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Todays Parsha #41: Pinchus (regarding Pinchus, a.k.a. Phinehas, a righteous man)

PART 1: THE LAST AND CURRENT TORAH PORTIONS

ANSWERS TO LAST WEEKS STUDY QUESTIONS (Balak):

1) Someone in this Torah portion has a name that may be connected to an event leading
to the destruction of the Second Temple. Who is it and what does their name mean?
ZIPPOR (22:3) = bird. This is the male form of TZIPPORA, Moshes wife. The
Zohar suggests the name may be the result of his practicing bird divination (Zohar
3:184b). Ironically this association might have played a role in the First Jewish
Revolt in the year 66 CE. According to Josephus (The Jewish War, 2:285-308), the
problem began in Caesarea, when a Greek man sacrificed some birds on their setapart ground, provoking riots that eventually spread to Jerusalem and was therefore
the proximate cause of losing the Temple, the priesthood, the city and more than one
million Jewish lives.
2) There is a clue in 22:11 that directly helps us in calendar calculations. What is that
clue?
KASAH (22:11) = cover. This word is also used to describe the state of the moon in
Psalm 81:3a COVERED moon as opposed to a full one.
3) There is a person mentioned in this portion who, if we take all the chronologies
linearly, would be a leader for nearly 400 years. Who is this person?
Pinchas, or Phinehas is born Exodus 6:25, a leader here in Numbers and continues his
service into the book of Judges. He buries his father Eleazar in the first chapter of
Judges but we are told he is still ministering by Judges 20:28. If we assume that
Judges 20 is after the death of Samson (16:31), then Phinehas is well over 300 years
old. However, this and many other clues prove that Judges 17:1 to 21:25 begins at the
beginning of the book chronologically speaking, not at the end.
4) There is a part of the Haftorah portion that directly answers a question about Moshes
family that is not given in the Torah portion. What is that answer?
4

"Indeed, I brought you up from the land of Egypt and ransomed you from the house
of slavery, and I sent before you Moses, Aaron and Miriam. (Micah 6:4 NAU)
While Miriam was cured of her leprosy in response to Moshe praying for her, it was a
somewhat open question as to if she was restored to her pre-sin status before her

death. By listing her on the same line and without qualification as Moshe and Aaron,
YHWH makes it clear Miriam was completely forgiven and restored.
5) Some people think that the Messengers that sinned which 2 Peter talks about were
the Sons of Elohim or their descendants the Nephilim. Is this true?
No it isnt true when we compare the accounts of Genesis and the teaching of Yshua:
When people began being numerous on earth, and daughters had been born to them,
the sons of God, looking at the women, saw how beautiful they were and married as
many of them as they chose. 3 Yahweh said, 'My spirit cannot be indefinitely
responsible for human beings, who are only flesh; let the time allowed each be a
hundred and twenty years.' 4 The Nephilim were on earth in those days (and even
afterwards) when the sons of God resorted to the women, and had children by them.
These were the heroes of days gone by, men of renown. (Genesis 6:1-4 NJB)

So the Sons of Elohim/Nephilim marry human women, which means they cannot be
angels, since Yshua says
Y'shua said to them, "Isn't it because of this that you err, that you do not
understand the Scriptures nor the power of Elohim? For when they rise from the
dead, they do not marry women, nor are women given in marriage to men. Rather
they are like the Messengers who are in heaven. (Mark 12:24-25-AENT)
AND NOW FOR THIS WEEKS PORTION
1) Meaning of this weeks Torah portion and summary of contents:
Pinchus refers to the man whose righteous example of purging evil from Israels
ranks moved Abba YHWH to stop a plague that would have otherwise destroyed
all Israel. More than that, the portion starts with Pinchus getting a particularly
high honor from Abba YHWH, the covenant of peace, that rests on him alone and
ensures his progeny the high priesthood.
But with the population of Israel decimated by the plague, a new census had to be
done in chapter 26. When that counting was concluded, Moshe is then given a
very interesting issue to deliberate on: Should women be allowed to inherit their
fathers estate under certain special circumstances? Abba YHWHs answer back
to Moshe and Israel then shows us literally the most progressive law regarding
womens rights in the entire ancient world.
After this we get more purity regulations and a repetition of the Moedim, or
appointed times of Abba YHWH given in chapter 28.

1) Read Parsha (English-Numbers 25:10-30:1). This week we will read the entire
portion.
2) Play by Play commentary where appropriate.

Vayedaber Yahweh el-Moshe lemor.

Pinchas ben-El'azar ben-Aharon hakohen heshiv et-chamati me'al
beney-Yisra'el bekan'o et-kin'ati betocham velo-chiliti et-beneyYisra'el bekin'ati.
3) Point out key Hebrew words/terms. Color Commentary:

