Midrash sa Malakias 2:5: Midrash Tanchuma, Shir HaShirim Rabbah, Tanna DeBei Eliyahu Rabbah & Midrash Tanchuma Buber

(Numb. 25:11) “Phinehas ben Elazar […].” What reason did the Holy One, blessed be He, have for tracing the lineage of Phinehas after this act (of slaying Zimri in Numb. 25:8)?¹Numb. R. 21:3. [The reason was] that, when Zimri was pierced along with Cozbi, the tribes rose up against [Phinehas] and said, “Did you see the son (actually, grandson) of Puti? This man, whose mother's father²Thus Puti was actually Phinehas’ maternal grandfather, whose full name was Putiel. So Exod. 6:25. fattened calves for idolatry, has killed a tribal prince of Israel!” Therefore Scripture has come to trace his lineage [through his paternal grandfather] (in Numb. 25:11), “Phinehas the son of Eliezer, [who is] the son of Aaron the priest.” (Numb. 25:12:) “Therefore I hereby grant My covenant of peace.” Great is the peace that He gave, as the world only functions according to peace. And the Torah is [likewise] completely peace, as stated (Prov. 3:17), “Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace.” If someone comes from a journey, we inquire of his peace (wellbeing). So too in the morning, we inquire of his peace, and in the evening we inquire of his peace. And we read the recital of the Shema and we conclude [its blessings] with peace, “who spreads the cover of peace.” And in prayer, we conclude, “Who blesses His people Israel with peace.” (Numb. 25:12:) “Therefore I hereby grant [My covenant of peace],” as he still survives. And so it says (in Mal. 2:5), “My covenant was with him, [a covenant of] life and peace.” (Numb. 25:13:) “And it shall belong to him and to his seed after him […, because he was zealous for his God] and atoned for the Children of Israel.” Since atonement is spoken of in connection with him, did he offer a sacrifice? [The mention of atonement is] simply to teach you that when anyone sheds the blood of the wicked, it is as if he had offered a sacrifice.

“Daughter of a nobleman,” the daughter of Abraham who was called noble, just as it says: “The noblemen of the people have assembled, the people of the God of Abraham…” (Psalms 47:10).¹⁹The midrash thus interprets the verse as referring to Israel as daughter of Abraham. “Your rounded thighs,” Rabbi Yoḥanan said: All the luxuries and delicacies in which Israel luxuriates, and enjoys in this world, are by the merit of circumcision, which is between the thighs. Rabbi Ḥiyya said: What did the Sages see that led them to establish healing in the eighth blessing?²⁰Of the Amida prayer. It corresponds to circumcision, which was given [to be performed] on the eighth [day]. That is what is written: “My covenant was with him, life and peace” (Malachi 2:5). “Like ornaments [ḥala’im],” how many illnesses [ḥalayim] result from it, how many babies are circumcised and die as a result.²¹The merit of this mitzva is great because the Jewish people observe it scrupulously despite the danger (Etz Yosef). Rabbi Natan said: There was an incident where I came to the province of Cappadocia and there was a certain woman there who bore male children and they would be circumcised and die. She circumcised the first and he died, the second and he died, the third and he died. She brought the fourth [child] before me, and I saw that its flesh was yellow. I examined him and I did not find the blood of circumcision in him. They said to me: ‘Should we circumcise him?’ I said to them: ‘Wait and leave him until the blood of circumcision comes to him, as we learned there:²²Mishna Shabbat 19:5. A sick child, one does not circumcise him until he heals. They left him [for a while, and then] circumcised him, and he survived, and they named him Natan after me.’ That is “like ornaments.”
Another matter, “like ornaments,” to what were these ornaments similar? Rabbi Ḥonya and the Rabbis, Rabbi Ḥonya said: To a capital of a pillar. The Rabbis say: To the hollow of a pearl. Who crafted it? “The handiwork of a master craftsman,” the handiwork of the Holy One blessed be He in the world. Rabbi Shmuel said: [This is analogous] to a king who had an orchard. He planted rows of nut trees, apple trees, and pomegranate trees and gave them to his son. He said to him: My son, I demand nothing of you, only that when these trees produce fruit, bring me a sample of them and give me a taste so that I may see my handiwork and rejoice in you. So too, the Holy One blessed be He said to Israel, My children, I demand nothing of you, only that when a firstborn son will be born to one of you, he shall consecrate it to My name. That is what is written: “Consecrate every firstborn to Me” (Exodus 13:2). And when you ascend on your way to the pilgrim festivals take him and all your males to appear before Me. Therefore, Moses cautioned Israel: “Three times during the year [all your males shall appear before…the Lord]” (Exodus 23:17).²³Since one who is uncircumcised cannot ascend for the pilgrimage festival (see Yevamot 72a), it is implied that the son has been circumcised.

