Session 28: Parashat Pinchas
"The perpetuation of our political institutions," Address to the Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield, IL. Abraham Lincoln, 1838
Parashat Pinchas presents a classic juxtaposition between biblical and modern democratic notions of justice and public good. The portion picks up just after Pinchas has killed two human beings, one Israelite and one Moabite. The Torah presents these killings not as murders, but more like capital punishment, a means of restoring justice. Pinchas and the Israelites are rewarded for his actions.
Biblical stories like this highlight just how revolutionary democratic ideas of justice are in the long arc of human civilization. Abraham Lincoln explains why in his 1838 address to the Young Men’s Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois.
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