Parashat Pinchas
21st of Tammuz, 5784 / July 27th, 2024
By Ray Santi
This Week’s Readings:
Torah: Numbers 25:10-30:1
Haftarah: Jeremiah 1:1-2:3
Brit Chadashah: Luke 22:47-51
Before we dive into the text, let’s look at at the word zeal itself in the Hebrew and the Greek. Our term for zeal in English comes from the Greek word zelos, having to do with hot. The Hebrew word for zeal is cana. In the English language, we make a distinction between the similar words zealous and jealous. But both the Hebrew and Greek languages make no such distintion. Both languages use just one word to describe what we know as two different words. We make a distinction in translation based on the text. Within the English language we tend to think of zeal as a passion that is fueled by wanting what is good or right. We tend to think of jealous as a passion that is fueled more by envy or covetness or wanting what someone else has – usually a negative trait.
Imbedded in the Ten Commandments (Ex. 20:5), we see G-d refering to Himself as El Cana, Jealous or Zealous G-d. This concept of zealousness must carry some significant weight if the L-RD claims it as one of His names. It must also be somthing that is good, because there there is nothing bad associated with the L-RD. However, it can mean something bad for us if we pursue things that draw our attention from Him. Every time in Scripture that man provokes the L-RD into jealousy never ends well.
So in today’s Torah portion we see that Pinchas was very zealous for the L-RD, and is rewarded with an everlasting covenant of peace. Now, the L-RD didn’t actually need Pinchas’s help to defend His Holy name. The L-RD was doing just fine on His own with His latest in a series of plagues against those in the community that refused to obey. Sadly, 24,000 were slain before the plague was checked by the zeal of Pinchas. While I would like to elaborate more about about Pinchas, I have come to the realization that this topic is way beyond my pay grade. So I will stick to our two words for today. I would say, however, that in this case Pinchas was zealous rather than jealous. I mean, what did he have to be jealous about? I seriously doubt that he wished he had a beautiful Midianite woman. I also highly doubt he was jealous of what other sinful men were doing. Pinchas was zealous for the L-RD.
In today’s parashah we also see what we might consider another type of zeal from the daughters of Zelophad. It was not so much a jealousy of what everyone else would get, but a zealousness for an inheritance that is rightly theirs. This zeal led to a very interesting precident that would ultimately qualify Yeshua to have a legal right of inheritance. For a much more detailed explanation about this, feel free to corner my wife Beth. But make sure you have more than a few minutes – she is very zealous about this topic.
We also see the zeal that Joshua consistantly showed since he left Egypt rewarded by being chosen to lead the people into the Land. The zeal that Joshua and Caleb displayed gained them the distinction of being the only two from their generation to enter the Land.
The Haftarah portion we read today in Jeremiah is not the usual reading for this Torah portion. It has been placed there to help prepare us during the Three Weeks of Mourning related to the destruction of the Temples in Jerusalem. There are several Haftarah portions that deal with suffering and affliction during this time of the year. These are to remind us of things that are prophesied to happen before the Great and Terrible Day of the L-RD. There will be three more weeks of this reminder until Shabbat Vaetchanan where we start the Haftarah potions of consolation (Nachamu). I know it’s hard to make time to study and read all of these topics in Scripture, but it is to our great benefit do it. How else can we prepare for such a once-in-eternity event?
The usual Haftarah reading for Pinchas is 1 Kings 18:46 to 19:21. Here’s the backstory:
Elijah, the true prophet of G-d, had just met with the wicked King Ahab after three years of sin-induced drought. Ahab summoned 450 prophets of Baal and challenged Elijah to a showdown of who was really a prophet of G-d. We all know the story of the unsuccessful all-day affair of the prophets of Baal, and Elijah’s sacrifice that was accepted by G-d.
I would like to focus in on chapter 19, where we find a very discouraged Elijah. His zeal had put him through a lot. These ordeals included arousing the anger of Ahab with a 3-year drought, confronting the prophets of Baal and experiencing the great miracle of fire coming down from heaven to burn up his soaking wet offering. G-d put 450 prophets of Baal to shame, and then Elijah in his zeal had them put to death. The wicked King Ahab and Jezabel were furious and responded by threatening to kill Elijah. This whole zeal thing wasn’t working out so well for Elijah. Being zealous for something often results in confrontation and/or retribution. Unlike Pinchas, whose zeal for G-d was rewarded, Elijah felt abandoned and alone. His zeal turned to despair and he even prayed that he might die. But now we start to see the L-RD acting with zeal and compassion toward Elijah. The L-RD sends an angel who baked some bread which sustained Elijah 40 days. Even with that, this great man ends up hiding in a cave.
Then the L-RD asks Elijah a question… Why are you here Elijah? Elijah quickly rattles off all the litany of things that his zeal for the L-RD had accomplished. He thought that such an impressive list would earn him at least some degree of protection. The L-RD, in His compassion, reminded Elijah of what power really is with a rock shattering wind, an eathquake, a fire, and finally a gentle whisper. The L-RD’s not-so-subtle lesson for Elijah, and for us all, is that He has the power to accomplish far beyond what the zeal of any man can do. For us, sometimes listening to the gentle whisper from above can achieve greater things than any human zeal could ever do.
