פרשת בלק

Bamidbar Chapter 22: The Story of Balak and Bilaam — Fear, Power, and the Failed Curse

The Placement and Structure of the Balak Story

So today we’re reading Bamidbar chapter 22. As we’ve seen yesterday, this chapter I think starts in the wrong place. It starts a pasuk before where it should have really started. The previous pasuk was about the travel of the Bnei Yisrael to Arvot Moav. And now we have the real place where this chapter should have started, where the Parsha’s Balak starts, is that now we have this full story of what happened when they were in Arvot Moav — really the non-war that happened with Moav.

So there’s a very interesting story, very much known both in the Torah itself. There’s a famous story in Tanakh, the story of Balak, the king of Moav, hiring Bilaam, the sorcerer, the prophet, the person that knows how to curse and bless — that’s definitely something that he knew — to curse the Jewish people. And his curse is not working out, but instead him giving blessings or praises of the people.

A Three-Chapter Narrative Arc

Now this story is very weird. Firstly, it goes through the next two chapters — so again, however split the chapters, for whichever reason decided to split it in this place, I’m not really sure why. It goes through the next, sorry, three chapters until chapter 24. It’s one long story. If you were to cut it up, there might be better places to cut it up than where the chapters cut them up. But in any case, I must have said, well, it’s too long, I’ll just have to cut it somewhere.

I’ve cut it up into these parts: the part of Bilaam, Balak trying to hire, Balak trying to hire Bilaam; Bilaam’s interesting side story on the way to Balak, to the location, to the Arvot Moav, where he wants to curse the people; and the entire progress of Bilaam with the people, where he gets, and he says three, and then fourth, different prophecies about the people and about all the nations in between. So those are the main three parts. That’s how I would divide the story into three parts. The chapters, I didn’t divide them in the exact place where I would, but that’s how I would have divided it.

And each one of these internally is also divided somewhat into three or two. There’s always these doublets and triplets in the stories — everything happens three times, or there’s a progression of threes, or twos, or fours in the story. There’s always a progression how the same kind of thing started. So it’s a story very, very, I could say very well constructed — I shouldn’t say that about the Torah, some stories are more well constructed and some are less — but more explicitly, more clearly built out, unlike the previous stories where we had very slight parts, and we can imagine that there’s some story with this Be’er and so on, which has this whole thing, because this is also a story that has a lot of poetry in it, a lot of meshalim, a lot of music. But here we have the full story, the entire narrative, with many details, with many steps, and each part of the story has a very clear logical progress.

Why Does This Story Matter? The Famous Question

But there’s a very famous question that everyone asks when they read this story, which is: why is this interesting? Like some person, some guy, some Balak wanted to curse us and hired Bilaam, turned out he couldn’t curse us. It seems to be giving too much attention to something totally minor and unimportant.

The Answer: The Fulfillment of Shirat Hayam’s Prophecy

There’s various explanations for this, but I think the most simple explanation or the most simple reading of this in this context where we are is, if you remember, as is seen very explicitly in Sefer Devarim where Moshe repeats all his conquests, all his wars that he won, all the battles that he won — Sihon and Og, and Moav, Sihon Melech HaEmori, Og Melech HaBashan. In some sense, all these three main places that they passed now on their way, on the third leg of the story of the book, when they’re on the threshold of the land of Israel.

So it seems like Moav is a very important question: what happens to them, are they happy with us, are they not happy, do they agree with us, are they letting us, are they fighting with us? Midian, Moav, these people, they might be connected, as we’ll see, Ziknei Midian or someone here. In any case, these people seem to be very important.

And it seems to me that the main point of this story, as it starts, ויגר מואב [Vayagar Moav — and Moav was very afraid] from the people, from the army, from Moshe and his people. And that has already been mentioned in Shirat Hayam. Remember, the greatest or the fullest, the fullest epic poem recorded in the Torah is the Shirat Hayam, as we’ve discussed. Sefer Shemot has in a certain way the more complete or the more, we could say, well edited version of the first part of the story, the story of Yetziat Mitzrayim. The last part here, we see, gets into all these fragmentations and questionable things that we don’t understand entirely. But in Sefer Shemot, the story of Yetziat Mitzrayim, completed with the great song, the great epic poem of Yetziat Mitzrayim, of Shirat Hayam, known as Shirat Hayam — it’s really broader than Shirat Hayam, right? It really talks about the conquest of the people all the way until they get to Eretz Yisrael, until they build the Temple Mount.

And Moav figures prominently there. These are the three people, or two of them we just mentioned: Edom being afraid, Moav being afraid, and then Canaan, which we didn’t get to yet in this version of the story. We had the Canaan in Melech Arad, but he obviously wasn’t afraid, but he was routed, so it might be why they’re starting to be afraid.

Raising the Morale of the People

So this seems to be very important. This seems to be important to tell us that all the people in our way were really very afraid of us, and this is probably also to raise the morale of the people themselves. Moshe, as we’ve seen in the last, in the end of yesterday’s chapter, was afraid, and Hashem tells him, don’t be afraid of Og. Obviously he was afraid. These were powerful kings, there were people with a lot of power. So a big part of the story is to say that they do not have power. And in other words, they broke, their spirit was broken even before. There might have been some fight later — there was a fight with Bilaam, with Midian, there was an actual battle — but this important story of Bilaam trying, Bilaam and Balak trying to curse, which is, whatever the meaning of a curse, it obviously expresses a kind of moral or narrative power that they have over us, they could curse us. And the important message of this story is that no, they were afraid, even Bilaam was afraid, or saw the great power, and the great success of the people, and therefore, instead of cursing, he blessed.

