Numbers 25:10-30:1 - 1 Kings 18:46-19:21 - John 17:1-26
This week's edition of The Set Table contains:
Questions and Commentary on Shabbat Pinchas Chayyei Yeshua - A Devotional Commentary on the Besora Reading
In Summary
Looking Ahead
Questions & Commentary on Parashat Pinchas
1.
Why is Pinchas given a "covenant of peace" after a violent act? What does this have to do with presidential politics?
David Nichol
Our parasha is named for Pinchas, son of
Eleazar the priest. As you may remember, Israelite men were seduced by Midianite
women, who encouraged worship of their god. According to tradition, this was
part of a Midianite plot to undermine Israel morally when they could not
overcome them militarily - a plot in which the men of Israel were apparently
more than willing to participate. Thus, due to these liaisons, Israelites
worshiped a god called Ba‘al-Pe'or.
At the height of the
trouble, an Israelite man brought into his tent a Midianite woman. Pinchas, who
was quite a hothead (though somewhat well-intentioned), killed the man and
woman with the single thrust of a spear. Though this was loosely compliant with
God's command to kill the idolaters (Numbers 25:4-5), it was without due
process and bypassed the set hierarchy wherein each of the shofte Yisra'el (officers of Israel) was responsible for punishing
the guilty parties in their jurisdiction (Numbers 25.5). His flamboyant zeal assuaged God's wrath,
stopping a plague that was decimating the Israelites.
Our parasha begins in the
aftermath of Pinchas' brutal act of vigilante justice. God rewards him and his
descendants with a brit shalom,
perhaps best translated as a covenant of peace or friendship (Numbers 25:10-12).
While many commentators have expressed mixed feelings about Pinchas' actions,
the text seems to portray God as endorsing them.
In fact, the text almost seems ironic . . . a covenant of
peace for such a violent man?
Parashat Pinchas is also about a time of transition. Aaron has passed
away, and Moses knows that his time is coming shortly (Number 27.12-14).
Joshua's succession of Moses as leader over the people is determined
(25:15-23). Interestingly, Joshua does not assume Moses' position and
privileges in full. Rather, while Moses would speak to God "face-to-face"
(12.8), Joshua must work with the priest Eleazar to discern God's will.
Here, we begin to see a veiled critique of Pinchas'
zealous action, as the roles of Joshua and the Levites take their distinct
shapes. Moses was mediator and military leader, judge and general, but
apparently his shoes are too big for one person to fill! Joshua takes on the
roles of military and political leader, and the Levites draw the community
close to God by divining his will using the Urim
and Thumim and running the
sacrificial cult.
The tribe of Levi had displayed a pattern of violent
zeal, from going through the camp to kill of their brethren after one incidence
of idolatry among the Israelites (Exodus 32:26-28), to Pinchas' highly visible
vigilantism after another. Even their ancestor, Levi, had a savage zealous streak,
to his father Jacob's chagrin (Genesis 34:25-27, 49:5-7). Through a covenant of peace, Pinchas and his
descendants are rewarded . . . and their violent tendencies neutralized. In the priests, Israel has military-minded
keepers of the mishkan, and in Joshua
a military leader who is known for his passion for being in God's house (Exodus
33.11). Levi's swords are taken away and given to Joshua, a leader who revels
in God's presence (33:11), who gives people the benefit of the doubt (32:17),
and who relates to people as the individuals they are (Rashi on Numbers 27:16).
As citizens in the
United States prepare to vote for a new president, and Israel faces a possible
change in prime minister, Parashat
Pinchas invites us to meditate on leadership. We are reminded that the
position at the top is more important than the person at the top - for the good
of the community, their roles are circumscribed. Unlike these leaders, however,
Moses was equal to the task of leading Israel in all aspects, as will be Yeshua,
Mashiach ben David, who is "the head
of every ruler and authority" (Colossians 2.10).
2. The daughters of Zelophehad - Mahla, Noa, Hogla, Milca, and Tirza - approach Moses and the elders of the community after their father dies (Numbers 27:1-11). There is no male heir to inherit his property, and no legislation concerning daughters. These five women recognize that the Law of Moses has made no provision for their inheritance and decide they should be next in line to carry on their father's name (property). Their actions result in changes in the Torah. There are three other places in the Torah where actions of people (passive and active) result in changes in the Law as well, can you recount them?
