Pinchas “Phinehas”
It is customary for religiously practicing Jews to read from an annual cycle of weekly Old Testament readings called Torah Portions. This is said to be the same reading schedule that was taught every Sabbath in the Synagogues during the times of Jesus in the first century.
As Christians exploring the Torah portion cycle we must maintain a balance of including the Old Testament, the prophets, and the gospels in our weekly bible study.
Torah Portion Name and Readings-
Pinchas is the Hebrew name of the priest Phinehas and is the name for the weekly Torah Portion reading for the Book of Numbers starting in chapter 25 verse 10 and going through chapter 29 verse 40.
Prophets and New Testament-
It is also important to point out that along with the Torah portion readings and teachings, there are what are called Haftarah portions which are readings from the Bible in the books of the prophets. This week’s haftarah readings come from the book of Jeremiah in chapter 1 verse 1 through chapter 2 verse 3.
The gospel readings incorporated with the weekly Torah portion readings come from the book of John in chapter 2 with verses 13 through 22.
Torah Portion Overview-
What is one of the greatest forms of fellowship? How do you build relationships? Table fellowship. Dining together and eating at each other’s houses is a way we can get to know someone, who they really are. It builds trust and community.
In ancient times there was a “salt covenant” that two people could enter into. It was a covenant of friendship that was designated by sharing salt at a meal. Think of it as saying “we are friends because we have eaten together”. As H. Rising explains in the entry for “melah” in the Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament,
“What is fundamental is that “the communal partaking of salt is a sign of friendship and a symbol of communality.”
We read in the Torah that the grain offerings were to be salted for this reason, to remind us of the covenant of salt.
Leviticus 2:13 (ESV)
“You shall season all your grain offerings with salt. You shall not let the salt of the covenant with your God be missing from your grain offering; with all your offerings you shall offer salt.”
These offerings then can be seen as a type of table fellowship with God. The table fellowship had three types of offerings; the daily offering, the Sabbath offering, and the new moon offering. They were broken down like this:
Daily, Sabbath, and New Moon sacrifices
Notice that the offerings consisted of meat (lamb, bull, ram, or goat), a grain offering (flour mixed with oil and salt) and wine. In other words, it was a meal; meat, flat bread, and wine. We see again the idea of table fellowship.
Of note is the fact that the Sabbath receives a double portion (reminding us of the Manna in Exodus 16:29) but the new moon receives an even larger portion. We do not have a full understanding of what was done during the new moon celebrations. Was it considered a sabbath? It is often linked with the Sabbath in Scripture. But here we see that the new moon gets a much larger feast than the Sabbath. Does this suggests the possibility that the new moon, in some aspects, may have been greater than the Sabbath?! Of course it could just be to mark the greater portion of time, that is, a month makes up more than four weeks. We do not know for sure either way.
We also see that wine was offered. There are some today that believe it is a sin to drink. I would say that if you believe that it is a sin for you to drink, it is (James 4:17). Many, including alcoholics, and people who are easily prone to addiction should not drink as it leads to drunkenness. However, people take it too far by insisting that no one should drink and that drinking itself is a sin! This idea has many problems, not the least of which is that they offered wine on the altar! If drinking is a sin for all, why would God make it a part of His table fellowship?
We can also see here why loss of the daily offerings was viewed as so significant! As Gary A. Anderson points out in his entry in the Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary for “Sacrifice and Sacrificial Offerings: Old Testament”:
“This tamid sacrifice was symbolic not only of the deity’s meal, but by extension, of the deity’s presence among the people. No greater cultic calamity could be imagined than the loss of this sacrifice, since it symbolized the severing of the divine-human relationship (Dan 8:11).”
We can see from this why it was such a severe thing when Daniel prophesied that the daily sacrifices would be taken away! The Jews must have wondered, was fellowship with God also to end?! How can we have fellowship with Him if we no longer eat at His table? What are we to do?
Yet that’s exactly what happened in 70 AD! The temple, including the altar, was destroyed. The sacrifices ceased. Table fellowship, it seemed, was over. The Jews handled this by switching from a focus on the temple and doing the sacrifices to a focus on gathering in synagogues and talking about the sacrifices as well as doing good works, prayers, and alms. What about Christians? What were Christians to do now that the temple was destroyed?