So that’s, I think, the most general and most, story that makes the most sense of this story in the context.

The Opening: Balak’s Fear and His Plan

Now we will read the story. As we’ll see, it’s a very structured story. We go through it. So the first story, this is sort of the background, the first part gives us the background, tells us that Balak ben Tzippor, Balak, the son of Tzippor — this is his name — sees. And as a note, as this sort of editorial or narrative note at the end of this part says, Balak is the king of Moav at that time. So that’s who, we didn’t know, the story sort of just says Balak ben Tzippor, we were supposed to know, so it sort of gives us the information at the end. This is the style of the Torah many times, gives us historical information, the background information, and sort of a side note in the end.

What Balak Saw: The Defeat of Sihon

So Balak ben Tzippor sees what Israel did to Moav, in other words, to Sihon, mostly. Remember, from the previous poetry in the previous chapter, Sihon, there was a famous poem about Sihon being even more powerful than Moav, right? אוי לך מואב אבדת עם כמוש [Oy lecha Moav avadta am Kemosh — Woe to you Moav, you are destroyed, people of Kemosh], בני סיחון [benei Sihon — the sons of Sihon], and so on. And now Sihon was destroyed by the people, by Israel, so kal vachomer, obviously, Moav should be afraid.

The Language of Fear: Echoes of Pharaoh

So Moav is very afraid, because they’re great, כי רב [ki rav — because they’re great], because they’re many, because they’re strong, and they’re קץ [katz], they’re, I don’t know how to exactly translate this word, something like disgusted, but I don’t think that’s a very good translation. It means something like very scared. I see someone translating it, very distressed. Of course, this echoes also Pharaoh. Pharaoh had the same kind of fear, ויקוצו מפני בני ישראל [vayakutzu mipnei Bnei Yisrael — and they were distressed because of the children of Israel], the beginning of Sefer Shemot, and also for the same reason, כי רב [ki rav], because they were many of them. So this is like Moav, the great repetition of the fears and threats of the people, that there are many of them, there’s a demographic threat, and they’re obviously not only demographic, they’re also militarily strong.

Moav Consults with Midian: The Ox Metaphor

So Moav tells Ziknei Midian, and there’s some questioning, what is Ziknei Midian doing here, but as we’ll see later, Midian seems to have definitely been connected to this story, so something is going on here. He tells them, and here also there’s a poetic, already a poetic image, a poetic metaphor. He says this people, this community, this great mass, we could translate it, will eat or destroy the vegetation all around us as an ox destroys the green of the field. So an ox goes, eats, and eats everything, he’s very hungry, and this, he’s imagining the people as some kind of big great herd of oxen, and coming and destroying it, nothing green is left, it all becomes brown and destroyed.

So that’s the setting, the stage, similarly to how we had in the beginning of Sefer Shemot. There’s the nation, they’re becoming great, they’re becoming many, they’re becoming powerful, and there’s ויאמר אל עמו [vayomer el amo — and he said to his people], there’s the quote of what the people are saying, why they’re afraid.

Balak Sends for Bilaam: The Messengers and the Message

So now he seems to have a plan, and his plan is, as I said, the first part of the story is, he’s going to send messengers to Bilaam ben Be’or, who lives at the river, probably Pesor, the river Perat, or Pesor might be a plain word of Perat. Now I’m thinking Pesor, Perat, in any case, or a place called Pesor. And where he lives, Eretz Bnei Amo, there’s some difficulty with these words. In any case, he sends messengers all the way to Bilaam. Bilaam is a famous sorcerer, a famous poet, a famous prophet. He calls him, and he gives him this message.

The Poetic Message: A Nation Covering the Earth

He gives him also a poetic message, or a message written in a high register. Tells him what has happened, what is going on. He tells him there’s this nation, people, coming out of Egypt, they’ve covered the color, or the light of the ground, and they’re right here, they’re sitting next to, across from me. So again, there’s the same image of the earth being covered, or the earth being eaten, like an ox eats the grass.

And therefore, ועתה [ve’atah — and therefore], ועתה [ve’atah] in the Torah always means something like, and thus, and therefore. Doesn’t mean and now. I mean, literally means and now, but not like, it’s not about a chronological time, it’s still like, and therefore, come and curse—

The First Delegation and Bilaam’s Initial Response

The Elders of Moab and Midian go with *kesomim* [magical implements] to Bilaam and deliver Balak’s message. This is the first delegation. Bilaam answers them: “You have to stay here overnight, and I will respond to you as Hashem, as ה׳ [Hashem], speaks to me.” He’s saying, “My whole thing is that I speak with Hashem, so I can’t just answer you. You’ll stay here overnight, and I’ll tell you what Hashem says.” And they do that.

Now, interestingly, Bilaam says “Hashem,” but Elokim [God] comes to Bilaam according to the Torah. Elokim comes to Bilaam at night. As God acts in the Torah, He always starts off with small talk, asks people questions — although probably He knows everything, but this is the way of Him starting conversations. He says, “Who are these people?”

