וירא בלק, a man who was famous as well schooled in all the martial arts. We find proof of this in Judges 11,25:הטוב טוב אתה מבלק בן צפור מלך מואב?, “do you imagine yourself to be superior to Balak son of Tzippor? Balak, in spite of his expertise, “saw” what had happened to Sichon who had refused to let the Israelites pass and had paid for this error with the loss of his life and his kingdom.

ויגר מואב, the leaders of Moav who had not allowed the Israelites to traverse their territory as reported in Judges 11,17 were now afraid,

כי רב הוא, for the Israelites were numerically superior to them, not because they felt inferior in military tactics.

ויקץ מואב, “the man in the street” considered their lives as not worth living because of the impending invasion by the Israelites.

עתה, now that the Israelites had conquered both Sichon and Og and their respective countries.

ילחכו הקהל את כל סביבותינו, they wanted their leaders to enlarge the area under their control in order to make their borders more secure.

ובלק בן צפור, who was known as a hero and a military expert.

מלך למואב בעת ההיא, in spite of these factors which should have encouraged the Moabites they did not have the heart to fight the Israelites as is clear from Judges 11,25. As to the remarks by Joshua that Balak son of Tzippor arose and fought Israel (Joshua 24,9), Joshua said this in reference to Balak hiring Bileam to curse the people of Israel as he himself pointed out in the same verse.

אולי אוכל, after you have cursed them.

נכה בו, I militarily and you by means of curses.

אשר תברך מבורך, actually Bileam’s power did not consist in blessing but in cursing people by mentioning their failings at a critical moment in G’d’s timetable, as elaborated on by our sages in B’rachot 7. This is why Balak did not demand a blessing from Bileam to make him victorious in war, or at least to be blessed so that he could fight the Israelites to a standstill. But when he nonetheless added the words ידעתי את אשר תברך מבורך, he did so only as a way of flattering Bileam.

וקסמים בידם, the instruments by means of which to perform sorcery.. Bileam’s specific expertise in such sorcery was to calculate precisely when certain constellations would be favourable to what he planned to achieve. He is described as a sorcerer when his death his reported in Joshua 13,22.

כאשר ידבר ה' אלי, for I am preparing myself to receive a prophetic message.

?מי האנשים האלה עמך, who are these people with you on account of whom you went to the trouble to receive prophetic messages in order to know what to do for them?Have they really come to you to inquire about matters which will occur in the future and you want to know about the future in order to give them guidance? Or, have they stayed with you to enlist your help to pronounce curses over someone and you are now asking My permission to fulfill their request?

לא תלך עמהם. Even if you were not to curse the people they referred to you are not at liberty to go with them. The reason is that I do not want you to set your evil eye on these people even without uttering any words. (compare the expression נתן עיניו בו in B’rachot 58 In that instance the victim was reduced to a heap of bones.)

אם לקרוא לך באו האנשים, if they only came in order to get your advice, as in Numbers 1,16 where such people who give advice are described as קרואי העדה, or in Samuel I 28,15 where a similar expression is used for advisors;

go ahead and accompany them in order to prevent them from sinning.

כי הולך הוא, that his purpose in accompanying them was not to lead others as in Kings II 4,30 where Gechazi followed the dead boy’s mother to be shown the way, etc. Bileam, on the other hand, went as if he had his own agenda, attempting to foil the will of the Lord. The delegates had not come to ask for his advice at all.

לשטן לו, to obstruct him. The subject matter known as שטנה, always involves an activity contrary to someone else’s activity. We find an example of this expression in this sense in Genesis 26,21 where the Philistines foiled the attempt of Yitzchak’s servants to use the water from the well they had dug. In this instance the angel had come to oppose Bileam seeing his journey contravened G’d’s will. He was afraid that Bileam would do his usual and not be content to await a propitious moment, so that he would become guilty of death. G’d wanted to spare him such a sin. [if I understand the author correctly, he feels that Bileam’s function as a “prophet”, i.e. pronouncing curses, when exploited at times when doom threatened his potential victims anyway, would not be construed as sinful by G’d. Ed.]

והוא רוכב על אתונו ושני נעריו עמו. This is why he did not see the angel; as our sages explain when three people travel together they do not see potential dangers but they will not be harmed by what they do not see either.

