I get unique emails sometimes. I’m not talking about the junk email we all get and have filtered out and auto-deleted. I mean the strange stuff, like someone asking me what AED is all about. Do I know this? No, but that link should explain it all for you, OK? Now, what I really know about: Torah. Here’s my commentary on Balak. Or listen to it!
Shabbat Shalom.
Our parashah for today is Balak and covers Numbers 22:2 through 25:9. This week’s reading carries with it a contradiction. I’m not talking about the Torah contradicting itself; no, the contradiction I’m speaking of is found in the stark contrast between how much the L-RD is protecting His people Israel from dangers of which they are unaware, and yet how little appreciation the people of Israel show to the L-RD for all that he has done for them, and how the only thing bringing ruin upon these people are what they do to themselves.
But let’s start with how the L-RD is protecting Israel in ways they do not even know about. We read this in:
Numbers 22:4b-6
So Balak son of Zippor, who was king of Moab at that time, sent messengers to summon Balaam son of Beor, who was at Pethor, near the River, in his native land. Balak said: “A people has come out of Egypt; they cover the face of the land and have settled next to me. Now come and put a curse on these people, because they are too powerful for me. Perhaps then I will be able to defeat them and drive them out of the country. For I know that those you bless are blessed, and those you curse are cursed.”
So this is the threat Israel is facing, even though they as a people are unaware of it. The people of Moab fear the Israelites because they are far greater in number than are the Moabites. So what do they do? They seek the services of Balaam, who has a reputation for both blessing and cursing others. It is a reputation for which he is well-known because he is thought to be effective.
Balaam appears to be from Midian. Who else have we been introduced to who was from Midian? Jethro, the father in law of Moses, who was a priest in Midian. Now, the case of Balaam is an interesting one; in at least one point in the text, Balaam is described as deciding not to, “resort to sorcery as he did at other times,” as it says in Numbers 24:1, but instead chooses at each step along the path to say only what the L-RD says, and not to speak anything the L-RD has not commanded him to speak.
This is perplexing at first blush; if Balaam is a sorcerer, practicing any sort of witchcraft or divination, the Torah is clear that the L-RD cannot be on the side of Balaam, for all such occult practices are forbidden by the L-RD. And yet, the text also indicates that Balaam indeed has some form of communication with the Holy One of Israel, as we read in:
Numbers 22:8-12
“Spend the night here,” Balaam said to them, “and I will bring you back the answer the L-RD gives me.” So the Moabite princes stayed with him. God came to Balaam and asked, “Who are these men with you?” Balaam said to God, “Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, sent me this message: ‘A people that has come out of Egypt covers the face of the land. Now come and put a curse on them for me. Perhaps then I will be able to fight them and drive them away.’” But God said to Balaam, “Do not go with them. You must not put a curse on those people, because they are blessed.”
So it is apparent here and throughout this week’s reading that, at least at some level, Balaam has some sort of communication with the L-RD. So I decided to investigate this further.
What I found is that, according to Jewish tradition, Balaam is one of seven heathen prophets mentioned in the Tenakh. He is able to communicate with the L-RD, but this is not necessarily a sign of the L-RD’s favor resting upon Balaam. Here is what the Jewish Encyclopedia has to say about Balaam:
JewishEncyclopedia.com
At first a mere interpreter of dreams, Balaam later became a magician, until finally the spirit of prophecy descended upon him. He possessed a special gift of being able to ascertain the exact moment during which God is wroth – a gift bestowed upon no other creature. Balaam’s intention was to curse the Israelites at this moment of wrath; but God purposely restrained His anger in order to baffle the wicked prophet and save the nation from extermination.
So we can see here that there is at least a tradition about Balaam as being a heathen prophet with a genuine gifting; however, since Balaam was not someone who followed the God is Israel, he did not remain so for long. In how the L-RD deals with Balaam, we are given a hint that the L-RD is reminding Balaam that He is the giver of all spiritual gifts, and he may either give them or take them away.
In Numbers, it is clear that, at least at this point, Balaam is aware of this. Although offered riches and rewards beyond compare by the evil king Balak in exchange for pronouncing a curse on Israel, Balaam refuses to do only as Balak requests. We read this in:
Numbers 22:18-19
But Balaam answered them, “Even if Balak gave me his palace filled with silver and gold, I could not do anything great or small to go beyond the command of the L-RD my God. Now stay here tonight as the others did, and I will find out what else the L-RD will tell me.”
