page_title: Balak (parsha)
section_title: Numbers chapter 22
hierarchical_section_title: Balak (parsha) / In classical rabbinic interpretation / Numbers chapter 22
context_page_description: Balak is the 40th weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the seventh in the Book of Numbers. In the parashah, Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, tries to hire Balaam to curse Israel, Balaam's donkey speaks to Balaam, and Balaam blesses Israel instead. The parashah constitutes Numbers 22:2–25:9. The parashah is made up of 5,357 Hebrew letters, 1,455 Hebrew words, 104 verses, and 178 lines in a Torah Scroll.
  Jews generally read it in late June or July. In most years, parashah Balak is read separately. In some years when the second day of Shavuot falls on a Sabbath in the Diaspora, parashah Balak is combined with the previous parashah, Chukat, in the Diaspora to synchronize readings thereafter with those in Israel.
  The name "Balak" means "devastator", "empty", or "wasting". The name apparently derives from the sparsely used Hebrew verb, "waste or lay waste." There are no derivations of this verb besides this name.
context_section_description: A Baraita taught that Moses wrote the Torah, the portion of Balaam, and the book of Job.
  A Midrash explained that the Torah records Balaam's story to make known that because the nonbeliever prophet Balaam did what he did, God removed prophecy and the Holy Spirit from nonbelievers. The Midrash taught that God originally wished to deprive nonbelievers of the opportunity to argue that God had estranged them. So in an application of the principle of Deuteronomy 32:4, “The Rock, His work is perfect; for all His ways are Justice,” God raised up kings, sages, and prophets for both Israel and nonbelievers alike. Just as God raised up Moses for Israel, God raised up Balaam for the nonbelievers. But whereas the prophets of Israel cautioned Israel against transgressions, as in Ezekiel 3:17, Balaam sought to breach the moral order by encouraging the sin of Baal-Peor in Numbers 25:1–13. And while the prophets of Israel retained compassion towards both Israel and nonbelievers alike, as reflected in Jeremiah 48:36 and Ezekiel 27:2, Balaam sought to uproot the whole nation of Israel for no crime. Thus God removed prophecy from nonbelievers.
  Reading Deuteronomy 2:9, "And the Lord spoke to me, ‘Distress not the Moabites, neither contend with them in battle,’" Ulla argued that it certainly could not have entered the mind of Moses to wage war without God's authorization.  So we must deduce that Moses on his own reasoned that if in the case of the Midianites who came only to assist the Moabites (in Numbers 22:4), God commanded (in Numbers 25:17), "Vex the Midianites and smite them," in the case of the Moabites themselves, the same injunction should apply even more strongly.  But God told Moses that his idea was incorrect.  For God was to bring two doves forth from the Moabites and the Ammonites — Ruth the Moabitess and Naamah the Ammonitess.
  Classical Rabbinic interpretation viewed Balaam unfavorably.  The Mishnah taught that Balaam was one of four commoners who have no portion in the World To Come, along with Doeg, Ahitophel, and Gehazi. Following the teaching of Rabbi Joshua, the Gemara deduced from the Mishnah's statement that the gentile Balaam would not enter the World To Come, while other gentiles would.  The Gemara read Balaam's name to demonstrate that he was "without a people" (belo am). Alternatively, the Gemara read Balaam's name to demonstrate that he "confused a people" (bilah am), namely the Israelites. Noting the similarity of Balaam's father's name Beor to the Aramaic word for "beast" (be’ir), the Gemara read the allusion to Balaam's father in Numbers 22:5 to demonstrate that Balaam committed bestiality.  A Tanna taught that Beor was the same person as Cushan-rishathaim and Laban.  As rishathaim means "two evils," the Tanna deduced from the name Cushan-rishathaim that Beor perpetrated two evils on Israel — one in pursuing Jacob in Genesis 31:23-29 and the other by oppressing the Jews in Judges 3:8.  Noting that Numbers 22:5 calls Balaam "the son of Beor" while Numbers 24:3 says of Balaam "his son [was] Beor," Rabbi Joḥanan deduced that Balaam's father Beor was like his son (less able) in matters of prophecy.
  Similarly, the Mishnah taught that anyone who has an evil eye, a haughty spirit, and an over-ambitious soul is a disciple of Balaam the wicked, and is destined for Gehinnom and descent into the pit of destruction.  The Mishnah taught that Psalm 55:24 speaks of the disciples of Balaam when it says, "You, o God, will bring them down to the nethermost pit; men of blood and deceit shall not live out half their days.
  Reading the description of Joshua 13:22, "Balaam also the son of Beor, the soothsayer," the Gemara asked why Joshua 13:22 describes Balaam merely as a soothsayer when he was also a prophet.  Rabbi Joḥanan taught that at first, Balaam was a prophet, but at the end, he was merely a soothsayer.  Rav Papa observed that this is an application of the popular saying that she who descended from princes and governors played the harlot with laborers (showing that she had no conception of the dignity of her beginnings).
  Inte
caption: Balaam and the Angel (illustration from the 13th Century Psalter of Louis IX of France)
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