(Numb. 23:23:) SURELY THERE IS NO AUGURY IN JACOB AND NO DIVINATION IN ISRAEL. Here you are (Balak) practicing augury and divining in what place you may prevail against them, but they are not like that. When they have to fight against enemies, a high priest stands up and puts on Urim and Thummim, which are asked about the will of Holy One. So all the gentiles practice divination and augury, but these (Israelites) prove them false through repentance and nullify their divinations. It is so written (in Is. 44:25): WHO FRUSTRATES OMENS OF LIARS AND CONFOUNDS DIVINERS.⁸¹ 6:9 (8d).

footnotes: ⁸¹ Cf. yShab.

(Numb. 23:23, cont:) NOW IT IS SAID FOR JACOB AND FOR ISRAEL: WHAT HAS GOD DONE? His (i.e., Balaam's) eye saw that Israel was sitting (yoshevim) before the Holy One like a pupil before his master and was hearing why each and every parashah was written; and so it says (in Is. 23:18): FOR HER⁸² PROFITS SHALL BELONG TO THOSE WHO DWELL (YOSHEVIM) BEFORE THE LORD…. It also says (in Is. 30:20): AND NO MORE SHALL YOUR TEACHER HIDE HIMSELF, FOR YOUR EYES SHALL SEE YOUR TEACHER. The ministering angels will ask them: What has the Holy One taught you, because they cannot enter their (i.e., Israel's) precincts, as stated (in Numb. 23:23): NOW IT IS SAID FOR JACOB AND FOR ISRAEL: WHAT HAS GOD DONE?

footnotes: ⁸² The midrash reads the HER as referring to Torah, but in the context of Isaiah the HER refers to Tyre as a harlot.

(Numb. 23:24:): HERE IS A PEOPLE RISING UP LIKE A LION. You have no nation in the world like them. Here they are sleeping away from the Torah and the commandments. Then having risen from their sleep, they stand up like lions. Quickly reciting the Shema', they proclaim the sovereignty of the Holy One. Then having become like lions, they embark on worldly business pursuits. If one of them should stumble, or if destroying demons come to touch one of them, he proclaims the sovereignty of the Holy One.⁸³‘ to be safe from demons, see yBer. 1:1 (2d); Ber. 5a; M. Pss. 4:9.

footnotes: ⁸³ On reciting the Shema

(Numb. 23:24, cont.:) IT (a lion) DOES NOT SLEEP UNTIL IT HAS EATEN ITS PREY. When he (the reader) says (in the Shema' of Deut. 6:4): THE LORD IS ONE, the destroying demons are destroyed on his account, and they intone after him (as the liturgical response): AND BLESSED BE THE NAME OF HIS GLORIOUS KINGDOM FOREVER AND EVER.⁸⁴‘, even the demons recognize the sovereignty of the Holy One. Moreover, through the recitation of the Shema' he is sustained from the the day watch to the night watch.⁸⁵ Thus when he goes to sleep, he entrusts he spirit into the hand of the Holy One, as stated (in Ps. 31:6[5]: INTO YOUR HAND I ENTRUST MY SPIRIT.⁸⁶. 5a. Then when he awakens and proclaims the sovereignty of the Holy One, the night watch transfers him to the day watch. Thus it is stated (Ps. 130:6): MY SOUL BELONGS TO THE LORD FROM THE TIME OF THE MORNING WATCH.⁸⁷ For that reason Balaam said: There is no nation like this one.

footnotes: ⁸⁴ In reciting the proper liturgical response to the Shema ⁸⁵ I.e., his guardian angels for the morning and the night. ⁸⁶ Cf. Ber ⁸⁷ So the verse is understood here in agreement with the LXX. A more typical translation would be: MY SOUL WAITS FOR THE LORD MORE THAN THE GUARDIANS FOR THE MORNING.

(Numb. 23:24, cont.:) AND DRUNK THE BLOOD OF THE SLAIN. He prophesied that Moses would not sleep (in his grave), until he had taken vengeance on himself and on the five kings of Midian. (Numb. 23:24:) IT DOES NOT SLEEP UNTIL IT HAS EATEN ITS PREY. This prey is Balaam. (Ibid., cont.:) AND DRUNK THE BLOOD OF THE SLAIN. These are the five kings of Midian. (Numb. 31:6:) WITH THE VESSELS [OF THE SANCTUARY.⁸⁸., Numb. 7:14, and in Numb. R. 20:20 make this transition from prophecy to fulfillment clearer. This is] the high priestly diadem plate on which it is said (according to Exod. 28:36): HOLY TO THE LORD.⁸⁹ 63b; Suk. 5a. (Numb. 31:6, cont.:) AND THE TRUMPETS FOR SOUNDING THE ALARM IN HIS HAND. Moses said to Israel: Balaam the Wicked has practiced magic for you⁹⁰ and is making the five kings fly. So he flies and makes others fly. Show him the high priestly diadem plate on which the name of the Holy One is engraved,⁹¹. Cf. Gk.: glufein (“to engrave.”) and they will fall down before you. You know that it is so written (in Numb. 31:8): AND ALONG WITH THEIR OTHER VICTIMS THEY KILLED THE KINGS OF MIDIAN: EVI, REKEM, ZUR, HUR, AND REBA, THE FIVE KINGS OF MIDIAN, THEY ALSO KILLED BALAAM BEN BEOR WITH THE SWORD. What did that wicked man want with the kings of Midian? Is it not in fact written (in Numb. 24:25): THEN BALAAM AROSE AND WENT BACK TO HIS OWN PLACE? It is simply this: When he heard that twenty-four thousand Israelites had fallen (in Numb. 25:9) through his counsel,⁹² he returned to get his reward. For that reason Balaam ben Beor is recorded (in Numb. 31:8) together with the five kings of Midian.

footnotes: ⁸⁸ The passage describes the vengeance just prophesied. The parallels in Tanh ⁸⁹ For a description, see Shab. ⁹⁰ Cf. the parallel account in Gen. R. 20:20, which reads, “for them.” ⁹¹ Galuf ⁹² See Deut. R. 1:2.