Shabbat Parshat Pinchas, 5767

The following is a summary of Rabbi Granatstein's Drasha, composed by Herzl Ginsburg:
The parsha begins with the act of Pinchas. This act was in essence a protection of the Avodah (as it was under attack from Midyan and their women leading us to Ba’al Peor). Pinchas gets rewarded with Brit Kehunat Olam. Following this, Hashem tells Moshe we have to wage war against the people of Midyan. Our expectation is that battle will then follow. But here the Torah changes course and details the census of the nation – which in context is coming as we are about to enter the land and all the rules and details of the Nachala need to be listed [see Rashi], including the different families and Bnot Tzlaphchad w/ their issue – what if there are no male children in the house. This is followed by Hashem telling Moshe to go up the mountain to pass away as he will not be entering the land – again, a part of the detail of the Nachala. And this is followed by Moshe asking for Hashem to appoint a successor to lead the people in and Hashem choosing Yehoshua – again, a part of the Nachala. Here the Torah changes course again to discuss the Avodah once again, detailing the korbanot for shabbos, rosh chodesh, and Yom Tov.
In summary, the Parsha goes from Avodah to Nachalah to Nachalah to Avodah again. The medrash highlights this with the mashal: a woman who is about to pass on calls to her husband to tell him to watch over her children after she has passed. The husband responds that he wants her to tell the kids what they should be doing to take care of him after she has passed. The nimshal for this is Moshe having the discussion with Hashem about the leadership (who will take care of the nation) and then the Torah having the detail of the Avodah which is our service to Hashem.
To understand the structure of the parsha, we can address the question as to why Pinchas wasn’t chosen as the leader. He had just defended the faith, after all. And the Ibn Ezra understands that Brit Kehunat Olam means that all future kohanim gedolim would be coming from Pinchas. [And this is detailed for a long period in history in Divrei Hayamim]. Pinchas was a ‘kanoi’ and to lead the nation, you need someone who can deal with the nation and the fact that they have differing needs and points of view. This point is highlighted with the language in 27:15 when Moshe refers to Hashem as ‘Hashem the God of Ruchot for all flesh.’ Moshe uses a similar language in Korach 16:22 [see Ramban there and his rejection of the Rabbeinu Chananel’s reading of psukim] where he is pleading on behalf of the people when Hashem has said he would destroy them all. This context has occurred twice before, by the Egel and the Miraglim where Moshe has prayed on behalf of the people. In each of those three examples, what underlies the dialogue with Hashem is this: People, for the most part, are fickle and will follow the best orator or spokesperson. Moshe pleads with Hashem to allow him, as the leader, to take the responsibility of leading the people back to the proper path. Here in Pinchas, Moshe is pleading with Hashem that he appoint a leader who will be able to lead the people, given they are fickle and will be easily swayed by others along the way. And Yehoshua is chosen.
Yehoshua’s being chosen is followed directly by his standing before Elazar HaKohen to appoint him and then the korbanos. The message here is the leadership must be grounded in the Avodah. And what the structure of the parsha is doing is telling us that the people need a leader who is willing and able to take on the responsibility of dealing with them and their differences and the fact they are fickle by nature, but the leader must be grounded in the Avodah of Hashem. [Avodah in the parsha deals with the sacrifices; this can be taken as symbolizing or including all of Avodat Hashem and what Hashem wants us to
do]