Shabbos Parashas Balak - 5774

Shabbos Parashas Balak - 5774

Rabbi Hal Miller

Balak son of Tzippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorite. Moav

became very frightened of the people, because it was numerous, and Moab

was disgusted in the face of the children of Israel. Moav said to the

elders of Midian, "Now the congregation will lick up our entire

surroundings, as an ox licks up the greenery of the field." Balak son

of Tzippor was king of Moav at that time. [Bamidbar 22:2-4]

Most of our parsha is about Bilaam. Why does it start with Balak and Moav?

What are we to see from this?

Many commentaries discuss at length who Bilaam was or was not, whether or not

he hated the Israelites, etc. What is clear is that he was sitting at home,

minding his own business, when Balak and Moav approached him to come curse

Israel. He declined a number of times. Balak kept increasing his offer, and

eventually Bilaam agreed. It would seem that Balak is the real troublemaker,

not Bilaam. What did Balak and Moav have against Israel that they would go to

such great lengths to enlist Bilaam's services?

The pasuk tells us that Moav was frightened of Israel "because it was

numerous." Is relative size of nations reason to attack? Moav knew that G-d

had directed Israel not to molest Moav, so they didn't need to worry. If

they attacked Israel, they would "awaken the sleeping giant", and then have a

big problem. This alone could not have been enough to launch a pre-emptive

strike.

The pasuk goes on, "and Moav was disgusted in the face of the children of

Israel." Disgusted? Ramban explains, "because they heard the great trials that

were done for them and for their fathers." But how does that fit together?

Rashi says, "They were disgusted with their (own) lives" because of the

smallness they felt next to the greatness of Israel. Moav had been paying

tribute to Sichon and to Og to protect them from external attack. Now that

Israel had defeated Moav's champions, the Moavites figured they were in big

trouble.

So what did they do? They turned to their neighbors in Midian. They knew that

the Jewish leader had spent much time in Midian, with his father-in-law Yisro.

They hoped to find information in Midian that would lead to weaknesses in

Moshe that they could exploit in some fashion for their own protection. A man

there appeared to be just what they needed--a military hero with other

successful campaigns to his credit, Balak.

It would seem that Balak was no fool. He was fully aware of what happened to

Sichon and Og when they refused permission to Israel to pass through. Why

would he take the job of leading a losing battle?

Our pasuk says, "Moav said to the elders of Midian". That was not a one-way

conversation. Bereishis Rabbah tells what happened next. "The elders of Midian

said to them, 'his (Moshe's) power is only in his mouth.' The Moavites said,

'we shall also come against them with a man whose power is in his mouth.'"

In other words, Balak believed that Sichon and Og were merely using the wrong

weapon. He believed he could defeat Israel and its G-d, by applying Bilaam, a

prophet similar to Moshe. Let the two wizards duke it out. This is why he went

to such lengths and expense to convince Bilaam to join in the attack. This is

the reason he was able to convince Bilaam--he was the equal of Moshe.

Under this interpretation, Bilaam is guilty of a huge lack of humility, and is

not necessarily the evil guy we often portray him to be. Foolish maybe, wrong

certainly, but remember, this is a guy who had a one-to-one relationship with

the Creator of the Universe. It wasn't hard for Balak to convince him that

this was a showdown that had to happen, and that G-d would side with him.

Balak may have been a mercenary, but he was the real instigator. The war was

not between Moav and Israel, but between Moav and Hashem. Would Moav have

pursued this course had they not encountered Balak? Probably not. Their trip

to Midian was to ask for counsel of the Midianites who knew the Jewish leader.

It was Balak who convinced them to do battle. Thus, the title of our parsha

is not 'Bilaam', even though he is the character with the most lines. It is

Balak. Hashem defeats all who challenge Him.