Now, after a second group of dignitaries from Balak visit Balaam to enlist his services, the L-RD gives Balaam permission to go with them, but tells Balaam to only speak the words the L-RD himself gives him. Now, I believe that what we are witnessing here is a hardening of Balaam’s heart. The Bible teaches we should simply let our yes be yes, and our no be no. But here, we see that Balaam has given his no twice, but does not end it there; instead, he keeps returning to the L-RD to seek His permission to go with Balak’s entourage.
One thing that is true about the L-RD is that if we keep asking him for something He has already advised us against, He will eventually allow us to pursue our own desires. This is not necessarily a sign of His blessing, however; this is often a sign that He is allowing someone to harden their heart and go their own way, rather than following Him. As it is written in:
Acts 7:42a
But God turned away and gave them over to the worship of the heavenly bodies.
What this verse communicates is that if someone is persistent in wanting what they want, God will eventually turn away and give them over to their desires; the worship of God in spirit and in truth is a choice, a willful act, and if one desires something else, God will warn those who seek Him, but if they persist, He will eventually give them what they want… but it’s not a blessing or even a good thing. The fact that it is not a good thing in the case of Balaam is underlined by what happens next. Even though Balaam has received the L-RD permission to go to Balak, he encounters an angel set to oppose him along the way, while riding his donkey. Only when the angel secures another promise from Balaam that he will only say that which the L-RD puts in his mouth does he allow Balaam to continue.
What does this mean? Possibly that Balaam, in his heart, wanted to do as Balak wished, rather than what he had promised the L-RD he would do.
Once Balaam arrives and meets with Balak, Balak is baffled by why it took Balaam so long to come. It’s clear Balak believes that pronouncing a curse upon Israel is a simple thing, easily done. Yet to Balaam’s credit, he submits his own desire to satisfy Balak to the L-RD’s will.
Now, Balaam knows enough about the L-RD to know some of the right steps to take. He has seven alters built and on them offers up seven bulls and seven rams. He follows the very steps the L-RD set down in the Torah for offerings by Aaron and his sons. Yet is it enough? Does following these instructions mean the L-RD will automatically answer anyone according to their desires? Certainly not. We read this in:
Numbers 23:5-10
The L-RD put a message in Balaam’s mouth and said, “Go back to Balak and give him this message.” So he went back to him and found him standing beside his offering, with all the princes of Moab. Then Balaam uttered his oracle: “Balak brought me from Aram, the king of Moab from the eastern mountains. ‘Come,’ he said, ‘curse Jacob for me; come, denounce Israel.’ How can I curse those whom God has not cursed? How can I denounce those whom the L-RD has not denounced? From the rocky peaks I see them, from the heights I view them. I see a people who live apart and do not consider themselves one of the nations. Who can count the dust of Jacob or number the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and may my end be like theirs!”
Of course, this is hardly was Balak was expecting; he did not hire Balaam to bless Israel, but to curse them. So two more times – a total of three times in all – Balak asks Balaam to try again to successfully curse Israel, and whether Balaam wants to or not, he is unable to utter anything than what the
L-RD places in his mouth, which are blessings over Israel.
After the final attempt fails, Balak asks Balaam to stop blessing Israel his enemy, but even at that, Balaam is unable to even keep his mouth shut, but offers a prophecy about Israel’s future in the promised land. We read this in:
Numbers 24:17-19
“I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel. He will crush the foreheads of Moab, the skulls of all the sons of Sheth. Edom will be conquered; Seir, his enemy, will be conquered, but Israel will grow strong. A ruler will come out of Jacob and destroy the survivors of the city.”
Echoing the prophecy against the serpent in the Garden, Balaam’s prophecy here is a rare example of a Messianic promise over the children of Israel by a prophet who was not himself an Israelite.
The truth of Balaam’s life – whether he served the God of Israel faithfully, at least up to a point; or whether, like Pharaoh, he was used in spite of himself to accomplish the purposes of the L-RD – what is clear here is that Balak presented a threat to the safety of the Israelites and yet, due to the work of the L-RD, the one who might have been able to curse the Israelites ultimately blessed them instead. Not one Israelite died as a result of Balak’s attempt to enlist the aid of the blessing and cursing prophet, Balaam.
