Balak – Once Upon a Week

Read the transcript below, or watch a video of the teaching by Yehuda Bachana.Balak was the king of Moab, a region east of the Dead Sea in ancient Jordan.

The Torah paints a clear picture how all the surrounding nations are afraid of the new and mysterious people that is nearing their region. Everyone wonders what the source of Israel’s power is. Yet, perhaps the most asked question is, how Israel’s military advancement could be stopped.

Like everyone else, Balak understands that God is the One who granted the Israelites His divine protection and blessing. Balak is rightfully convinced that this blessing or spiritual protection enables Israel to be powerful and successful. Israel’s awareness of this divine gift boosts the army’s morale, which is expressed by the people’s courage, bravery and self-confidence.

In contrast to Israel, Balak’s army is inferior as it is fearful, suffers a low morale, and lacks courage and motivation. Under these circumstances, engaging into a physical conflict with Israel would not be a smart thing to do.

For this reason, Balak hires Balaam, a soothsayer, with the aim to curse Israel. The goal is to damage Israel’s spiritual strength, motivation and courage, which will then put an end to Israel’s military victories and advancement.

As the Torah portion progresses, we meet a female donkey. God opens her mouth and she speaks with Balaam. Our sages conclude, that God allowed the donkey to speak, in order to show Balaam that God gives or takes the very ability for a mouth or tongue to speak, warning Balaam to be careful.

Our words are powerful: God spoke, and the world came into being. For better or worse, speech is a tool to help us get better organized and to join forces. In the case of the Tower of Babylon, people used speech, yet with a negative result. And so, God confounds speech, making it much harder to organize the tower’s construction. This results in the people being scattered around the world.

Our words have the power to curse and to destroy. However, the opposite is also true. We have the power to bless others, to point out someone’s success, to encourage and to praise.

Nothing much has changed. While people usually tend to criticize quickly, we – however - often are less quick to give positive feedback. Let’s remind ourselves that it only takes one word to lift others up and to improve their day. I encourage myself, and us all, to do so more often.

For generations, our sages have wondered, whether the story of the talking donkey truly happened, or if it was just a dream. The truth is that this Bible story can be understood in both ways. If the story happened in reality - as a Messianic believer, I believe with all my heart - that God created the world. He created this material world out of nothing, just by speaking a word. So for me, there is no problem whatsoever, to believe that God can cause a donkey to speak.

On the other hand, this sequence of events could also be interpreted as a dream. Balaam asks the Moabite delegation to stay overnight, in order to wait for an answer from God. Indeed, God reveals Himself to Balaam in a dream that night:

After receiving God’s permission to return with Balak’s men, the Torah returns to describe Balaam’s dream where a female donkey acts strangely and finally speaks. In this interpretation, the conversation with the donkey takes us back to the permission to go with Moabite ministers (verse 20):

Balaam is a very interesting and mysterious character. When we read this story, we suddenly understand that Balaam is a great prophet. He is filled with the Spirit of God and speaks with God often. Balak hires Balaam, because his words and his curses are powerful.

Caught by surprise, I need to internalize this thought: God communicates with and grants power, also to those who do not believe according to the Biblical faith. Even to those listed among our enemies.

And truly so, because God is the Lord of all flesh. God is not only ‘my God’, nor only ‘the God of Israel’. He is everyone’s God, because He is the only One: the Creator of the universe, of humanity and all of creation, and He communicates with everyone.

Balaam is a prophet from the nations. In our case, he is also evil and he dies a tragic death; nevertheless, God talks with him, and Balaam is known to us as:

Balaam is described by the New Testament as a false prophet. Meaning, he is a real prophet who truly hears from God; yet, his way is wrong. Balaam is greedy and proud, and he misleads and hurts others:

Second Peter dedicates an entire passage to false teachers like Balaam. This text shows that one can be very smart, knowing secrets and even hidden matters from Above, and still remain evil and greedy. Balaam teaches us that it does not matter how much we know, but it does matter how we use this knowledge.

Is being greedy always wrong? You see, we all want to succeed and make decisions according to what benefits us personally. The big question is, if this a sin, and why so? It is logical and normal that our actions are motivated by self-interest. This mechanism protects us and eventually leads to our success.

