Pinchas: Usurpation

Pinchas: Usurpation

 

The second thing in the parsha is a census that concludes

לָאֵ֗לֶּה תֵּחָלֵ֥ק הָאָ֛רֶץ בְּנַחֲלָ֖ה בְּמִסְפַּ֥ר שֵׁמֽוֹת׃ 

“Among these shall the land be apportioned as shares, according to the listed names:

These are the  people who are to inherit the land.  These families are the  (eternal) heirs.  The population numbers determine the size ( or value) of the portions.  The names assign the duchies and counties.   A landed  nobility is established, the lineage of wealth is founded forever.  This is the least surprising element of the parsha.  It conforms with the mores of the ancient world. 

Following this, we have a great surprise.  The DAUGHTERS of Zelofchod arise and claim their father's portion. Had they not stood up to Moshe and the elders, I doubt they would have gotten anything.  Their father's ( rather large portion; see Bava Bathra 118b ff) would have gone to more distant male relatives. 

I love the big final nun in mishpachtaN, the emphasis on the female ending of the word "justice"  Gd holds the women's argument to be correct.  This is a great unexpected victory. The disenfranchised have put in a claim for justice... and it has been granted. This was a revolution. 

The third stanza of the dayenu song at the Passover seder 

אִלּוּ עָשָׂה בָהֶם שְׁפָטִים, וְלֹא עָשָׂה בֵאלֹהֵיהֶם, דַּיֵּנוּ. If He had made judgments on them and had not made [them] on their gods; [it would have been] enough for us.

The word translated here as "gods"  in other contexts is translated as "courts"  The verse can be read as praising the overthrow of the Egyptian  (meaning the enslaving) system of law.  Giving women, who were presumed disenfranchised, standing in the court... and agreeing to the rectitude of their claim was the overthrow of the concept of using the law as a weapon wielded by the powerful over the subjugated, a system branded Egyptian.  Now the people were liberated from the past. Now they could enter the Promised Land. 

The parsha begins with a parallel story: Pinchas is rewarded for his zealotry.  Pinchas, the grandson of Aaron, was the son of Elazar by a Midianite woman; born before restrictions  on suitable marriages had been imposed on Kohanim.  Pinchas had been born disqualified from the Priesthood. 

At the end of the previous parsha, after the conquests of Sichon and Bashan, the Israelites had begun mixing and  mating with the locals: Moabites and Midianites. Gd called upon Moses to 

קַ֚ח אֶת־כׇּל־רָאשֵׁ֣י הָעָ֔ם וְהוֹקַ֥ע אוֹתָ֛ם.  Take all the heads of the people and hang them.

He did not do that. He has spent all of parshath Korach battling these tribal leaders.  Moshe empowered the leaders to destroy the guilty. 

וַיֹּ֣אמֶר מֹשֶׁ֔ה אֶל־שֹׁפְטֵ֖י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל הִרְגוּ֙ אִ֣ישׁ אֲנָשָׁ֔יו הַנִּצְמָדִ֖ים לְבַ֥עַל פְּעֽוֹר׃ So Moses said to Israel’s officials, “Each of you slay those of his men who attached themselves to Baal-peor.”

Pinchas identified a guilty leader and impaled him and his consort, earning him the legacy of (High) priesthood conferred at the beginning of this parsha that bears his name. This is the usurpation by the hero that brings him and his descendants the reward of status. 

There may be an element of another competition here.  When Jacob addressed the 12 brothers at the end of his life , when he conferred their legacies, he combined Shimon and Levi.  Twining is a call to differentiation ( cf Jacob and Esau, etc) which can lead to ascendance. The population of Simon descended from 59,300 at the first census, to 22,200  in the census of our parsha. Meanwhile,  Levi spawns the priesthood and the leisure class supported by the tithe.  Pinchas, a descedent of Levi kills Zimri of Simon to clinche his ascent. 

Moshe's successor is selected after an appeal to   הָרוּחֹ֖ת לְכׇל־בָּשָׂ֑ר, the Gd of the winds  The leader must deal with all of the unpredictability of the future, and maintain the legacy.  Joshua is chosen. Joshua shares  some of the zeal of Pinchas.  When Joshua heard the report that Eldad and Medad were acting as prophets he said to Moshe

וַיַּ֜עַן יְהוֹשֻׁ֣עַ בִּן־נ֗וּן מְשָׁרֵ֥ת מֹשֶׁ֛ה מִבְּחֻרָ֖יו וַיֹּאמַ֑ר אֲדֹנִ֥י מֹשֶׁ֖ה כְּלָאֵֽם׃ And Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ attendant from his youth, spoke up and said, “My lord Moses, restrain them!”

Moshe answered that he wished all the people were prophets.  Moshe was teaching Joshua how to deal with a changing world. 

The parsha concludes with the sacrificial rite, as it is celebrated through the year.  It opens with constancy

כְּבָשִׂ֨ים בְּנֵֽי־שָׁנָ֧ה תְמִימִ֛ם שְׁנַ֥יִם לַיּ֖וֹם עֹלָ֥ה תָמִֽיד׃ As a regular burnt offering every day, two yearling lambs without blemish.

A changing world requires revolutions .  Survival in the world requires some constancy.