As the Book of Numbers concludes, the Lord reminds Israel, and us as well, of all the stops along the way. The stages of their journey through the wilderness. It seems rather incidental, but we know everything in the Word of God is there for our benefit, even for our example. As the Torah records, “These are the journeys of the children of Israel when they came out of Egypt by their divisions under the hand of Moses and Aaron. Moses recorded the stages of their journeys at the Lord’s command. These then are their journeys by stages” (Numbers 33:1-2; Matot/Masei Numbers 30:2 – 36:13).

When the Lord speaks the Ten Commandments to Israel from Mt. Sinai, He reminds them that it was He who delivered them out from the house of bondage, out of the land of Egypt. The remembrance of the exodus from Egypt serves as the point of departure, as well as a remembrance for a nation as it worships, celebrates, and relates to the human other, “The outsider dwelling among you shall be to you as the native-born among you. You shall love him as yourself – for you dwelled as outsiders in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God” (Lev. 19:34; cf. Lev. 19:18). And here, at the close of Numbers, the Lord reminds Israel of her journeys of the past forty years, the places where she stopped, and from where she set out, forty-two in all.  

The journey begins with grace. Even with the many setbacks experienced by the children of Israel in the wilderness, the journey from Egypt began with the grace of God. The journey was then sustained by the grace of God, and it would end in the Promised Land by the grace of God.

At the beginning of every Shabbat (Sabbath) and every holiday the Jewish people are reminded in the blessings for the day about the grace of the exodus from Egypt. It is a remembrance of being slaves, of being exiled, and of being “the other” within a society. This ever-present reminder of our history, the current reality of many displaced peoples, and the possibility of experiencing this condition once again, should keep the heart compassionate and eager to serve “the other” to the glory of God (Matt. 5:16; 1 Cor. 10:31).

The journey of faith in Messiah also begins with grace, and it too is characterized as a deliverance/salvation from bondage: a continuation of the exodus theme, the Greater Exodus. The apostle Paul wrote, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not from yourselves – it is the gift of God. It is not based on deeds, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship – created in Messiah Jesus for good deeds, which God prepared beforehand so we might walk in them” (Eph. 2:8-10).

Of great importance in our faith life is to remember our condition when the Lord delivered us, that is, where we started. It is easy to forget, focusing on the good of the present and the victories by faith we have witnessed and received; but remembering our point of departure, and where we have been, will help us to see more clearly where we are going, and what we are to do along the way.

It is easy for the journey to become one of complaint for what we lack (Ps. 23:1) or have lost, but the Lord desires it to be a journey of faith-obedience that impacts the lives of those around us (Ro. 1:8), not just those like us, but those unlike us (Lk. 10:25-37). While we may not be able to make grandiose gestures of care – building hospitals, orphanages, houses, or paying for education – we can help with food, water, clothing, visitation, and encouragement along the way (Matt. 25:31-46). More than that, we can all do simple acts of kindness, or use our voice to speak for those who lack a position from which to speak.

I pray that we use this journey, and the time graced to us, to be a bright light of the Gospel, and an example of the self-sacrificial love of Messiah Yeshua/Jesus to all. From this Torah portion, let us remember the grace we received at the beginning, the grace we continue to receive, and the grace we will receive at our end. Let us remember we were once enslaved, hopeless, hungry, strangers in need of aid. Let us remember where He found us, and where He might direct us to find others. Let us remember it is the Messiah that we serve, and the living message of the Gospel that we are to share: a timeless message of eternal hope for all. It all begins in His grace, and we set out from there continuing in it.   

Maranatha. Shalom.

