A Bilaam in Every Generation
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Did Bilaam actually think G-d could be paid off with a few altars and sacrifices and would indeed permit him to curse the Jewish People? Or was he pitting Hashem against His own middah of justice in the most extreme sense?
“I have set up the seven altars and I have offered up a bull and a ram on [each] altar” (Bamidbar 23:4). Was the wicked gentile prophet Bilaam actually trying to bribe Hashem with this statement?
Bilaam had received a clear “no” from HaKadosh Baruch Hu Who had plainly said “You shall not go with them; you shall not curse the nation for it is blessed” (Bamidbar 22:12); yet despite the stern warning Bilaam gave in willingly to the insistent requests of Balak king of Moav and finally appeared in the Moabite capital with the clear knowledge that he was opposing the will of G-d.
But Bilaam was also aware of his absolute dependence on G-d. He’d mentioned it himself and even announced it several times in front of the Moabite king and his entire court: “Do I have any ability to say anything? The word that G-d puts into my mouth — that will I speak” (ibid. 38).
Oddly enough the sorcerer of Petor was hoping that somehow he could manage to harness Hashem’s power and utilize it in his hateful plans. He thought he could find a loophole in Hashem’s words by which he could slip in his own interpretation thus forcing HaKadosh Baruch Hu as it were to carry out his own scheme to destroy the Jewish People.
Such is the power of hatred. It can pervert the human soul.
In previous essays we’ve analyzed this split and contradictory personality in detail. Drawing from commentators and Midrashim we can sketch a colorful complicated figure in whom Gan Eden and Gehinnom were commingled broadness of vision and petty selfishness coexisted and prophecy lived beside a surging sea of lust wickedness and pursuit of honor.
As soon as Bilaam arrives at the seat of Moav’s royal court this complex man immediately becomes convinced of the nobility of the service he is going to perform for the sake of suffering humanity. Balak makes a vivid presentation of the problem the danger inherent in the very existence of Am Yisrael:
“Bilaam went with Balak and they came to Kiryas Chutzos” (ibid. 39). Rashi explains that “Kiryas Chutzos” refers to “a city full of streets teeming with adults and children as if to say ‘Look and take pity on these people lest they be annihilated.’ ”
This is the Moabite king’s public-relations pitch to the prophet of the nations. The Jewish People constitutes a threat to humanity to civilization. They cause innocent people to suffer. Men women and children will be killed or become homeless refugees because of them. But of course this wasn’t true and Balak really had nothing to fear. Bnei Yisrael was sternly warned not to provoke the Moabites not to lay siege on them or even declare war on them. But Moav discarded that even as they knew it to be true claiming something like “Look the Israelites just attacked Sichon king of the Emorites and occupied his land. They are undermining the stability of the whole region and endangering the entire Middle East!”
Bilaam prepares himself for his grand bout of malediction. With tremendous mental effort he tries to collect the sunrays of prophecy in his heart until he has produced a blazing fire with which he will consume the Jewish People.
To this end Bilaam requests of Balak “Build me seven altars here and prepare for me seven oxen and seven rams… perhaps Hashem will happen to come to me” (ibid. 23:1–3). Perhaps a miracle will occur. Perhaps Hashem will briefly forget His commitment to Am Yisrael. Perhaps he will allow Bilaam to do as he likes with them.
And then “G-d chanced upon Bilaam” (ibid. 4). G-d appears to Bilaam. He gets his moment of prophecy. And what is the first thing he says to HaKadosh Baruch Hu? “I have set up the seven altars and I shall bring up an ox and a ram per altar.”
What was Bilaam trying to tell Hashem?
The Midrash offers an explanation:
“HaKadosh Baruch Hu said to him ‘Wicked one what are you doing?’ Bilaam replied ‘I have set up the seven altars.’ This may be compared to a vendor who uses false weights. The owner of the marketplace comes by notices him and says ‘What are you doing cheating people with false weights?’ And the vendor replies ‘I’ve already sent a gift to your house.’ Bilaam did just the same. Ruach hakodesh came to him saying ‘Wicked one what are you doing?’ And he replied ‘I have set up the seven altars.’ ” (Yalkut Shimoni Balak 23)
Such is the idolatrous mentality permeated with such a warped grasp of the concept of Divinity! To Bilaam’s mind HaKadosh Baruch Hu is no more than a cosmic CEO. A senior government official a bureaucrat with whom you can “arrange matters.” You just have to know how to approach Him.
At that moment Bilaam had actually convinced himself that G-d could be bought that He does not operate according to firm principles of justice that He could be bribed with oxen and rams to adopt an alternative form of justice just as a flow of petrodollars could facilitate acceptance of certain concepts among Middle Eastern oil sheikhs.
BILAAM WAS IN FACT NO FOOL and he knew that it was madness but his hatred for the Jewish People ran so deep that he was willing to try anything. Let us see how far he got carried away in that gushing stream of animosity:
Standing on a Moabite mountain gazing at the Jewish encampment on the plain below he suddenly remembers an important arguing point. As the pasuk says “He turned his face toward the desert” (Bamidbar 24:1). The Sifsei Chachamim on Rashi explains “He mentioned the sin of the calf that they made in the desert.”
Thus Bilaam tries to demand of G-d that He carry out justice in the world.
Why asked Bilaam’s spirit do You not punish the people who rebelled against You who made a calf of gold bowed down to it and even called it their god? Did You not decree destruction on them for that sin? Why did You go back on Your word? Will the Judge of the entire world not carry out justice?
That last sentence is borrowed from Avraham Avinu Bilaam’s historical antithesis. After all Avraham also demanded justice from Hashem albeit in reverse. When HaKadosh Baruch Hu informed him that He intended to bring destruction on Sedom and Amorah Avraham pleaded with Him to spare them.
Thus Bilaam’s “justice” stands in stark contrast to Avraham’s justice. Avraham petitions the Judge of all the earth to do justice by not destroying these sinful cities whereas Bilaam demands retribution against Avraham’s children to the furthest extreme of strict justice.
From Bilaam’s time until this day this has been the prevalent concept of “justice” in the world. Nations may butcher one another and the world accepts it all with tolerance. In Syria for example the tyrannical ruler is slaughtering his own people wholesale violating all vestiges of human rights and the world says nothing. But when an Israeli soldier kills one wounded terrorist there’s an international outcry and the world demands punishment — not only of the soldier who fired the shot but of all the officers above him who knew nothing of the soldier’s intention. And then there is the BDS movement which targets Israel alone for economic sanctions because of its alleged human rights violations.
And so in fact Bilaam lives on!
What is the essential difference between Avraham and Bilaam? Why do their concepts of justice differ so sharply? It isn’t a philosophical difference a divergence in their understanding of the essence of justice and human rights. It’s a psychological difference.
In Pirkei Avos (5:19) we learn that a follower of Avraham Avinu is recognized by his ayin tovah and conversely an ayin ra’ah characterizes a follower of the wicked Bilaam.
The human heart does not perceive justice objectively. A person’s sense of justice is always a reflection of his middos and personality traits. A person with an ayin tovah will seek clemency even for the wicked and one with an ayin ra’ah like Bilaam will demand strict retribution davka for the righteous. So it was then and so it is still to this very day. (Originally featured in Mishpacha Issue 667)
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