Parashat Balak פָּרָשַׁת בָּלָק

This week’s Parsha is a strange one indeed. We have a sorcerer and a talking donkey and what seems to be God changing his instructions.  I don’t know how many of you remember the VERY BAD television program, MY MOTHER THE CAR, but today’s narrative is the ancient version of that show. 

Just a brief overview:  Balak is king of the Moabites.  Bilaam is a highly renowned sorcerer, a very powerful person. His power was almost magical, so we might think that this is only a parable. But we have some evidence that Balaam really existed because a fragment was found in Jordan from an old temple that refers to the sorcerer by name. 

Balak knows of Bilaam’s power and he wants Bilaam to curse the Israelites.  He’s worried that the Israelites are growing too large in strength and in numbers (DOES THAT SOUND FAMILIAR?). Bilaam doesn’t answer immediately but rather bides his time: he tells the King that he has to consult with God first. God tells him not to go. But that answer doesn’t suffice.  Instead, he consults two more times with God and God finally tells him that he can go, but “whatever I command you, you shall do.” 

We remember that Abraham debates God about whether to destroy Sodom, but Bilaam’s attempt to change God’s mind here seems very different and much less righteous than Abraham’s desire to save a city.  In Bilaam’s case, he seems to be hoping that God will just let him do what he really wants to do.

I think we all know that no one wants to hear “NO”. Bilaam is certainly no different. Even though he asks God’s permission, he seems to want to please the Moabite King. We’re not sure why because our parsha makes clear that he does refuse the first time that he is asked to curse the Israelites. And he does tell Balak and his ambassadors that their promises of rewards have no effect on him:  “Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not do anything, big or little, contrary to the command of the Lord my God.”   That sounds like a pretty righteous man!

So: does God contradict himself when he later tells Bilaam that he is allowed to go?  One way to understand this might be to look at the parsha more closely, to look at the two passages where God seems to change his mind.

In verse 12:  The important verb there is LO TAYLAYCH EEMAH-HEM.  Some scholars believe that EEMAH-HEM means “don’t go with them in any sense of the word” in other words, “don’t go with them EITHER mentally or physically.”  That’s a very clear message NOT TO GO AT ALL.

Now look at the later response from God that we read in verse 20.  There God tells Bilaam:  “EETAM V’YACH ET HADAHVAR.”  The word “EETAM” is more limited than EEMAH-HEM—here God is telling Bilaam that he’s allowed to go, but only in a physical sense, NOT in an emotional or intellectual sense. And we know that God chooses a donkey to teach Bilaam a lesson—it’s as if God is telling him, “You think you’re a great prophet. Even this dumb animal is a better prophet than you are.” 

I think all of us know that the word NO is often the hardest one to hear.  Good parents know that they often have to refuse their children something that children think they want (that’s the nicest part of being a grandparent—you don’t have to say NO!).  But sometimes saying NO is the best way to show that we care about another person.

Here in our parsha God has to say NO to Bilaam, but he lets Bilaam find his own way.  He allows him to use his free will to make a decision that he will later come to see is foolish and misguided.  He had been blind, according to Rabbi Frand, and deaf, according to Rabbi Sacks, Z”L.

Let us pray that we do better when we are about to stray from righteousness.  That we open our ears and eyes to the messages around us. And let us pray too that someday—soon—these curses against Israel will disappear from our experience.