BEKIN-ATI (25:11) = In My jealousy but the context is not jealousy in the normal
sense but Abba YHWHs demands for exclusive worship. Technically, since other gods
do not exist, Abba YHWH cannot be jealous of them, but He does have the right to be
angry that Israel who should know better, doesnt.
KEHUNAT OLAM (25:13) = eternal priesthood. The need for a mediator in priestly
form was established as eternal but the modalities within that concept switched. Already
there had been priests who were patriarchs who sacrificed animals on family altars, like
Job for example. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob all built altars to Father Yah, as did Noah
and even Cain and Abel! The fact that such a system switched out to the Aaronic one
proves the modality was not eternal but the root concept was and then it switched again to
Yshua as our eternal high priest!
Pinchus was only a Levite and not a Kohen at first. His valor got him promoted! As the
Stone Edition explains:
Aaron and his sons had been anointed as Kohanim, and any future offspring born
to his family would be Kohanim at birth. Phineas, who was already living, was
not included in the appointment, so that he remained a Levite up to this time.
With this appointment, he became a Kohen (Rashi).
However, it is important to note that this was not a switch out from priestly
families into Levitical families per se (like with Samuel, who was probably
adopted by Eli), since Phineas was the son of Eleazar and the grandson of Aaron.
Its just that when the time to ordain the priests came, they had to start with direct
sons of Aaron first, and Phineas was the first grandson of Aaron, the first who
was living at that time (AR).
TZURMIDIAN (25:14) = rock (tzur) and Midian (strife). The Rock of Strife began
with Israel going after Moabite/Midian paganism.
COZBI (25:15) = deceitfulvery appropriate for this Midianite woman! The Talmud
(Bemidbar/Numbers Rabba, 20:24) and Targum Yonatan say she was Balaks daughter,
but this contradicts the plain reading of the text, which calls her the daughter of Tzur.
On the other hand it is possible that daughter is understood here in its wider sense,
meaning she could be the grand-daughter of Balak on her mothers side and the daughter
of Tzur, who is Balaks son. Tzur, as the text tells us is also a king of Midian (Numbers
31:8), perhaps taking over after Balak died.
Note on Numbers 25:17-18: The justification for killing the Midianites is since they
attacked you through their plot with Peor. However, Peor was not a Midianite god but
one native to Moab. The sin then of the Midianites is that they joined with Moab in
conspiracy and persuaded the Moabites to use their sensual religion with Peor as a
weapon against Israel, and we all saw how well that weapon actually worked.

Also notice that Cozbi is called VAT NESI MIDYAN, the daughter of a Midianite
prince so her father Tzur was a prince (as was also said in Numbers 25:14) and the son
of Balak, the king of Moab, again dovetailing possibly with the information we saw in
Numbers 25:15.
ROSH = census (26:1), literally head count.
SHLOSHAH VEARBAIM ELEPH USHVA MEOT USHLOSHIM (26:7) = 43,730
is this total. Compare that to Reubens total of the first census in Numbers 1:21, which
were 46.500, giving a net loss of 2,770.
BENEY SHIMEON (26:12) = Shimeons sons. Compare this list to the one in Genesis
46:10 and Exodus 6:15. Ohed is listed in those places but not here. No one really knows
what happened to him. Some Rabbis say he died childless, but if that is the case one of
his younger brothers should have married his widow and raised up a son in his name per
Genesis 38 and Deuteronomy 25. A more likely scenario is his line perished in the
bondage of Egypt.
ZERAH (26:13) = to shine or sunrise, which is interesting when paired with SHAUL
(asked of YAH), suggesting that the light was asked by Abba YHWH to appear. Rashi
identifies him with Tzohar, a man from Genesis, and this is of course the meaning of the
mystical book of the same name ZOHAR (shining, splendor).
SHNAYIM VEESRIM ELEPH UMATAYIM (26:14) = 22,200. In this case the
Shimeon tribe suffered a loss of 37,100 people because most of those who died in the
rebellion were from Shimeon. The original numbers, pre-rebellion, were 59,300
(Numbers 1:23). See Numbers 25:9.
ARBAIM ELEPH VECHAMESH MEOT (26:18) = 40,500. Original census in
Numbers 2:10-16 for Gad yielded 45,650 in Numbers 2:10-16, Gad therefore lost 5,150.
ERONAN (26:19) = Er means watcher and Onan means vigorous. But Er was not
a vigorous and died for his wickedness and Onan was not a watcher because he did
not raise up a son from his deceased brothers wife. As a result, the line did not continue.
See Genesis 38:1-10.
SHISHAH VESHVIIM ELEPH VACHAMESH MEOT (26:22) = 76,500. Judah is the
first tribe that registered a net-gain from the first census, 1900 more than the original
number 74,600.
ARBAAH VESHISHIM ELEPH USHLOSH MEOT (26:25) = 64,300, another net
gain, this time for Isaachar, of 9900. Original number of first census in Numbers 1:27
were 54,400.
SHISHIM ELEPH VACHAMESH MEOT (26:27) = 60,500. Zebulon also has a net
gain, of 3100. Original census in Numbers 1:31 had a total of 57,400.