Bilaam answers: “Oh, Balak ben Tzipor, the King of Moab, sent them to me.” He repeats to Him the message: there’s this nation that has covered the land, covered the color or the shine of the land, and Balak asks him to curse them — maybe he’ll be able to fight with them and banish them from the land. Bilaam changes the verb from *arah* to *kovah*, but apparently that means the same thing.

Now what does Elokim answer? “Bilaam, don’t go. Don’t go with them. Don’t curse the people. They’re blessed people. They’re My — basically I blessed them — they’re blessed people. It’s not going to go.”

So he got his refusal. He wakes up in the morning and tells Balak’s ministers, Balak’s messengers, Balak’s princes: “Go back to where you came from, go back to your land, because Hashem refuses to let me go with you.”

And therefore, that’s what they do. They go back to Moab and they tell Balak: “Bilaam refuses to come with us.”

The Pattern of Divine Names

It’s very interesting that, again, consistently Bilaam talks about Hashem, the Tetragrammaton. But the person who doesn’t talk about Hashem is the one actually talking to him — it’s Elokim who comes to him. Also, there’s a little change: the ministers of Moab come and say “Bilaam doesn’t want to go with us,” but Bilaam told them “Hashem doesn’t want to let me go, refuses to let me.” They understood that this is him — they translated his theological refusal into a personal one.

The Second Delegation

Therefore we have the second messenger. Again, Balak isn’t impressed by this refusal. He realizes that maybe Bilaam needs to be begged more, so he sends even more honorable, even more dignified princes, and more of them. They come and they respond to his refusal. They say, in the name of Balak: “This is what he says: Do not refuse, do not hold yourself back from coming to me. I’ll give you great honor, anything you ask me I’ll give you, anything you tell me. Just come and curse these people for me.”

And Bilaam responds — because he said he didn’t say that it’s him refusing, he said that Hashem is refusing — he says: “Look, Balak can give me his whole house full of silver and gold, I will not be able to go against the word of Hashem, ה׳ אלהי [Hashem Elokai — Hashem my God].” So very important: Hashem my God. He claims Hashem to be his God, the one who speaks to him. “I can’t do a big thing, I can’t do anything.”

But — therefore, the answer should be refusal. But he understands that just like Balak understands that if Bilaam refuses he can ask him again, Bilaam understands that if Hashem refuses he can ask Him again. So he says: “Look, stay here again another night, and I’ll see what Hashem will add — maybe He will give me some new message.”

And now, again, Elokim comes to Bilaam at night and tells him, changes to a new message, a new answer. He says: “If these people came to call you, go with them.” So here Hashem already knows — He didn’t ask him “who are these people?” He says, “These are the people that came to call you, go. But it’s not that you’re going to be able to do whatever you want. You’re going to have to do the thing that I speak to you.”

So that’s the second version, the second thing. He speaks to them, and Bilaam wakes up in the morning and takes along his donkey, his female donkey, and goes with them.

So that’s what I said: there’s the double part. Twice they sent to him, and the second time he agreed and Hashem agreed, but with this condition that he will only be able to say what He spoke. And he goes with them.

The Donkey Episode

Now there’s a very interesting long story of what happens on the way.

God’s Anger Despite Permission

ויחר אף [Vayichar af — And the anger flared] — Elokim is angry that he’s going. So although He gave him permission, obviously what we see here — and I think that’s the simple reading — not everything, sometimes, you know, like your child asks you something five times, and after, you say “Okay, do it,” it doesn’t mean he really wanted to do that. In the same way, Hashem said, “Okay, they want to go, you go with them,” it doesn’t mean He really wanted it. And He’s upset.

And a messenger of Hashem — so here we have ה׳ [Hashem, the Tetragrammaton] — comes on the way לשטן לו [leSatan lo — to be a satan to him], to be someone that bothers him, to be someone that stops him, to be against him.

Now Bilaam is riding on his donkey with his two servants. The *aton* [female donkey] now sees the *malach* [angel] standing in the way with his sword stretched out in his hand. So the *aton* has some kind of vision — of course, very mysterious, what does this mean even — but the *aton* sees the *malach*. And this *malach* obviously has some kind of miraculous vision, some kind of thing that you could see, but Bilaam didn’t see at first. And now the *aton* saw it, and therefore goes off the way and goes into the field.

The Three Encounters

Now Bilaam doesn’t see the *malach*, so he just sees his *aton* going off the way, and he hits it to get it back.

Now the *malach* — so again, we have this three-time, three-time structure. The second time, the *malach* goes in the way between two vineyards. This is interesting, because this also connects very much with the stories that we discussed earlier, with the request that Bnei Yisrael had to Edom, and then to Moab, and then to Sichon, that they would go in the right way, they’re not going to go in the fields. And here Bilaam is sort of being forced to go into the fields or into the vineyards by this *aton*. I don’t know what the connection is, but I’m noticing.

But now he goes in this kind of way, so there’s different ways. There’s a way that’s between open fields, but now there’s a way between two vineyards, and these both vineyards apparently have two fences, or *gederim* [stone fences], between them. And therefore there’s not a lot of place to move to the side.

So the *aton* sees again the *malach*, so she pushes herself into the wall. And Bilaam, who’s riding on it, his foot, which is on the side of the *aton*, is getting squashed into the wall, so he hits it again. But okay, there’s still — she passed by the *malach*, that’s basically what happened. Although there was a small space, she passed by.

