וַיֹּאמֶר֩ קַנֹּ֨א קִנֵּ֜אתִי לַיהוָ֣ה ׀ אֱלֹהֵ֣י צְבָא֗וֹת כִּֽי־עָזְב֤וּ בְרִֽיתְךָ֙ בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל אֶת־מִזְבְּחֹתֶ֣יךָ הָרָ֔סוּ וְאֶת־נְבִיאֶ֖יךָ הָרְג֣וּ בֶחָ֑רֶב וָאִוָּתֵ֤ר אֲנִי֙ לְבַדִּ֔י וַיְבַקְשׁ֥וּ אֶת־נַפְשִׁ֖י לְקַחְתָּֽהּ׃ (ס)
저가 대답하되 내가 만군의 하나님 여호와를 위하여 열심이 특심하오니 이는 이스라엘 자손이 주의 언약을 버리고 주의 단을 헐며 칼로 주의 선지자들을 죽였음이오며 오직 나만 남았거늘 저희가 내 생명을 찾아 취하려 하나이다
From David to Destruction
Eliyahu HaNavi (Melachim I 19:14) stubbornly clings to his demand that Hashem punish those who served Ba’al. In response, Hashem tells Eliyahu HaNavi to anoint Chaza’eil as king over Aram, Yeihu as king over the northern Israel, and Elisha as his replacement. These three leaders will eliminate all but the 7,000 of the Bnei Yisrael who have never worshipped Ba’al (Melachim I 19:15-17). However, four major questions emerge:
Or HaChaim
A moral/ethical approach to our verse could be based on the statement in Baba Metzia 114, that the prophet Elijah who would usher in the messianic age would be none other than Pinchas (his re-incarnation). Our verse would provide the reason why it would be Pinchas who would perform this task in the future. We are told that the principal function of the prophet Elijah at the time preceding the arrival of the Messiah will be to bridge the generation gap between fathers and sons and vice-versa, harmonising their mutual relationships (compare Maleachi 3,24). In addition to that we have learned in Edioth 8,7 that Elijah would increase שלום, harmony in the world. You will observe that in our paragraph the Torah describes Pinchas twice as being jealous, once in verse 11 and once more in our verse here. The Torah alludes to the jealousy the original Pinchas displayed on G'd's behalf during the time the Israelites were at Shittim, whereas the second reference is to the jealousy the prophet Elijah (Pinchas) displayed during the reign of King Achav when he described himself before G'd as a Kannai, a fanatic on G'd's behalf (Kings I 19,14). There too we find that he repeated the word קנא, "was jealous." At that time, Elijah alluded to the fact that this was already the second time he had played this role of being jealous on behalf of G'd. The Torah therefore mentions here that G'd granted him G'd's covenant of peace.