In Parshas Balak, Balak, the king of
Midian, hires the magician Balaam to curse Bnei Yisrael. The pesukim show that
Balaam had a relationship with Hashem as the prophet for the Non-Jewish
nations. Chazal teach us that the reason Hashem set up this relationship was
because otherwise, the non-Jews could claim that had they had their own
prophet, they also would have kept the Torah. Balaam had this relationship and
he still used it for evil, thereby taking away any claims from the non-Jews.
Even though Balaam was a Navi, he was on
a lower level than the typical one. Typically, when a Navi received a prophecy,
he would be awake and his body would convulse and seize from the force of the
extreme holiness coursing through it. It was not necessarily a pretty sight to
behold. These convulsions came from the fact that a typical physical body
cannot handle such extreme holiness. Balaam, however, only received prophecy in
his sleep. He was not holy enough to receive prophecy as a message, it could only
be in a dream.
There was an even bigger difference
between a typical Navi and Moshe, however. Moshe, was able to talk with Hashem while
he was awake without any convulsions at all. Just as if he was talking with another
human being, by all appearances having a normal conversation. In Chazal this is
known as “Aspaklaria Hameirah” and no other prophet in history ever reached
this level of prophecy.
Interestingly enough, the medrash lists
several differences between the prophecies of Balaam and Moshe that seem to
show that Balaam’s nevuah was greater! Balaam always knew when he would speak
with Hashem and what they would be speaking about. He also was able to speak
with Hashem in any physical position, even when lying down. Moshe on the other
hand, never knew when and what he would be speaking about with Hashem, and he
also always stood when speaking to Hashem. What is the explanation behind these
seeming advantages in Nevuah for Balaam?
The Ramban explains that Balaam’s
advantages are really a result of his lower level of prophecy as
compared to Moshe. While it is true that Moshe never knew what Hashem was going
to tell him before they spoke and he never knew exactly when Hashem would
appear to him, the whole idea of Moshe’s level of prophecy was that these ideas
were completely unnecessary! Besides for Moshe having the level of
“Aspaklaria Meirah”, or perhaps because of it, he had to be prepared to speak
with Hashem at a moment’s notice, literally. Because of this, Moshe had no need
for an advance warning of his conversation with Hashem, he essentially had an ongoing
conversation with Him for the entire time Bnei Yisrael were in the
desert. Balaam, however, only had specific times set up when he could speak
with Hashem, and they would only discuss certain topics. As we mentioned
earlier, Hashem spoke with Balaam only in order to take away any claims from
the nations of the world, and therefore, He made sure Balaam was ready for
those conversations in order that they should take place. So Balaam had to be
properly prepared for those times and those topics or he would not be able to
speak to Hashem at all. For that reason, Hashem gave Balaam advance warning.
This is also the reason why Moshe always
stood in front of Hashem. Moshe’s conversation with Hashem was one Hashem treasured
and treated as a real conversation and therefore, He made Moshe ‘stand on
ceremony’, the way a person should while talking with Hashem, in order to show
that it was a formal and serious discussion. However, His conversations with
Balaam were more of a requirement than a desire to speak with him. Therefore,
Hashem did not make Balaam stand on ceremony since He did not consider it an
important conversation, completely the opposite of Moshe.
No matter how it appears, our prophets,
and especially Moshe, will always be more precious to Hashem. Looking through
the parshah, it is easy to pick out the theme, Bnei Yisrael are Hashem’s
nation, and we are a pretty amazing people too.
Shabbat Shalom!
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