SHNAYIM VACHAMISHIM ELEPH USHVA MEOT (26:34) = 52,700. This

increase by Manasseh is the largest increase so far, up by 20,500 from the 32,200 original
total from Numbers 1:35.
SHNAYIM USHLOSHIM ELEPH VACHAMESH MEOT (26:37) = 32,500. Ephraim
wasnt so fruitful here from the last census, down by 8000. The original census in
Numbers 1:33 were 40,500.
CHAMISHAH VEARBAIM ELEPH VESHESH MEOT (26:41) = 45,600. Benjamin
got a net increase of 10,200. Original census figure was 35,400 in Numbers 1:37.
ARBAAH VESHISHIM ELEPH VEARBA MEOT (26:42) = 64,400.
Dan/Shuchamites had a net increase of 1700 from 62,700 in the first census of Numbers
1:39.
SHLOSHA VECHAMISHIM ELEPH VEARBA MEOT (26:47) = 53,400. Asher had
a net increase of 11,900, up from 41,500 in Numbers 1:41.
CHAMISHAH VEARBAIIM ELEPH VEARBA MEOT (26:50) = 45,400. Naphtalis
numbers took a hit of 8000, down from 53,400 from Numbers 1:43.
SHESH MEOT ELEPH VAELEPH SHVA MEOT USHLOSHIM (26:51) = 601,730.
This grand total for all of Israels males 20 years and over is down 1,820 from the
603,550 from Numbers 1:46.
GORAL (26:55) = according to lot. There were two baskets of slips, one with the names
of tribes, and the other with the names of land areas. These would be chosen in pairs to
determine which area went to each tribe (Bava Bathra 120a; Rashi). Some say that the
land was originally divided into 12 equal parts for the lottery, and then each portion was
increased or decreased, depending upon the tribes' populations (HaGra on Joshua 17:14;
HaKethav VeHaKabbalah). Also see Numbers 33:54, Joshua 14:2, 19:51.
MISHPACHAT HA KORCHI (26:58) = the Korahite family. From Korach, son of
Yitzhar, son of Kehoth; Exodus 6:21 (Ibn Ezra). Missing are the families of Shimi from
Gershon (Numbers 3:18), and Uzziel from Kehoth (Numbers 3:19), and the other sons of
Yitzhar (Exodus 6:21) (Rashi). Perhaps these families became extinct in the desert
(Yerushalmi, Yoma 1:1, 2a).
AMRAM (26:58-59) = Father of Moshe, Aaron and Miriam. He is not mentioned as the
head of his family (separate from Kohath, an Amramite division) though he is Moshes
father! Ramban suggests this is because his offspring was divided between Kohanim
(Aaron) and Levites (Moshe). If the Torah separated those lines into their respective
groups, it might have implied that Moshes progeny was only a Levite, i.e., less
important than Aarons.

YOCHEVED BAT LEVI (26:59) = Yocheved daughter of Levi, who is Amrams wife
and mother of Moshe, Aaron and Miriam. While the text calls here the daughter of
Levi, it is more likely she is actually his granddaughter. In Exodus 6:20 we are told that it
is forbidden for a man to marry his aunt and that is exactly what Amram would have
done if Yocheved was a literal daughter of Levi. In the past, when dealing with this issue,
I entertained the distinct possibility that the kosher sex rules of Leviticus 18 made
situations that were lax in Exodus 6 more strict by the time the Israelites get to Mount
Sinai.
However, it is equally likely, if the testimony of the Peshitta Aramaic and Septuagint
Greek translations of the Torah is accurate, that Yocheved was in fact the granddaughter
of Levi.
SHLOSHAH VEESRIM ELEF (26:62) = 23,000, whereas the previous census in
Numbers 3:39 was 22,000, meaning the first born Levites increased by exactly 1,000
infants in the intervening 39 years.
VELIFNEY HANESIIM VECHOL HA EDAH (27:2) = before the leaders of the
assembly): Josephus says that the ELDERS asked Moshe this question rather than the
daughters themselves:
At this time the chief men of the tribe of Manasseh came to Moses, and
informed him that there was an eminent man of their tribe who died, whose name
was Zelophehad, who left no male children, but left daughters; and asked him
whether these daughters might inherit his land or not. He made this answer, 175
That if they shall marry into their own tribe, they shall carry their estate along
with them; but if they dispose of themselves in marriage to men of another tribe,
they shall leave their inheritance in their father's tribe. And then it was that Moses
ordained, that everyone's inheritance should continue in his own tribe.
(Antiquities 4:174-175)
This would imply the daughters of Zelophehad went up the chain of command. They
consulted with their own tribal leaders first who then brought it to Moshes attention. If
so, this would show the system Moshes father in law put in place in Exodus 18 with
lesser judges appointed to hear the bulk of cases actually working. Moshe then would
have asked Abba YHWH because good process was followed and because the daughters
elders agreed they had a solid case.
Note on Numbers 27:3: The man Zelophehad dies because of his own sin as his
daughters say, but the Torah text doesnt tell us what that sin was, leaving the rabbis to
do a little educated speculation. The opinion on what the sin Zelophehad dies from is
effectively split between being one of the men who wanted to invade the hill country
after being warned by Moshe that Abba YHWH was not with them and they perished
(Numbers 14:45) or that he was the one man caught gathering wood on the Shabbat day
who was later executed (Numbers 15:33). My personal opinion is that neither opinion can
be proven and that the phrase his own sin is simply a generic statement that

Zelophehad, like every other mortal except for Messiah Yshua, died from normal,
original sin.
LCHUKKAT MISHPAT (27:11) = as a decree of judgment/justice, this implies the
ruling is a permanent one in the full body of Torah law as opposed to a concession of the
moment. In other words, the daughters of Zelophehad have set what we would now call
today a legal precedent which can be applied to future cases. This also shows that
Torah is eternal but not static in the sense that Abba YHWH knows each generation will
take from it what it needs, even if the previous generation never thought of it that way.
MEHODACHA (27:20) = some of your majesty, as in what shines on Joshua. Often in
the Talmud it is said Moshes face shines like the sun and Joshuas like the moon. This is
because Joshua is a reflection of Moshes light but it might also have to do with the first
place he will conquer, because JERICHO means Moon city.
LYOM ALAH TAMID (28:3) = literally, continual daily elevation offering. While
this is daily offering it is also a permanent one in the sense that this inaugurates the
whole offering process. When something is required daily to take place eternally, this
word is used. That is why the Eternal Light of the Tabernacle and Temples is called NER
TAMID, though it was lit daily, it could never go out.
UVARASHEY CHODESHECHEM (28:11) = and on the heads of your lunar months.
That is to say, on the first new moon day, the dark moon, sunset after conjunction.
MELECHET AVODAH (28:18) = literally service work meaning mundane, laborious
work that one might do throughout the week as a servant. Other kinds of work such as
preparing food are allowed.
MILVAD OLAT HACHODESH UMINCHATAH VEOLAT HA TAMID (29:6) = in
addition to the new moon offering and the daily offering. On Rosh Hashanna/Yom
Teruah, the New Moon offering for a normal month is first, Yom Teruah offering is
second and daily offering is last.
Special Note on Numbers 29:12: While this is clearly a reference to Sukkot, I find it
interesting that it simply refers to its start day, the 15th day of the seventh month, and says
to feast and rejoice for seven days. At this time of year, the 15th day of the seventh month
is definitely meant to coincide with the time of the full moon, and Numbers here
emphasizes that aspect whereas Leviticus emphasizes its name and purpose (dwell in
sukkot for seven days) and Exodus emphasizes the agricultural end or turn of the year at
end of fall harvest with feast of ingathering. This suggests an interchangeability and
relationship between the agriculture, the cycle of the moon and the official name of the
feast.
29:12-35: Total amount of bulls offered over Sukkot by day: 13 + 12 + 11 + 10 + 9 + 8 +
7 = 70, one for each of the nations that the Torah was given to or the total amount of
nations in the world as counted by Genesis. See Sukkah 55b.

