בנה לי בזה, for this is a place from where I can view the Jewish people.

התיצב על עולותך, so that you can mentally concentrate on what you are doing during the offering of each single part of the animal, a reminder of the blood being the essence of the animal (Leviticus 17,11).

'אולי יקרה ה, perhaps through my isolating myself I can achieve to see “the King’s face, have him relate to me with a benevolent mien.” Bileam hoped, (perhaps), to achieve the kind of familiarity with G’d which the Torah reports about Moses, whom G’d described as having unrestricted access to His entire “house.” (Numbers 12,7) יקרה לי, that G’d would come toward me, as had happened to Moses at the beginning of his career as a prophet at the burning bush. G’d had waited with addressing Moses until the latter had made up his mind not to ignore the bush that burned but would not become consumed by the flames (Exodus 3,4).

וישא משלו, he explained in parable form what he had seen in a vision.

ויאמר, after having related his vision (which has not been described in the Torah), he proceeded to interpret its meaning He described how Balak had brought him from a region far away.

הן עם לבדד ישכון, in the final analysis, they are the only people who will eventually populate the earth. This concept is repeated by Moses in Deuteronomy 32,12 ה' בדד ינחנו, “the Lord will guide only them alone.” It will be impossible to destroy them.

תמות נפשי מות ישרים, if I were to die now I do not mind, provided that it would be the death of the righteous who will pass over into another life.

ותהי אחריתי כמוהו, so that my offspring be like that of the Israelites. The children of man and those who are the biological issue of him are known as אחריתו, [literally the ones who are following behind him. Ed.] We encounter the word אחרית in this sense in Psalms 109,13 תהי אחריתו להכרית, “may his posterity be cut off. We encounter it in this context also in Daniel 11,4 ולא לאחריתו, “but not for any of his posterity.”

הלא את אשר ישים ה' בפי, you already know that He is the G’d of Israel, and that therefore He will only speak well of the Israelites.

אשר תראנו משם, so that you can focus on them with your evil eye.

אפס קצהו תראה וכלו לא תראה, do not try and look at all of them simultaneously, because if you will do you will not even achieve part of your objective. Compare the meaning of the word כלו, כלה in Jeremiah 46,28 כי אעשה כלה בכל הגויים ..ואותך לא אעשה כלה, “whereas I will make an end to all the nations, I will not utterly destroy you.” [seeing that the Jewish people have been assured that they will never be totally annihilated, do not try and do what is an exercise in futility, but try and make your curse effective against part of them. Ed.]

וברך, Israel is blessed already.

ותרועת מלך בו, whenever the whole camp begins to journey or to make camp they blow the trumpets to express the joy of having their King with them.

כתועפות ראם לו like the horns of a wild ox for him, seeing that it does not act like a lion, a predator. It only pushes with its horns like a wild ox, i.e. while it wants to expel the nations living in the land of Canaan. It is not bent on killing the inhabitants unless they resist occupation. We find a matching verse in Psalms 80,9 תגרש גויים ותטעה, “You (G’d) expelled nations and planted it. (Israel in their place)” All of this because G’d is not interest in the death of people. This is also the meaning of what our sages said in the Jerusalem Talmud Sheviit 6,1 “Joshua sent three letters to each of the nations inhabiting the land of Canaan; offering them a number of choices: 1) anyone wishing to emigrate can do so and will not be molested. 2) anyone wishing to make peace with us, i.e. to surrender, is welcome to do so. 3) anyone wishing to resist us by fighting us is welcome to do so.” The people of Canaan were obstinate attacking the incoming Israelites so that the latter were forced to kill them. It is clear therefore that the Jewish nation did not behave at all in the manner a lion behaves when he looks for prey. Instead, they acted in the manner of a wild ox when it feels forced to resist opposition.

כי לא נחש ביעקב, the reason why G’d took the Jewish people out of Egypt and expels other nations in their wake by providing them with the horns of a wild ox is that they are a generation of people looking for G’d and His proximity instead of relying on all kinds of demonically inspired methods of divining the future. Moses spelled out this stark contrast between the Jewish people and their gentile neighbours in Deuteronomy 18,14 when he said: “for these nations that you are about to dispossess do indeed resort to soothsayers and augurs; to you however, the Lord your G’d has not assigned the like.”

כעת, at any time they wish to know what the future holds.

'יאמר ליעקב ולישראל מה פעל ה, they will be told by means of a prophetic message or through some other divine revelation what G’d has decreed. They will not be told what the various constellations of the stars appear to portend. The reason is that their fates are subject to direct supervision by G’d, not to the intermediaries He has appointed for that purpose for the gentile nations.

כלביא יקום, in order to go to battle against those who have not attacked them at all.

עד יאכל טרף, they will consume and destroy those nations who from now on will be like prey in their teeth.

אולי יישר בעיני האלוקים וקבותו לי משם, perhaps this section of the people will be more deserving of a curse.