Third time, the *malach* comes and he stands in a place where there’s nowhere to move anywhere at all. It’s an even more narrow path. There’s nowhere to go right or left — interesting language, right? This is language in Sefer Devarim and later, don’t go away from the way of the Torah right or left.

And the *aton* sees the *malach* a third time. So what does she do? She doesn’t continue. She just sits down and she refuses to move.

And now Bilaam is upset. ויחר אף בלעם [Vayichar af Bilaam — And Bilaam’s anger flared]. It’s the start of the story with ויחר אף אלהים [Vayichar af Elokim — God’s anger flared], and he hits the *aton*. “What’s going on with you?”

The Donkey Speaks

Now suddenly, at this stage, ויפתח ה׳ את פי האתון [Vayiftach Hashem et pi ha’aton — Hashem opened the mouth of the donkey]. And again, something very weird, very interesting. The *aton* speaks to Bilaam, and the *aton* tells Bilaam: “Why did you hit me? Three times.”

And Bilaam says, “What do you mean? You’re making fun of me. If I’d have had a sword, I would have killed you.” Of course, remember the *malach* is the one that’s standing with a sword, and the *aton* is thinking, “You have a sword? You might be talking about a sword, but I had a sword.”

And the *aton* answers Bilaam. She says: “Well, I’m your *aton*. You’ve ridden on me from always until this day. Have I ever done something like this to you?” In other words, she’s saying: when you see an *aton* suddenly misbehaving, suddenly not cooperating, you should think, maybe there’s something wrong. It’s not like, you know, we have a *shor mu’ad* [an ox known to gore], right? We know that this animal doesn’t listen. This is a good animal. It’s been serving him well all this time.

So he says no. In other words, the *aton* won. Bilaam — the great, right, the great man of words, he knows how to have words and things for everything — here, his donkey has won a debate with him, a conversation with him.

Bilaam’s Eyes Are Opened

And now Hashem opens Bilaam’s eyes. So first He opened the *aton’s* mouth, now He opens Bilaam’s eyes. And he sees the *malach* with his sword. So now Bilaam obviously understands what’s going on. And what you do when you see a *malach* is you bow down to him.

And the *malach* tells Bilaam: “Why did you hit your *aton* three times?” He says, “It was me. I’ve come here to be something that stands in your way, because this way is against me” — כי ירט הדרך לנגדי [ki yarat haderech legdi]. I think that’s what it means, something like that: you’re going against my will. So he’s speaking in the name of Hashem here. You’re going against Hashem’s will, and I’ve come in some way to stop you.

“And the *aton* saw me, so at least she went to the side from me. Therefore, maybe she went from me — she was right, you’re the one that’s wrong. Now that you see that it was me, that she was respecting me in some sense, going to the side, I should have killed you and let her live.”

In other words, you’re saying that she should be killed for not going in the way? You should

The Malach’s Rebuke and Bilaam’s Apology

You’re going against the malach. She’s at least respecting the malach. And what does Bilaam say? Sorry, I’ve sinned. I didn’t know that you’re the one standing against me in the way. And of course, he understands that this malach is a messenger of Hashem. He’s not apologizing to the malach for trying to go through him. He’s apologizing to Hashem who sent the malach.

And now he understands that Hashem doesn’t want him to go and he tells him: If this is bad in your eyes, let me go back. I’m going to return home.

The Malach’s Surprising Response

And what does the malach of Hashem say? No, no problem. You don’t have to go back home. You can stay here. You can continue on your way. But again, only the thing that I’ve spoken to you, that’s what you will speak. And Bilaam continues on his way.

So this is a very interesting story. If he does want, then why did he send the malach to stop him? Something very weird. And I can’t give a solution for this. But I think this part of the story is to show or to emphasize how strongly Bilaam does want to go. So don’t think that Bilaam was just going to give up. He does want to go. And he’s forced. He’s sort of being played with. Like Bilaam said to the donkey, Bilaam is the one being played with and becoming just a tool in the hands of this malach, in the hands of Hashem.

Bilaam’s Arrival and First Meeting with Balak

Okay, so that’s where I would stop the chapter. I’m going to continue a little bit. So we see the beginning of him coming to Balak. And we’ll stop more or less with this chapter. So we’ll have to start this again tomorrow because this is a really weird start.

Balak Goes Out to Meet Bilaam

So Balak hears that Bilaam came, that messengers must have went ahead and told him Bilaam is on the way. And he goes to meet him in a city called Ir Moav [city of Moav] next to the Arnon in asher biktzeh hagvul [which is at the edge of the border], in this river called Arnon, which we’ve discussed. Arnon was the border of Moav and Ammon.

Balak’s Complaints and Bilaam’s Response

And now Balak, Balak again has ta’anos [complaints]. He’s not happy with Bilaam and he speaks to him. He tells him, I’ve sent for you many times. Why didn’t you come? Is it because I cannot respect you? I cannot honor you?

And Bilaam answers it. Look, I came. So firstly, like why tell me you can’t come? I didn’t want to come, I came. But now, does that mean that I can speak anything? I can’t speak anything. Whatever Elokim, Hashem, our God will put in my mouth, that’s what I will speak.