SHEMINI ATZERET (29:35) = literally, 8th day of retreat. Some authorities therefore
will call Sukkot atzeret since the sense of retreat is attached to the whole feast and
not just the last day. The 8th day is also specifically set aside as a time of retreat in
Leviticus 23:36.

Bonus Teaching:
This Cozbi Show Sex Scandal Has No Reruns
In our modern world, particularly here in the West, there are two things certain about
summer. The first is that summer is the time for Hollywood blockbusters, our bigger than
life action dramas that we flock to in IMAX and 3-D, as I admittedly did last week. The
summer blockbusters Torah equivalent, Phinehas as a die hard action hero, is
discussed in the Torah Thought for the Week.
However, the second certain thing about summer, is that our TV shows will be more
sparse and of lower quality than usual, due to the tendency of broadcast and cable to do
reruns at this time of year. And that is what we are looking at right here.
Throughout the last several months and into this summer we have been following
headlines of a certain Cozbi being condemned for illicit behavior, losing TV contracts
and the like, but his show from the 1980s is still available and resides in many of our
childhood memories.
But in this Torah we find the original Cozbi Show and, as the title of this teaching
indicated, this show will have no reruns at all, thanks to a man named Phinehas. Or, if the
drama is played out in our memories, its for the harsh moral lesson it needs to teach a
sin-filled world. And that is also what I intend to do here.
For myself as a Torah teacher, this story shocks me in ways that almost no other one
does, and its not for the reasons one might think. Obviously ancient people had a lot of
illicit sex, much of it with pagan-temple prostitutes or just regular pagan woman
attempting to get Israelite men to join to their gods and the Israelite men were happy for
the most part to oblige them. Therefore, the fact that Cozbi got an Israelite man into bed
is far from shocking for me.
Nor is Phinehas act of driving a spear through the lovers shocking or that he gets
rewarded for it. There are plenty of other examples of this kind of violence in the
Tanakh, and especially in this part of the Tanakh.
No, what shocks me is something I alluded to last week in the Balak parsha: That what
the Moabite king could not accomplish through either battle or through Balaam he
achieved beyond his wildest expectations by just sending in a bunch of pretty girls.
Heres the tale of the tape once more, so we can all catch our collective breath. Final
score:
Moabite-Midianite alliance and army: 0.
Unleashing Balaam the prophet: 0.
A league of their own women: 24,000 Israelites killed.

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Kind of humbling to all those macho soldiers of fortune isnt it? No power on earth could
prevail against Israel exceptIsrael herself. While Israel was Torah observant and
blessed by Father Yah, all were helpless before the sons of Jacob.
Butsend in a few partying ladies with a pagan agenda and Israel herself removes her
own protection and the deaths just keep on coming. This is the Cozbi Show, and it is not
a laughing matter in the slightest.
As we saw a bit earlier, the name Cozbi means deception and she is the daughter of
Tzur, whose name means rock. Therefore, these names paint a moral picture about the
rock of deception, which stands in opposition to the True Rock (Father Yah) and His
righteous instructions (the Torah).
The man who died is named Zimri, the son of Salu, and his names most likely mean
wild goat1 and basket respectively. I am not sure what linkage, if any, is intended
with these names, however it does cause me to recall Leviticus 17:7s admonition against
worshipping the sairim or the goat demons, and perhaps a basket with fruit or other
items was involved in that ceremony, but if so I do not know this to be a fact. Its more of
an educated guess on my part.
However, I feel I am on more solid ground seeing the linkage with Zimris tribe,
Shimeon, because apparently Israel HEARD the call of the pagan women and this is what
I keep coming back to: Israel often is her own worst enemy.
The lesson though does not stop with Israel alone of course as the Apostle Paul ably
pointed out here:
But (it is) to you Gentiles, I am speaking: as I am a Shaliach to the Gentiles, I
honor my ministry; If, perhaps, I may provoke emulation in the children of my
flesh and may revive some of them.
For if the rejection of them was a reconciliation of the world, what will their
conversion be but life from the dead? For, if the first-fruits (are) Set Apart, then
the rest of the dough (it came from is) also: and if the root is Set Apart, then also
the branches.
And if some of the branches were plucked off; and you, an olive from the desert,
were in-grafted in their place and have become an heir of the root and fatness of
the olive-tree; do not boast over the branches. For if you boast, you do not
sustain the root, but the root sustains you.
And should you say "the branches were plucked off that I might be grafted into
their place." Very true. They were plucked off because they disbelieved; and you
stand by faith. But do not be uplifted in your mind, but fear. For if Elohim
1

Another possible meaning for Zimri is praise singing from Zemer (to sing). Salu is an Aramaic name,
not Hebrew, and definitely means basket.

