במדבר פרק כד

Bamidbar Chapter 24: Bilam’s Third and Fourth Prophecies

The Third Location: Rosh HaPe’or

We’re reading today Bamidbar chapter 24, but we have to go back a little bit to the end of the previous chapter. We’ve discussed we’re up to the third time where Balak and Bilam are trying the same thing. He took him to a third place, Rosh HaPe’or, from where he can see some of the people.

Actually, it doesn’t say “some of the people.” It says that he could see the people. Wait, it says — yeah, it doesn’t say that he could see them at all. It says Vayishkof al pnei hayeshimon [and he looked out over the wasteland]. So interesting. Before, until now, it was places where he could see some of the people. Here apparently he could see the people, as we’ll see. It says fairly clearly that he saw the people. Maybe from here he could see everyone. Maybe this is a higher mountain or a higher peak where he could see everyone.

And they do their same process with their seven altars, their seven korbanot [sacrifices]. They do all of that and now there’s a change.

Bilam’s Change of Approach

One would expect from the previous two times that Bilam goes and does his process, his meditations, his sorcery tricks in order to get the nevuah [prophecy], but he doesn’t do that. And that’s where this chapter starts.

Bilam saw — he already learned his lesson. This is also similar to all these third times. The third time he already realized. He saw in the third time that Hashem — it’s good in the eyes of Hashem. Hashem wants to bless the people. He doesn’t want to curse them. So he doesn’t even try. He doesn’t even try to do as he’s done the time and the time before likrat nechashim [to meet divinations] — that’s the nachash [sorcery/divination] that he tried to do. Apparently that was a way of him trying to get a prophecy. And apparently he also had a way of trying to get a prophecy that will be bad somehow for the people. He doesn’t try.

And he turns his face to the desert, which is the direction in which he can see the people. He raises his eyes and he sees the people. He sees Yisrael shokhen lishvatav [Israel dwelling according to its tribes]. You see them camping each with their shvatim [tribes]. And ruach Elokim [the spirit of God] is on him. So now he has the prophecy that he’s tried to get other times and other ways. He has it also directly now.

Sometimes I think that maybe the seeing Yisrael shokhen lishvatav itself gave him the inspiration here for his prophecy. And in some sense, we’ll see that he talks about it.

Bilam’s Self-Introduction in the Third Prophecy

So he starts like this. He raises his prophecy. He starts his prophecy, his proverb, his poetry. And this is what he says. Now again, it’s different than the previous two times. The previous two times it started with Balak. It started with praising Balak, with the greatness of Balak, the king of Moab who asked him to do this thing. Here he already knows that he’s not going to get what he asked. So he starts with himself in this prophecy. And in the last one, the fourth one, he does not start with presenting Balak. He starts with presenting himself.

And he starts in the style of poetry. He says, says, says — this is the words of Bilam, the son of Be’or, hagever shetum ha’ayin [the man of the shetum eye]. I would imagine that this is something about him having a good eye, although usually many mefarshim [commentators] read it as a similar eye, meaning something like a closed eye or covered eye. But that would be weird because he should be praising himself. So it must be some verb that somehow means that he has open eyes. He has good eyes that he can see well. He can see the future. He can see the reality and so on.

And then he repeats himself and he says, these are the words of shomei’a imrei El [the one who hears the words of God], and not only hears, but also sees. So that’s interpreting the shetum ha’ayin, I think. He sees machazeh Shaddai [the vision of the Almighty] — he sees the vision of God, Shaddai being a poetic word for God. It’s almost only used in poetry. Nofel [falling] — he falls and his eyes are open, his eyes are revealed. So nofel might be a description of prophecy where he will fall and somehow prophesy in that kind of bodily state or something, like the vision falling on him.

The Beauty of Israel’s Encampment

And what he describes is exactly what he’s seeing. He saw Yisrael, the camp of the people, and he says, Mah tovu ohalekha Ya’akov, mishkenotekha Yisrael [How good are your tents, Jacob, your dwellings, Israel] — again, the doubling of Ya’akov and Yisrael.

