ולא הלך כפעם בפעם לקראת נחשים, “and he did not go as every other time towards divinations. The reason was that he had been told: “divinations are useless in connection with Yaakov” (23,23). As a result of abandoning this venue Bileam was granted a measure of Holy Spirit (verse 2).

וישת אל המדבר פניו, “he set his face toward the desert.” Israel was encamped there in the wilderness of Moav. Bileam faced them to that he could see them, concentrate on what he was going to say, and make sure that his blessings would take full effect. Rashi explains the words in accordance with Onkelos, who says ושוי לקבל עגלא דעבדו למדברא אפוהי, “to the calf which they had made in the desert.” According to Rashi, Bileam hoped to be able to curse the people. The author queries if Rashi had an accurate text of the Targum, seeing he only quotes two words from the Targum, i.e. ושוי למדברא, These words need not mean that Bileam addressed the spirit of impurity which resides in the desert and which caused the Israelites to fall victim to the sin of the golden calf. Whenever Bileam wanted to receive inspiration from Hashem, the Torah first mentions that he offered an ox and a ram as burnt-offering (23,2). The reason Bileam requested Balak’s assistance in these sacrificial procedures was because he, Bileam, addressed the attribute of Mercy, whereas Balak was to address the attribute of Justice. This is the meaning of “he set his face toward the desert,” and on this occasion we do not read about Balak assisting in the procedures at all. [Our author considers Bileam alone the subject of the word ויעל פר ואיל במזבח, he did not want the attribute of Justice to be addressed at all as this would interfere with his train of thought. It is difficult to read this into the text. Ed.].

וירא את ישראל שוכן לשבטיו, “He saw Israel dwelling according to its tribes.” He saw the flags arranged in proper order. He noted that the entrances of the tents did not face each other so as to preserve a maximum of privacy for each family at all times. This would prevent an evil eye damaging the air-space of one’s neighbour. As soon as he realised the purpose of this arrangement, he exclaimed: “how goodly are your tents O Yaakov” (Baba Batra 60).

שתם העין, “with the open eye.” The word שתם is the opposite of סתום, i.e. “closed, shut.” A similar expression appears in Avodah Zarah 69 "כדי שישתום ויסתום", and the expression denotes the time it takes for a Gentile to open and reseal a casket of wine, i.e. if the wine was unsupervised for this length of time it is no longer fit for consumption by a Jew. It is a well known fact that there are three types of knowledge and the way it can be acquired: 1) by means of seeing things and comprehending their nature. 2) by means of hearing things and understanding their nature. 3) perceptions other than by means of these two organs. The latter are called simply ידיעה, “knowledge.” In our verse Bileam refers to these three ways of acquiring knowledge as 1) שתום העין, 2) שומע אמרי א-ל; 3) יודע דעת עליון. We find all these three ways of acquiring knowledge also applied to G’d Himself in a single verse in Exodus 3,7 where G’d describes His knowledge of the pitiful state the Jewish people are in with these words: ראה ראיתי את עני עמי....את צעקתם שמעתי...כי ידעתי את מכאוביו, “I have certainly seen the troubles of My people...and I have heard their outcries...for I know their pain.” Seeing that the terms “seeing” and “hearing” do not really apply to G’d who has no eyes or ears, it is clear that the word ידעתי, “I know,” applies to all three ways of acquiring knowledge.

אשר מחזה שדי יחזה, “who sees the vision of Shaddai.” This verse clearly shows that Bileam did not achieve the level of prophetic insight achieved by our patriarchs. It most certainly did not even approximate the level of prophetic insight achieved by Moses. It was at least two levels below that of Moses. Whereas the level of the patriarchs was of the level described as א-ל שדי, that of Bileam was only that of the level of מחזה של שדי.