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spared not the natural branches, perhaps he will not spare youNow, in the
Good News, they are enemies for your sake; but in the election, they are
beloved for the fathers' sake. For Elohim is not changeable in His free gift
and in His calling. (Romans 11:13-21, 28-29 AENT)
All of this tragic comedy of errors leads us inexorably to a precept discussed just before
the Korah rebellion:
One law is for you of the assembly and for the stranger who sojourns with you
a law forever throughout your generations. As you are, so is the stranger before
. One Torah and one right-ruling is for you and for the stranger who
sojourns with you. (Numbers 15:15-16, The Scriptures 1998)
The last time I checked

There were no Jews that died due to Adam and Eve being cursed.
There were no Jews murdered by Cain.
There were no Jews that perished in the Flood.
There were no Jews that died at Sodom and Gomorrah.

Of course this is not to say no Jews EVER died from their sinful deeds, but the point is
death from a lack of Torah observance affects way more than the Jewish people alone.
Thats again why Paul says, Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. And Cozbi, the
woman who died, was also a Gentile, who died along with a wicked Israelite and makes
this truly a cautionary tale for all people.
And so the moral of the proverbial story behind the Cozbi Show and Sex Scandal is that
sin can cause the death of any of us, regardless of lineage, if we do not repent, embrace
Torah and honor Yshua as Messiah.
So to honor our man Phinehas let me just close with the words of another priest who
seemed to have a quite an impact on Israel nearly 1,500 years later, Yochanan the
Immerser:
And when (he) saw the many from the Pharisees and Sadducees that came to be
immersed, he said to them, "Generation of vipers! Who has informed you to
flee from the wrath that will come? Do therefore the fruits that are worthy of
repentance. And you (ought) not suppose and say within yourselves that we
have Awraham (as our) father. I say to you that Elohim is able to raise from
these rocks sons to Awraham. And behold, the axe is placed on the root of the
trees. All trees, therefore, that do not bear good fruit will be cut and thrown in the
fire.
I immerse you with water to repentance, but he that will come after me is
stronger than me. I am not worthy to remove his sandals. He will immerse you
by the Ruach haKodesh and by fire. He whose winnowing fan is in his hand will

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cleanse his threshing-floors and the wheat he will gather to his granaries and the
chaff he will burn in the fire that does not extinguish." (Matthew 3:7-12 AENT)
And the Gentile side of the equation is referenced in Lukes version:
And the crowds would say to him, "What then should we do?" And he answered
and said to them, "He who has two coats let him give to him who does not have.
And he who has food, likewise let him do."
And the tax collectors also came to be immersed and said to him, "Teacher, what
should we do?" And he said to them, "Do not require anything more than what is
commanded to require you.
And the (Roman2) soldiers would ask him and say, "What should we do
also?" He said to them, "Do no violence to man and do not accuse anyone.
This is sufficient for you for your wages. (Luke 3:10-14 AENT)
In each of these cases of general crowds, tax collectors and soldiers, Gentiles are either
part of the mix of people with their fellow Jews or listed as a separate group outright. So
from one priest to another, from Phinehas to Yochanan, the warnings and penalties for
disobedience remain the same, regardless as to what group of people is doing the sin.
Perhaps the modern Cozbi might then take a lesson from the ancient one.

Torah Question of the Week:

Why did the sons of Korah not die in the great rebellion?
END PART 1

The terms in Greek and Aramaic (stratiotes and astratiya respectively) specially refer to Roman soldiers
(see Matthew 8:9, 27:27, 28:12; Mark 15:16; Luke 7:8; John 19:2 and Acts 10:7). Only when the terms are
used metaphorically, like with faithful believers being compared to good soldiers (2 Timothy 2:3) is the
term more inclusive from an ethnic standpoint.

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PART 2: THE HAFTORAH

Torah Question of the Week:
Why did the sons of Korah not die in the great rebellion?
Because Korahs children did not participate in the rebellion of their father Korah.
Dathans children are directly mentioned as dying with him but Korahs group is simply
called his company and not his family. Abba YHWH did not hold their fathers sin
against them and in fact seems to have renamed the Yitzhar family Korah in their
honor. The message seems to be that righteous descendants can keep their family name
alive even if their ancestor was evil. Remember that Samuel was a direct descendant of
Korah, as we taught on recently.
Haftorah portion (English- 1 Kings 18:46-19:21) and discuss common themes with the
Torah portion.

Veyad Yahweh haeytah el-Eliyahu vayeshanes motnav vayarots lifney

Ach'av ad-bo'achah Yizre'elah.
Vayaged Ach'av le-Izevel et kol-asher asah Eliyahu ve'et kol-asher harag etkol-hanevi'im becharev.
1) Our linguistic commentary
ELIYAHU (19:1) = My El Yah is. Very appropriate considering how Eliyahu proves
YHWHs reality to the exclusion of all other alleged deities. YAH is also a
simplified/primitive form of the name of YAHWEH. Cuneiform tablets from more than
4000 years ago testify that even in Canaan YAH was known and revered by at least a
few. The actual transliteration of the cuneiform tablets was done by one of the worlds
leading Assyriologists of the time, Archibald Henry Sayce, in 1898 and it read YA-UMIL-U.
Sayce further clarified that under certain grammatical conditions, which were present in
this inscription, the M part of this name has something called a mimmation which
transfers the sound from an M to a W. From there the IL is the Assyrian cuneiform
cognate of EL and the U is the cognate for Hebrew HU (is). The sounds then came out to
be YAH-UW-IL-HU. Sayce therefore said the inscription read Yahweh is El or, in the
nomenclature of the late 19th century, Jahweh is God (The Expositor, Volume VIII
(1903), p. 289).
When we combine this evidence with Josephus saying the Divine Name had four vowels,
the equivalency of YAH-HU to YAHWEH becomes very clear. Josephus was actually
referring to both Greek and Hebrew vowels in The Jewish War, 5:235 and according to
Jacob Weingreens A Practical Grammar for Classical Hebrew, p. 6-7, anciently the