And describes them with nature images. They’re like streams or maybe valleys, like a nachal [wadi], like moving or turning and twisting, like gardens planted on a river. So there’s this image of a strong river or something like being very lush or fertile or something like that. Ka’ahalim [like ahalim trees] — like these trees called ahalim. Ahalim is a kind of tree that has a good smell or kind of plant, nata Hashem [that Hashem planted]. This is something we’ve had — we have several times in Tanakh — gardens, or in other words, wild plants where there’s beautiful trees or beautiful plants are considered — Hashem, nature naturally planted them there. Ka’arazim [like cedars] — like strong cedar trees which are planted on the water. So again, they have a certain strength, a certain sustenance, they stay there, they’re not moving.

Water Imagery and Future Progeny

And now, as he’s working with the water imagery, he says, Yizal mayim midalyav [water will flow from his buckets], let his water drip or pour from his vessel, from his deli [bucket], and vezar’o bemayim rabim [and his seed in many waters] — his children, his zera [seed], which is a kind of water, like something comes out of him, in many waters. In other words, so this stream of people coming out, they will go — and now he’s talking already about the future, about the many children. So it’s talking about the people having many children. They have these tents, and they’re planted in history, in reality, in a very strong way, in a very powerful way, and they’re multiplying.

The King Higher than Agag

And then he describes their military success, of their kingdom, of their state. Vayarom me’Agag malko [His king will be higher than Agag] — will win someone called Agag. Vetinase malkhuto [And his kingship will be exalted]. This is, of course, not very clear who is this Agag. Later we’ll see, he talks about Amalek very clearly. This might be a reference or a prophecy about Shaul [Saul], the first king of Israel, who killed Agag, the king of Amalek. And Amalek was said to be a very powerful king and a very powerful tribe, so it’s a great praise to say that their king will be stronger than Agag.

And as we’ll see a moment later, he’s going to be explicitly talking about the future. Here he’s not yet talking about the future, so it might be less clear that this is what it means. Maybe it means someone, other person called Agag, or maybe it should mean something like veyarom mehagag malko — Agag might mean something like a roof, or being higher. His king is higher. In any case, it’s a description of his kingdom, of his warriors and his kings being powerful and strong.

The Exodus and Military Might

And he goes back to discuss the story that this whole story started with. This is again, sort of a repetition of what we started with. They went out of Egypt, and again he says, El motzi’o miMitzrayim [God brought him out of Egypt], keto’afot re’em lo [like the horns of a re’em for him] — again he has these heights like this re’em, this very powerful and beautiful, strong animal.

Yokhal goyim tzarav [He will consume the nations, his enemies] — so eating again is an image for military conquest. He breaks their bones, vechitzav yimchatz [and with his arrows he will smash them] — with his arrows he destroys them, he smashes them.

The Lion Imagery

And again the imagery of a lion. Kara shachav k’ari ukhelavi [He crouches, lies down like a lion and like a lioness] — he lies down like a lion, like a lion again. Mi yekimenu [Who will rouse him?] — who can make him stand up? In other words, when he decides to rest somewhere, when he decides to take over a place, to conquer somewhere, nobody can stand up like a lion. When a lion is laying, lions have this thing — they lay, they stand and wait for their prey, and nobody is going to go and bother him.

The Climactic Blessing

And now he finalizes with the sort of the main thing. Mevarechekha varukh ve’orarekha arur [Those who bless you are blessed, and those who curse you are cursed]. Of course this is not only about whoever talks blessings about you. It means whoever wants you well, whoever helps you, whoever is part of helping you. This is of course very explicitly the berachah [blessing] that Avraham was given, and also explicit reference to what Balak wanted. Balak wanted to curse him and then said, well if I will curse him, I will be cursed myself. I would rather bless them and bless themselves, like he’s finished earlier, I would love my part to be with these people.

So now that this happened, so this is like the final win of the blessing over Balak’s plan to curse them.

Balak’s Fury

So Balak is really mad. Vayichar af Balak el Bilam [And Balak’s anger burned against Bilam] — he’s really mad at Bilam. He claps his hands, which is an expression of anger — interesting. And he tells Bilam, what’s going on? I called you to curse my enemies, and behold, you blessed them already three times!

So therefore, it goes back all the way to his first thing. Remember the first time Bilam came to him, and the second time he sent the messengers, he told them, look, I can honor you as much honor as you want. He says, well, how about now you run back to where you came from. You go back to where you came from. I’ve told you that I will honor you, but here, Hashem has denied your honor. Right? You’re the one saying the whole time, Hashem doesn’t let. Okay, so look, you’re not getting any honor, because you’re not doing what I hired you for. I hired you for one thing. I’m not going to pay you for doing the opposite of what I hired you.