According to Nachmanides, this is why Bileam described himself as גלוי עינים, a level of prophetic insights characteristic of the בני הנביאים, “the disciples of the prophets” that we read about frequently in the Book of Prophets. In Kings II 6,17 for instance, we read of Elisha praying for G’d to open the eyes of his disciple. In our portion, chapter 22,31 we have a similar statement applied to Bileam when the Torah reports that G’d opened his eyes and he saw the angel. When the sages in Sifri Vezot Habrachah comment on Deut. 34,10 where the Torah reports that “there never again arose a prophet of the level of Moses among the Jewish people who knew G’d face to face,” that there did arise a prophet among the Gentiles who was of similar stature, i.e. Bileam, the meaning is not that Bileam equalled Moses as a prophet. Rather, the author of Sifri compares the aspect of ידיעה, which Moses had of G’d’s ways to the clarity with which Bileam perceived that which he did perceive. He did not see fragmentary visions, unclear visions like other prophets, but had a perfectly clear understanding of what G’d conveyed to him — in honor of the people of Israel — (not because of his personal merit). This is the way Nachmanides understands the Sifri we quoted. There is another way of understanding the words of the Sifri who writes: ‘but among the nations of the world there did arise such a prophet;” Sifri means when Bileam bestowed blessings, i.e. addressed exclusively the attribute of Mercy, his stature as a prophet equaled that of Moses, his blessings were just as powerful. Had it not been for the blessings of Bileam which he addressed to the attribute of Mercy exclusively, the Jewish people’s future would have been questionable at best. But seeing that Bileam reverted to the use of magic after bestowing his blessings, his power as a prophet evaporated completely. נופל, the word is to be understood as analogous to Genesis 15,12: ותרדמה נפלה על אברם, “and a deep sleep overcame Avram.” וגלוי עינים, “with his eyes open.” The meaning is: “he sees even while being asleep.” We have a similar verse by Solomon in Song of Songs 5,2: “I am asleep but my heart is awake.”

מה טובו אוהליך יעקב משכנותיך ישראל, “how goodly are your tents O Yaakov, your dwellings O Israel.” According to the plain meaning of the text Bileam now prophesies about the future of the Israelites in the land of Canaan.

According to Midrash (Talmud Baba Batra 60a) Bileam speaks of the tents in the desert, seeing that there the Israelites dwelled in tents. When he saw how the entrances of these tents were so arranged that they did not face each other, Bileam was inspired to compliment the people on this.

A kabbalistic approach: the words אהליך are a reference to the tents of the Jewish people in the celestial regions, whereas the word משכנותיך refers to their terrestrial dwellings. The former is a reference to the name of Yaakov being engraved on G’d’s throne (Bereshit Rabbah 68,18 ). The word טובו is understood as meaning the same as בהטיבו את הנרות, “purifying, cleaning” the lamps of the Menorah (Exodus 30,7). The word אהליך is a composite of בהלו נרו, “when His lamp shone” (Job 29,3), the latter א having been added. It symbolises the word אור, light. Bileam perceives the משכנות, “terrestrial dwellings of the Israelites,” as deriving their input from the purity of the celestial light this nation commands in those regions. Note how the verse is constructed in such a way that the word טוב we referred to covers both the term אהליך and משכנותיך. Immediately following is כנחלים נטיו; “stretching like brooks;” the word נטיה is always applied to manifestations in our terrestrial world; in this instance it refers to the משכנות mentioned in the previous verse.

כנחלים נטיו, “stretching like brooks;” Our verse uses four separate expressions describing the dwellings of the Jewish people. The four expressions correspond to the four flags of each of the four camps of the people in the desert. Each expression symbolizes another type of enjoyment, delight. Our sages in Taanit 20 consider the curse with which the prophet Achiah Hashiloni cursed Israel as better than the blessing bestowed on the Jewish people by Bileam [Compare Kings I 14,15: “The Lord will strike Israel (the ten tribes) until it sways like a reed in water.”] You will note that reeds have a habit of bending with the wind without breaking, not being uprooted by the most powerful winds, whereas the cedars which Bileam used as similes for Israel in his blessings are prone to being uprooted by the wind. When that happens the trunk will not rehabilitate itself.

