Joy in the Messiah

פִּינְחָס
Pinchas
Numbers 25:10-30:1
HafTorah Jeremiah 1:1-2:3
Brit Chadasha John 2:13-22

    There is a lot going on with the Torah portion Pinchas.  Balak, the prior Torah portion ends with the Israelites being joined to Ba’al Peor and Pinchas immediately killing 2 people with the spear, Numbers 25:7-9, Numbers 25:14-15 naming them.
     God acknowledges his actions, thus giving him an everlasting covenant of peace because he was zealous with God’s zeal, not zealous with his own zeal. He was not just a zealot, but he was zealous with God’s zeal. 
     To be zealous for something – to be exuberant, to have passion for, to have enthusiasm. We all have zeal for something, but the one thing to have zeal for that will give us a covenant of peace- is the zeal that we have for God and His Word.
We must be zealous in seeking Torah and God, Hosea 6:3.
We must be zealous in seeking God’s righteousness, Deuteronomy 16:20
We must be zealous in seeking God’s peace, Psalm 34:15
We must be zealous in separating ourselves from the company of the wicked, Proverbs 24:1-2 We must be zealous in our hearing Revelation 2:7.    
    Reading Numbers 25:10-13 carefully, we see that this gift of shalom was given to Pinchas due to his loyalty to God, not necessarily the action of killing the two, but rather his motive and heart, for God knows the hearts of men: Jeremiah 17:9-10, Psalm 44:21, Proverbs 27:19, 1 Kings 8:39.
     The LORD promised Pinchas, and to his descendants after him, an everlasting priesthood – a covenant of peace, which would forever show His favor upon the family line of Pinchas.  This starts in Judges 20:27-28 where Pinchas is honored by serving God before the Ark of the Covenant in the Land of Israel. The Covenant of Peace continues through the lineage of Pinchas and his descendent, Zadok.  In 1 Chronicles 29:22, 2 Samuel 8:17, 1 Kings 1:34 Zadok was established instead of the son of Abiathar as priest by Solomon when he became King of Israel, and Zadok was the priest who anointed Solomon as king after his father David. Ezra 7:1-6 says that Ezra the priest, who loved the LORD and His Torah was a descendant of Zadok and of Phineas.  This covenant of peace followed Pinchas and his descendants.
     In Numbers 26, a census is taken after the plague and ends with a very somber statement: ‘These are those who were numbered by Moses and Eleazar the priest, who numbered the children of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan, across from Jericho. ⁶⁴ But among these there was not a man of those who were numbered by Moses and Aaron the priest when they numbered the children of Israel in the Wilderness of Sinai. ⁶⁵ For the Lord had said of them, “They shall surely die in the wilderness.” So there was not left a man of them, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.’ Numbers 26:63-65. 
    In Numbers 27 the daughters of Zelophehad the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, from the families of Manasseh the son of Joseph; ask for their inheritance.  They make a bold statement, that their father, although he died in his own sins, he was not a partaker in the wickedness of Korach.  
     Numbers 27:1-4 states that the sisters stood at the door/entrance of the tent of meeting. In John 10:7-9, Yeshua uses the metaphor of a door/gate to explain that He is the only way to salvation and a relationship with God. He is the "door of the sheep," the only way for people to enter into the inheritance of the truth, the Torah, thereby having a true spiritual relationship with The Father, who must be worshiped in spirit and truth, John 4:23-24. 
     Moshe brings the request of the daughters before God, where He gives His answer: Numbers 27:5-11.     
     In Numbers 36:6-9, in the torah portion Masei, God instructs the daughters of Zelophehad to not marry outside of their tribe for ‘the inheritance of the people of Israel shall not be transferred from one tribe to another, for every one of the people of Israel shall hold on to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers. And every daughter who possesses an inheritance in any tribe of the people of Israel shall be wife to one of the clan of the tribe of her father, so that every one of the people of Israel may possess the inheritance of his fathers. So no inheritance shall be transferred from one tribe to another, for each of the tribes of the people of Israel shall hold on to its own inheritance.’
    Our inheritance comes within and from the spirit and will of God. From no other ‘tribe’ and with The One and Only Father. Our inheritance is a heavenly inheritance, unlike the earthly inheritance of the daughters of Zelophehad.  But like the instructions in Numbers 36, we too are not to transfer our inheritance. Our heavenly inheritance from The Father is not to be forsaken for an earthly inheritance with another god.  It is a true heavenly inheritance: 1 Peter 1:4, Ephesians 1:11, Hebrews 9:15. 
    At the end of Numbers27, in 27:12-22, Moshe is told that he will not enter the promised land, and Joshua is appointed the next leader.  Pinchas concludes with chapters Numbers 28 and 29 giving instructions for the offerings of the Sabbath and the High Holy days.  
        There is fable about a frog and a scorpion. It tells of a scorpion who asks a frog to carry him across a river. The frog is initially hesitant, and says, “If I carry you on my back you may sting me.” The scorpion replied, “Why would I? For if I sting you we will both drown.” That seemed logical to the frog, so he agreed. But midway across the river, the frog felt a sudden and sharp sting. As they both began to sink, the frog gasped, “Why? Now we will both die!” The scorpion helplessly answered, "I know, but it is my nature." 
     Some people cannot change who they are. The scorpion was ruled by destructive habits, and the frog blindly trusted the words of the scorpion, even logically knowing the character of the scorpion. Balak’s character was to destroy the Israelites. Balaam’s character was to elevate himself through his own arrogance both ruled by destructive natures. Balaam’s even to the point to send women of Moab to curse the Israelites by inviting the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and ‘the people ate and bowed down to their gods.’  The Israelites knew better, they saw the consequences of their forefathers, and yet they blindly trusted. Both the frog and the 24,000 Israelites would have lived if their own flesh would not have ruled their actions. 