The story of Phinehas/Pinchas is fascinating, as it witnesses a change that he could not achieve or gain on his own, but one received by God’s grace. In Numbers 25:10-11 we read:

וַיְדַבֵּר יְהוָה אֶל-מֹשֶׁה לֵּאמֹר

פִּינְחָס בֶּן-אֶלְעָזָר בֶּן-אַהֲרֹן הַכֹּהֵן הֵשִׁיב אֶת-חֲמָתִי מֵעַל בְּנֵי-יִשְׂרָאֵל

“Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ‘Phinehas the son of Eleazer, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned back My wrath from the children of Israel…”

The Torah portion of Pinchas opens with the fruit of a plan designed of Balaam. A leader of Israel, Zimri, commits an act of fornication before the Tent of Meeting with a Midianite woman named Cozbi. Cozbi is likely the daughter of a man of position in Midian, otherwise it is unlikely that she would be identified. As the enemies of Israel found out, Israel could not be cursed by the words of Balaam, so Balaam explains to Balak how to destroy the children of Israel from within by sending in the daughters of Moab to entice with sexual pleasure and idolatry.

Messiah Yeshua/Jesus even refers to this in Revelation 2:14, as He says, “But I hold a few matters against you, because you have those who adhere to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling-block before the children of Israel, to eat food offered to idols and to commit whoring.” Pinchas, taking matters into his own hands, rose up and killed Zimri and Cozbi. This grandson of Aaron and son of Eliezer the current high priest, had not tribal position to execute such a judgment, so the Lord, by His mercy, ensures his safety and posterity.  

Pinchas is made a priest. Although he is a son of Eliezer the high priest, and a grandson of Aaron, he, born at the time of the establishment of the priesthood, was not eligible to be a priest. Yet, the Lord confers upon him the priesthood. The rabbis note future high priests descend from Pinchas, and not other descendants of Aaron. Even more, the Lord gives him the אֶת-בְּרִיתִי שָׁלוֹם, “the covenant of peace.” Not only does this covenant of peace witness the peace between Pinchas and the Lord, but this covenant of peace also protects him against those who may want to avenge Zimri. Still, in the Torah scroll the letter ו ״vav״ in the word “שָׁלוֹם/shalom,” meaning peace, is broken, signifying that the eternal covenant of peace will not be established until the coming of Messiah Yeshua/Jesus.

Pinchas will lead Israel into battle in Numbers 31:6 and he is also mentioned as serving the Lord in Judges 20:28. The name פִּינְחָס/Pinchas means “mouth of the serpent,” probably a reference to the shape of his mouth, but it also means “mouth of brass.” Brass representing God’s judgment and atonement. Pinchas rose up and judged the sin of Zimri and Cozbi when the established leadership would not, and turned away the Lord’s anger from the children of Israel, and as Moses records, “because he was zealous for his God and atoned for the children of Israel” (Num. 25:13). Because of this zeal, he was made something he was not.

From that moment forward Pinchas had an identity that was not founded in the natural, but from the spiritual. Dear brothers and sisters in Messiah, we cannot, and we will not discover our identity horizontally, upon this earth, but vertically from Christ. In type Pinchas points us to someone greater, Messiah; and the author of Hebrews expounds extensively about this. In Messiah we see that the Judge took the judgment for the wages of sin, the righteous given for the sinner. And now in Him, we are not something – sinners saved by grace and now part of a holy priesthood (1 Pet. 2:9) – because of what we have done. No, we are something wonderfully made in Christ. We are not our past or present struggles; we are in Him. As Paul writes, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Cor. 5:17). Why?  “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me” (1 Cor. 15:10).

Pinchas acted because of his love for the Lord. In his mind he probably knew that his own death would result one way or another; but the Lord showed Him extraordinary grace. He protected his life, but He also made him what he was not, a minister of reconciliation at the Altar. In Messiah, again, the Judge took the judgment for us. We are no longer identified in our sin, our shame, our past or our present circumstance. No, dear friends, we are identified in Messiah.

In Messiah Yeshua/Jesus we are more loved than we can fathom. Let that be an encouragement to your heart. You may have been disqualified by birth, but you have been qualified by rebirth in Messiah; and in Him, we now cry out, “Be reconciled to God.” Amen and amen.

Maranatha. Shalom.