יזל מים מדליו, “water shall drip from its boughs.” According to the plain meaning of the text the word דליות means “boughs, branches.”

A Midrashic approach: The verse contains a warning to be careful in one’s treatment of the poor as they are the ones from which Torah emanates in great concentrations. We know this from Isaiah 55,1 who urges the thirsty to come for “water,” the word “water” being a simile for Torah. Accordingly the word מדליו is understood by the Midrash as מדלים שבהם, as “from the poor among them.”

וזרעו במים רבים, “their roots have abundant water.” They get irrigated by abundant water supplies and continue to grow and develop day after day. It is similar to Isaiah 17,11: “on the day that you plant, you see it grow; on the morning you sow you see it bud.”

וירום מאגג מלכו, “and may its kingdom be exalted over Agag.” A reference to King Shaul who captured Agag, the King of Amalek.

מברכיך ברוך “the ones who bless you, may they be blessed.” Although Bileam combines plural and singular in this verse, we encounter something similar in both Genesis 49,22 and Proverbs 28,1.

ועתה ברח לך אל מקומך, “and now, flee to your place!” According to the father of R. David Kimchi this is not a flight in the conventional sense of the word but means the same as “go quickly!” The word is used in a similar meaning in Isaiah 48,20: ברחו מכשדים, “flee from Chaldea! Declare with loud shouting, Announce this, bring out the word to the end of the earth!” It may describe that Israel departed from Egypt with great fanfare. When the prophet Jonah is described as לברוח תרשישה, “hiring a ship to escape to Tarshish” (Jonah 1,3) this must not be taken to mean that he imagined he could escape from the Lord; it means that he meant to travel to Tarshish quickly. This is also the meaning of the words מלפני ה' that we find there which means “away from the presence of the Lord” and not מפני ה', “on account of the Lord,” as we find in Psalms 139,7 where David makes plain that it is impossible to flee from G’d using the words: “Where can I escape from Your spirit (presence)?” The reason that Bileam was anxious to leave was to forestall G’d giving him a sign such as He did to the people of Nineveh (in later years) which would prompt them to do repentance, resulting eventually and indirectly in the destruction of the Northern kingdom of the Ten Tribes. Jonah himself told G’d that the reason that he was in such a rush to embark for Tarshish was to forestall that demise of the Jewish kingdom, not to escape from the Lord (Jonah 4,2). The “sign” to the people of Nineveh which prompted them to take Jonah’s prediction of their doom seriously and to repent their evil ways was undoubtedly that they had heard what had happened on the boat to Tarshish, how Jonah despite being thrown overboard had miraculously remained alive, etc., etc. This is a beautiful explanation although it clashes with that of our sages at the beginning of Mechilta 21 who do understand Jonah’s flight to Tarshish as an attempt to escape G’d in order not to be burdened with Holy Spirit, something he thought is not imposed when away from the Holy Land.

אמרתי כבד אכבדך, “I had said that I would honor you greatly;” the reason Balak used the word כבד, “honor,” twice in succession is that it refers to the two locations to which Balak had taken Bileam, hoping each time that he would curse the Jewish people. Now that he had taken him to a third location he no longer even planned to honor Bileam since he had acquired a reputation of blessing the Israelites instead. As soon as Bileam had declared that those who curse the Israelites will themselves be cursed whereas those who bless them will be blessed, Balak had lost all hope of a successful confrontation with that people and he told him “to get lost.” He blamed his inability to reward Bileam on G’d, saying that “G’d has prevented me from honoring you.”

