Balak Commentary

Bamidbar / Numbers 22:2-25:9

And God said unto Balaam:  ’Thou shalt not go with them; thou shalt not curse the people; for they are blessed.’ (Numbers 22:12)

Have you ever noticed that human nature has the tendency to curse what God has blessed, and to bless what God has cursed? If God says he likes yellow, we want blue. If he likes blue, we want yellow. He detests the taste of shrimp and catfish; they make our mouths water. He hates dishonesty; we find comfort in blurring the facts to our advantage. What is it within us that rebels against the very thing that God has ordained? There is something within each of us that wants to step outside of the lines, and “taste” of the forbidden fruit from time to time. What is this turmoil within us, and why do we yield to it?

In Judaism, this propensity toward evil is called the Yetzer HaRa. It is man’s “evil” inclination. It is his desire to be self-focused, and thus commit sin. It is the duty of man to overcome our natural desire to rebel against our Creator, and submit to His plans for our lives.

In our Torah portion, we see a classic example of how man’s desires can manipulate his relationship to the Almighty, and exploit a direct command for our his personal gain—however temporal it may be.

In Balak we see the true nature of mankind:
He is faced with a dilemma (to curse or not curse Israel)
He inquires of the L-RD for guidance
Although the L-RD clearly answers his question, Balaam asks again because of personal gain that is involved in the L-RD changing His answer
The L-RD answers the way Balaam desires in order to show him his foolishness of “getting what you pray for”
Although the Balaam is able to clearly hear the voice of the L-RD previously, he is completely blinded to the angel on the path due to his pursuit of his own agenda
Balaam ignores the warning of the angel, and plows through toward Balak.
Reaching Balak, Balaam does the “right” thing, but is finally enticed to aid Balak in the destruction of the Israelites for personal gain (Numbers 31:8-16; 2 Peter 2:15; Jude 1:11), which ultimately ends in his own destruction.

Whenever we are faced with taking a path that leads to destruction, there is always a path that Hashem miraculously opens as a means of escape. It is our choice, however, as to whether or not we take the alternate route.

There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. (1 Corinthians 10:13)

In this we see both Hashem’s Justice (represented by the Angel) and his Mercy (represented by Balaam’s donkey), yet the heart of man failing to submit to the yoke of His Kingship.

Although Balaam’s example is negative, we have a positive example in the story of Joseph. Even though Joseph had every “right” to be bitter, and succumb to his fleshly lusts, he conquered them, and submitted to the voice of Heaven. He is thus remembered for his righteous life, and brought salvation to the world.

Here is a quote I ran across in a Jewish book I recently purchased that I thought was particularly appropriate for this discussion:

“We are supposed to study when we would rather play. We are asked to pray when we would rather nap. We are required to be decent when we might find it easier another way.

Man is not the center of Judaism; God is. And, therefore, man’s wants cannot be the final standard, for man is not the measure of all things. He is the inheritor.”¹

This is to what it boils down: the glory of man is to overcome himself, and pursue the Kingdom of Hashem and Righteousness more than the glory or pleasure of oneself (Matthew 6:33). Our greatest enemy is ourselves. The Adversary only has to plant a seed within us. We do all of the watering, and raising of the crops of lust and destruction (James 1:14-15). When we are able to bridle ourselves, then we will be able to run the race to win (Romans 8:13; James 3; 1 Corinthians 9:24-27).