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letters YODH, HEY and WAW were meant to represent LONG vowels (ee, ah, oo and eh
respectively) clearly yielding Yahweh as the long form of YAH.
AHAB (19:1) = my father is my brother and JEZEBEL (Itz-Baal) = Baal exists.
Jezebels name may have been altered by the writers of Kings to mean instead unexalted one.
BEERSHEBA (19:3) = can mean well of the seven or well of the oath. Given that
Eliyahu contemplates death but is restored, the latter meaning seems intended but only
for a while. In 19:18 there are 7,000 reserved by Abba YHWH who did not bow down to
Baal, so maybe its also well of the seven in that sense as well!
KHOREB (Sinai19:8). KHOREB means wasteland and SINAI means thorny.
This is a good description of how Eliyahu is feeling about his mission at that moment.
2) Renewed Covenant portion: (English) Acts 2:1-21 (all the way through with
applicable footnotes.)
Acts 2:1
14) The loan word pentaqostia (fiftieth day) appears here and in 1Co_16:8. Tradition has
it that Luke translated for Paul, who would have used this term for the benefit of a
Gentile audience. Luke's upbringing in Syrian Antioch prepared him for toggling
between Semitic and Gentile terminology. On the other hand, in Israel where the Gospels
originated, Aramaic paskha, the direct cognate of pesach, was being used for "Passover"
and was later loaned into Greek. Loanwords going either from Aramaic into Greek or
vice versa are the effect of this time when Semitic culture was dominated by GrecoRoman power. Without loanwords, the Peshitta could not be authentic.
15) This means, after the days counting the Omer were fulfilled. The English could be
misconstrued to mean after the days of the feast itself were completed. However,
Aramaic literally reads after the days of pentaqostia were fulfilled or, after the 50 day
period was reached. Pentecost is used here as both a technical term to refer to the
feast and a time marker. Also the actual day was Shabbat (Saturday) morning, not
Sunday as many Christians assume. The last day of the omer count ended at sunset on
Friday, May 24th in the year 30 CE, so the disciples were assembled as one on the
following morning after Shavuot ended, when the Ruach haKodesh came.
Acts 2:2
16) Or "groaning spirit."
17) "House" here refers to the Temple; see Mat_12:4; Mat_21:13; Luk_2:49; Joh_2:1617, not the "upper room" of Act_1:13. It is the Day of Shavuot; Y'shua's disciples are
gathered together in the Father's House. Luk_24:53 states the disciples were "at all times
in the temple." The Ruach haKodesh is clearly poured out in full view of those in

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attendance at the Temple, not in some hidden place. Y'shua was known to visit the
Temple daily. In the early mornings he taught those who came to learn of the Kingdom
of Elohim; see Luk_21:36-38.
Acts 2:4
18) The universal remedy to the confusion of language at Bavel, Gen_11:9, is to learn the
language of the Spirit that unifies all souls in righteousness.
Acts 2:11
19) All the tongues listed here are man-made; these are not angelic or heavenly. The gift
of angelic tongues, the issue of genuineness aside, cannot be linked to this event in Acts 2
or to the Shavuot-Pentecost holiday. Please see footnotes on Act_2:17, Joh_20:22, and
Founders of the all Gentile Church: Tertullian 155-230 CE in Appendix.
Acts 2:17
20) The later (last or latter) days, acharit hayamim in Hebrew, is the season when the
Day of YHWH will be fulfilled. The acharit hayamim and Day of YHWH references
prophecies regarding Mashiyach ben David. Shimon Keefa assumed he was witnessing
the acharit hayamim since Yshua had clearly fulfilled the prophecies of Mashiyach ben
Yosef (the suffering servant), but he would have had no idea when Mashiyach would
return as Mashiyach ben David to fulfill the many elements spoken of by Joel and the
other Prophets of YHWH. Please see footnote on Act_28:28.
KOL DNIQRA SHMEH DMARYAH NEKHA (2:21) = All who call upon the Name of
Master YHWH will be saved. This is a continuation of Yshuas own teaching from
Yochanan 17, where three times he said he taught the Name to his disciples, Yahweh,
that was otherwise banned in the Judaism of his day
(Joh 17:6) I have made Your Name known to the sons of those men whom You had
given to me from the world. They were Yours and You have given them to me, and they
have kept Your Word.
(Joh 17:11) Henceforth, I will not be in the world, and these are in the world. And I am
coming to Your presence. Kadosh Father, keep them by your Name, the same Name
which you have given to me, that they may be one even as We are one. (Joh 17:12) I
was with them while I was in the world. I have kept them in your Name; those whom
you have given to me, I have kept. And not a man of them is lost except for the son of
destruction, that the Scriptures might be fulfilled.
(Joh 17:25) My Just Father, the world has not known You, but I have known You. And
these have known that You have sent me. (Joh 17:26) And I have made Your Name
known to them. And I will confess it so that the love with which You have loved me
might be in them, and I might be in them."

