Balaam, his Donkey, and Fear of the Jewish People

(1) Numbers 22,3. “Moab was greatly afraid of the people ‎because they were so numerous; Moab greatly dreaded the ‎Children of Israel.”
Judging by the fact that the Torah ‎distinguishes the feelings of the Moabites vis a vis ‎העם‎, the ‎‎“people,” and subsequently vis a vis the ‎בני ישראל‎, “the ‎Children of Israel”, we are entitled to assume that the term ‎העם‎ ‎refers to the fellow travelers, the mixed multitude that had ‎attached themselves to the Israelites at the time of the Exodus. ‎‎(Compare Sh’mot Rabbah 42,6)‎
According to the Zohar, the fear of the Moabites was ‎due to their having noticed that wherever the Israelites ‎encamped (40th year near the Jordan river) many gentiles would ‎join them and convert to Judaism, so that the word ‎העם‎, here ‎does not refer to the mixed multitude that had joined the ‎Israelites already at the Exodus. [I have not found this ‎‎Zohar, Ed.] Balak or his people were afraid that if ‎the Israelites were to encamp near them, many Moabites would ‎convert to Judaism and join them. [The legislation that ‎Moabites were not allowed to convert (Deuteronomy 23,4) had ‎not yet been made public. Ed.] The next line describing ‎the mental state of the Moabites as being one of dread of the ‎Israelites, explains that whereas normally, Balak could not have ‎cared less, here the fact that the Moabites were in such dread of ‎the Israelites caused him to fear wholesale defection among his ‎people to the Israelites as a real possibility. Balak was a great anti-‎Semite.‎

(2) Numbers 22,4. “now this multitude will lick up all that ‎is around us as does the ox licking up the grass of the field, ‎etc.;”
By performing these various ‎commandments prior to enjoying the result of his labours, the ‎Jewish farmer becomes G’d’s partner in spiritually elevating the ‎‎“sparks” (of holiness) contained in some of these foods, i.e. ‎rehabilitating parts of G’d’s creation, such as some angels which ‎had been spiritually downgraded through failing to perform their ‎duties.

The soul of repentant sinners is ‎in a better position to help rehabilitate converts (who used to be ‎pagans) than is the soul of a person who has always been a true ‎believer in monotheism. The wicked Balak of which our portion ‎speaks, was afraid of Israel because the Israelites had ‎demonstrated their ability to help rehabilitate fallen sinners, i.e. ‎‎“sparks,” during their journey through the desert, and he hated ‎holiness, as has been alluded to in the line ‎ויקץ מואב מפני בני ישראל‎, ‎‎“that Moab was disgusted by the Children of Israel,” i.e. their ‎moral/ethical values.

(23) when the ass caught sight of the angel of the LORD standing in the way, with his drawn sword in his hand. The ass swerved from the road and went into the fields; and Balaam beat the ass to turn her back onto the road. (24) The angel of the LORD then stationed himself in a lane between the vineyards, with a fence on either side. (25) The ass, seeing the angel of the LORD, pressed herself against the wall and squeezed Balaam’s foot against the wall; so he beat her again. (26) Once more the angel of the LORD moved forward and stationed himself on a spot so narrow that there was no room to swerve right or left. (27) When the ass now saw the angel of the LORD, she lay down under Balaam; and Balaam was furious and beat the ass with his stick. (28) Then the LORD opened the ass’s mouth, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you that you have beaten me these three times?” (29) Balaam said to the ass, “You have made a mockery of me! If I had a sword with me, I’d kill you.” (30) The ass said to Balaam, “Look, I am the ass that you have been riding all along until this day! Have I been in the habit of doing thus to you?” And he answered, “No.” (31) Then the LORD uncovered Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the way, his drawn sword in his hand; thereupon he bowed right down to the ground.

“And the Lord put a word in Balaam’s mouth” (Numbers 23:5), Rabbi Elazar says: an angel. Rabbi Yonatan says: a hook.