So he’s sort of answering the two things. It’s not you, it’s not you that can’t respect me enough, that can’t honor me enough. It’s not that I can’t come. It’s Hashem who is controlling me. I will only speak what he gives me in his mouth.

The Welcoming Feast at Kiryat Chutzot

So they come to a place called Kiryat Chutzot. Balak slaughters bakar v’tzon [cattle and sheep], sheep from the herd, and sends Bilaam food. So they make a sort of a party. And in the morning, so that was like the first meeting.

Setting the Stage for What Follows

So let’s stop here. This is the first meeting. So there’s like the stage. Balak comes to Bilaam and there’s the first stage of the meeting where they have a sort of a small argument. But they reconcile. They make a little party.

And then we’re going to have the next, again, three times where each time Balak asks Bilaam to slaughter, not a party for himself, but for Hashem, for korbanot [sacrifices]. And each time, according to that, tries to prophesy. And then we have what happens.

Bamidbar Chapter 23: Bilam’s First Prophecy and Blessing

The Structure of the Bilam-Balak Narrative

So we’re reading Sefer Bamidbar chapter 23, which is the second part of the story of Bilam and Balak. As we’ve discussed, there’s the second major part of the story, which is after the whole part of the first part of Balak sending messengers to Bilam and the whole dialogue between them. The second part of Bilam on the way and the dialogue between him and his donkey and the angel. There is the third part which is really the main part, the central part, which is Bilam and Balak together trying to get Bilam to curse, to give his curses.

We had at the end of the previous chapter, the last chapter, the first meeting of Balak and Bilam, which is really a continuation in some sense of the third part. I said that everything here happens three times, right? He hit his donkey three times. The thing that happened only two times was him having this dialogue or arguing with the messengers of Balak. He came once and he said no and the second time he said yes. But really here’s the third time of that same dialogue because we have Balak himself asking Bilam, well, could I have not honored you enough? And Bilam answering, no, it’s not about the honor. It’s about me being able only to say what Hashem says and so on. That’s sort of the third part.

The Geographic Locations and Pacing of the Story

But that leads us into the main part and this is really where this chapter should start. I think they started it one pasuk after where it should have started. Even if you would have caught it here, it should have started the Vayehi Baboker [and it was in the morning] here in the last pasuk of chapter 22.

Which is that there’s locations and there’s important apparently—I don’t know the geography of these locations very well so it doesn’t mean anything to me—but apparently each of these areas are known places or places which are surrounding the place where the Yidden [Jews] were encamped and so on. So the first place they meet, Balak and Bilam meet in Ir Moav, the city of Moav, and at the border of Moav and wherever the next place is where maybe where Bilam is coming from.

Then they take him to a place called Kiryas Chutzos, which is where they have their first party. He makes a zevach [sacrifice/feast]. He sends Bilam—that’s like sort of the reconciliation, right? We say he’s not really mad at him. He’s inviting him to his party. He’s part of his life, although they had like this little argument a bit before. And then in the morning—that’s where the real main part of the story starts—they sleep over, Bilam and Balak. It’s also important. It also gives a pacing to the story where they keep on sleeping over, but there’s probably some deeper meaning also in this sleeping over.

The First Location: Bamos Baal

And in the morning, Balak takes Bilam to a second place—third, first place if we start counting here from the places where he’s tried to actually give his curses—which is Bamos Baal. Bamos Baal is apparently Bamos in the sense of a high place, a hill called Baal. Baal is of course famously the god of Canaan and so on, the god maybe that’s why it’s named like that. And that’s a place from where we can see some of their people, not all of them. He sees part of them. Apparently it’s a big camp. It’s hard to find like an elevated location from which you can see everything, but he sees some of that. And this is where Bilam is going to sort of look at them and try to give his mashal [parable/prophecy], his prophecy, his curse.

The Sacrificial Preparation: Karbanos as a Vehicle for Prophecy

So the order of this is that Bilam tells Balak you need to build a mizbeach [altar] for me and actually build seven of them and prepare seven oxen and seven rams to slaughter on these seven altars. And this actually reveals a secret to us that we didn’t know in the entire Sefer Vayikra, which talks about karbanos [sacrifices], which is that karbanos are a way to receive prophecy. Right, you want God to speak to you and God to appear to you in whichever way, in whichever modality He appears, one of the ways of doing that is to bring a karban.

We actually did see a sign of this in the story of the Sotah [suspected adulteress] where God reveals if she sinned by way of bringing a Karban Mincha [meal offering]. And I said then that every Karban Mincha really is a way of revealing God’s will in some way. And so Tefilas Mincha [the afternoon prayer], which is a zecher [remembrance] to that—in any case, Bilam commands to have these seven altars with the seven great sacrifices prepared. That will be his way of preparation for prophecy. And that’s what they do. Balak follows him. They both each—vaya’al [and he elevated/offered]—they sacrifice one bull and one ram each on each mizbeach.

How Bilam Receives Prophecy

And now Bilam tells Balak—and here we again have the description of how the prophecy comes to Bilam in a way that we don’t have in most other prophets. Definitely not in the Torah we don’t have for Moshe. We have in a little bit for other prophets in Nach [Prophets].

Bilam tells Balak you stand here. Rashi says stand on your karban, which is apparently a kind of a ritual standing. It’s like stand here, be part of this process. And he will go, go somewhere, go and take some walks by himself. And maybe God will meet me, basically will come across to me and will show me something and I will tell you. So that’s his way of describing how the prophecy will come to him—by some kind of walking, by some kind of meditation, whatever he’s doing, he might speak to him.