Bilam’s Defense

And Bilam answers the same exact thing that he’s kept on answering. And in some sense, he might be saying, well, I do deserve still some honor. Right? Because he’s saying, I’ve already told you, all the way back when the messengers came to me, I told you, Balak can give me his whole house of gold and silver, I still can’t go against what Hashem says, to do anything good or bad from my own heart, on my own part. I can’t decide myself to do a blessing or a curse. I have to do it in prophecy. Whatever Hashem speaks, that’s what I will speak.

So you’re being angry at me — it doesn’t really make sense. You should be angry at Hashem. Right? You shouldn’t be angry at me. And saying you won’t honor me — you really should honor me, because you’ve hired me as a prophet. This is the prophecy. What can I do? And I didn’t decide it.

Transition to the Fourth Prophecy: Be’acharit Hayamim

And now, Bilam says, you know what, it’s true that I will go back. He seems to maybe gave up on getting paid. He goes back. He says, I will go back to my people, but let me tell you, let me tell you what this nation will do to your nation be’acharit hayamim [in later days].

Understanding “Acharit Hayamim”

Which everyone gets translated as “the end of days.” I don’t think that is warranted by what the pasuk says. Acharit doesn’t mean the last days. It’s not like the world is going to end. What it means is, not now. Like he already started in the beginning — at the end, lo atah [not now] — he’s going to say that here, clearly. Or in the beginning, he said, tehi achariti kamohu [let my end be like theirs]. And the whole thing of a prophet is that he can see what will happen in the future, not necessarily today, tomorrow, in the longer term.

So he’s saying, I will tell you what will happen. You think you started up with them, you’re going to conquer them now, you’re going to make a war, I will destroy them, I’ll banish them from my land — this is not going to happen. The opposite is going to happen. They’re going to banish you, and all of your neighbors. And he describes in this prophecy, the greatness of the kingdom of the Jews.

The Expanded Prophetic Formula (Pesukim 15-16)

And he starts again, he starts a new prophecy, a new oracle, so to speak, and he starts again, in the same way, the same exact six lines, or three lines that he had before, just with one that was I think missing in the earlier one. He says, this is the words of Balaam, the son of Baal, the one who hears — that part, what was missing before. Here it has the full verse, so to speak: he hears the words of God and he knows the knowledge of Elion.

So El and Elion are two names for God — the El, the strong one; Elion, the higher one. People say also this was literally names, they called the God Elion or El. In any case, that’s how it has to be read here, right? We say El Elion, as if Elion is just the title of God, but it seems here that Elion is also sort of the name. He was referred directly as Elion, because otherwise the parallelism doesn’t work.

He sees Merzeh Shaddai — he sees the vision of Shaddai — and he falls with his eyes open.

The Star Prophecy: Israel’s Future Conquests (Pesukim 17-19)

And here he says, he talks about explicitly what will happen in the future. Er’enu v’lo ata — I see him, not now. I see him another way of saying see him, the Lord could have not closed, right now, not today, maybe not tomorrow, but in the future.

A star will come out, will direct itself out from Yaakov. V’kam shevet — and again, shevet means literally a stick, but a shevet, a group of people from Yisrael. And what he will do is destroy — mochatz pa’atei Moav — he will smash the signs, the limits, the borders of Moav. V’karkar — and also will destroy, some word that means something like destroy or smash or crumble — kol bnei Sheis, all children of Sheis.

Which it’s interesting who Sheis here is. Moav, we know who it is. Sheis, we know the Adam has a son Sheis, but that doesn’t seem to match here. Maybe there was some group of people, or maybe this is another way of saying Moav, I’m not sure.

The Conquest of Edom

And then he talks about not only about Moav, because that would work for the parallelism, if Sheis, bnei Sheis, is a word that Moav called himself by. And then he says, and also Edom, Edom will be an inheritance, yerusha, for Yisrael. Obviously, yerusha, Seir oyvav — and Seir, which is another word for Edom. So again, Edom and Seir, just like this Yaakov and Yisrael. Yisrael is Edom and Seir, and who are the enemies of the people. Remember, they tried to go through and Edom didn’t let, right?