Can charity exist without profit? Can love exist without hate? There is an old story, named ‘two branches’, that demonstrates this question very well:

In the middle of a village stood a special, tree with two branches. This tree produced amazing fruit, but no one ate any of it. The fruit of one branch was poisonous; yet, nobody knew which one. One day, the people of the village had nothing to eat, while the old tree in the middle of the village continued to produce large, beautiful fruit.

The inhabitants gathered around the tree, not knowing what to do. Should they take a chance, and possibly eat the poisonous fruit? Or, should they not take the risk, and starve to death? The people walked around the tree, unable to decide.

Suddenly, a tribe elder picked a piece of fruit from one of the branches and took a bite. Everyone watched him eat as he continued to eat this juicy-looking fruit. Following his example, people hurried to pick the fruit from the good branch and feasted on the produce for many days. One day, someone said: “Why do we keep the poisonous branch? It does not benefit us. For sure, it is dangerous and will likely ruin the good branch.”

The townspeople took an axe and cut off the bad branch closely to the trunk, so it would never grow back again. They then returned to their homes, feeling happy and satisfied. When they returned the next morning, they found an old, dry and fruitless tree.

This story teaches us several lessons. The main one is the question: could good exist without evil? Could love exist without hate? Joy without sadness?

A person without an appetite, without the love of money, without jealousy and anger? Such a person would not take good care of him- or herself, nor make an effort to make a good living. Such a person would lack the wish for personal development, or the drive to build a family.

What inner power motivates us to persevere, compete, learn, succeed, get married, have children, to work and earn money? Would all of these be possible without desire, pride, jealousy, power and a strong inner drive?

The main lesson we learn from the story of the tree is that, in our world, good cannot exist without the possibility of evil. Besides, when we cut off the poisonous or evil part, we actually cut down the tree itself and destroy the very person and his or her very ability to strive.

God created us with two conflicting powers that struggle within us. The balance between these enables us a good life. It would be unhealthy to always be on the giving side. Time, strength, energy, attitude, the ability to listen and money: our resources are limited!

Even when we give to those in need, it will always come at the expense of something or someone else. It comes at the expense of our spouse, our children, our congregation or that of our friends. We must beware of the ultra-righteous attitude.

It is not right and even unwise to think that we should only invest in others. Giving to others is a commandment; nevertheless, we are not commanded to give our entire field away, but rather just the fringes, corners and whatever falls during the harvest. All the rest is ours.

It is okay to love yourself, and very worthwhile to invest in your appearance, to exercise and be fit, to look good, to care for your garden and to enjoy it. We should make ourselves a nice home and enjoy coming back home. It is a good and healthy thing to do.

God invested in this world. He created it and planted it with great love. At the end of the six days of creation:

There is nothing wrong with our desire to receive a payment or a reward. As we return to Balaam, how did he sin? It seems like he asked for God’s guidance every step of the way. Even when King Balak is angry with Balaam, he replies with a similar anger:

In fact, instead of cursing Israel, Balaam blesses our people with the famous words that every synagogue in the world repeats weekly:

When and where, then, was decided that Balaam was greedy and evil? What is wrong with greed, meaning, the wish to make a profit or to be paid? However, the very definition of ‘greed’ does not mean ‘to make a profit’. Rather, being greedy means that someone takes a crooked path that includes deception, theft or lying. Being greedy always comes with the addition of hurting others, and that is unacceptable.

The New Testament gives a detailed list of qualities that are required of a leader:

These are some of the qualities that are required of leadership, and it includes not being greedy, meaning: not to profit at the expense of others.

At the end, Balaam advises Balak in a way that would damage Israel. Balaam advises Balak to exploit the Moabite women into sexually seducing the men of Israel. The goal was to damage Israel spiritually. We know that this was Balaam’s idea, because it is written in the Torah (Numbers 31:15-16).

After the war with the Midianites, Israel returns with bounty, which includes women as well. Moses is very angry that the Israelites have not learned their lesson. Through these women and due to Balaam’s advice, the Israelites falls into idolatry:

The story of Balaam teaches us that everyone is accountable for his or her own actions. And we will give an account for our own actions and decisions. Yeshua summarizes this by saying: