This sheet on Numbers 23 was written by Sarit Kattan Gribetz for 929 and can also be found here
The 23rd chapter of the book of Numbers continues the narrative of Balak and Balaam. In verses 7 and 8, Balaam addresses Balak and confesses to him that he cannot curse Israel because God has not cursed Israel. Then, in verse 9, he continues:
“For from the top of the rocks I see it,
from the hills I behold it.
Here is a people living alone,
and not reckoning itself among the nations!” (NRSV, with modifications)
This is part of Balaam’s oracle, in which he was meant to curse Israel but ends up blessing them.
But what does this passage mean? To what do the terms “the top of the rocks” (merosh zurim) and “hills” (migevaot) refer?
Taken literally, it seems to mean that Balaam, standing on high on the mountains or hills, saw the Israelites encamped below, living separately from others. He presents this as a positive feature of the community. ‘I saw them from a heightened distance, they weren’t bothering anyone, they kept to themselves!’ Balaam seems to be telling Balak.
This verse, though, is interpreted differently in rabbinic tradition. In the tannaitic midrash Mekhilta de Rabbi Ishmael (Amalek 1; ed. Horovitz-Rabin, 179), Numbers 23:9 is understood in light of Exodus 17:10, which states: “tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill…”. Once these two verses are read together, the midrash is able to explain that “top of the rocks” is a reference to patriarchal merit (zekhut avot) and “hills” is a reference to matriarchal merit (zekhut imahot). When these two verses are read together, we see that, according to this midrash, Balaam was not only blessing the community of Israel for its present habits, but also that he was noting that the community of Israel had ancestral merit from the past – both from the patriarchs as well as from the matriarchs – that contributed to its grandeur and was worthy of praise. This ancestral merit could then be tapped, both by individuals and also by leaders such as Moses (as happens in Exodus 17:10, during the Israelites’ battle with Amalek), during times of crisis and suffering.
If the merits of present-day Israelites were not sufficient to merit God’s help, then surely the merits accrued by fore-mothers and fore-fathers would make up the difference.
“For from the top of the rocks I see it,
from the hills I behold it.
Here is a people living alone,
and not reckoning itself among the nations!” (NRSV, with modifications)
This is part of Balaam’s oracle, in which he was meant to curse Israel but ends up blessing them.
But what does this passage mean? To what do the terms “the top of the rocks” (merosh zurim) and “hills” (migevaot) refer?
Taken literally, it seems to mean that Balaam, standing on high on the mountains or hills, saw the Israelites encamped below, living separately from others. He presents this as a positive feature of the community. ‘I saw them from a heightened distance, they weren’t bothering anyone, they kept to themselves!’ Balaam seems to be telling Balak.
This verse, though, is interpreted differently in rabbinic tradition. In the tannaitic midrash Mekhilta de Rabbi Ishmael (Amalek 1; ed. Horovitz-Rabin, 179), Numbers 23:9 is understood in light of Exodus 17:10, which states: “tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill…”. Once these two verses are read together, the midrash is able to explain that “top of the rocks” is a reference to patriarchal merit (zekhut avot) and “hills” is a reference to matriarchal merit (zekhut imahot). When these two verses are read together, we see that, according to this midrash, Balaam was not only blessing the community of Israel for its present habits, but also that he was noting that the community of Israel had ancestral merit from the past – both from the patriarchs as well as from the matriarchs – that contributed to its grandeur and was worthy of praise. This ancestral merit could then be tapped, both by individuals and also by leaders such as Moses (as happens in Exodus 17:10, during the Israelites’ battle with Amalek), during times of crisis and suffering.
If the merits of present-day Israelites were not sufficient to merit God’s help, then surely the merits accrued by fore-mothers and fore-fathers would make up the difference.
(ט) כִּֽי־מֵרֹ֤אשׁ צֻרִים֙ אֶרְאֶ֔נּוּ וּמִגְּבָע֖וֹת אֲשׁוּרֶ֑נּוּ הֶן־עָם֙ לְבָדָ֣ד יִשְׁכֹּ֔ן וּבַגּוֹיִ֖ם לֹ֥א יִתְחַשָּֽׁב׃
(9) As I see them from the mountain tops, Gaze on them from the heights, There is a people that dwells apart, Not reckoned among the nations,
Sarit Kattan Gribetz is an assistant professor in the Theology Department at Fordham University and a core faculty member for the Drisha Institute for Jewish Education.
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