민수기 25:7의 주석

וירא פנחס AND PHINEAS SAW — He saw what was being done and he was thereby reminded of the law on this subject (Sanhedrin 82a). He said to Moses, “I have received a tradition from you: he who has intercourse with an Aramean (heathen) woman, zealous people may attack him”. He replied to him: “Let him who reads the letter be the agent for executing it”; — straightway, ויקח רמח בידו HE TOOK A JAVELIN IN HIS HAND, etc. (Sanhedrin 82a).

וירא פינחס, “Pinchas saw, etc.” When he saw a certain deed he remembered the halachah pertaining to it. He said to Moses: “did you not teach us when you descended from Mount Sinai that if someone has sexual intercourse with a pagan woman one may kill such a person in a fit of religious fervor?” To this Moses replied: “he who reads the letter may deliver it to the addressee.” Upon hearing this, ויקם מתוך העדה ויקח רומח בידיו, “he arose from amongst the congregation and took a short sword in his hand.” As a reward for this action he was granted the priestly portions (the foreleg, the cheekbones and the stomach of all animals slaughtered by the Israelites as food compare Chulin 134). [The meaning of this line is that he was accorded the status of a priest, a status he had not possessed previously. All the priests are entitled to these parts of the animal.] He was awarded the foreleg for seizing a sword with his hands, the cheekbones corresponding to “Pinchas stepped forth and intervened” (Psalms 106,30), and he was awarded the stomach corresponding to Numbers 25,8 “and the woman into her stomach.” The performance of this commandment helped Pinchas both in this world and in the hereafter (compare Pirke d'Rabbi Eliezer chapter 47). In this world Pinchas merited the gifts granted to the priests. Moreover, he lived for many hundreds of years on terrestrial earth. We have proof of this in Judges 11,26 when Yiftach told the Ammonites that Israel had dwelled in Hebron and other towns claimed by the Ammonites already for over 300 years. We also find over a hundred years later that Pinchas was still alive in Judges 20,28. The prophet states this explicitly.
As to the benefits Pinchas received in his hereafter as a result of his courageous and purely motivated deed in killing Zimri and Cozbi, he was granted the dimension of peace, a wonderful attribute. He was ushered in to eternal life.
In the course of his deed, he experienced no fewer than 12 miracles without which he could not have succeeded (based on Tanchuma Balak 21) 1) It is customary for a couple who have engaged in sexual intercourse to separate their bodies from one another afterward. In this instance an angel ensured that Zimri and Cozbi’s bodies were sticking together to enable Pinchas to pierce both with one and the same stroke of the spear. 2) The angel closed their mouths to prevent them from crying out and alerting neighbors who would have attacked Pinchas. 3) The angel directed the spear of Pinchas (who was outside the tent) to aim at precisely the private parts of both Zimri and Cozbi. 4) He miraculously lengthened the metal blade of Pinchas’ spear so that it could reach both the sinners. 5) He raised the lintel of the door to their tent so that the people could all see how these two were strung up on it. 6) He arranged the position of these two in such a way that they were head down and feet up so that everyone could see that they had been killed during the performance of the sexual act. This was to prevent people from arguing that Zimri had entered the tent merely to relieve himself. 7) He lent extra strength to Pinchas’ arm to lift both of them simultaneously so that they would be suspended from the wooden post. 8) He strengthened the wooden post on which they were hung to support the combined weight of the two. 9) He insured that they would not slide off that wooden post. 10) He protected Pinchas so that the blood of his victims did not splash upon him. 11) He enabled Pinchas to hang the two in full view of the people. Halachically speaking, (under normal circumstances), Pinchas, through contact of his spear with the bodies would have become ritually impure. Seeing Pinchas performed his deed with a flat wooden spear, an instrument which is not subject to contracting ritual impurity, he was saved from becoming ritually contaminated in contrast with Numbers 19,22 according to which anyone in contact with a corpse becomes ritually unclean for at least seven days (compare details in Avodah Zarah 37 and Chulin 28).
It is also possible, based on Tanchuma Balak 21, that G’d miraculously kept both Zimri and Cozbi alive for the few moments it took for Pinchas to let go of the spear after stabbing them. This then would be the twelfth miracle Pinchas experienced in connection with his deed. If we accept the Tanchuma we need not posit that Pinchas’ spear was a wooden tool or that it was flat. The question of Pinchas becoming ritually unclean would not even have arisen.
After all these miracles had happened to Pinchas and he took the two outside to display them hanging, the entire tribe of Shimon surrounded the tent in a threatening posture wanting to kill Pinchas. At that moment the pestilence began which killed twenty-four thousand Israelites, all of them members of the tribe of Shimon (Tanchuma Vayechi 13). It is relatively simple to confirm this when we consider the number of men from the tribe of Shimon counted in Numbers 1,17, i.e. 59,300, and the number of men from that same tribe counted in Numbers 26,14, i.e. 22,000. We note that the tribe had lost over 37,000 men of military age.
When we consider that during the episode of the golden calf only 3,000 Israelites were killed whereas here 24,000 lost their lives this teaches that the sin of idolatry alone was far less catastrophic than the combination of idolatry and sexual licentiousness involving pagan partners displayed on this occasion at Shittim.
By displaying jealousy on behalf of G’d who had described Himself as a “jealous G’d,” (Exodus 20,5) Pinchas turned away G’d’s wrath and saved untold thousands from being consumed by the pestilence through having put his life on the line. He had simply been unable to witness this public desecration of the Lord’s name. He totally ignored accepted rules of conduct which required showing respect for his superiors, in this case the prince of the tribe of Shimon and a daughter of the King of Midian. He meant to show the world that the only One who is entitled to honor and respect is the Lord. This is the meaning of Isaiah 43,7: “all who are linked to My name, whom I have created, formed and made for My glory.”

And he remembered the halachah. For if this were not so, why does it state, “He saw”? It should have [merely] said “Pinchas rose up from the midst of the community…”

V. 7. מתוך העדה: er war wohl mit einer der um Mosche versammelten Richter. — רמח verwandt mit רמה, Pfeil werfen, נושקי רומי קשת (Ps.18, 9), רמח: Wurfspieß.

וירא פינחס, “when Pinchas saw, that no one acted upon Moses’ instructions;”

Executed by the zealous. It means to say that those who wish to be zealous for Hashem are to kill him. The meaning of קנאין פוגעין בו ["executed by the zealous"] is that they must do so of their own initiative, and specifically at the time of the act. However if the one having relations separates then one cannot kill him. Also, if the zealous one comes to ask permission from Beis Din, they do not instruct him to do so, even if it is during the act. Consequently, Pinchas had to rise up of his own accord and take action.