
Since Aaron had already passed away, Eleazar was now the High Priest.
Hence, after Eleazar died, per the established protocol, one of his sons would have become the next High Priest.
HASHEM had just decided that because of Phinehas’s righteous actions, it was he who would become the next High Priest out of Eleazar’s sons.
Phinehas’s execution of the couple was also the much needed jolt necessary to bring Israel to its senses.
This new generation of Israelites who would enter the Promised Land had just received a firsthand lesson on HASHEM’s kindness and severity.
They had just learned that HASHEM is mightily severe towards those who would casually rebel against Him but also kind in providing a means of atonement.
The chapter closes up with HASHEM declaring war on the Midianites for tempting His People into committing idolatry.
This meant that a census would have to be taken of the eligible men who would form Israel’s army.
That’s what Numbers Chapter 26 is going to be all about, which we’ll start next time.
NEXT TIME WE BEGIN NUMBERS CHAPTER 26
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