Vayelech shefi [and he went shefi]—and shefi is apparently a word, I think a word for this kind of meditation or this kind of preparation that Bilam is doing. To walk in a certain way or walk by himself or walk deep in his thoughts, wherever it is where he meets God. That apparently this is how he knew how to bring the prophecy on him.

God Meets Bilam

And that happens. What he said ulai [perhaps] happens. Vayikar Hashem el Bilam [and Hashem met/encountered Bilam]—God meets Bilam. Vayikar should be translated something like meet or like a chance meeting, but I think that’s the best translation that I can give right now.

And Bilam tells him, look I’ve prepared these seven altars. I’ve sacrificed an ox and a ram on each altar. In other words, when he’s saying, he means to say, okay, like I’ve done my part now you do your part. Right? That’s what he’s saying. He’s like look I’ve given you what you need. So what do you say?

Vayasem Hashem davar befi Bilam [and Hashem placed a word in the mouth of Bilam]. This literally means he put a word in the mouth of Bilam. The Midrash of course exploits the literalism of this saying that it’s like someone putting a—how do you call the thing that you put in the mouth of an animal to lead it or something like that? But this is just an idiom. That means he gave a message, right? I give—to put something in your mouth means I give you a message to give the next person. So he tells him go back to Balak and you’ll speak this. So he has his message.

Bilam’s First Prophecy

And he’s returning. I want to hear the message in one second. Bilam returns to Balak. He’s there still nitzav al olato [standing on his burnt offering], which is like I said part of the process, standing with all the ministers, all the princes of Moav.

Vayisa meshalo [and he raised his parable/prophecy]—and Bilam speaks, this is he raises his mashal, his proverbs, his poem. I’m saying like he starts speaking prophetically. That’s the way it describes it.

The Content of the First Mashal

And what does he do? He gives a prophetic or poetic description of the story of how Balak asked something from him and how he can’t provide it because this nation that he asked him to curse is actually great. And there’s this parallelism here, this dualism, and it’s like all Hebrew poetry or biblical poetry has.

And he starts: Min Aram yancheni Balak [From Aram Balak led me]—Balak has called me or led me from Aram. Melech Moav mehararei Kedem [the king of Moav from the mountains of Kedem]—the king of Moav who’s the same as Balak has led me from the mountains of Kedem. So Kedem is the east where Mesopotamia, where Bilam is from, called Aram, called the mountains of Kedem.

And he asks me: Lecha ara li Yaakov [come curse Yaakov for me], curse Yaakov for me. Ulcha zo’ama Yisrael [and come rage against Yisrael]—zo’ama is another way, means be angry, but some apparently means raise anger against Israel. So we have also this parallelism always Yaakov-Yisrael. That’s the very basic if you want to say something twice. You say use two names. Yaakov-Yisrael are the two names the poetry always uses for the people.

Bilam’s Response: Why He Cannot Curse

Now Bilam responds to Balak’s request in his poetry. Ma ekov lo kabo El [How can I curse what God has not cursed]—what can I curse? God is not cursed. So exactly corresponding to the two things as we saw before. Odah and kovah mean the same thing. So I cannot curse what God is not cursed. I cannot raise anger against what God is not be angering against.

And then he explains sort of why God doesn’t let him curse. Why is God not cursing and describes—remember the blessings of God is not just God sitting there and blessing. Good blessings of God are actions, right? The fact that he gives greatness or gives power to people.

The Vision from the Mountains

Describes God’s blessing: Ki merosh tzurim er’enu [For from the top of rocks I see him]—also, there’s a parallelism here to Bilam describing himself as coming from the mountains of Kedem. He says I’ve seen him from the heads of the great rocks, of the great hills, great mountains. Umigva’os ashurenu [and from the hills I behold him]—geva’os usually is smaller mountains or larger mountains. And I see.

Hen am levadad yishkon [Behold, a people dwelling alone]—I see a people resting or encamping by themselves, in other words stronger than everyone. Uvagoyim lo yitchashav [and among the nations it does not reckon itself]—bagoyim there doesn’t have to count other nations. In other words, he’s stronger than them. He’s not afraid of them.

Their Multitude and Greatness

And he says they’re also great people. There’s many of them. Mi manah afar Yaakov [Who can count the dust of Yaakov]—who can count the dust of Yaakov? So there’s a lot. Afar might mean something like sometimes we see when there’s a great army they walk and there’s like dust coming out of their feet because there’s a great march. Umispar et rova Yisrael [and the number of the rova of Yisrael]—I don’t know. There’s a problem with how to translate the word rova, but it must be a parallel to afar, like the maybe like the quarter where they quarter themselves or something like that.

The Wish to Share Their Fate

And he says—then he ends by saying he wishes to be like them. Tamos nafshi mos yesharim [May I die the death of the upright]—may I die. I think yesharim again, this is a parallelism. Utehi acharisi kamohu [and may my end be like his]—acharis is the end of someone, the end of a person’s life. And may I die correct, straight death and have my end being like that. In other words, I wish I would be like them. They’re going to have a good end.

