YISD 0408_5785

(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 friendship.

(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.’”

(2) ‎ברית כהנת עולם A COVENANT OF AN EVERLASTING PRIESTHOOD — for although the priesthood had already been given to Aaron’s descendants (cf. Exodus 28:40-41), it was given only to Aaron and his sons who had been anointed together with him and to their offspring whom they might beget after they had been anointed. But Phineas who had been born prior to that and had not been anointed, had not as yet attained the status of priesthood until now. So, too, do we read in Zevachim 101b: Phineas did not become a priest until he had slain Zimri.

(b) It was only given to Aaron and his sons who were anointed with him. And if you say, why was Phinehas not anointed as Aaron and his sons were anointed? There is an excuse, that there is no one who is anointed young, and Phinehas was young at that time when Aaron and his sons were anointed (Leviticus 8:30), and therefore it is not appropriate to anoint him. And when he became older, it is not appropriate to anoint him, that Aaron and his sons were not anointed except when the tabernacle was anointed (ibid.), but to anoint him afterwards – it is not possible. And it must be said, a minority in the anointing is better, that only those who were required to be anointed were not anointed, and therefore Aaron and his sons, which is not possible anyway, since it is not possible to anoint Aaron in isolation, if that were the case the priesthood would be nullified, since no sons were born to Aaron after the anointing. And therefore Aaron and his sons were anointed. But the sons of Eleazar and Ithamar, if possible without them, since they had sons after the anointing, and even better when he was born in holiness, for this reason Pinchas was not anointed:

(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.

(7) Those are the clans of the Reubenites. The men enrolled came to 43,730.

(1) .אלה משפחות הראובני, “These are the families of the tribe of Reuven, etc.” the letters ה and י, symbolising the name of G-d at the beginning and end respectively of the names of some of these tribes during the census are found only for the tribes Reuven, Shimon and Zevulun. In the case of Reuven and Shimon the reason was to appease them because of Reuven’s their founding father’s indiscretion with his father’s concubine Bilhah, and of the far more recent disgrace of so many of the tribe of Shimon who had become guilty of sleeping with Moabite women at Shittim. In the case of Zevulun, the reason is because members of this tribe had risked their lives several times and they had been commended for this by Devorah in her song of victory in Judges 5,16.

(21) But he shall present himself to Eleazar the priest, who shall on his behalf seek the decision of the Urim before יהוה. 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.”

(33) the meal offerings and libations for the bulls, rams, and lambs, in the quantities prescribed;