qlb June 26 2010 14 Tamuz 5770 Bamidbar (Num) 22:2-25:9

This parashah is one of the most questionable parashot by our sages beginning with the name of the parashah itself— Balak; questionable because he was a pagan king who hated Israel and here we see the use of spiritual powers to defeat Israel. Balak called for Bilam, an Aramean sorcerer to curse Israel. Bilam knew the true G-d of Israel and had received the gift of prophecy from G-d. From this account we draw several very important spiritual teachings.  The first idea that comes to mind is the universalism of the G-d of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob which includes the revelation of G-d to people outside of Israel. Bilam was a gentile prophet chosen by the G-d of Israel for a specific task while he was not from Israel.  G-d can chose whomever He wishes for good or for evil.

The second deals with the spiritual battles which are fought on earth.  Bilam was a soothsayer, diviner and well aware of the powers which had been bestowed upon him by the only true G-d. The third idea, one which is very evident right up until today is the fact that the mere existence of Israel provokes universal jealousy resulting in the people of Israel having enemies simply because they are the Chosen People.

Returning to my first point—universalism of the true G-d of Israel, the counterpart is the religion called “humanism” in which man is enthroned instead of G-d.  Today this religion is widespread throughout the world where we can see that most people rely more upon mankind itself than upon G-d to come up with solutions to solve world problems.The second point introduces the appearance of false prophets or teachers who mesmerize the masses to believe that they have the power within themselves to achieve expected results. These leaders like Bilam possess a type of spiritual prowess with which they exploit the masses for their own gain; for example, religious leaders who are seen as gurus or politicians who are looked upon as the only hope for humanity,  as false messiahs or as the saviors of the world. The name Bilam means swallower, big mouth or demagogue.

All of the above culminates in the third point — how to destroy the Chosen People, Israel.  Israel’s neighbors are jealous for the mere fact that Israel is seen as being more blessed. The onlookers join in for mere sake of seeking “human” justice or fighting for who they believe is the underdog.  Here humanism plays a very important role because it is not based on the justice of G-d but on the justice of man.  For example, we can see this in the case of King Saul where he is considered more humane than G-d for keeping alive King Agag and the best of his court, animals and belongings. G-d is judged and King Saul looks like the hero (I Samuel 15).  Today we see the recent case of the Turkish Flotilla which left Cyprus (Kittim; Num 24:23) for Gaza on a mission to destroy Israel but Israel is blamed for defending herself against an attack and the media is used to call the attackers the underdogs and Israel the aggressor.

The sheer hatred of Balak is revealed as he as King of Moab tried to buy curses against Israel from Bilam, a foreigner in order to destroy Israel. This would seem quite unusual since to begin with, Israel had no quarrel with Moab and secondly you would think that if you were to hire a sorcerer, wouldn’t you ask him to bless your own country instead of sending him to curse Israel? Balak knew that Bilam had the power to curse or bless. At the end of the story we can see that G-d would punish both of them by killing them as He promised He would do to those who curse Israel.

This also paints a picture of human nature at its very worst. Greed is an extremely important element causing Bilam to literally betray the true G-d who had given him special powers as well as the people who he acknowledged was G-d’s people even though he knew that he couldn’t curse them. He showed the Moabite king however how to entice them to fall into sin with the Midianite women who would lead them away from the G-d of Israel. In so doing, G-d then would punish His own people. This was brilliant human strategy that is still being used today by the hypocritical governments of this world who use diplomacy to attack Israel and then turn their backs when the enemies of Israel attack the small nation. Unfortunately today as in biblical days, Israel is still looking for human solutions, trusting in themselves and their own army and abilities, as well as by creating human alliances with other nations, instead of trusting in the G-d of Israel. As a secular nation they believe in making alliances with world, which is adultery against the G-d of Israel.

The Bilams of today are alive and well and are all over the world. Let us be careful not to be enticed by these special pseudo or false messiahs nor in the religion or in the politics which promotes a human savior. Our Salvation comes from G-d, the G-d of Israel through our Messiah Yeshua alone who will return one day soon. Be ready for him.

May G-d add blessings to His Word!