Parshas Balak tells the famous story of
Bilaam attempting to curse Bnei Yisrael, but being continuously forced to bless
them instead. We have discussed many different aspects of this story over the
years, and many more still remain.
Balak, the king of Midian,
sent messengers to Bilaam to convince him to come and curse Bnei Yisrael. The
messengers told Bilaam, “הִנֵּה עַם יָצָא מִמִּצְרַיִם הִנֵּה
כִסָּה אֶת עֵין הָאָרֶץ” “A people has come out of Egypt, and behold, they have
covered the land” (Bamidbar 22:5). Balak was scared of Bnei Yisrael coming
to attack him, so he wanted to hire Bilaam to curse them and take away Hashem’s
favor.
Later on that night,
Hashem came to Bilaam in a dream. Bilaam explained his encounter with Balak’s
men. “הִנֵּה הָעָם הַיֹּצֵא מִמִּצְרַיִם וַיְכַס אֶת עֵין
הָאָרֶץ” “Behold the people coming out of Egypt has covered
the land” (22:11). Why would Bilaam say that Bnei Yisrael are currently
coming out of Egypt, by this time, it’s been almost forty years since then!
The Kli Yakar explains
that, as with almost everything he said, Bilaam was trying to show Hashem that
Bnei Yisrael deserved to be cursed. Bilaam looked at all the complaints Bnei
Yisrael had made while in the desert and how many times they had said they
would have rather had stayed in Egypt. By saying that Bnei Yisrael were still
coming out of Egypt, he wanted to show that the influence of Egypt had never
left them. If by this point, after spending forty years in the spiritual bubble
that was the desert, Bnei Yisrael still had not been affected positively, then
they were not so great after all.
This obviously was not
true, but it was not only Bilaam that thought this. The commentaries show how
each one of Bilaam’s blessings was really the opposite of what he wanted to
accuse Bnei Yisrael of. In one of his blessings, the pasuk reads, “כִּי לֹא נַחַשׁ בְּיַעֲקֹב וְלֹא קֶסֶם בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל”
“For there is no divination in Yaakov and no soothsaying in Yisrael” (23:23).
Egypt was known as the sorcery capital of the world; after being there for over
200 years, the world expected the only way Bnei Yisrael had left was through
harnessing some powerful sorcery of their own. This blessing showed this wasn’t
true. There was no sorcery in Bnei Yisrael, they had been saved through the
work of Hashem. And because they had relied on Hashem throughout their journey
through the desert, they deserved to be blessed at this point, not cursed.
Many of the stories
found in Sefer Bamidbar are not so flattering to Bnei Yisrael. From Korach, to
the miraglim, to the many complaints, to the very serious story found at the
end of this week’s parsha, it’s easy to assume that the generation in the
desert was not the greatest people; and we see that Hashem never hesitated to
punish them by any of these episodes. And yet, here by Bilaam and Balak, they
end up receiving some of the most beautiful brachos ever given!
Bnei Yisrael spent
forty years in the desert. They received the Torah, ate manna every day, built
the Mishkan, and experienced countless miracles that showed Hashem’s direct
presence in their lives. The bad stories we read about, make up a total of
maybe a few months’ time. The majority of the time, they studied Torah and
followed the word of Hashem. The proof is in these brachos; going through the
brachos, we can see what praises the nation deserved. They only served Hashem,
they were modest, they definitely were not affected by their time in Mitzrayim,
among other things. These brachos are our way of appreciating our ancestors for
who they were, some of the greatest people in history. And imagine, we learn it
from the brachos of the wicked Bilaam!
Shabbat Shalom!
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