ועתה הנני הולך לעמי לכה איעצך, “and now that I am about to go to my people, let me give you some advice.” He meant that he was going to give Balak advice how to trip up the Jewish people, to deflect them from their pious ways. He should encourage the Moabite women to make themselves sexually available to the Israelites. He, Bileam, knew that the G’d of the Jews hated sexual promiscuity. Although in our verse Bileam did not spell out precisely what he advised, it becomes clear in Numbers 31,16 where Moses tells the returning warriors that the Midianite women whom they failed to kill were the seductresses who, at the instigation of Bileam, were responsible for the thousands of Jewish lives lost in the pestilence.

אשר יעשה, “what is going to do.” The complete sentence is: “I will hereby advise you of what this nation is going to do to your people in the distant future.” Later on in verse 17 he goes into detail saying: “it will pierce the nobles of Moav.” Bileam implied that at this point in history Balak had no cause for worry.

Nachmanides understands the word איעצך as revealing to Balak a message Bileam had received from G’d telling him that the people of Moav would not fall into the hands of the Jewish people until the end of the pre-messianic period. We find that Bileam announced four separate prophecies. 1) The first prophecy described the Jewish people as part of G’d and His heritage; they would dwell in splendid isolation and not be considered as part of the community of nations. 2) He foretold that the Israelites would conquer the land of Canaan and kill the mighty kings of that country. This was the meaning of verse 24 that they are a people who arise like a lion and do not rest until they have devoured their prey. 3) In the third of his prophecies Bileam saw a vision of the Jewish people firmly established in their homeland dwelling in security and having a king who would vanquish their first adversary after the Exodus, the Amalekites under the kingship of Agag. He foresaw King David rising to a still more powerful position than Sha-ul, and he knew that G’d had already planned for David to become king. David himself testifies to this in Samuel II 5,12. 4) In his fourth vision Bileam concentrated on the messianic future of the Jewish people, a period which he introduced with the words: “I see it but it will not happen now, I can foresee it but it will not come to pass in the near future” (verse 17). During all his previous prophecies Bileam had not tempered them by relegating them to the distant future. The true knowledge that G’d had given him concerned the messianic period. He himself referred to himself as “the one who knows the mind of the Supreme One.” Anyone making such a statement about himself infers that he is familiar with G’d’s long-term planning of the history of mankind. It is something similar to Isaiah 63,4 saying: “For I had planned a day of vengeance.” Our sages in Kohelet Rabbah 12,10 comment that if someone were to claim to know when the messiah would come we are not to believe him. G’d did not reveal to anyone by word of mouth when the final redemption would occur. They derive this from the verse in Isaiah we quoted that G’d keeps the date of when He will take vengeance as a secret in His heart.

Seeing the matter is secret, G’d did not reveal it to His angels who in turn serve as His mouth(piece) revealing to the prophets what they are to say, in effect making the prophets their mouth(piece). The words of the Midrash לבא לפומא לא גלי, “He did not even reveal it to those who serve as mouthpiece,” mean that G’d did not reveal the timing of the arrival of the messiah even to the angels. He most certainly did not reveal it to the prophets and Daniel was told specifically (Daniel 12,9) that “these words are secret and sealed to the time of the end.” A “hidden” (secret) name for G’d is לב, heart, as the heart is where secrets are kept; this is the meaning of Psalms 73,26: “but G’d is the stay of my heart, my portion forever.”

אראנו ולא עתה, “I can see it — but not now.” The prophecy being introduced refers to David who four hundred years from this date would smash the nobles of Moav. The words וקרקר כל בני שת, “and undermine the children of Sheth,“ is a reference to mankind as such which is descended in the main from the descendants of Sheth, Adam’s third son Noach being one of them. (Compare Samuel II 8,2 where David’s victory over Moav is documented.) Another way of understanding the reference by Bileam to the “descendants of Sheth.” The word שת may not refer to a human being but to “foundation.” We find the word שתין meaning “the foundations of the earth” in Talmudic language, a reference to the “navel” of the earth under the Holy Temple. Bileam foresaw that David’s victories would create havoc among the existing world order in the countries surrounding the land of Israel. The words “and Edom will become a conquest” also apply to that period as we know from Kings I 11,16 that Edom”s males were wiped out by David’s general Yoav. The words (verse 19) וירד מיעקב mean that someone descended from Yaakov will arise and destroy the remnants of all the cities of Edom. This may be a veiled reference to Rome. Finally, the words וירד מיעקב also mean that the messiah will be descended from Israel. The words ולא יהיה שריד לבית עשו, “no remnant will remain of Esau,” in Ovadiah 18 are the logical conclusion of Bileam’s prophecy here.