Like many times in Tanach we see acharis means having a good end. Death is a little weird here because death is not a good thing, but what it means to say is if you have a great life, then you have a good death. That’s really what he’s talking about.

Balak’s Reaction and Bilam’s Refrain

Now this was Bilam’s first prophecy and Balak, of course, is not very happy. Screams at him. What have you done to me? I’ve asked you to curse my enemies and you’ve blessed them. And Bilam answers what is going to be his refrain all the time: I’ve told you already I can only speak what Hashem will put in my mouth. That’s what I keep—what do I keep to speak?

So now—so that’s the first cycle.

Bamidbar Chapter 23 — Bilam’s Second Prophecy and the Setup for the Third

And he says, then he ends by saying he wishes to be like them. תמות נפשי מות ישרים ותהי אחריתי כמהו [Tamot nafshi mot yesharim, tehiy achariti kamohu] — again this is a parallelism. *Achris* is the end of someone, the end of a person’s life. And may I die a correct, a straight death and have my end being like them. In other words, I wish I would be like them, they’re going to have a good end. Like many times in Tanach we see *achris* means having a good end.

Death is a little weird here, because death is not a good thing. What it means to say is if you have a great life, then you have a good death. That’s really what he’s talking about.

Now this was Bilam’s first prophecy, and Balak of course is not very happy. He screams at him, “What have you done to me? I’ve asked you to curse my enemies and you’ve blessed them.” And Bilam answers — what is the refrain going to be all the time? I’ve told you already, I can only speak what Hashem will put in my mouth. That’s what I keep, what I keep to speak. So that’s the first cycle.

The Second Cycle: A New Location at Sedei Tzofim

Second cycle, Balak tells Bilam, you know what, maybe they’ll take you somewhere else, you’ll see him, you’ll see some of him again, just like before they only saw some, but some other angle, maybe you’ll curse me from there. So apparently, it’s not clear what this changing of, like I said, changing geographical locations is supposed to help, but maybe he sees something else, maybe he understands that Bilam sees them in a certain way and that causes him to prophesy like this. He’ll go somewhere else, he’ll see them from a different angle and a different way, he’ll be able to give a curse.

So he takes them to another place called Sedei Tzofim in Rosh HaPisgah. Rosh HaPisgah is also where Moshe died, right? Pisgah might be the proper name of a mountain — we say Pisgah in the sense of a mountain, not a peak, but I think originally Pisgah is just the name of a place.

The Ritual Repeated

And same thing they do again, there’s seven altars, ox and ram in each altar. He tells the same exact thing to Bilam: stand on your *olah* [burnt offering], I will be *ikareh* [I will be met], right? So I’ll be the *nifal* [passive form], what happens to me from the Hashem *yikra* [will meet]. I will prepare myself so Hashem should meet me, I will be meeting towards him.

And the same thing, Hashem meets Bilam and he puts something in his mouth and he tells him this is what you will speak to Balak. And he comes back, same exact words, he’s standing on his *olah* with all the *sarei Moav* [princes of Moab], and Balak asks him, okay, what did Hashem speak?

A Subtle Difference: Balak’s Question

So this is something he didn’t have before. Before, the first time he just faced the *machaneh* [camp], he just starts to speak. Now he already told Balak, Balak, that I will only speak what Hashem speaks to me. So Balak is like, okay, so what did Hashem speak to you? And he starts again, he starts his prophecy again, and he basically has the same, repeats the same thing again, but also relates to the fact that this is the second time.

The Second Prophecy: God Does Not Change His Mind

Addressing Balak — A Demotion in Status

He starts again, he says, first he addresses Balak, he says, קום בלק ושמע, האזינה עדי בנו ציפור [Kum Balak veshema, ha’azina adei beno Tzipor] — stand up Balak, I’m here, the son of Tzippor, listen to me. So again, first he was *Melech Moav* [King of Moab], was the second of Balak, now he’s just the son of Tzippor. So this might be a little demotion for Balak in this language, like the first one was addressing him as the king of Moav, now he’s addressing him as the son of Tzippor.

The Theological Core: God’s Unchanging Nature

And he says, you think that you’re going to get God to change his mind? God is not a man who lies or says something and then makes it false, because he doesn’t follow through. He’s not a man who changes his mind, who regrets. A person, he speaks, says, and he doesn’t do, or he speaks, he doesn’t follow through on what he did, because he changed his mind. But from God, he has taken a blessing from God, this is what God wants to take, he will not return it. God didn’t change his mind, you think you’re going to change his mind by taking it to another angle, it’s the same thing.

Shifting Perspective: From the People to God’s View

And now he speaks more about the perspective of God. In the previous one he only started with the greatness of the people where they come from, and now he’s really speaking from the perspective of God, because remember the subject of this poem is more about God not changing his mind, about God actually loving Yisrael and Yaakov, and not wanting to change his mind.

He says, לא הביט און ביעקב ולא ראה עמל בישראל [Lo hibit aven b’Yaakov v’lo ra’ah amal b’Yisrael] — He does not see evil, he does not see sin in Yaakov, he doesn’t see madness, evil, we can think about how to exactly translate the word *amal* in Yisrael. ה’ אלקיו עמו ותרועת מלך בו [Hashem Elokav imo, utru’at melech bo] — Hashem, his God, is with him, and the *teru’ah* of his king — so here the king is not the king of Moav, the king is *melech*, which is a parallel to Hashem Elokav, or Elokav meaning his king, his God is a similar thing, he’s their leader, is with him, so Hashem is with him. His *teru’ah* might also literally mean like *teru’ah*, like his horns, his shofar that he blows is with them. Basically God is with them, he doesn’t want to see evil with them.

