The
parashah this week is named after Balak, the heathen, Moabite king.
This king was afraid of Israel because of their victory over the
Kings Og and Sichon. Balak was a heathen and yet he acknowledged
that the Word of G-d was powerful. According to the Scriptures
Balak realized that Israel was under the protection of G-d and
could not be destroyed by an army alone, but that it would take
a spiritual Word, a curse (Numbers 22:4 -6). Thus he hired Bilaam,
a gentile prophet known for his ability to bless or curse to do
the job. Bilaam was known to speak to the G-d of Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob. For this reason in Chapter 24, he is not only going
to bless Israel, but he prophesized about Messiah!
Balak
called Bilaam three times to come to see him and to go and curse
Israel. Three times the Angel of G-d appeared to Bilaam while he
was riding on his female donkey. Three times Balak offered seven
sacrifices to appease G-d so that Bilaam would be successful in
his cursing of Israel. According to Jewish tradition, Balak was
a sorcerer and Bilaam was an evil prophet for hire. Bilaam knew
that the only way he could curse Israel was with the permission
of their G-d. G-d however did not allow him to do that but Bilaam
kept insisting.
If
we look into the genealogy of these two personalities who wanted
to destroy Israel we see something very interesting. Both had a
connection with avinu (our father) Abraham. Balak the Moabite was
a direct descendant of Lot and owed his very existence to Abraham.
By the intervention and prayer of Abraham, Lot had been spared
and through incestuous relationship of Lot's daughters, Moab was
born. Jewish tradition teaches that Eglon, the grandson of Balak
became the grandfather of Ruth, a princess of Moab who became the
grandmother of King David. (Me'am Lo'ez)
According
to Jewish tradition Bilaam himself was a descendant of Lavan, the
father in law of Jacob and Jacob also prayed for Lavan. These stories
fall into the same pattern that has been so typical in our Scriptures
where the envy of those people who were not chosen by G-d, created
in them the desire to destroy those whom G-d had chosen. The name
Bilaam oilb (literally: swallower) is descriptive of his desire
to swallow up the Israelite nation by means of the curse that he
wished to place upon them.
As
I mentioned before, numbers 3 and 7 constantly appear in this parashah.
This is a remez (a hint) pointing to our three fathers of Israel,
Abraham Isaac and Jacob with the 7 pointing to the 7 days of Creation.
This number gives us an indication that it is G-d who is in charge
and in control of all- the number 3 indicating G-d's presence and
7, G-d's power of Creation and His Manifestation.
There
are several interesting points concerning Bilaam. First of all,
G-d gave a gentile prophet to the nations, Bilaam, so that they
could not complain that the G-d of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had
not given them any prophets thus giving them an excuse for not
believing in G-d. Secondly, Bilaam as a prophet of G-d knew that
the only way for Balak to even try to defeat Israel would be to
make Israel fall into sin for whenever it happened that Israel
had been disobedient to G-d, He allowed them to be defeated by
their enemies, e.g. Numbers 14:39-45. Lastly, G-d would not allow
Bilaam to curse Israel because then Bilaam would take credit for
the punishment that G-d put upon Israel for their sin of falling
into idolatry with the Midianite women which we read about in Chapter
25.
What
lessons can we draw from this parashah to today?
First
of all, any gift that G-d gives to us is not for personal use or
profit. Today we are surrounded by Bilaams. How many groups are
popping up all over the world becoming wealthy as they prey upon
the masses? New religions with charismatic, anointed leaders who
call themselves prophets of G-d! It is amazing to see how many
naïve people will send their money to them in exchange for
false promises. Bilaam knew the power that he had in his hands
and sold it to the highest bidder. That is why he went with Balak
even thought he knew that he couldn't curse Israel. He used his
religion to make a lot of money.
Secondly,
whoever uses G-d as his means of gaining wealth by exploiting the
Name of God will ultimately have the same outcome as Bilaam! In
the end, we see that G-d took his life.
And
finally, G-d is faithful to His people no matter how disobedient
they are; G-d always stands behind His promises unlike any human
being. We need to give all the glory and credit to G-d who like
a good father is faithful to his children even when they are disobedient
to him. A good father is always ready to receive his children back
whenever they turn back onto the right path.
Religious
mercenaries destroy the faith of many people. We as followers of
Messiah Yeshua need to be different. We need to stop trying to
be better than others. Moses never saw himself as better; in fact
he was a humble man and as it is written in Philippians 2:5-
7 even Yeshua emptied himself to become humble and live among us
as an example of how we should be. The real teaching of Bilaam
is that there is only one true G-d, and only one true way to get
close to the G-d of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob-He provided the way
through the sacrifice of our Messiah Yeshua. It is the only means
of Salvation and there is nothing we can do to achieve this on
our own. We have no grounds for boasting about what we do.
We need to stop trying to be religious because that is not what
saves us. Yeshua which means "G-d who saves" alone does
that and because of Him and His transformation of our hearts can
we do true teshuvah where we return to walk (halachah) with Him,
being obedient because He loved us first. When we fully understand
this, we can allow ourselves to be transparent and vulnerable to
one another, obedient to G-d out of love not self righteous pride.
Don't be like Bilaam-religious for pay. Let us follow G-d more
through what we can give than what we can get.
May G-d add blessings to His Word!
Rabbi
Percy Johnson
Netanel
ben Yochanan
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2008 Use by Permission
Kehilat
She’ar Yashuv
