As a follow up to Pinchas’ great act at
the end of Parshas Balak, this week’s parshah begins with his reward. At the
end of last week’s parshah, Zimri, the leader of Shevet Shimon, committed adultery
with the princess of Midian. Following the halacha, Pinchas adopted the
attitude of a ‘kanai’, a zealot for the honor of Hashem, and immediately killed
Zimri and the woman. For this, he was rewarded by being made a Kohen.
“ פִּינְחָס בֶּן אֶלְעָזָר בֶּן אַהֲרֹן
הַכֹּהֵן הֵשִׁיב אֶת חֲמָתִי מֵעַל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּקַנְאוֹ אֶת קִנְאָתִי
בְּתוֹכָם ” “Pinchas, the son of Elazar, the son of Aharon the
Kohen has turned My anger away from the children if Yisrael by his zealously avenging
Me among them.” (Bamidbar 25:11). Rashi asks how come the pasuk needs to
tell me Pinchas’ lineage back to Aharon, after all we already mentioned it
exactly the same way in Parshas Balak! He explains that Pinchas’ grandfather
from his mother’s side was not Jewish and worshipped idols. After Pinchas killed
Zimri, the people were demeaning him by saying ‘how could someone with such
poor ancestry had the audacity to kill one of the nation’s greatest men!’
Therefore, Hashem said his name with the ancestry going back to Aharon to show
that Pinchas was indeed from a special bloodline.
However, this does not fully answer the
question. The entire nation knew that Pinchas was Aharon’s grandson and they still
made fun of him for his other grandfather! Why would putting Aharon’s name in
the pasuk change anything?
The Sifsei Chachamim gives a different
take on this pasuk than Rashi to answer the question. The people weren’t making
fun of Pinchas because of his ancestry, rather they believed that Pinchas did
not act because of Hashem’s honor; rather, it was because of Moshe’s. Zimri
acted out in deliberate disregard for Moshe’s authority as the messenger of
Hashem, and as Pinchas was a close student of Moshe’s as well as his great
nephew, the people believed that Pinchas was really defending Moshe when he went
to kill Zimri. Therefore, the pasuk mentions that he was Aharon’s
grandson in order to prove that Pinchas acted for the honor of Hashem. But how
does this prove anything?
The Gemarah in Sanhedrin (82b) says that
Pinchas, like his grandfather Aharon, succeeded in quelling Hashem’s anger
against Bnei Yisrael. Aharon did it by bringing the incense offering after the
story of Korach, while Pinchas did it here when he killed Zimri. Because they
shared this quality, the pasuk says that Pinchas is from Aharon. This connection
proves that Pinchas acted purely for the honor of Hashem.
The Ohr HaChaim takes this idea of a
connection between Aharon and Pinchas a little deeper. We know that Aharon was
at least partially responsible for the building of the Golden Calf. (See Shemos
32:35.) Aharon was therefore, somewhat responsible for the deaths of many
members of Bnei Yisrael. However, Pinchas came and redeemed many members of
Bnei Yisrael by killing Zimri before Hashem’s anger took over and more people
died. The pasuk connects the two of them to show how Pinchas came and rescued
Bnei Yisrael in the same way that Aharon had been responsible for them.
Shabbat Shalom!
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