David, King (may his memory be blessed), further said: "My fear is within my joy, and my joy is within my fear; and my love ascends above them all. Therefore, the Holy One, blessed be He, made a covenant with me that I should be proficient in the Scripture, in the Mishnah, in the laws, and in the aggadahs, as it is said, 'For is not my house so with God? For He has made an everlasting covenant with me, ordered in all things, and sure; for all my salvation, and all my desire, will He not make it to grow' (2 Samuel 23). And there is no covenant but the Torah, as it is said, 'My covenant was with him, life and peace' (Malachi 2). Ordered in all things, in the Scripture, in the Mishnah, in the laws, in the aggadahs, and protection, so that the words of Torah should be preserved by me forever and for all eternity. "For all my salvation and all my desire, will He not make it to grow." From here they said: Every Torah scholar who increases in Torah study and does not derive sustenance much, it is a good sign for him. And if you say, 'If the Holy One, blessed be He, loves His Torah, why does He not sustain him?' You should say that if He enriches him, he may become presumptuous about the words of Torah. Therefore, every Torah scholar who increases in Torah study and does bring-in much produce (wealth), it is a good sign for him, for the Holy One, blessed be He, loves his Torah, that if He enriches him, he may become presumptuous about the words of Torah. And this is explicitly stated in the Kabbalah by Solomon, King of Israel: 'Two things I ask of You; deny them not to me before I die: Remove far from me falsehood and lies; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me' (Proverbs 30). 'Lest I be full, and deny You, and say: "Who is the Lord?" Or lest I be poor, and steal, and profane the name of my God' (Proverbs 30). Blessed is He who chose the Torah and the Talmud (and the Sages), and their disciples, and the disciples of their disciples, and their children, and the children of their children, until the end of all generations, and He establishes upon them the measure with which a man measures, it is measured unto him. Just as they sit in synagogues and study halls and in every open place, and read for the sake of heaven, and He sees into their hearts, and they uphold the Torah according to its prescriptions, so that they do not forget it from their mouths and from the mouths of their children and the children of their children forever. So did the Holy One, blessed be He, choose them and their children and the children of their children until the end of time, as it is said: 'And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and I will multiply you exceedingly' (Genesis 17). So said the Lord, 'My spirit that is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, nor out of the mouth of your seed, nor out of the mouth of your seed's seed,' said the Lord, 'from henceforth and forever' (Isaiah 59). But the sons of rebellious Israel are not like this. In their youth they are soft, and in their old age they are hard. What does the Holy One, blessed be He, do when they are still soft? He raises them up and burns them in the great study hall and in His great yeshiva, [as it is said: 'And all the wicked shall be stubble, and the day that comes shall set them ablaze' (Malachi 3). For none of them shall have a hand to bear or a hand to lay down, but every man's sword shall be against his brother's, and he shall burn the chariots with fire' (Zechariah 9). And there is none but the wicked], as it is said: 'And the sons of Belial said: "What shall this one save us?" And they despised him and brought him no present' (1 Samuel 10). And it says: 'And every man of Belial said: "What will this one save us?"' (1 Samuel 10). The Sages said: Anything that is destined to occur in the end has already been done in part today. There shall be a session for the Holy One, blessed be He, in His study hall, and the righteous of all time shall sit before Him, There has already been a part of the session for the righteous in this world for David, King of Israel, who illuminated his face with the halachah before the righteous who sat before him. And so it will be in the future for the righteous, whose lives will be without sorrow and without the evil inclination, to live with the son of David in this world. And in the World to Come, there has already been a part of life without sorrow and without the evil inclination for the righteous, such as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Jabez, and Jether, and all who are like them. In the future, the Holy One, blessed be He, will resurrect the dead, whether in the time of the son of David or in the World to Come, for there has already been a part of the resurrection of the dead in this world by the hand of the righteous, Elijah and Elisha, and Ezekiel son of Buzi. In the future, there will be honor and strength for the righteous in the World to Come, for there has already been a part of honor and strength for the righteous in this world, such as Jehoshaphat, King of Judah. In the future, there will be eating, drinking, and joy for the righteous. And there will be no plague nor suffering nor distress, for there has already been a part of eating, drinking, and joy for the righteous in this world. In the future, the Holy One, blessed be He, will make peace among the righteous and among His people Israel, for there has already been a part of peace in this world by the hand of the righteous.