Parshat Balak; Numbers 22:2-25:9 by Rabbi Denise L. Eger

This week a curse becomes a blessing. The prophet Balaam, sent for by the Moabite King Balak, is hired to curse the Children of Israel who are encamped on the steppes of Moab. The King fears the Israelites and wants to gain an edge over them through sorcery. Balaam, even though reluctant to take on the task, nevertheless relents and comes westward to try and fulfill the request of the Moabite King. But out from Balaam’s mouth comes a blessing instead.

Balaam has an encounter with the Divine that takes his words and twists and fashions them into blessings. Three times Balaam has an encounter with either divine beings or with God and that encounter changes him and his mission from opponent to servant, from curse to blessing. Each encounter brings Balaam into the service of God rather than the service of Balak. Thus when Balaam goes to curse the Israelites he not only blesses them but also offers a prophecy of success for the Children of Israel. “ No harm is in sight for Jacob/No woe in view for Israel./ Adonai their God is with them…..” The most famous of the curses turned into blessings come in Chapter 24. “How beautiful are your tents, O Jacob/Your tabernacles O Israel.”

Balaam reflects on Israel’s strength, dedication to God and spiritual beauty. These come into contrast with Balak’s kingdom based on idolatry and sorcery. This contrast between blessings and curses, idolatry and true service to God continues to challenge not just the Moabite kingdom but are the challenges that Israel always faces. In other Torah portions curses and blessings can be nearly the same, it is all in the delivery and intent. There is always a thin line between true service and dedication to God and false worship that becomes idolatrous—we have seen this in previous chapters in Chukat and Korach. We saw it in the disaster that befell Aaron’s son’s Nadav and Abihu. But to have this dichotomy placed in the mouths of foreigners—non-Israelites, underscores for the Jewish reader the importance of dedicated service to the One God. If a foreign prophet/sorcerer can have a Divine encounter and become a servant of God –how much the more so for one of our own?

Today when we come into the synagogue—Balaam’s blessing “Mah Tovu Ohalecha Yaakov, mishkenotecha Yisrael” How beautiful are Your tents, O Jacob, Your Tabernacles O Israel is recited. The words of a foreigner remind us of the beauty of our own tradition and the strength of our people. If a foreigner can recognize that God dwells in our midst, shouldn’t we?

This remains our challenge even now. As a people and as individuals, we should look for ways to seek the Divine in our lives rather than act in ways that push God away. This includes letting God dwell in our midst as God once dwelt in the Tabernacle in the desert. This is the best antidote to idolatry which remains a problem even in our day and time.

Posted by Lee at July 13, 2005 08:52 AM