Pinhas's act really begins at the end of Parashat Balak. The Torah could have left the whole matter there — yet it chose to open Parashat Pinhas with him.

We usually remember the beginning of a parasha, not its end. So that we would clearly remember Pinhas's self-sacrifice and the reward he received, the Torah places it at the front of our minds.

Yonatan ben Uziel explains: Hashem makes him an enduring angel who lives forever, to herald the geoula at the end of days — he is Eliyahu HaNavi.

This is why the Sages arranged that in an ordinary year Parashat Pinhas opens the Three Weeks — great hope that, amid the judgment, the geoula will come. But there is a bill and its receipt beside it: "turning the hearts of fathers to children" — the condition is baseless love, the repair of the baseless hatred for which the Temple was destroyed.

Does the Torah endorse the zeal all the way? Not entirely. It hints through two small signs — that are in fact great.

So the peace here is like a limp handshake — a real peace, but not complete, because the act itself was not complete to the end. To aspire to be like Moshe — yes; to imitate Pinhas's zeal — no.

Hashem tells Moshe he will not enter the Land. His response: "and Moshe spoke to Hashem" — and "speech" (dibbur) is firm language (only three times in the Torah).

In these days the attribute of judgment is greatly stretched, because the world is unbalanced — we lack the Beit HaMikdash. So our longing for the Mikdash is very great in these days.

Baal HaTurim: "shalim" is written — the broken vav, appearing like a yod. Why? Because Pinhas is Eliyahu, and "Eliyah" is written defective, without a vav ("Behold, I send you Eliyah").

Eliyahu remains "defective" until he brings Mashiah — "Yaakov will rejoice, Israel will be glad" = Mashiah. Then the vav returns and Eliyahu is whole. It emerges that "My covenant of peace" looks all the way to the end of all generations.

In the census, the family names are written with a Heh at the front and a Yod at the end: ha-Hanochi, ha-Palu'i, ha-Hetzroni, ha-Nemueli. Why?

"Yimna" needs no addition — it already contains a Yod and a Heh ("le-Yimna, the family of ha-Yimna"). Thus the Name testifies to the purity of Israel — the tribes of Y-H, a testimony for Israel.