Here’s where the irony comes in, the contradiction I spoke of earlier. In the very next chapter, after the L-RD’s significant victory, we read this:
Numbers 25:1-3
While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with Moabite women, who invited them to the sacrifices to their gods. The people ate and bowed down before these gods. So Israel joined in worshiping the Baal of Peor. And the L-RD’s anger burned against them.
In the preceding chapters, disaster against the people of Israel has just been avoided as the L-RD protected His chosen people from a threat they didn’t even know was there, and now, not long after that episode, the Israelites invite disaster into their camp of their own volition. Not only do they indulge in sexual immorality, but spiritual immorality as well, worshiping the god Baal these very Moabites worship. Is it any wonder that the L-RD’s anger burns against them?
So brazen were the people of the Exodus in their sin at this point, that even as a plague was spreading among the people and God was ordering Moses to have the judges put to the sword all who were guilty of this episode of sin, one Israelite brings a Moabite woman into the camp, and into his tent, as all this is playing out. The episode ends in tragic bloodshed, as we read in:
Numbers 25:7-9
When Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, saw this, he left the assembly, took a spear in his hand and followed the Israelite into the tent. He drove the spear through both of them–through the Israelite and into the woman’s body. Then the plague against the Israelites was stopped; but those who died in the plague numbered 24,000.
What can we draw from all this bloodshed? One thing is how much the L-RD is a keeper of His promises, protecting us from disaster even when we are at our most rebellious. May we learn from this episode in the history of the Israelites, appreciate the L-RD for all He has done, and be granted to strength to resist the temptation to ever do likewise.
Shabbat Shalom.
My Balak Commentary
Monday, July 13th, 2009
I get unique emails sometimes. I’m not talking about the junk email we all get and have filtered out and auto-deleted. I mean the strange stuff, like someone asking me what AED is all about. Do I know this? No, but that link should explain it all for you, OK? Now, what I really know about: Torah. Here’s my commentary on Balak. Or listen to it!
Shabbat Shalom.
Our parashah for today is Balak and covers Numbers 22:2 through 25:9. This week’s reading carries with it a contradiction. I’m not talking about the Torah contradicting itself; no, the contradiction I’m speaking of is found in the stark contrast between how much the L-RD is protecting His people Israel from dangers of which they are unaware, and yet how little appreciation the people of Israel show to the L-RD for all that he has done for them, and how the only thing bringing ruin upon these people are what they do to themselves.
But let’s start with how the L-RD is protecting Israel in ways they do not even know about. We read this in:
So this is the threat Israel is facing, even though they as a people are unaware of it. The people of Moab fear the Israelites because they are far greater in number than are the Moabites. So what do they do? They seek the services of Balaam, who has a reputation for both blessing and cursing others. It is a reputation for which he is well-known because he is thought to be effective.
Balaam appears to be from Midian. Who else have we been introduced to who was from Midian? Jethro, the father in law of Moses, who was a priest in Midian. Now, the case of Balaam is an interesting one; in at least one point in the text, Balaam is described as deciding not to, “resort to sorcery as he did at other times,” as it says in Numbers 24:1, but instead chooses at each step along the path to say only what the L-RD says, and not to speak anything the L-RD has not commanded him to speak.
This is perplexing at first blush; if Balaam is a sorcerer, practicing any sort of witchcraft or divination, the Torah is clear that the L-RD cannot be on the side of Balaam, for all such occult practices are forbidden by the L-RD. And yet, the text also indicates that Balaam indeed has some form of communication with the Holy One of Israel, as we read in:
So it is apparent here and throughout this week’s reading that, at least at some level, Balaam has some sort of communication with the L-RD. So I decided to investigate this further.
What I found is that, according to Jewish tradition, Balaam is one of seven heathen prophets mentioned in the Tenakh. He is able to communicate with the L-RD, but this is not necessarily a sign of the L-RD’s favor resting upon Balaam. Here is what the Jewish Encyclopedia has to say about Balaam:
So we can see here that there is at least a tradition about Balaam as being a heathen prophet with a genuine gifting; however, since Balaam was not someone who followed the God is Israel, he did not remain so for long. In how the L-RD deals with Balaam, we are given a hint that the L-RD is reminding Balaam that He is the giver of all spiritual gifts, and he may either give them or take them away.