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3) Highlight common themes in Aramaic (terms in footnotes which I will read)

4) Apply these themes/issues to modern issues in the Netzari faith. (I said most of what I
needed to about the speaking in tongues phenomenon in the Shavuot special, so I will just
revisit the main points briefly here.)
5) Relate to all or part of an Appendix portion of AENT or footnotes from a portion
(Divine Communication, p. 770-772).
Haftorah Thought for the Week:
Following Eliyahus Path Back to Sinai
In this weeks Haftorah portion we find the great prophet Eliyahu in a crisis so deep that
he feels compelled to leave his country. At first he goes on a one day journey into the
wilderness where he sits down and literally waits to die by Abba YHWHs hand rather
than those of his enemies.
Fortunately for Eliyahu however, Abba YHWH has sent a Messenger down to strengthen
him and give him food so nutritious that it sustains the prophet for forty days as he makes
his way into Greater Arabia (Sinai Peninsula, not necessarily Saudi Arabia) to the real
Mount Sinai (Galatians 4:24-25). As he lodges in a cave nearby, Abba YHWH comes
and asks him twice, Eliyahu, why are you here? And both times the prophet answers
back:
"I have been very zealous for YHWH, the Elohim of hosts; for the sons of Israel
have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars and killed Your prophets
with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away." (1
Kings 19:10 NAU)
Now Abba YHWH didnt expressly command Eliyahu to go to Sinai or Khoreb. Rather,
he commanded the prophet nourish and strengthen himself and not give up and die. But
Eliyahu decided this is where he would go, back to the source of the written Torah that
YHWH gave Moshe, but the question of course is why?
I believe that when Eliyahu felt the whole of Israel had been corrupted and forsaken the
entire covenant, as he says, that the prophet wanted to reconnect with the source of it all,
for his own sake as well as for his mission. Perhaps in Eliyahus mind the giving of the
Torah on or near that amazing Shavuot was the last time his people really got it and if
he was going to go back into the teeth of danger and correct the paganism that corrupted
Israel to the core, he would have to have a double portion of the truth and feel it in every
fiber of his being.
Abba YHWH may ask Eliyahu why he is there, but Abba YHWH of course also already
knows the answer. Eliyahu is, in his own way, repeating the Exodus, only this time the

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corruptions of Egypt are in Israel proper and the Israelites themselves have forgotten that
Abba YHWH warned Do not go back that wayyet they did just that!
Then, nearly nine centuries later, another great man is in crisis. He knows he will have
enemies all around him and he leaves behind bad traditions and seeks clarity for the new
revelation he had, the results of which will make is former friends enemies and the people
he persecuted co-laborers for truth. I am speaking of course of the apostle Paul who,
when he got his vision from Yshua on the Damascus road says:
But when (Elohim) willed it, He who set me apart from the womb and from my
mother, called me to His grace, in order to reveal the manifestation of His son that
I preached to the nations, I did not explain this to flesh and blood. Nor did I even
go to Urishlim, to the Shlichim who were there before me, but instead I went to
Arabia and then returned to Damascus. And after three years I went to
Urishlim to see Peter and stayed there for fifteen days. I saw none of the other
Shlichim except for Yaakov, the brother of our Master. (Galatians 1:15-19AENT)
As we have seen though recently, Arabia does not necessarily mean Saudi Arabia,
although it does include the borders of that country. The Apostle Paul though was
extremely well educated in both the Hebrew and Roman paradigms, and Paul knew that
everyone from Herodotus to Strabo to Pliny and others all placed what I think is better
termed Greater Arabia immediately outside of Egypts borders, so that the moment the
Hebrews left Goshen and Succoth they were in Arabia and out of Egyptian territory.
On the other hand, the details Paul gives in Galatians do not directly inform us either way
on the Sinai Peninsula-Saudi Arabia debate for Mount Sinai, because both locations had
easy access to Damascus through well-established trading routes.
It should also be pointed out that Galatians does not directly say that Paul went to Mount
Sinai in whichever Arabia he intended for it to be, but nevertheless I believe thats
exactly where Paul did go.
In any case, three years the apostle Paul is in Arabia and, just like Eliyahu, he also knows
he must return to Damascusnot for anointing a king but to accept his own anointing
and mission as Abba YHWH had originally intended.
In the shadow of Sinai Rav Shaul is alone except for Abba YHWHs presence. He is
confronted with the reality that all he thought he knew about oral law and the traditions of
his fathers was twisted beyond recognition. He knows that Yshua had said that the
Pharisees traditions cannot override Torah, but as for how he will adjust to that new
reality, well, obviously he needs time to detox from the leaven of the Pharisees that
caused him to breathe threats of murder against the early believers. In their way then, the
Pharisees who were persecuting Yshuas people were no better than Ahab and Jezebel
who did the same thing for the same reasons to Eliyahu!

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And, in both cases, each man is refreshed and finds renewed strength and purpose from
their time at Sinai. It is actually the returning to PROPER FAITH, not the institution of
new faith that motivates these men. Eliyahu wanted to free Israel from paganism and Rav
Shaul wanted to free Israel from the tyranny of Oral Law that was set against his Master
Yshua. It is actually the SAME MISSION in two different stages.
After Yshua came and gave the proper understanding to the Written Torah, he was
literally killed for that, rose and ascended to heaven based on the promises of that same
Written Torah. But Yshua also said that those who believe and fully understand will do
even greater things than he did, and Rav Shaul is clinging to that promise, perhaps
because he wasnt a witness for the Transfiguration he wanted to do the next best thing:
Get back to the source of it all.
But we should also bear in mind that Arabia is not over Jerusalem. Rather, we seek to
bring Jerusalem back to where it was supposed to be in the first place and from where it
should never have departed away from. That is why Yshua said, O Jerusalem,
Jerusalem! How I longed to gather you under my wings like a hen gathers its chicks but
you were not willing! Behold your house is left to you desolate!
Now however, through the examples of the trials of Eliyahu and Rav Shaul, each of us in
our own small way can get back to the Real Jerusalem and, in the process, get back to the
Set-Apart faith that was once delivered.

