The Covenant of The Priesthood

Weekly Torah Lesson

Parasha: Pinchas
Torah: B’midbar 25:10 – 30:1

*** B’Midbar 25:10 And Avinu spoke unto Moshe, saying, 11 Pinchas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy. 12 Wherefore say, Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace: 13 and it shall be unto him, and to his seed after him, the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was jealous for his Elohim, and made atonement for the children of Israel.

** Hundreds of years after Pinchas, the “spirit of Pinchas” rises up again. This time it manifests itself through the prophet Eliyahu.

*** 13 And it was so, when Eliyahu heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entrance of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What are you doing here, Eliyahu? 14 And he said, I have been very jealous for Avinu Tzavaot; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.

*** “And Eliyahu said to them, Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape. And they took them: and Eliyahu brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there.” (1Ki 18:40 )

*** “4 Remember you the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded to him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments. 5 Behold, I will send you Eliyahu the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of Avinu: 6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.” (Mal 4:4-6 )

** The “heart of the fathers” is the Torah. The “heart of the children” is a false religion dominated by myths and fables.

*** “Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do.” (1Ti 1:4 )

*** “And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned to fables.” (2Ti 4:4 )

*** “Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth.” (Tit 1:14 )

** This same “spirit of zealously” came upon John the Baptist and Yeshua. Their call for “repentance” was an effort to turn “the hearts of the children” back to “the heart of the Fathers”. They both paid the ultimate price for their zealousness.

*** “10 And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Eliyahu must first come? 11 And Yeshua answered and said to them, Eliyahu truly shall first come, and restore all things. 12 But I say to you, That Eliyahu is come already, and they knew him not, but have done to him whatever they wished. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them.” (Mt 17:10-12 )

The message is the same today. The opposition to the message is the same today as well.

*** “Again, he limits a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.” (Heb 4:7 )

** Here is a brief overview of the significance of the next three weeks:

Bein Hametzarim
Starting on the evening of Friday, 7/19/19, we enter the three weeks of Bein Hametzarim [between the troubles]. Because Tamuz 17 falls on the weekly Shabbat, we postpone the fast until Sunday, At sunrise we begin the fast of the 4th month (Zech 8:18-19). The fast is from dawn to dusk. Bein Hametzarim is the season of sin and redemption. Bein Hametzarim is the period of three weeks that begins on the 17 Tamuz and ends on 9 Av (Tisha b’Av). As we have seen that the Mo’adim of Avinu [appointments, or feasts of Avinu] are prophetic time markers, so we see a cycle of sin (and mercy) in the life of the nation of Israel in this time called between the troubles.
When one examines the history of the Nation of Israel in regard to this three week period between the troubles it is a remarkable recounting of sin and its consequences. It is also a period which points to a yet-future time of joy. You see, beloved, it is this period of time that Zechariah alludes to in Zechariah 8:18-19 where the mention of the fast of the fourth month [17 Tamuz] and the fast of the fifth month is [9 Av] are bookends for this period.
Then the word of Avinu of hosts came to me, saying, “Thus says Avinu of hosts: ‘The fast of the fourth month, the fast of the fifth, the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be joy and gladness and cheerful feasts for the house of Judah. Therefore love truth and peace.'”
Zechariah 8:18-19
Remember this promise as we remember the sin and the calamity of these three weeks between the troubles. These two dates of 17 Tamuz and 9 Av are bookends in time. It is these three weeks that are alluded to in Jeremiah 1:11 when he is shown a almond tree as symbolic of the calamity coming upon Judah during the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem. It takes twenty-one days for an almond to go from blossom to fully ripened. The Mishnah recounts five events took place on 17 Tamuz:

1. The sin of the Golden Calf and the breaking of the First Tablets.
2. The tamid [daily sacrifices] in the First Temple were suspended during the siege of Jerusalem, because of the lack of sacrificial animals.
3. Jerusalem’s walls were breached, prior to the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE.
4. Prior to the Great Revolt, the Roman general Apostamos burned a Torah scroll.
5. An idolatrous image was placed in the Sanctuary of the Holy Temple.
   The Mishnah also records that five events took place on the day at the end of this period (9 Av):
6. The bad report of the spies sent to spy out the Land – and the subsequent punishment of wandering for forty years was decreed.
7. The First Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians in 587 BCE. 100,000 Jews were killed and most of the rest exiled to Babylon.
8. The Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE. Over two million Jews were killed and one million exiled.
9. The Temple Mount is plowed under and salted in 71 CE.
10. The second revolt was ended when the Roman Emperor Hadrian captured city of Betar, the last stand for the Jews with over 100,000 killed in 135 CE.
    m.Ta’anit 26b
    A look at history will also show a remarkable number of calamities befell Israel on these two dates.
    17 Tamuz:
    • In 1239, Pope Gregory IX orders destruction of all manuscripts of the Talmud.
    • In 1391, over 4,000 Jews killed in Spain.
    • In 1559, the Jewish quarter of Prague is burned.
    • In 1944, the entire population of the Jewish ghetto in Kovno were sent to death camps.
    9 Av (Tisha b’Av):
    • In 1095, the First Crusade begins by decree of Pope Urban II. In the first month, over 10,000 Jews were killed.
    • In 1290, expulsion was ordered for all Jews in England.
    • In 1492, the Spanish Inquisition begins – with the decree by King Ferdinand that after midnight not a single Jew was to remain on Spanish soil. Christopher Columbus, boarded his ships that night to set sail in the morning. He, and some of his sailors were Jewish.
    • In 1914, the First World War begins on this date.
    You can see the cycle that began on that calamitous day with the Golden Calf (17 Tamuz), and then a year later is marked with the Israelites accepting the bad report of the spies (9 Av). These are indeed sad days in the history of all mankind. But what is often missed is the hope buried within the very words of Scripture. These are to be days of joy in the future as Jeremiah predicted – but even within the sadness of these days now, there is hope. You see, the first thing ever mentioned about this time between the troubles is found Genesis 8:9. Beloved, in the midst of calamity, there is always hope. If you do the math, you will discover that 17 Tamuz was the day that Noah send out the dove from the Ark following the punishment of the Flood.
    Also, if you remember, following the sin of the Golden Calf, Avinu revealed His attributes to Moses on Sinai. We see His awesome mercy as He tells Moses,
    Avinu, Avinu Elohim, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.
    Exodus 34:6b-7
    We see a similar Numbers, after Israel has wickedly accepted the bad report from the ten spies. In this case, Moses pleads for Israel, remembering the merciful character of Avinu.
    “And now, I beseech thee, let the power of my Avinu be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying, ‘Avinu is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.’ Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy mercy, and as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.” And Avinu said, “I have pardoned according to thy word: But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of Avinu.”
    Numbers 14:17-21
    Ironically, this same mercy is seen later in our portion when Avinu gives further instructions about “when you have come into the land” (15:2). After decreeing the forty years of wandering, Avinu immediately tells them that they (their children) will still enter the land.