Parashah Balak Numbers 22:2-40 Chavurah Shalom 1/20/18 Up until the Israelites came upon the scene, the Moabites were vassal to Sihon, King of the Amorites, Numbers 21:26. Balak was most likely set up as king by the Amorites, due to his loyalty to them. The Name Balak comes from a root word in Hebrew which means “to lay waste,” and thus some have named Balak “the devastator.” No wonder they faced Israel with fear and dread – they successfully wiped out the very one who had defeated them, Sihon, King of the Amorites. But God had graced the children of Moab with their land because of Abraham’s prayers for Lot. Abraham’s long prayer and deliberation with God over Lot occurred in Genesis 18:16-33 – Deuteronomy 2:9 records God’s gifting of land to the descendants of Lot. It was after the departure of Lot that God declared that Canaan would be the land of Promise to Abraham and his seed, Genesis 13:14-16. The Midianites were the descendants of Abraham and Keturah, Genesis 25:1-6. They were something of a Nomadic tribe, who existed in Arabia, Sinai, Egypt and occasional forays into Canaan. Exodus 2:15-22; Numbers 10:29; Genesis 37:25-36; Judges 6:1-6. The fact that Moab dealt with the elders of Midian suggests Midian was not a kingdom. There is evidence that there were up to 5 separate nomadic groups of Midianites, that could be found some among the Israelites, some among the Moabites, and among some of the other nations associated with the East such as Amalekites and Amorites. The importance of Bilam to the story is that when God has chosen to bless, nothing can thwart His plans. There is no power on earth or in heaven that can go against God’s plan and intent to bless His people. There are two trains of thought on Bilam, even in the Scripture before us. One is that here is a Gentile prophet, who receives his prophecies from the one true God. The other is that Bilam is no man of God at all, but simply seeks to profit from being a prophet! The Sages almost universally see Bilam as evil, and is often grouped with villains such as Cain, Korah, Doeg, Ahithophel, Gehazi, Absalom, Adonijah, Uzziah and Haman. However, he is also grouped with Job and Jethro since here was a wise Gentile to whom others came for counsel. Apostolic references to Bilam’s greed are found 2 Peter 2:14-16, Jude 1:11, Revelation 2:14. Other references to Bilam in the Tanach are found at: Deuteronomy 23:3-6; Joshua 13:15-23; 24:9-10; Nehemiah 13:1-3; and Micah 6:5. At the very least he is a man who was subverted by the - 1 - lure of gain and wealth. What I am saying is that whether he is a man of God or not, the same result is true – you cannot curse what God has determined to bless. A quick side note here, without going into all of the foregoing reference to the rabbinic literature, the message of Peter concerning Bil'am is "loving the wages of unrighteousness," which was a basic teaching of the Sages, and chronicled in the Talmud, b. Sanhedrin 106a. The point being that, at least in this instance, the perception of Bilam is the same in both the Jewish world and that of the Apostles. However, we acknowledge that the Talmud is 500-600 years later than Peter. In 1967 a Dutch archaeological expedition, digging at Deir ʿAlla in an ancient delta formed by the juncture of the Jabbok and Jordan rivers, uncovered fragments of an inscription written on wall plaster inside an Iron Age II (900– 600 b.c.e) temple. On both stratigraphic and epigraphic grounds, the inscription has been dated to the eighth century. Its language, though originally thought to be Aramaic, is clearly a dialect of Hebrew, probably of that very region of Transjordan in which it was found. Judging by the curve of the fragments, the inscription was most likely written on a stele (pillar). And judging by the contents, it may have had something to do with the founding of a temple. The many lacunae and the questionable readings and renderings give some idea why the above translation is largely conjectural. Yet the following is clear. A seer named Balaam the son of Beor has a nocturnal vision in which the gods speak to him (1.1–2)—precisely the circumstances of Numbers 22:8–9,14–20. If this interpretation of the Deir ʿAlla inscription is correct, it has far-reaching implications for the biblical story of Balaam. First, it distinctly shows that the Balaam tradition