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STUDY QUESTIONS TO BE ANSWERED NEXT WEEK FOR THIS PORTION:

1) Where is Mount Sinai? I will give you my opinion next week.
2) In Genesis 26:24 there is a person who is mentioned whom the Rabbis say has a very
unique name that is shared only by a major Biblical figure. Who is this persons
famous namesake? The name given in the text is considered a later one to this
original. Who is he?
3) If you know the answer to #2, who is the man the tradition says wrote down that
mans story?
4) When Eliyahu encounters Abba YHWH at Sinai, he is given a word of
encouragement in the form of a code. Where is the code and what does it mean?
5) Eliyahu also sees something at Sinai that is a direct reminder of the Exodus, and no, I
dont mean the mountain. What is that second reminder of the Exodus?
Torah Thought for the Week:
Phinehas, A Real Die Hard Kind of Hero
Any true aficionado of the action story genre has seen this scene and heard this dialogue
before. Two men stand witnessing a scene of devastation, the kind of event that would
take the heart out of almost any other person, and so Man #1, the voice of so-called
reason says something like
Theres nothing you can do! If you move out youll be killed too. Face it, this
isnt your war!
Then Man #2, our hero, gets ready to speak. First however we have to cue up the action
music, from a slow growl to a fast crescendo and then its time for the close-up of the
heros facepreferably in IMAX 3Dzero in on his mouth while he says with a low
deadly serious tone
It is now!
Next we cut to the hero arming himself, purring on his warrior clothes while metal on
metal snaps into placeor pick up a sword if its a period piece and put on heavy
armoreither way works. Then we cut again to the heros face as the music swells, to
show his determination to prevail against all odds. And whether the baritone announcer
says it or not the message is unmistakable: THIS TIMEITS PERSONAL!
In the Torah, no one in my opinion better fits the Hollywood caricature better than
Phinehas ben Elieazar. Hes raised a Levite with no pretensions of power or prestige. The
blessing of being a Kohen passed him by and he was fine with itbecause for Phinehas

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Israels security was more important than his own advancementand he would have
gladly stayed in the shadows had that security not been threatened.
In several key flashbacks we see the mighty display of Abba YHWHs power as He frees
the Israelites from Egypt under Moshe. Phinehas grows up in the wilderness, after the
previous generation forced a 40 year curse upon his people.
And Phinehas also suffers personally too. He prostrates himself in prayer when he thinks
about how even his grandfather Aaron and grand-aunt Miriam rebelled against Moshe
and yet in all this he wasnt there and there was nothing he could do about it.
Then Phinehas own brother Levites disastrously plot against Moshe, and, even as a child
perhaps seeing this, he lets out a big NOOOOOOO! when the ground opens up to
swallow Korah and the other rebels. Disaster is all around him, but Phinehas resolves that
next time will be different. Next time he will act and save his people. He trains for 38
years, getting ready for the final confrontation. When his grand-father Aaron dies,
Phinehas promises his father Elieazar, I am readyI will not let our people fail!
And then the test comes, and it was a twist worthy of any summer blockbuster. A mighty
king calls on a prophet to curse his enemy Israel but the plot fails. Then however a seed
of destruction was planted in the process and it rotted out the spirit of Israel before
unleashing a plague that could kill tens of thousands almost instantly. A hero must rise to
stop the tide of moral decay and physical disaster. One man, a humble Levite, armed with
nothing more than a single spear, will rise to take a stand as the films viewers chant,
Pinchus! Pinchus! Pinchus! Then some actor extra in the background says something
like, Hes not being assignedhes being unleashed!
Now run Phinehasrun!with the spear of judgment in your hand. Slow
motionpreferably lots of explosions in the background with super-fast and loud heavy
metal guitar riffs pulsing from the speakers and never mind theres no gunpowder in 1407
BCE, as long as it looks cool. Run and find the tent of Cozbi and Zimri. Depending on
the films ratingPG or Rwe may even see inside their tent and behold their sin in all
its graphic detailbut this reviewer will not write about that.
But now our hero has found them, and with one solid impaling strike Phinehas seals his
own immortality as one of the greatest heroes of Israel. Shamgar, Samsonyou have
nothing on Phinehas, who just saved 2 million people. The battlefield now strewn with
his dead countrymen (real long shot with soft patriot music playing in the background), a
tear falls from Phinehas cheek while someone, maybe his father Elieazar says, Its over
my son. You saved us.
Then Phinehas says, Not nearly enough Dad, not nearly enough. The plague is gone, but
at what cost?
There was nothing else you could do, grand-uncle Moshe says. They made their
choicebut we are very proud of youKohen Pinchus.

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The credits roll, but no truly good action star like Phinehas is without the prospect of a
sequel, as production on next summers sure fire hit, Phinehas II: The Wrath of Benjamin
is already underway.
In the meantime all I can say is: Yip-ee-ai-oh-cai-aywell, you know.
Im Andrew Gabriel Roth and thats your Torah Thought for the Week!
Next week we will be exploring a DOUBLE PARSHA, starting with Matot, or Numbers
30:2-32:42. Our Haftorah portion will be Jeremiah 1:1-2:13 and our Renewed Covenant
portion will be Matthew 5:33-37 with a special emphasis on Matthew 5 contrasting
Written Torah with the Oral Torah and both with the Torah of Yshua!
It will be followed by Masei, or Numbers 33:1-36:13. The Haftorah will be Jeremiah 2:428 and our Renewed Covenant portion will Yaakov (James) 4:1-12. As with all Double
Portions, expect the unexpected! Stay tuned!

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