Chukat Balak Numbers 19:1 – 24:9 Micah 5:6 – 6:8
“Behold, it is a people that shall dwell apart and shall not be reckoned among the nations” (Numbers 23:9). This pronouncement about the Jewish nation was uttered by Balaam, a gentile prophet whose powers of prophecy were comparable to those of Moses, our teacher. Balaam was hired by Balak, the king of Moab, to curse the Jewish nation in an attempt to stop them in their tracks as they triumphantly marched to victory. Balaam’s insight here truly is prophetic.
Standing on one of the Moabite hills overlooking the Jewish encampment, he recognizes the uniqueness of the Jewish people and the utter futility of his mission. He therefore declares, “How shall I curse whom G-d hath not cursed? And how shall I denounce whom the Lord hath not denounced?”(Numbers 23:8).
It was exceedingly clear to Balaam that the Jewish nation was under the protection of the Supreme Power in the universe. Their release from Egypt, the revelation at Sinai, their triumphs over more powerful nations proved this to him. This nation was destined to be different from others — “A people which shall dwell apart.”
Balak is portrayed in the Torah as a king who is obsessed with fear of the Children of Israel. He feared that their intention was to destroy him and to conquer his nation. He hoped that he could thwart this effort by neutralizing them through Balaam’s powers of cursing.
Balaam, however, had a deeper understanding of the Jewish people. He knew that so long as G-d favored them, His divine protection would not be removed. He grasped that the only way to cause the Jews to be vulnerable would be to somehow break the bond they enjoyed with the Almighty.
In this week’s Haftarah, the prophet Micah alludes to Balaam’s thought process in the verse that reads, “Oh, my people, remember what Balak plotted and what Balaam answered” (Micah 6:5). In the 19th century, educator Mendel Hirsch, the son of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, explained this verse: Balak accepted the fact that a military option was not viable for him. He believed that the Jewish nation could only be routed through the curses of a man of the spirit such as Balaam.
Balaam, however, understood that this too was a hopeless strategy. So long as the nation of Israel followed G-d’s commandments and subjected itself to G-d’s will and so long as it was therefore beloved by Him, he reasoned, Israel could never be vanquished.
Balaam thus devised a diabolical plot that he shared with Balak. They must lead the Jews astray, entice them to desert G-d and thus lose His support and protection. He shrewdly suggested that the daughters of Moab tempt and entrap the Israelites to commit acts of immorality that would ultimately lead to acts of idolatry.
Sadly, this strategy proved successful at Shittim, where the Jews succumbed to this enticement and became vulnerable to their enemies. Balaam’s strategy was to divest the Jews of their unique collective character and transform them into a nation like all other nations — no longer a people who “dwelled apart and were not to be reckoned among the nations.” He said to Balak, “Come, I shall advise you what this people ‘will do to your people'” (Numbers 24:14).
This verse seems somewhat unfathomable. Since the Jews were meant to be victimized by the Moabite women, the verse should read, “what your people will do to them.” If, however the word ya-aseh (they will do) were to be vowelized slightly differently and read yeh-aseh the verse completely changes. It no longer means, “what this people will do to your people,” but rather that this people will become “as your people!” They will conduct themselves in an immoral manner and become indistinguishable from Moab. When this happens, G-d will no longer be their Guardian and their strength will deteriorate. Once they are like us, Balaam reasons, they will no longer be special and therefore no longer be a threat.
What his curses could not accomplish, the disloyalty of the Jewish nation could. History has confirmed that Balaam understood only too well the true source of the power of the Jewish people — sadly a concept it would seem more easily understood by anti-Semites than by many of us.
Shabbat shalom.