was very much alive in the eighth century in a non-Israelite, Transjordanian community. Indeed, that it is situated just to the north of the biblical setting of the story may indicate as well that Balaam was not a Mesopotamian from the Euphrates (see the Comments to 22:5; 23:3) but an Aramean (23:7) or an Ammonite (23:5 Sam.), that is, from a nearby region. Moreover, Balaam is not introduced, implying that his name was well known. And furthermore, Balaam is presented as a seer, not as a sorcerer, in keeping with the biblical narrative (see Excursus 59). Equally significant is that Balaam is presented in a positive light, again in agreement with the main biblical story (but not with the ass episode; see Excursus 57). It has also been noted in Excursus 58 that the prophet Micah, also of the eighth century, holds a - 2 - favorable opinion of Balaam. However, the accusation that Balaam devised the scheme to have the Moabite women seduce Israel into worshipping Baal-peor (Num. 31:16; see Excursus 58) may be traceable to Deir ʿAlla’s assertion that Balaam founded a pagan (fertility?) cult. This means that both views of Balaam, positive and negative, are contemporary. In fact, they must be older than the eighth century, since both Micah and Deir ʿAlla refer to the Balaam episode as having occurred long before. Thus we now have extrabiblical confirmation of the antiquity of the Balaam traditions.--JPS Torah Commentary, Excursus 60. The prospect of cursing another person, family, group, tribe or nation was well known in the Ancient Near East. The pagan nations believed in the power of sorcerers to be able to manipulate the gods, and to cast spells, and to curse other peoples. Scripturally, you can find the basic reference to Blessings and Cursings from God concerning Israel, found in Deuteronomy 28-30. However, you also find this ability in certain people. Eliyahu – when approached by the captain of the armies of Samaria, with his 50 men, Eliyahu called down fire from heaven and consumed him and his 50 men, 2 Kings 1:9-16. Paul, on his first missionary journey, when opposed by Elymas the magician, prayed and struck him with blindness, Acts 13:8-12. In Genesis 19:11, the Angels who went to remove Lot from Sodom struck the adversaries at the door with blindness. There are actually 7 oracles often called “The Bilam Oracles.” They make up the majority of chapters 22-24. The 7 oracles are laid out thusly: 1) Numbers 23:7-10; 2) 23:18-24; 3) 24:3-9; 4) 24:15-19; 5) 24:20; 6) 24:21-22; 7) 23-24. Each of the Oracles are poetic in form. When one place does not occasion a curse, Balak has Bilam move to a new location with the hopes that he will be able to curse them from there. In each case, Bilam pronounces a blessing, and in each case it is in the form of a poem, which celebrates the prosperity of Israel, either present or future. The big problem in our text is that on the one hand, Bilam seems to be involved in sorcery, while on the other hand he is engaged in conversation with God, and appears to submit to His demands. On top of this, God puts words into Bilam's mouth, much like He does for His own prophets. Yet in the end, Bilam gives counsel to Balak which brings about Israel’s demise. He is clearly the enemy of Israel! Tim Hegg had an interesting little commentary on Spiritual Warfare based upon this passage: We may also note several more subtle indications that Bilam is - 3 - presented in our text as the messenger of Satan. First, in v. 6, Balak gives us apparently what was commonly known and asserted about Bilam: "For I know יָדַעְתִּ י אֵ ת) ".that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed This is clearly a reference to the words of (אֲשֶׁ ר־תְּבָרֵ ך מְ בֹרָ ך וַאֲשֶׁ ר תָּ אֹר יוּאָר HaShem to Abraham, found in Genesis 12:3: "And I will bless those who bless ( וַאֲבָרֲ כָה מְבָרְ כֶיך וּמְקַלֶּלְך אָאֹר) ".you, and the one who curses you, I will curse Here, the blessing and cursing is the work of HaShem. What characterizes HaSatan from the beginning is his desire to attribute to himself what can only be the work of the Almighty. Apparently Bilam had done the same thing. Secondly, Balak's message to Bilam, which he sent by the way of messengers, was this: Arar) them for me." But when Bilam reports Balak's' ,אָרַר) Come curse" qabav) them for ,קָבַב) message to God in v.