ותלך בשדה, this is when he abandoned his two attendants and the dignitaries of Moav. [the ass on its own took a path of her own enabling what followed to become possible. Ed.] Naturally, neither the lads nor the dignitaries of Moav had any idea of what transpired now.

ויפתח ה' את פי האתון, He provided her with the ability to speak; we are familiar with the verse in Psalms 51,17 which we recite daily before our prayers, asking G’d ה' שפתי תפתח, O Lord please open my lips.” G’d went to all these lengths in order to provide Bileam with yet another incentive to become a penitent. Solomon in Proverbs 16,1 points out מה' מענה לשון, “the answer of the tongue comes from G’d.” Even when man is not prepared to change his way for the better, G’d, on occasion, initiates a step in this direction; how much more so will He extend a helping hand to sinners who seek to mend their ways! All of this in order to save the sinner from perdition.

?ההסכן הסכנתי, you should have reflected on the meaning of my behaviour knowing that it is so totally out of character for me to act in this manner unless there was an urgent reason. You should have realised that all this only happened to you in order to teach you that your plan will not succeed, for even though you did not have an overt sign there have been hints.

על מה הכית את אתונך?; When you saw these various signs you should have been astute enough to guess that your journey is unwelcome and will not succeed.

זה שלוש רגלים, how could you remain obstinate in light of three successive warnings! How could you persist in trying to hasten events?

הנה אנכי יצאתי לשטן, When I went out of my way to oppose you I did so for your eventual benefit!

כי ירט הדרך לנגדי, the root of the word ירט is רטט, it occurs in a sense similar to here in Jeremiah 49,24 ורטט החזיקה “and a quaking has seized her.” The construction is parallel to that of the root רצץ, to crush, which we find meaning “it crushed his skull,” ותרץ את גוגלתו, in Judges 9,53. The angel when saying הנה יצאתי לשטן, explained that his purpose in opposing Bileam had been to frighten him into turning back Sometimes the presence of a hostile or superior force is felt although not seen, as in the case of Daniel’s companions who trembled although they did not see the visions Daniel had seen and which were the cause of this trembling. (Daniel 10,7). The angel chides Bileam for all his efforts apparently having been in vain. He accuses Bileam of having been stiff-necked, else he could not have failed to notice the signs.

ותראני האתון ותט לפני, in spite of your own oblivion to these signs your ass did see me and tried to avoid a frontal contact with me. She did so three times and yet you did not pay any attention to these strange symptoms.

אולי נטתה מפני, you should have considered that maybe she had swerved so on my account You were aware that the Jewish people have advocates at G’d’s throne so that it is not far fetched to assume that such an advocate had been commissioned to hinder your mission against these people. G’d has given me permission to act in the manner in which I did.

לך עם האנשים, do not go following your own agenda, but go with them as if you are there only at their request, so that they will not kill you for reneging.

ואך את הדבר, In spite of all that has transpired I am not afraid that you will actually act against My interest as the fact is that you will not be able to do anything other than what I will command you.

ויצא לקראתו, in order to honour him, for Balak knew that Bileam was a very vain person, as our sages have made clear in Avot 5,18.

הנה באתי אליך, even though I would have come to you at the time as you requested, what good would it have done you? Even now the situation is the same.

?היכול אוכל דבר מאומה; I am totally unable to speak in the manner normal people speak when they express their own will. הדבר אשר ישים אלוקים בפי אותו אדבר, similar to Samuel II 23,2 where David said that the spirit of the Lord spoke through him, i.e. רוח ה' דיבר בי. When uttering words in this fashion I am truly not the speaker.

וישלח לבלעם, as a gift offering in addition to his regular meal, in order to satisfy Bileam’s quest for honour.

וירא משם קצה העם, in order to harm them by focusing his evil eye on them. Compare kings II 2,24 ויפן אחריו ויראם ויקללם, “He turned around and cursed them in the name of the Lord.” (the prophet Elisha cursed the lads who had insulted him) Deuteronomy 34,1 is an example of the very reverse, i.e. bestowing a blessing. Moses looked at the people with a benevolent eye, i.e. he blessed them.