In the future Yisrael, Yisrael will conquer, they will make power, they will be the winners. V’yerd mi’Yaakov — and a leader, a governor will come out of Yaakov. V’he’evid sarid me’ir — so it will destroy what was left over from Ir. Ir again is the name of Moav, maybe Ir Moav, or Ar, might be also one of the ways that Moav itself was called. But maybe the word ir, the word ir of course means a town, a city, but also there was a city called Ir, or Ar, and might be similar, and it means that will destroy that.

So that’s what he talks about — Yisrael versus Moav and Edom, for sure, explicitly, whoever bnei Sheis are.

The Oracle Against Amalek (Pasuk 20)

Now he talks about Amalek. Vayar es Amalek — so Balaam goes to watch as Amalek. Vayisa meshalo — he raises his mashal again, he says another oracle. And he says, reishis goyim Amalek — the first nation of Amalek. So the first might mean the strongest. Of course he was also the first to fight with Yisrael, and all the way back, so might mean that. They once fell to Amalek, they lost somewhat that battle. V’achariso adei oved — and his end will be entirely lost, as his end tends towards being lost.

And again this reinforces the point that Agag, we’ve read before, this is talking about Shaul, and later David, which destroyed, which won the battle with Amalek.

The Oracle Against the Kenites (Pesukim 21-22)

Then there’s Kaini. He sees Kaini. Now Kaini was people who lived next to the area of Amalek. Of course it’s mentioned also in Avraham Avinu’s prophecy — v’es haKaini, v’es haKnizi, v’es haKadmoni — it’s mentioned. Might be also connected with Yisro’s children, might have become part of this Kaini, not clear if they were entirely Kaini.

And it says like this: eisan moshavecha — your place where you sit is strong. V’sim basela kinecha — and you’ve put your, kain means literally like your nest, the place where you sit, the place where you belong, you’ve put in a rock, in a strong rock. And that might be a description of literally the places where they lived, which were high, high mountains or rocky places.

But this will also not last forever. In the same way as Amalek, you started off strongly, but in the end you will be destroyed. Ki im yilba’er Kayin — Kayin, in the end, yilba’er, Kayin, Kayin will be eaten up. V’le’er is like another word of saying achla, right, destroyed, like v’shilach has be’era, burnt, or not necessarily burnt but destroyed, eaten up. Ad mah Ashur tishbecha — till Ashur will take you captive. So this is another name of a nation mentioned here, Ashur, apparently conquered these people called Kayin in the end, and they destroyed them.

The Vision of Future Empires (Pesukim 23-24)

Vayisa meshalo vayomar — and he has another start again, his oracle. And he says, oy mi yichyeh misimo Kel — who will live from when God does this? In other words, he’s saying, he’s prophesying, seeing a bunch of destroy, a bunch of doom for all these nations, he says, it’s good that I’m not living then, right, because who will live in those times?

This is the first person who said something like, we know from the Gemara, yeisei v’lo achmineh — people, prophecies, prophets that see bad prophecies, they say like, I don’t really want to live to see this, but it will be woe to who will live to see this.

The Ships from Kittim

And he continues to say that this caused apparently the next, one more conquest. This is like a prophet looking into the future and seeing how all the nations that seem to be very strong, very well established, and well defended borders and all of that, there’s always an end to every empire, everything happens, in the end, everything falls, and everything is taken over by the next one.

V’tzim miyad Kittim — there will be tzim, apparently ships will come from Kittim. Kittim is islands, wherever that is, maybe Rhodes or Cyprus, some places where there’s islands. V’inu Ashur v’inu Ever — and they will destroy or they will torture or they will afflict, Ashur and Ever. Ashur being what we just discussed, Ever also, Ever the Mesopotamian kingdoms. V’gam hu adei oved — he himself, so these Kittim, whoever they were, they might be, some say that this is a reference to the Romans who came with ships over the Mediterranean and destroyed these empires, or someone else, Greeks, whoever it is, it will also be destroyed in the end.

So this is him looking into the future and saying, oh, this empire takes over that one and that one and that one, and the end of the Ever, they all get lost, all get destroyed.

Conclusion: Bilam and Balak Depart (Pasuk 25)

These are the end of Balaam’s oracles, Balaam’s prophecies. Vayakam Bilam — and he does what Balaam said, told him, go back to your place, so he goes back to his place. And Balaam also goes on his way, goes back home to where he came from, I guess.