The temple, for Christians, was not a primary gathering place, as they most often met in houses. However we must be careful not to diminish the temple. Because of Jesus’ words “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer” (Matthew 21:13a (ESV) and Isaiah 56:7) the Christians often went to the temple to pray (Acts 3:1, 22:17), and to teach (Acts 5:21, 42). Paul took men to the temple (when he was falsely accused of teaching Jews to forsake the Torah) to sacrifice (Acts 21:26). Paul further testified that he had never offended against the temple (Acts 25:8). Thus, it cannot be said that Christians did not value the temple. However, because of persecution and their meeting in houses, it also cannot be said that they valued the temple in the same way the Jews did. The Christian response was to focus on believers’ bodies being the Temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16-17, 6:19, 2 Corinthians 6:15-16, Ephesians 2:19-22, 1 Peter 2:5) with Christ as the great High Priest in heaven (Hebrews 2:17, 3:1, 4:14). We are a holy priesthood that offers spiritual sacrifices (1 Peter 2:5, 9, Romans 15:16), we are poured out as drink offerings (Philippians 2:17, 2 Timothy 4:6). Thus we have table fellowship (meat and wine) with Him directly! We can come to Him ourselves and find fellowship with Him, worshipping in spirit.
John 4:23 (ESV)
“But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.”
We must remember that the earthly tabernacle was built as a “shadow” of the heavenly temple (Exodus 25:40, Hebrews 8:4-5). Just as the Day of Atonement sacrifices were used to purify the altar, ark of the covenant, and indeed, entire tabernacle/temple, so too Christ has purified the heavenly objects and temple (Hebrews 9:23)! Thus, even with the destruction of the temple we still have a sacrificial system, that is, we have Christ in heaven who has cleansed the heavenly temple and its objects, as well as the earthly temple (the hearts of believers)! Our hearts become the place of His dwelling here on earth.
We find them that we have access to the very thing the Torah hinted at, as a shadow (Hebrews 10:1), the indwelling of God within us and His constant presence! Thus we can set aside daily time to be with Him, and even more time as we celebrate the Sabbath and New Moon! We then can see these days, not as religious requirements of forced servitude, but times of joy where we can spend time with our King! Let us take the time we have to spend with Him and rejoice in Him!!
Torah Portion Scriptural Highlights-
Numbers 25:10 Phinehas receives a covenant of priesthood
Numbers 26:1 A war census of Israel
Numbers 26:52 Census used for land allotment
Numbers 26:57 A census of Levi
Numbers 27:1 Women can inherit land
Numbers 27:12 Joshua annointed to replace Moses
Numbers 28:1 The tamid (daily) offerings of lamb, bread, and wine
Numbers 28:9 The Sabbath offering, double portion
Numbers 28:11 The monthly offering
Numbers 28:16 The offerings for Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread
Numbers 28:26 The offerings of the Feast of Pentecost
Numbers 29:1 The offerings of the Feast of Trumpets
Numbers 29:7 The offerings for the Day of Atonement
Numbers 29:12 The offerings of the Feast of Tabernacles
Haftarah (Prophets) Scriptural Highlights-
Jeremiah 1:1 Introduction of the book and call of Jeremiah
Jeremiah 2:1 Yahweh remembers Israel’s youth
Brit (Gospel) Scriptural Highlights-
John 2:13 Yeshua cleanses the temple in preparation for Passover and prophecies His death and resurrection
Bibliography
Francesca Rochberg-Halton, “Calendars: Ancient Near East,” The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (New York: Doubleday, 1992) 810–813.
Gary A. Anderson, “Sacrifice and Sacrificial Offerings: Old Testament,” The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (New York: Doubleday, 1992) 878.
Hans-Josef Klauck, “Sacrifice and Sacrificial Offerings: New Testament,” The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (New York: Doubleday, 1992) 886–891.
Walter A. Elwell and Barry J. Beitzel, “Covenant of Salt,” Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1988) 538.
H. Eising, “מֶלַח,” [melah] Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1997) 331–333.
Further Reading
The Salt Covenant by H. Clay Trumbull
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