BalakBamidbar (numbers)

Balak and Balaam
Balak son of Tzipor, a Midianite prince, saw all that Israel had done to Sichon and Og, the kings of the Amorites.

Moab became terrified of the people, for they were numerous. So Moab became disheartened and sick of life due to the threat posed by the Israelites.

Since the Moabites knew that Moses had lived in Midian before becoming the Israelites’ leader, they decided to ask the Midianites what power he had used to accomplish the miracles that he performed. The Midianites cooperated out of pure hatred, since the Israelites at this point posed no threat to them at all. Moab said to the elders of Midian, “Now that our protectors are gone, this assembly will pillage us; they will devour everything around us, as the ox devours the greens of the field. What should we do?” The Midianites responded that Moses’ power was in his mouth, i.e., his ability to intercede and pray to God. So the Moabites recruited the Midianite prince, Balak son of Tzipor, and appointed him, as an emergency measure to resist the Israelite menace, to be king of Moab at that time.

Balak Sends for Balaam
Since Moses’ power was spiritual, Balak understood that military might would prove useless against the Israelites; this was clear from the way they conquered the mighty Sichon and Og. Balak therefore decided that he needed to enlist the services of someone with spiritual power to combat Moses. The non-Jewish prophet Balaam was famous for the efficacy of his curses. Moreover, Balak was from Aram, where Balaam also lived, and Balaam had prophesied that Balak would one day be a king; Balak was familiar with Balaam’s prophetic powers firsthand. Balak therefore sent messengers to Balaam son of Be’or, to the town of Petor, which is situated on the Euphrates River in Aram Naharayim – the land of Balak’s people – to call for him and to promise to pay him well, saying, “A people has come out of Egypt, and behold, they have covered the ‘eye’ of the land – they have divested the land of its sentinels, Sichon and Og, who were paid to protect it. And they are stationed opposite me, ready to strike.

So now, please come and curse this people for me, for they are too powerful for me. Perhaps my people and I will be able to strike them and drive them out of the land, or at least reduce their numbers, for I know that whomever you bless is blessed and whomever you curse is cursed.”

So the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian went, with all sorts of magic charms in their hands so Balaam would not be able to say that he lacked his tools, since he had become famous as a sorcerer prior to becoming a prophet. The elders of Midian decided that if Balaam would assent readily, it would be a sign that he could in fact do something, but if not, he would prove ineffectual. They came to Balaam and conveyed Balak’s message to him.

Balaam knew through prophecy that God had forbidden the Israelites to attack Moab, and that therefore Balak had nothing to fear. Nonetheless, he did not reveal this fact to Balak or his messengers, because he hated the Israelites and jumped at this opportunity to curse them. He said to the messengers, “Lodge here for the night” – for, as with other gentile prophets, God revealed Himself to him only at night, stealthily, as it were – “and I will give you an answer in accordance with how GOD will speak to me. Perhaps He will tell me that it befits me to go only with dignitaries more distinguished than you.” So the Moabite nobles stayed with Balaam, but the Midianite elders, seeing that Balaam was uncertain, took it as a sign that he would be ineffectual, and therefore left.

‘Behold the people coming out of Egypt has covered the “eye” of the land. Come and curse them for me using God’s Name: perhaps I will be able to fight against them and drive them out of the world.’” Balaam hated the Jews more than Balak, for Balak asked Balaam only to invoke an ordinary curse against them, which would drive them away from Moab, but Balaam wanted to curse them using God’s Name and annihilate them altogether.

God came to Balaam at night and said to him, “If these men have come to call for you, and you are eager to take your fee, arise and go with them, but be advised that whatever I tell you, you must do.”

Despite God’s words, Balaam still hoped to catch God off guard and curse the people, so Balaam arose in the morning, and, enthused with the prospect of cursing the Israelites, saddled his she-donkey himself. He also hoped, by demonstrating his own eagerness to do evil, to emphasize how the Jews had repeatedly been eager to rebel against God during their 40 years in the desert, and thereby make God judge them unfavorably. In response, however, God told him that this evil enthusiasm was counter-weighed by the holy enthusiasm Abraham demonstrated by saddling his donkey himself the morning he went to sacrifice Isaac. Moreover, Abraham had bequeathed his enthusiastic devotion to God to the Jewish people: this was thus their true nature, and whenever they behaved contrary to this nature, it was just a temporary lapse. Nonetheless, Balaam went on his way, with the same evil intentions as the Moabite dignitaries escorting him.

Intending to make him pay for his stinginess, Balaam said to Balak, “Build me seven altars here, and prepare for me seven bulls and seven rams.”

He answered, saying, “Is not what GOD puts into my mouth what I must take care to say?”

I have received an instruction to bless them; He has blessed, and I cannot retract it, because