In Numbers, it is clear that, at least at this point, Balaam is aware of this. Although offered riches and rewards beyond compare by the evil king Balak in exchange for pronouncing a curse on Israel, Balaam refuses to do only as Balak requests. We read this in:
Now, after a second group of dignitaries from Balak visit Balaam to enlist his services, the L-RD gives Balaam permission to go with them, but tells Balaam to only speak the words the L-RD himself gives him. Now, I believe that what we are witnessing here is a hardening of Balaam’s heart. The Bible teaches we should simply let our yes be yes, and our no be no. But here, we see that Balaam has given his no twice, but does not end it there; instead, he keeps returning to the L-RD to seek His permission to go with Balak’s entourage.
One thing that is true about the L-RD is that if we keep asking him for something He has already advised us against, He will eventually allow us to pursue our own desires. This is not necessarily a sign of His blessing, however; this is often a sign that He is allowing someone to harden their heart and go their own way, rather than following Him. As it is written in:
What this verse communicates is that if someone is persistent in wanting what they want, God will eventually turn away and give them over to their desires; the worship of God in spirit and in truth is a choice, a willful act, and if one desires something else, God will warn those who seek Him, but if they persist, He will eventually give them what they want… but it’s not a blessing or even a good thing. The fact that it is not a good thing in the case of Balaam is underlined by what happens next. Even though Balaam has received the L-RD permission to go to Balak, he encounters an angel set to oppose him along the way, while riding his donkey. Only when the angel secures another promise from Balaam that he will only say that which the L-RD puts in his mouth does he allow Balaam to continue.
What does this mean? Possibly that Balaam, in his heart, wanted to do as Balak wished, rather than what he had promised the L-RD he would do.
Once Balaam arrives and meets with Balak, Balak is baffled by why it took Balaam so long to come. It’s clear Balak believes that pronouncing a curse upon Israel is a simple thing, easily done. Yet to Balaam’s credit, he submits his own desire to satisfy Balak to the L-RD’s will.
Now, Balaam knows enough about the L-RD to know some of the right steps to take. He has seven alters built and on them offers up seven bulls and seven rams. He follows the very steps the L-RD set down in the Torah for offerings by Aaron and his sons. Yet is it enough? Does following these instructions mean the L-RD will automatically answer anyone according to their desires? Certainly not. We read this in:
Of course, this is hardly was Balak was expecting; he did not hire Balaam to bless Israel, but to curse them. So two more times – a total of three times in all – Balak asks Balaam to try again to successfully curse Israel, and whether Balaam wants to or not, he is unable to utter anything than what the
L-RD places in his mouth, which are blessings over Israel.
After the final attempt fails, Balak asks Balaam to stop blessing Israel his enemy, but even at that, Balaam is unable to even keep his mouth shut, but offers a prophecy about Israel’s future in the promised land. We read this in:
Echoing the prophecy against the serpent in the Garden, Balaam’s prophecy here is a rare example of a Messianic promise over the children of Israel by a prophet who was not himself an Israelite.
The truth of Balaam’s life – whether he served the God of Israel faithfully, at least up to a point; or whether, like Pharaoh, he was used in spite of himself to accomplish the purposes of the L-RD – what is clear here is that Balak presented a threat to the safety of the Israelites and yet, due to the work of the L-RD, the one who might have been able to curse the Israelites ultimately blessed them instead. Not one Israelite died as a result of Balak’s attempt to enlist the aid of the blessing and cursing prophet, Balaam.
Here’s where the irony comes in, the contradiction I spoke of earlier. In the very next chapter, after the L-RD’s significant victory, we read this:
In the preceding chapters, disaster against the people of Israel has just been avoided as the L-RD protected His chosen people from a threat they didn’t even know was there, and now, not long after that episode, the Israelites invite disaster into their camp of their own volition. Not only do they indulge in sexual immorality, but spiritual immorality as well, worshiping the god Baal these very Moabites worship. Is it any wonder that the L-RD’s anger burns against them?
So brazen were the people of the Exodus in their sin at this point, that even as a plague was spreading among the people and God was ordering Moses to have the judges put to the sword all who were guilty of this episode of sin, one Israelite brings a Moabite woman into the camp, and into his tent, as all this is playing out. The episode ends in tragic bloodshed, as we read in:
What can we draw from all this bloodshed? One thing is how much the L-RD is a keeper of His promises, protecting us from disaster even when we are at our most rebellious. May we learn from this episode in the history of the Israelites, appreciate the L-RD for all He has done, and be granted to strength to resist the temptation to ever do likewise.
Shabbat Shalom.
Tags: AED, Balaam, Balak, Torah commentary
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