פרשת בלק תשכ"ב - המפנה ביחסו של בלעם

And when Balaam saw that it pleased the LORD to bless Israel, he went not, as at the other times, to meet with enchantments, but he set his face toward the wilderness.

And when Balaam saw that it pleased the LORD to bless Israel, he went not, as at the other times, to meet with enchantments, but he set his face toward the wilderness.

And when Balaam saw that it pleased the LORD to bless Israel, he went not, as at the other times, to meet with enchantments, but he set his face toward the wilderness.

וירא בלעם כי טוב וגו׳ AND BALAAM SAW THAT IT WAS GOOD, etc. He said: I do not need to put the Holy One, blessed be He, to a further test for it is evident that He does not wish to curse them.

ולא הלך כפעם בפעם HE WENT NOT, AS AT OTHER TIMES — as he had already done twice.

לקראת נחשים TO SEEK SEEK FOR ENCHANTMENTS — to practise enchantments whereby the Lord might perhaps come to meet him according to his (Balaam’s) wish. He said: Whether He wishes or does not wish to curse them, I will make mention of their sins, and the curse will fall upon them at the mention of their sins, therefore —

וישת אל המדבר פניו HE SET HIS FACE TOWARDS THE WILDERNESS — Understand this as the Targum has it (Rashi’s Targum read, as in some editions: He directed his face towards the calf that the children of Israel had made in the wilderness).

שכן לשבטיו DWELLING ACCORDING TO HIS TRIBES — He saw each tribe dwelling by itself not intermingled one with another; he saw that the entrances of their tents were not exactly facing each other so that one could not peer into the other's tent (Bava Batra 60a).

ותהי עליו רוח אלהים AND THE SPIRIT OF GOD WAS UPON HIM — Then he made up his mind not to curse them (i.e. he decided to comply with the will of God, רוח אלהים).

He did not approach, as at each time, towards sorcery. The Sages said that Bil'am's prophecy came to him through the exact words which he had anticipated. This was for the reason mentioned elsewhere by the Sages: in order that the nations of the world should have no possibility to make the claim, If only we had a prophet such as Moshe then we would have served Hashem. However, the level of Bil'am's prophecy was beneath that of all the other prophets; it was a vision through ש-די. This idea is also stated in Vayikro Rabbah (14:34): Hashem only reveals Himself to the prophets of the nations through a half word. How so? As it says (v. 23:4), Hashem chanced to appear (ויקר) to Bil'am. Whereas regarding the prophets of Israel, Hashem reveals Himself through a full word. As it says, And He called (ויקרא) to Moshe. The meaning of a half word can be understood as we have explained.

And Balaam lifted up his eyes, and he saw Israel dwelling tribe by tribe; and the spirit of God came upon him.

And now, behold, I go unto my people; come, and I will announce to thee what this people shall do to thy people in the end of days.’

איעצך, a counsel of how to entrap the Israelites in sin. Although I know what these people are going to do to yours in the distant future, at this time, during your life, you have no call to fear them. This was the advice that is described later on in Numbers 31,16. Here Moses does not spell out the details of this advice as Bileam himself did not have the courage to say this aloud, and he only whispered it to Balak. It was revealed in detail by Moses only when there was a need to do so.