Pinchas

(13) And the word of the LORD came to me a second time: What do you see? I replied: I see a steaming pot, tipped away from the north. (14) And the LORD said to me: From the north shall disaster break loose upon all the inhabitants of the land! (15) For I am summoning all the peoples of the kingdoms of the north, declares the LORD. They shall come, and shall each set up a throne before the gates of Jerusalem, against its walls round about, and against all the towns of Judah.

(1) While Israel was staying at Shittim, the menfolk profaned themselves by whoring with the Moabite women, (2) who invited the menfolk to the sacrifices for their god. The menfolk partook of them and worshiped that god. (3) Thus Israel attached itself to Baal-peor, and ה' was incensed with Israel. (4) ה' said to Moses, “Take all the ringleaders and have them publicly impaled before ה', so that יהוה’s wrath may turn away from Israel.” (5) So Moses said to Israel’s officials, “Each of you slay those of his men who attached themselves to Baal-peor.” (6) Just then a certain Israelite man came and brought a Midianite woman over to his companions, in the sight of Moses and of the whole Israelite community who were weeping at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. (7) When Phinehas, son of Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, saw this, he left the assembly and, taking a spear in his hand, (8) he followed the Israelite man into the chamber and stabbed both of them, the Israelite man and the woman, through the belly. Then the plague against the Israelites was checked. (9) Those who died of the plague numbered twenty-four thousand.

(10) ה' spoke to Moses, saying, (11) “Phinehas, son of Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, has turned back My wrath from the Israelites by displaying among them his passion for Me, so that I did not wipe out the Israelite people in My passion. (12) Say, therefore, ‘I grant him My pact of peace. (13) It shall be for him and his descendants after him a pact of priesthood for all time, because he took impassioned action for his God, thus making expiation for the Israelites.’” (14) The name of the Israelite man who was killed, the one who was killed with the Midianite woman, was Zimri son of Salu, chieftain of a Simeonite ancestral house. (15) The name of the Midianite woman who was killed was Cozbi daughter of Zur; he was the tribal head of an ancestral house in Midian.

The Gemara continues its analysis of the baraita. From where do we derive that the service of a blemished priest is retroactively invalid? Rav Yehuda says that Shmuel says: As the verse states with regard to Pinehas: “Wherefore say: Behold, I give to him My covenant of peace [shalom]” (Numbers 25:12), which means that he receives the covenant when he is whole [shalem], but not when he is blemished and lacking a limb. The Gemara comments: But shalom is written, rather than shalem. Rav Naḥman says: The letter vav in the word shalom is severed. According to tradition, this letter is written with a break in it, and therefore the word can be read as though the vav were missing.

(10) He replied, “I am moved by zeal for the LORD, the God of Hosts, for the Israelites have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and put Your prophets to the sword. I alone am left, and they are out to take my life.”

(14) He answered, “I am moved by zeal for the LORD, the God of Hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and have put Your prophets to the sword. I alone am left, and they are out to take my life.”

(10) ה' spoke to Moses, saying, (11) “Phinehas, son of Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, has turned back My wrath from the Israelites by displaying among them his zeal for Me, so that I did not wipe out the Israelite people in My passion.

Resh Lakish said: Pinchas and Eliahu are one and the same. The Holy One of Blessing said to him: you established peace between Me and the children of Israel, so too even in the future you will establish peace between Me and them, as it is written "behold I am sending to you Elijah the prophet" (Malachi 3:23)

You have none so dear to the Holy One, blessed be He, as an agent, when he is sent to carry out a religious duty and is risking his life to succeed in it. And you have none who were sent to carry out a religious duty and who risked their lives to succeed in their mission like those two whom Joshua ben Nun sent. Thus it is stated (in Josh. 2:1), “Then Joshua ben Nun sent two spies [from Shittim secretly, saying]….” Who were they? Our masters have taught, “These were Phinehas and Caleb.” They had gone and risked their lives in order to be successful in their mission.