God’s Historical Relationship: The Exodus

And he’s not only being with them from now, remember you said, אל מוציאם ממצרים [El motzi’am miMitzrayim] — yeah, like Rashi noticed, it’s not *am yatza miMitzrayim* [the people left Egypt], *El motzi’am miMitzrayim* [God took them out of Egypt], God took them out of Mitzrayim, this *El*, this Havayah, with the greatness or the raisedness, the highness of *re’em*, which is apparently some kind of strong or tall, beautiful animal, like a kind of ox apparently.

Magic Cannot Touch Them

Now you try, you think you’re going to come with some kind of magic, some kind of rituals to curse them, כי לא נחש ביעקב ולא קסם בישראל [Ki lo nachash b’Yaakov v’lo kesem b’Yisrael] — there is no *nachash* [divination] that works on Yaakov, they’re stronger than that.

A Difficult Verse

כעת יאמר ליעקב ולישראל מה פעל אל [Ka’et ye’amer l’Yaakov ul’Yisrael mah pa’al El] — Now we will tell to Yaakov. Now this is a passage that is a little harder to read, what he seems to be saying is, again, connecting to the theme, it’s *El* that is the one that takes out the Mitzrayim, it’s the *El Hashem Elokav*, that’s *imo*, so you can’t tell Yaakov, you can’t go against, because this is *ma’pol El* [the activity of God], this is the God’s activities, that’s the best I can do for now.

The Lion Imagery: Israel’s Power

The last two lines of this poem, it goes back to the way he described it in the first poem, and describes the power, the great courage and power of this nation. הן עם כלביא יקום וכארי יתנשא [Hen am k’lavi yakum v’kh’ari yitnasa] — *lavi* and *ari* are two words for a lion, maybe a young one or an old one, I don’t know, he stands up like a lion, and it will not sleep until he eats what the lion eats, like *teref* is a lion that devours, conquers other animals, and drinks the blood of his enemies. And that’s also, so there’s this parallel between eating and drinking, of course nobody drinks the blood of their enemies literally, but this is an idiom for winning a war and killing.

Balak’s Clever Counter-Argument: Just Be Silent

So now Balak is already upset, and he doesn’t respond, *matas* [what have you done], because he already knows the answer, he already knows the answer to the question he asked last time, I’ve asked you the curse and you’ve blessed, he knows the answer, the answer is Hashem told you.

So Balak tells Balak [sic — Balak tells Bilam], you know something, I have a solution for you. Okay, you know something, God doesn’t want to curse them, okay, I can’t go against you, you can’t go against that, but who forced you to bless them? At least just be silent, if God only wants to bless, just be quiet.

Bilam’s Response: A Positive Commandment to Speak

And Bilam answers, no, you didn’t understand what I said. I didn’t only mean to say, Hashem is always, Hashem means I will keep, I will not go against Hashem, that’s true, but besides from me not being able to go against Hashem, I also have a positive commandment, whatever Hashem tells me to do, I have to do it, it’s like a *mitzvah* [commandment], I will do. So you asked me to get out of the problem by being silent, like doing a pocket veto, that’s not going to work. If Hashem tells me to say something, I must say it.

Setup for the Third Cycle: Rosh HaPeor

Okay, now Balak is not discouraged yet, he’s still trying a third time. Balak tells Bilam, okay, let me take you to another place. Now we already understand that it’s God that we have to placate here, that we get it, maybe we’ll take you to a third place, maybe we’ll be direct, maybe we’ll be correct in the eyes of God, and you’ll curse him, curse the people for me from there.

The Interpretive Possibilities of Location Changes

So again, it seems like these places are somehow supposed to show the weakness of the people, maybe as we see, Balak, Bilam is continuously being impressed by the weakness of the people, or by the strength of the people, and we could also interpret this if you want, spiritually he’s seeing their good deeds, they’re being good people, maybe from the other side, he’ll be able to see some weakness, he’ll find. We can interpret this in strategic terms, he’s looking for a way to get in for a kind of weakness, and then apparently understands that what God is doing is also the strength that they have, so he’s going to find some weakness, some angle to get in. Or you can interpret this spiritually as finding some sin or some problem, like we said, *l’habit aven b’Yaakov* [to see sin in Yaakov], maybe we’ll find some *aven*.

The Third Location: Rosh HaPeor

So that’s what he does, he takes them to a third place, Rosh HaPeor. And Peor apparently is also the name of a mountain, and of course we know that there’s also Baal Peor, the Baal of Peor, that’s the literal meaning of it, right, the God called Baal, Baal is just a word for *adon* [lord], right, the Lord of Peor. V’hanishkaf al pnei hayeshimon [And overlooking the Yeshimon] — from which there’s a view of the *yeshimon*, and of this plane called Yeshimon.

And the same process, the seven *mizbachot* [altars], with seven oxen, seven rams, and they do that. And now we are going to stop, because the chapter stops here, for whichever weird reason, so we will stop also, and continue the third prophecy and the fourth, which is not really part of the story, because there isn’t the whole process in it, in the next chapter.

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.