A Midrashic approach: the words “I will see but not now,” refer to David, whereas the subsequent words: “I can see it but not in the near future,” refer to the messiah. The words: a star comes forth from Yaakov” refer to David, whereas the words וקם שבט מישראל, “a scepter-bearer emerges from Israel,” is a reference to King Messiah. The words ומחץ פעמי מואב again refer to David, of whom it is written in Samuel II 8,2 that “he defeated the Moabites and made them lie down on the ground and measured them with a rope.” The words וקרקר כל בני שת again refer to the King Messiah of whom it is written (Psalms 72,8) that וירד מים עד ים, “he will rule from sea to sea.” The words: והיה אדם ירשה again refer to David seeing the Edomites all became slaves to David (Samuel II 8,14) whereas the words וישראל עושה חיל, “and Israel will perform deeds of valour” refer to King Messiah of whom we have read (Ovadiah 1,21) “For the liberators shall march up on Mount Zion to wreak judgment on Mount Esau, and Dominion shall be the Lord’s.”

וירא את עמלק, “he saw Amalek;” (in a prophetic vision, seeing that nation was hundreds of miles distant). The reason this prophecy commences with Amalek is that this nation is both a descendant of Esau and was the first to engage Israel in military combat after the Exodus. It will also be the last nation to do so prior to its utter destruction. In our days Amalek is represented by the Roman Empire. This is the reason Bileam concluded his prophecy with predicting the destruction of the Kingdom of the Kittim, another name for the Roman Empire. Bileam predicts utter destruction for these kingdoms, using the word עדי אובד as something parallel to G’d’s prediction in Exodus 17,14 where the words are מחה אמחה.

וירא את הקיני, “when he saw the Kenite, etc.” This is the family of Yitro. They are described as Kenites in Chronicles I 20,25 (according to Ibn Ezra there). In Judges 4,11 they also appear under that name when Yael slew Siserah. Bileam uses a play on words when describing that these people have set their “nest” in a lofty rock. The word קן, meaning “nest” in Hebrew is employed by Bileam to contrast the advantages gained by that family which converted to Judaism and will share the glorious future of that nation with that of the enemies of the Jewish people. Bileam exclaims “sarcastically?” that even if the Amalekites had made their home in lofty rocks this would not help them against the wrath of G’d and Israel in the future he describes. They would be brought down even from such lofty heights.

כי אם יהיה לבער קין עד מה אשור תשבך, “yet shall Kayin be consumed when Ashur takes you captive.” According to Ibn Ezra, Bileam uses the word Kayin to describe the Kenite, saying: “how long can Ashur keep you captive, i.e. the exile of the Ten Tribes of the Jewish people by the Assyrians is of limited duration, whereas the other captives of Assyria would never regain their freedom. The reason the word Assyria is used in the feminine gender is that Bileam relates to the camp of Assyria, similar to Job 1,15 referring to Sheba in the feminine gender. The same feminine form is used to describe Israel in verse Samuel I 17,21.

אוי מי יחיה משומו אל, “who will survive unless G’d has willed it!” According to the plain meaning of the text the meaning of the verse is that no one can escape the decree of G’d in the world to be executed by the King of Ashur, seeing that that kingdom defeated every nation that stood in its way (Rashi as well as Ibn Ezra).