(27) The Israelites inquired of the LORD - for the Ark of God’s Covenant was there in those days, (28) and Phinehas son of Eleazar son of Aaron the priest ministered before Him in those days - “Shall we again take the field against our kinsmen the Benjaminites, or shall we not?” The LORD answered, “Go up, for tomorrow I will deliver them into your hands.”

And it says: "Phinehas son of Eleazar son of Aaron the priest (ministered before Him in those days)" - because people will not have believed that it's the same Phinehas, because from his time until this time more than three hundreds years passed. Therefore, he related him specifically to Aharon. And Phinehas lived so long because God promised him, after his zealousness at Shittim, and said: "I grant him My pact of peace", and it says (in Malachi): "I had with him a covenant of life and well-being"; this was said about Phinehas. And some of our sages say that Phinehas is Eliyahu. And some of them say Eliyahu was from the tribe of Binyamin. And they have their own sources.

(1) The daughters of Zelophehad, of Manassite family—son of Hepher son of Gilead son of Machir son of Manasseh son of Joseph—came forward. The names of the daughters were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. (2) They stood before Moses, Eleazar the priest, the chieftains, and the whole assembly, at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, and they said, (3) “Our father died in the wilderness. He was not one of the faction, Korah’s faction, which banded together against ה', but died for his own sin; and he has left no sons. (4) Let not our father’s name be lost to his clan just because he had no son! Give us a holding among our father’s kinsmen!” (5) Moses brought their case before God. (6) And ה' said to Moses, (7) “The plea of Zelophehad’s daughters is just: you should give them a hereditary holding among their father’s kinsmen; transfer their father’s share to them. (8) “Further, speak to the Israelite people as follows: ‘If a householder dies without leaving a son, you shall transfer his property to his daughter. (9) If he has no daughter, you shall assign his property to his brothers. (10) If he has no brothers, you shall assign his property to his father’s brothers. (11) If his father had no brothers, you shall assign his property to his nearest relative in his own clan, who shall inherit it.’ This shall be the law of procedure for the Israelites, in accordance with יהוה’s command to Moses.”

(1) ה' spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, on the first new moon of the second year following the exodus from the land of Egypt, saying: (2) Let the Israelite people offer the passover sacrifice at its set time: (3) you shall offer it on the fourteenth day of this month, at twilight, at its set time; you shall offer it in accordance with all its rules and rites. (4) Moses instructed the Israelites to offer the passover sacrifice; (5) and they offered the passover sacrifice in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at twilight, in the wilderness of Sinai. Just as ה' had commanded Moses, so the Israelites did. (6) But there were some householders who were impure by reason of a corpse and could not offer the passover sacrifice on that day. Appearing that same day before Moses and Aaron, (7) those householders said to them, “Impure though we are by reason of a corpse, why must we lose from presenting יהוה’s offering at its set time with the rest of the Israelites?” (8) Moses said to them, “Stand by, and let me hear what instructions ה' gives about you.” (9) And ה' spoke to Moses, saying: (10) Speak to the Israelite people, saying: When any party—whether you or your posterity—who is defiled by a corpse or is on a long journey would offer a passover sacrifice to ה', (11) they shall offer it in the second month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at twilight. They shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, (12) and they shall not leave any of it over until morning. They shall not break a bone of it. They shall offer it in strict accord with the law of the passover sacrifice. (13) But if any party who is pure and not on a journey refrains from offering the passover sacrifice, that person shall be cut off from kin, for יהוה’s offering was not presented at its set time; that party shall bear the guilt. (14) And when a stranger who resides with you would offer a passover sacrifice to ה', it must be offered in accordance with the rules and rites of the passover sacrifice. There shall be one law for you, whether stranger or citizen of the country.

(32) Once, when the Israelites were in the wilderness, they came upon a man gathering wood on the sabbath day. (33) Those who found him as he was gathering wood brought him before Moses, Aaron, and the community leadership. (34) He was placed in custody, for it had not been specified what should be done to him. (35) Then ה' said to Moses, “The party in question shall be put to death: the community leadership shall pelt him with stones outside the camp.” (36) So the community leadership took him outside the camp and stoned him to death—as ה' had commanded Moses.