Deborah Pardo-Kaplan
The daughters of Zelophehad's case is the last of four
cases in the Torah in which changes are made to the Law; the other two are in
Numbers and one is in Leviticus:
1. The first one is a story about a blasphemer found in
Leviticus 24:10. A man whose mother was Israelite and father Egyptian got into
a fight with an Israelite-the Israelite pronounced the name of God in blasphemy
and was taken into custody until it was decided by God (through Moses) what to
do: a new law resulted - no pronouncing the name of God. He was then stoned.
2. The second case is found in Numbers 9:6: Some men
wanted to know whether they could present the Passover sacrifice because they
were unclean due to contact with a corpse. They stood by as Moses inquired of
God on this matter. God allowed it and makes a law confirming it. At the same
time God adds that those who are clean and do not offer a sacrifice will be cut
off from their kin.
3. The third case involves a Sabbath violator and can be
found in Numbers 15:32. A man was gathering wood on the Sabbath while the
children of Israel were in the wilderness. It says that those who found him
brought him to Moses and Aaron, and to the whole congregation; "They put him
under guard, because it had not been explained what should be done to him." God
commanded that he be put to death and the entire congregation stoned him.
Only one of these cases had a positive outcome: the one
where the unclean men consider their situation and wisely approach the
leadership to see what God would say on something not yet legislated. Those
involved in the two other cases did not contemplate their situation, or bother
to approach the lawmakers for advice-this resulted in their death. The
daughters of Zelophehad followed the model of the wise men who asked first
before assuming to take the law into their own hands. As a result God blessed
them with an inheritance (with some conditions-that they marry within their
clan (see Numbers 36).
Isaac W. Oliver
John 17:1-26 - Olam Habba vs. Olam Hazzeh
A quick read of the final prayer of Yeshua in John
17 could leave one with the conclusion that the current life we lead in this
world is of little importance. After all, during his prayer time in Gethsemane,
Yeshua seems concerned only with those who do not belong to this world: "I am
not praying for the world but for those you have given me, because they belong
to you" (17:9). Although Yeshua has not yet been delivered up for crucifixion,
he already seems distantly removed from our human planet: "I am no longer in
the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you" (17:11). The
distaste for the present age is most sharply expressed in the following way: "I
have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not
belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world" (17:14).
Many similar passages appear elsewhere in John, and
have ever since left their ideological mark in heart of Christian thought. Many
Christians over the ages have (and continue) to overemphasize certain passages
in Scripture concerning the transitory and insignificant meaning of the present
world, while concentrating all of their faith, efforts, and hopes in the world
to come. In a nutshell, salvation for many Christians has been reduced to that
free one-way ticket to heaven. Everything else enjoys a transitory and
secondary status. Such passages as the ones we find in John have often been
cited to strengthen this theological stance.
The Greek word for "world," kosmos (from where we receive the English word "cosmos") is used
particularly in John to contrast the earthly realm from that of heaven. Hence,
Yeshua is the pre-existent John, who came from another world into this kosmos (6:14; 9:39; 11:27; 16:28a;
18:37). We are even told that his kingship is not of this kosmos (18:36). The Peshitta
(one of the most ancient translations of the Brit HaChadasha), which was translated into Syriac (an ancient
Aramaic dialect used by Christians in the Near East), translated the Greek
world for kosmos by the Semitic word Olmo or Alma, a term equivalent the Hebrew word Olam.
In rabbinic thogh, individual and universal
existence can be divided into two realms, which are expressed by the Hebrew
terms Olam Hazzeh and Olam Habba. Olam Hazzeh (literally, "this world") refers to the present life
all human beings experience on earth. Olam
Habba ("the world to come") points toward life after death as well as the
age to come when the world will be made new again. Judaism has always expressed
the importance of both worlds, although often accentuating the value of this
age as the most important stage of human experience.
Returning to John 17, other verses in the chapter
express the importance of the present world as well while simultaneously
focusing upward and toward the future. It is significant that Yeshua asks his
Father to send his Talmidim into the
world just as he was once sent into the world (17:18). Not only does Yeshua
pray for the followers of his own day, he also prays for those who will believe
in his name in the distant future (17:20). Even if Yeshua is about to go on a
super galactic journey, he still remains concerned about life on this earth.
Most of all, Yeshua requests from his Father not to take his followers out of
the world, but "to protect them from the evil one" (17:15). There is no excuse
for dislocating our hopes, efforts, and journey completely into the distant
future. There is also a "heaven-in-the-here-right-now," which must be lived and
brought out to its fullest. Even a besora
like that of John can clarify certain issues that stand in tension between both
poles of Judaism and Christianity. This tension is the realm within which
Messianic Jews reside and must endeavor to repair.