   פִּינְחָס
Pinchas
Numbers 25:10-30:1
HafTorah 1 Kings 18:46-19:21
Brit Chadasha John 2:13-22

  “Be careful who you let on your ship, because some people will sink the whole ship just because they can’t be the captain.”     

     Having failed to curse the Israelites, Balaam eventually devised a strategy that succeeded. He couldn’t curse them – so he would cause them to sin. He persuaded the Moabite women to seduce Israelite men and then lure them into idolatry. This caused Divine anger, and a plague broke out among the Israelites.  Zimri, a leader of the tribe of Shimon, brought a Midianite woman into the camp where they engaged in intimacy. Pinchas stabbing them through one another killed them both simultaneously.  This ended the behavior and the plague by which 24,000 Israelites had already died. 
      Numbers 25:18 ‘…for they distressed you with their trick with which they deceived you in the matter of Pe’or and in the matter of Kozbi, the daughter of a leader of Midyan, their sister who was killed in the day of the plague because of Pe’or.’ 
     Falling for the trickery of Balaam, the Israelites had merged with the Moabites and the Moabite women, unifying and uniting emotionally, spiritually, and sexually. They had become one. Numbers 25:3 ‘So Israel was joined to Baal of Peor, and the anger of the Lord was aroused against Israel.’
     Two opposite traits of two different men; one against and one for. Two types of zeal. One has zeal for himself and the other has zeal for God. The difference between the two characters is so extreme, that it is taught that we should pray to be like one and pray to never be like the other.
     When one has a zeal for their ego and not for the care, and empathy of others, nor for the will of God, then they become the zealot who will harass/seduce/beguile others to gain what is important to them.  Their zeal is for their own will and ideology. They think, as Balaam did that his zeal is for that of God, but that zeal for God is diminished as their ego and zeal for their desires pales the will of God. Even Rabbi Sha’ul twisted his zeal for God into zeal for himself.
       In Philippians 3:2-6 he admitted that the Torah was blameless, yet he was a zealot against anyone coming into the Messiah.  The Torah is blameless, but he was not in twisting the zeal for his gain, verse 7. 
    In Acts 22:1-21 Rabbi Sha’ul as he defends his actions, again states that the Torah being blameless will always stand blameless, but it was rather his flesh that twisted the zealousness about God into zealousness for his flesh.
     When one has zeal for God, they edify, are compassionate, and are willing participants in the order of Adonai, joining themselves to the will and covenants of God, the zeal of God. Pinchas was for the whole of the camp and the order of God. Balaam wanted revenge and represented division and destruction at any cost.  The cost was the death of those who allowed themselves to be seduced. And the cost for Balaam was eventually his death by the sword. 
          Through the lineage of Pinchas the Covenant of Peace continued -1 Chronicles 29:22, 2 Samuel 8:17, and in 1 Kings 1:34 Zadok was established instead of the son of Abiathar as priest by Solomon when he became King of Israel, and Zadok was the priest who anointed Solomon as king after his father David.  Ezra, a descendent of Pinchas loved Adonai and the Torah. Ezra 7:1-6. 
     Malachi 2:4-5 ‘Then you shall know that I have sent this commandment to you, that My covenant with Levi may continue,” Says the Lord of hosts. ⁵ “My covenant was with him, one of life and peace,
And I gave them to him that he might fear Me; So he feared Me and was reverent before My name.’
     Ezekiel speaks of a future covenant of peace. Ezekiel 34:25 “I will make a covenant of peace with them, and cause wild beasts to cease from the land, and they will dwell safely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods.’ Ezekiel 37:26 ‘I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant. I will establish them and increase their numbers, and I will put my sanctuary among them forever.’