(10) There came out among the Israelites a man whose mother was Israelite and whose father was Egyptian. And a fight broke out in the camp between that half-Israelite and a certain Israelite. (11) The son of the Israelite woman pronounced the Name in blasphemy, and he was brought to Moses—now his mother’s name was Shelomith daughter of Dibri of the tribe of Dan— (12) and he was placed in custody, until the decision of ה' should be made clear to them. (13) And ה' spoke to Moses, saying: (14) Take the blasphemer outside the camp; and let all who were within hearing lay their hands upon his head, and let the community leadership stone him. (15) And to the Israelite people speak thus: Anyone who blasphemes God shall bear the guilt; (16) and one who also pronounces the name ה' shall be put to death. The community leadership shall stone that person; stranger or citizen—having thus pronounced the Name—shall be put to death.

(12) ה' said to Moses, “Ascend these heights of Abarim and view the land that I have given to the Israelite people. (13) When you have seen it, you too shall be gathered to your kin, just as your brother Aaron was. (14) For, in the wilderness of Zin, when the community was contentious, you disobeyed My command to uphold My sanctity in their sight by means of the water.” Those are the Waters of Meribath-kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin. (15) Moses spoke to ה', saying, (16) “Let ה', Source of the breath of all flesh, appoint someone over the community (17) who shall go out before them and come in before them, and who shall take them out and bring them in, so that יהוה’s community may not be like sheep that have no shepherd.”

Moses spoke to ה', saying: “Let ה', Source of the breath of all flesh, appoint someone over the community. Anyone who comes to ask for something for the community, it's as if he asks with harshness.

'וידבר משה אל ה‎‎‎ וגו׳ AND AND MOSES SPAKE TO THE LORD, [LET THE LORD … SET A MAN OVER THE CONGREGATION] — This statement serves to show the praise of the righteous: when they are about to depart from the world, they abandon all thought of their own affairs and occupy themselves with the affairs of the community (Sifrei Bamidbar 138).

אלקי הרוחת GOD OF THE SPIRITS [OF ALL FLESH] — Why is this expression used? (i.e., why does it not state simply אלקי כל בשר?) He said to Him: “Lord of the Universe! the personality of each person is revealed to you, and no two are alike. Appoint over them a leader who will tolerate each person according to his individual character (Midrash Tanchuma, Pinchas 10; cf. Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 776).

(18) And ה' answered Moses, “Single out Joshua son of Nun, an inspired man, and lay your hand upon him. (19) Have him stand before Eleazar the priest and before the whole community, and commission him in their sight. (20) Invest him with some of your authority, so that the whole Israelite community may obey. (21) But he shall present himself to Eleazar the priest, who shall on his behalf seek the decision of the Urim before ה'. By such instruction they shall go out and by such instruction they shall come in, he and all the Israelite [militia], and the whole community.” (22) Moses did as ה' commanded him. He took Joshua and had him stand before Eleazar the priest and before the whole community. (23) He laid his hands upon him and commissioned him—as ה' had spoken through Moses.

(14) I cannot carry all this people by myself, for it is too much for me. (15) If You would deal thus with me, kill me rather, I beg You, and let me see no more of my wretchedness!” (16) Then ה' said to Moses, “Gather for Me seventy of Israel’s elders of whom you have experience as elders and officers of the people, and bring them to the Tent of Meeting and let them take their place there with you. (17) I will come down and speak with you there, and I will draw upon the spirit that is on you and put it upon them; they shall share the burden of the people with you, and you shall not bear it alone.

(18) And ה' answered Moses, “Single out Joshua son of Nun, an inspired man, and lay your hand upon him. (19) Have him stand before Eleazar the priest and before the whole community, and commission him in their sight. (20) Invest him with some of your authority, so that the whole Israelite community may obey.