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Verse Dt18-03d,e describing the gifts given to the
Priests by the Jews states
And this shall be the priests' due from the people, from them that offer a sacrifice, whether it be ox or sheep, that they shall give unto the priest - the shoulder, and
- the cheeks, and
- the stomach.
Rashi symbolically interprets this gift as
affirming the original act of zealotry by Pinchas which
earned him eternal Priesthood. Recall that Pinchas
speared a couple having relations openly in public and thereby
assuaged God's anger at the promiscuity with the Moabite women.
There is a psychological point here: Pinchas killed them
because he saw the act as premeditated and malicious, not as
an act of passion. The reason he saw the act as premeditated is
because, as a priest, he was aware of how things develop. Zimri
should have stopped the relationship as it developed. The gifts
given to the priest symbolize the development of sin:
- The shoulder [exposure]
- the cheeks [liquid secretions]
- the maw [relations]
Advanced Rashi: Rashi does not literally
say what we have said. He corresponds cheek with
mouth and prayer and corresponds hand with
thrusting the sword. However we feel that Rashi
was simply being discrete here. He did not want to explicitly
speak about such things. He left it to the reader to infer it.
Also Rashi wanted to explain that besides the description
of the development of sin the priestly gifts also symbolized the act of zealotry which
came about through prayer and using a sword.
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