After this lesson the L-RD again asks… What are you doing here Elijah? Elijah once again could only relate through the lens of his own zealous accomplishments. At this time, the L-RD decides to take Elijah off the front lines. Zeal can only get you so far. It had taken Elijah as far as he could go. The L-RD has Elijah anoint Hazaal king over Aram and Jehu as king over Israel. Jehu eventually displayed his zeal in the destruction of the house of Ahab and Jezabel. In His compassion, the L-RD does end up bestowing a unique reward for Elijah’s zeal. He was taken up in a chariot of fire. So maybe being zealous has its perks after all! And Elijah’s work doesn’t end there – he still has a role to play in end times prophecy.
In the Brit Chadashah, we see jealousy, zeal and compassion collide in an epic showdown in the garden of Gesthemene. Today we read the account in Luke where the priests and soldiers arrest Yeshua in the garden. I chose this passage because it specifically describes a healing, but I will cross-reference the other Gospels also. This account of the arrest of Yeshua is documented in all four Gospels. When we have multiple accounts of an event available to us, it is always good to cross-reference them all so we can get what I call a composite view of that event. Each Gospel has a unique perspective and different details that the others don’t, so cross-referencing this gives us a better perspective.
So first, we have the forces of jealousy personified by the priests and officials and soldiers. We are never given exactly how many men in total, but it must have been sizable. They were armed with clubs and swords. They were motivated by their jealousy of Yeshua. Their intentions were evil. Considering the life of Yeshua, this jealousy could in no way be justified and its primary source was from the deepest recesses of evil.
Then, we have the forces of zeal personified in the disciples. They too were armed, but their primary intention was to protect their Rabbi. These intentions were motivated by love and devotion. Perhaps they also thought that maybe Yeshua would free them from Roman tyranny and set up His kingdom at this time. Many zealots thoughout the course of history shared similar worthy intentions.
So the priests and officials and soldiers show up ready to rumble, and by now I’m not sure what the disciples were thinking. But then something completely unexpected happened. Yeshua asks them, Who do you want? They replied, Yeshua of Nazareth. Yeshua replied, I am He. At the sound of those words, the priests and soldiers fell to the ground. The disciples did not. At this point, both the disciples and the priests and officials basically looked at each other and said, Whoa! I did not see that coming! With an unexpected act of compassion, the whole situation was suddenly turned upside down. Why would I refer to this an act of compassion? Because an alterative might have been for Yeshua to have twelve legions of angels get involved, and that would have gotten very messy. By knocking the soldiers down like bowling pins, Yeshua let everyone know exactly who was in charge of this situation, with the only injuries inflicted being a slight bruising of their egos. Yeshua had to intervene in this highly charged situation. This deal couldn’t afford to go sideways. Yeshua had an appointment to keep on Passover – for Him to die a day early on the Mount of Olives would been most inconvenient.
So at this point, everyone took a deep breath and took inventory of the situation. The forces of jealousy would need to alter their approach, seeing that there was a power way beyond anything they could deal with. The disciples, on the other hand, may have felt empowered knowing who was in their corner. We will never know exactly what went through Peter’s mind when he suddenly decided to draw his sword and cut off the right ear of a servant, but I’m pretty sure zeal had something to do with it. How this action didn’t spark a huge rumble is a mystery, but perhaps Yeshua’s demostration of real power made everyone think before they made the next move.
But what exactly did Peter’s zeal accomplish? Did it do anything to help the situation? There was a good chance that this man was only there because he was a servant. Perhaps he didn’t care about the mission, but was just obeying his master.
And now we come to the most amazing part of this story. In another act of compassion, Yeshua heals the man’s ear. The man’s name was Malchus, which sounds like it could have been a Roman name. I doubt that he had any motivation to be there beyond following orders. Once again, everyone who witnessed this was astonished. This act of compassion immediately overwhelmed the forces of jealousy and zeal in a single moment and rendered them completely insignificant. And what ever happened to the servant Malchus? We will never know. I would venture to make a guess that he would never look at his life the same way again. I know that if such a healing ever happened to me I woud forever be thanking my healer. Compassion can be more effective than zeal.
Everyday we are faced with situations that might put us in one of three camps of either jealousy, zeal or compassion.
If we are in a place of jealousy, which I would define as a greedy desire for something that belongs to someone else, we need to examine the desire of our heart. It is basically the sin of coveting and we must walk away from it immediatly, before any damage is done. There is never anything good that comes from this type of jealousy.
If we are zealous for something, as in furthering a cause for good, we need to make sure that we don’t do anything counterproductive. A burst of passion can make us cross a line and turn good intentions into a bad witness. Peter’s zeal was counterproductive. It accomplished nothing. Perhaps a good example of channeling zeal in positive way would be the Run for Their Lives event. We all feel very passionate about the hostage situation and indeed the whole Israel/Hamas situation. The Run for Their Lives event is a way of channeling that zeal in a positive direction.
We can almost never go wrong by practicing compassion, and that is a tool we can all use every day to help diffuse a situation. When we act in compassion rather than jealousy or zeal, that situation instantly gets kicked up to a higher court. We in essence hand the situation over to the One True Judge. When we place a situation we feel passionately about into the perspective of eternity it changes how we think. Jealousy and zeal suddenly become insignificant. The thought of what eternity holds for those who do wrong should muster some grief for their soul. Will the L-RD judge us the same way or will He have compassion? I hope we all take inventory of what our desires and passions are and temper them always with compassion.