A Midrashic approach based on Pirke d'Rabbi Eliezer chapter 30: the word קין refers to the descendants of Yitro who are, however, referred to as descendants of Kayin, Adam’s oldest son as in Judges 4,11 they are described as residing in the area to which Kayin moved after having been forgiven by G’d for killing his brother. At the time Bileam pronounced the blessing the Kenites were descendants of Ishmael, i.e. the word מי שומו אל should be read as מישמעאל, “from Ishmael.” This immediately raises the problem that all the descendants of the original Kayin had perished during the deluge, so how could there be any identifiable offspring of his be left alive? The answer clearly must be that people who resided in the part of the world where the descendants of Kayin lived prior to the deluge are called בני קין, “descendants of Kayin.” They too would be taken captive by the Assyrians. Seeing that G’d had made the name of Avraham’s oldest son Ishmael sound so similar to the name Israel, Bileam exclaims: “woe to those who survive bearing the name Ishmael in the days when these events will occur.” Thus far the comment in Pirke d'Rabbi Eliezer.

If you will analyze this you will find that the accuser of Israel on earth, i.e. Bileam, alludes with these words to the great accuser of Israel in the celestial regions.” We refer to the celestial force Satan, the master of the desert. He is like a Seraph which flies all over, representing the planet Mars. Bileam, the terrestrial Satanic force who had been thwarted in all his efforts to attack the Jewish people on a spiritual level, not succeeding to make an impact on the attribute of Justice or the attribute of Mercy, now addresses himself to the desert in order to obtain some relief of his frustration from a spiritually negative celestial force. The comparison between the names of ישראל and ישמעאל, both G’d-given names that we referred to in the commentary of Pirke d'Rabbi Eliezer, refers to the ending with the letters א-ל, i.e. that both these names contain the name of G’d. None of the seventy nations enumerated after the confusion by G’d of the languages and the nations (Genesis 10,5-29) contains the name of G’d. The word משומו אל is understood by the author as if it had been written with two letters ו, a common theory for whenever the dot on the letter ש is moved from right to left. The word really should have been משמו אל, i.e. “who bears the name of G’d.” By changing the dot it is as if an additional letter ו had been added. The anti-G’d, Satanic forces, are perceived to have at their disposal 12 “princes” just as the people of Yeshurun (Israel as a pro-G’d force) have at their disposal 12 princes. [The latest commentary, I believe, can best be understood by seeing even in the reformed Bileam someone containing a residue of his former self, much as Rashi viewed the words ויחד יתרו in Exodus 18,9 where Yitro is described as rejoicing over the salvation of the Jewish people, as containing an element of his former self, i.e. he was upset at what happened to the Egyptians. Ed].

וצים מיד כתים, “and great ships from the coast of Kittim.” After Bileam had predicted that Ashur had taken the Kenites captive, Bileam continues prophesying that Ashur itself will suffer affliction by the Kittim who will oppress both Ashur and Ever. It is possible that the word צים is a plural of צי which appears in Isaiah as צי אדיר, “a large ship.” The reason that Bileam describes the עברים i.e. בני עבר as being captives also is that they had oppressed the Kenites. According to some opinions the Kittim were the Greeks.

According to Nachmanides it is a reference to the Romans, the fourth kingdom, Edom, or, in terms of Daniel’s vision the fourth of the chayot. It is fitting that Bileam concluded his prophecies with the prediction of Rome’s downfall (see Daniel 7,11).

ויקם בלעם, “Bileam rose up.” As soon as Bileam concluded his prophecies he rose on his feet as he had not been standing when making all these predictions. He had described himself as נופל וגלוי עינים, “fallen and with uncovered eyes (24,5).”

וישב אל מקומו, “he returned to his place.” This means he reverted to relying on charms, etc., instead of on Divine inspiration. He found that he had become privy to Holy Spirit only temporarily for the benefit of the Jewish people as I mentioned earlier.