There are many interesting parts of the Jewish scriptures, but I find intriguing, the message contained in Parashat Pinchas (rendered as Phinehas in The Bible), regarding Leadership and Succession. It starts in Numbers, with the act of Phinehas, a grandson of Aaron, who like other Israelites at the time was saddened by the action of a certain Zimri, who had brought in a Midianite woman into the camp while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, mourning the loss of loved ones who'd fallen victims to a plague as a result of disobedience to YAHWEH in committing fornication and idolatry with Midianite women. Rather than simply joining the others in bemoaning the fate of Israel, while watching Zimri have sexual intercourse with the said woman, and doing nothing about it, Phinehas took the initiative by slaying both with a spear, which he thrust through them while they were still in the act. His zeal earned him recognition before YAHWEH, and he was thereafter promised and given HIS "...COVENANT OF PEACE, ... a Covenant of an Everlasting Priesthood, because he was zealous for his Elohim".


This sort of zealousness was captured in the book of Kings, when Eliyah rid the land of Israel of its prophets of Baal, and despite all efforts to capture him, and make him pay by the powers that was of those days, YAHWEH protected him, and in the end, he got a Moses like type of ending in that no one knew exactly how and where he died and was buried, as he was whisked from the midst of those who last saw him, though not without relinquishing some of his powers to his successor, Elisha who had doggedly followed, observed and studied under Eliyah's tutelage. In the book of John, Yahshua was said to have also exhibited Phinehas' character, when he upturned tables of merchants and traders in the temple at Jerusalem at the time. The trio displayed characters that showed an uncompromising nature when it came to jealously guarding the things of and about YAHWEH, and they were duly rewarded.


Even though, Phinehas was sure to become priest after his father Eleazar, by his action he personally earned it by his own right, unlike his father Eleazar who was anointed simply because his father Aaron had been priest before him. Phinehas showed his mettle, and even before he could be anointed to take his father's place, got YAHWEH's recognition, and secured not just his place, but that of his offspring forever before HIM. We find instances today of sons of pastors, taking over from their fathers, following in the line of Aaron and his sons, as YAHWEH commanded Moses thus to be and do, but Eleazar showed that even with a predetermined succession plan, one could also prove himself worthy of the position. It is the lack of this, that is sometimes responsible for the collapse of many religious establishments bequeathed to sons, wives, husbands, or family members, after the demise of the founders of such places, or even if they survive, remain only a shadow of what they used to be either spiritually or physically.


There was some sort of schism amongst the disciples of Yahshua, who later became apostles after he transcended. This had to do with his brother James wanting to takeover the mantle of leadership. Had his opponents, who'd shown better leadership qualities not adopted Yahshua's maxim of "those not against us, are for us", in terms of the message they were preaching, they might have burnt the house down. Their decision to come to some sort of accommodation by and for all sides is why Messianic Judaism and Christianity is a thing today. The situation with Elisha was in stark contrast to what obtained above. Before Eliyah's translation, even the blind and deaf amongst his followers (so called "sons of the prophet", could see and hear respectively, and knew that Elisha was the chosen one, and it did bode well for them, such that before long, their ranks swelled to the point at which their common abode couldn't contain them any longer, necessitating a move, where the miracle of the axe head, became a part of the story. Could a relative of Eliyah have gone as far as Elisha had, if same had been favoured by the former to take over from him, just to ensure the ministry remained in the family? Would s/he have been as great as Elisha, whose bones, years after he'd died, caused the dead hurriedly dropped into his grave to rise, amongst the many great things YAHWEH caused to happen through him while he lived?


Indeed, if it is YAHWEH's will that in all situations, sons, daughters, or other family members should take over from relative who'd led a congregation while alive, no one should have been better qualified than Moses' sons, but we don't see them mentioned anywhere. In fact, in this portion, YAHWEH declared that Joshua (Yahshua) the son of Nun be anointed Moses' successor. Moses' children appeared not to have showed up at all, like Phinehas did with the burning desire to protect the statutes and ordinances of YAHWEH, at the risk of earning the anger of those he sought to protect, and in the end buying them reprieve from YAHWEH's anger. Nothing is written about their thoughts, so I'd rather not speculate about the actions and inactions of the sons of Moses while he held sway, however one can guess that the fact that Aaron's sons were quite visible, including Nadab and Abihu who got their fingers burnt, in fact died in their overzealousness, ensured that the family was remembered in a lot of things, and ways. During the census everyone, every family through their males got a mention, and allocation in the land they were just about to overtake in Canaan, interestingly the name of the sons of Moses, was kind of missing.


Talking about the census, the five daughters of Zelophehad who had died without a son, petitioned Moses, and when Moses inquired of YAHWEH, got land apportioned to them, which will remain with them, and/or with the tribe depending on their martial choices. So you see, before YAHWEH it matters if we show up, and be interested in things pertaining to him, as Yahshua admonished us to seek first YAHWEH's kingdom, and every other thing will be added to us. In the case of succession, interest should trump over lineage, even though it would be nice if both factors can be found, except YAHWEH's will be otherwise. Failure to do this, will hardly augur well for the congregation, such that even if things appear to be going well, it will be only a matter of time before it is established that the salt has lost its taste, hence you see many leaders of people augmenting their abilities with external forces that will do more harm than good, to the leader, and more so to the followers. Mazel Tov.


'kovich


REFERENCES :
PARASHAT PINCHAS (PHINEHAS).

TORAH: Numbers 25:10-30:1
HAFTARAH: 1 Kings 18:46-19:21
BRIT HADASHAH: John 2:13-25


PICTURE CREDIT :
- https://en.m.wikipedia.org



PARASHAT PINCHAS 5780: LEADERSHIP & SUCCESSION https://madukovich./2020/07/16/parashat-pinchas-5780-leadership-succession/