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balak קָלָּב # pinchas ס ָחְני ִּ פ 24107-EYAL - 24107-EYAL | 16 - A | 18-01-28 | 12:12:05 | SR:-- | Cyan 16

£A Covenant of PeaceA Covenant of PeaceA Covenant of Peace
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And God spoke to Moses, saying: “Pinchas, son of Elazar,
In the portion of Balak, Balaam, a sorcerer and heathen prophet, is son of Aaron the cohen, turned back my wrath from
hired by Balak the king of Moab to curse the Jews. Legend had it that the children of Israel, when he was zealous for my sake
whoever was blessed by Balaam would be blessed and whoever was among them, so I did not consume the children of Israel
cursed by Balaam would be cursed. According to tradition Balaam with my vengeance. Therefore [I] say: Behold, I give him
was the spiritual counterforce on the side of impurity to Moses (Sifrei My covenant of peace. And it shall be for him and his
on Deuteronomy 34:10). The Midrash relates that the nations of the offspring after him an eternal priestly covenant, because
world came to God and said that if they had a prophet of Moses’ he was zealous for his God and he atoned for the children
stature they too would be as holy as the Jewish people; to test them, of Israel.” (Numbers 25:10-13)
God gave the nations Balaam as their prophet. Ironically, Balaam’s
prophecies contain some of the most glorious praises of Israel in the As a reward for his actions Pinchas is awarded a covenant of peace
entire Torah as well as extensive prophecies about the Messianic and is appointed a cohen. This might appear surprising since as
era. Aaron’s grandson one would have expected him to automatically be
a cohen. However, those children born to Aaron’s sons before they
In the written text, Balaam explicitly tells Balak that even though were appointed cohanim remained levi’im. Only Aaron, his sons,
he has hired him to curse the Jewish people, he can only utter what and those children born to them after the appointment were deemed
God “puts in my mouth.” He seems to have no sinister motives in cohanim.
prophesying about the Jewish people; however, the oral tradition
paints an entirely different picture. Indeed, a close reading of the Since no other individual in the entire Tanach is awarded “a
text reveals many subtle and not so subtle allusions to Balaam’s true covenant of peace,” we can assume that such a covenant is special
desire to curse the Jews. For one, his frequently repeated claim that and profoundly meaningful. However, receiving such a reward
he can only prophesy what God tells him to seems to indicate that for murdering Zimri and Cozbi seems quite paradoxical, a true
he wished the situation were reversed. Indeed, every time he blesses oxymoron. Only in light of the bigger picture does the effect of
the Jews, he asks Balak to give him another chance to curse them. Pinchas’ actions become apparent. Pinchas not only kills Zimri
That God would have chosen such an individual – an impure vessel and Cozbi, and in so doing halts a deadly plague that threatened to
– to utter some of the most sublime praises and prophecies is very destroy the entire Jewish people, he also causes a major paradigm
perplexing. shift in the relationship between God and the Jewish people. For
forty years the Jewish people constantly rebelled against God and

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