parshanut torah comment - Question about the actions of Pinchas when he killed Zimri

The Gemara (Sanhedrin 82A), while relating the story of Pinchas killing Zimri, tells us the following:

"And Phineas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it." (Bamidbar 25:7) Now, what did he see? — Rab said: He saw what was happening and remembered the halachah, and said to him, 'O great-uncle! did you not teach us this on thy descent from Mount Sinai: He who cohabits with a heathen woman is punished by zealots?' He replied. 'He who reads the letter, let him be the agent [to carry out its instructions]'.

According to the Rambam (Hilchot Issurei Biah 12:4), the laws of "He who cohabits with a heathen woman is punished by zealots" is Halacha L'Moshe MiSinai (Sinaitic Law), and support for this can be derived from Pinchas' slaying of Zimri. _{^{(I interpret this to mean that we learn the particulars of the Sinaitic Law from the story of Pinchas [e.g. this law only applies if it is committed in public]. I could be wrong.)}}

In Halacha 5, the Rambam says that "If the zealous person comes to ask permission from the court to slay him, they do not instruct him [to], even if this takes place at the time [of relations]."

The Chidushei HaRim says (English translation here) that the reason for this is a zealot is someone who reacts to a situation instantly and takes immediate action. Pausing to ask Beit Din what to do shows that he is not a true zealot.

So my question is:

Why wasn't Pinchas asking Moshe "'O great-uncle! did you not teach us this on thy descent from Mount Sinai: He who cohabits with a heathen woman is punished by zealots?'" considered asking Beit Din what to do? Doesn't Pinchas stopping to ask Moshe about the law take him out of the catagory of zealot?

Also, if the Beit Din does not tell someone to go and kill the sinner, why does Moshe tell Pinchas "He who reads the letter, let him be the agent [to carry out its instructions]"? Wasn't that Beit Din ruling that Pinchas should kill Zimri?

Answer

The Chidushei HaRan in Sanhedrin gives two answers (I hope I'm translating correctly):

1. 
   

   Pinchas wasn't asking what the law was, and Moshe wasn't answering him. Moshe said "let he who read the letter be the agent". He was saying that I'm not telling you the halacha, but if zealotry is required here, you're the best man for the job.

   
   
   


2. 
   

   Moshe Rabbeinu was not trying to put the matter in the hands of zealots. Rather, he was hinting to Pinchas on a one time basis (Ho'ra'at Sha'ah) what needed to be done to end the plague.

   
   

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Just to further flesh this out with some thoughts I had, inspired in part by various answers given to this question:

Q: Wasn't Pinchas asking "didn't you teach us..." make him not a zealot?

A: The Gemara relates that when Zimri came and challenged Moshe, saying "is this Midyanite woman permitted to me, and if you say no, how could you marry a Midyanite woman?", Moshe forgot the Halacha. The correct protocol when correcting a father or teacher, one should not say "You're wrong". Instead, they should say "Didn't we learn such and such?".

Since Pinchas saw that Moshe had forgotted the Halacha (and apparently Pinchas himself had forgotten it until right then, as the Gemara says "He saw what happened and remembered the Halacha"), we could say that he wasn't asking what the Halacha was, he was reminding Moshe what the Halacha was in a respectful and halachically correct manner. Perhaps this is why Rashi (Bamidbar 25:7) does not phrase what Pinchas said to Moshe as a question.

Perhaps we can then say this is what the Chidushei HaRim is saying. If someone comes to Beit Din to ask permission to kill the sinner, this shows he is not a true zealot. But reminding someone of the halacha does not make him not-a-zealot. (However, this still leaves us with the Chidushei HaRim apparently contradicting himself, since right before that he seems to emphasize that Pinchas was asking Moshe whether he should do it or not.)

Also, perhaps we can differentiate between asking Beit Din for confirmation that he learned the halacha correctly (which Pinchas did), and asking Beit Din if he has permission to carry out the halacha (which the Rambam says Beit Din does not give him).

And by answering back, "He who reads the letter, let him be the agent [to carry out its instructions]", Moshe wasn't directly answering the question, since the Halacha is "Ain Morin Lo" (as the Ran said).