Kommentar zu Bamidbar 22:2

וירא בלק ... את כל אשר עשה ישראל לאמרי AND BALAK … SAW ALL THAT ISRAEL HAD DONE TO THE AMORITES — He said to his people: Those two kings (Sihon and Og) on whom we relied (see Rashi on Numbers 21:23) could not resist them; how much less can we do so; on this account (because he said this to his people) ויגר מואב MOAB (the whole people) WAS SORE AFRAID (Midrash Tanchuma, Balak 2).

וירא בלק, a man who was famous as well schooled in all the martial arts. We find proof of this in Judges 11,25:הטוב טוב אתה מבלק בן צפור מלך מואב?, “do you imagine yourself to be superior to Balak son of Tzippor? Balak, in spite of his expertise, “saw” what had happened to Sichon who had refused to let the Israelites pass and had paid for this error with the loss of his life and his kingdom.

וירא בלק בן צפור...ויגר מואב, Balak son of Tzippor saw- ..and Moav was afraid, etc. Why does the Torah describe only Balak as "seeing," whereas his countrymen are only described as being afraid of the Israelites? Secondly, why was only Moav afraid and not Midian? After all, Midian had much more reason to be afraid seeing that their horoscope told them they would be lost whereas there was nothing in the horoscope of the Moabites which foretold them disaster at this time?

וירא בלק בן צפור וגו'....ויגר מואב מפני העם מאד כי רב הוא, “Balak son of Tzippor saw, etc…..and Moav was scared on account of The Jewish people because it was very numerous.” Moav was numerically very insignificant among the nations at that time in that region. The reason lay in their relative recent emergence as a nation, not like the Canaanites who dated back practically to 100 years after the deluge. The Israelites far outnumbered the Moabites at that time. The Moabites were well aware that the Israelites had no designs on their country as they had been specifically instructed by the Jewish G’d not to harass the Moabites, and not to provoke a military confrontation with them. They were also aware that even where the Israelites had engaged in war, they had not done so except when their request to pass peacefully through a foreign country had been rebuffed and been met with aggression by the ruler of that country. They merely dreaded the ecological damage the Israelites would leave behind in their wake if they were to be allowed to traverse the land of Moav. This is why they explained the nature of their concern when they sent emissaries to the elders of Midian to whom they explained graphically what their land would look like after the Israelites had trampled all the agricultural areas of their land. They were afraid that if the Israelites caused huge ecological damage to their economy they would wind up as totally dependent economically on the Israelites, almost as their slaves.

He said “Those two kings…” Rashi is answering the question: Was he the [only one] who saw but others did not see? Rather, he took it to heart and therefore the Torah associates the sighting with him. Alternatively, Rashi is answering a [different] question: The Torah should have stated, “And he heard,” given that presumably he did not partake in the war. Rather, “And he saw” is an expression of comprehension, and what was it that he comprehended? “He said…”

V. 2. וירא כלק בן צפור (siehe zu V. 4). — לאמורי: den von Sichon und Og beherrschten Völkerschaften, auch Ogs Gebiet gehörte zu Emori (siehe Dewarim 3, 8).

וירא בלק....לאמורי, “Balak had taken note of all that Israel had done to the Emorite” (foremost Canaanite tribe). The reference is, of course, to Israel having defeated Sichon and his army totally. Balak now reasoned that if that was what they had done to mighty Sichon, they would do the same to him and the Moabites. Therefore, he preferred to have the assistance of someone who was known to have good relations with the supernatural powers.

וירא בלק, “Balak saw,” (realised) Balak heard, as in Exodus 20,15: וכל העם רואים את הקולות, “and the whole nation saw the thunder.”

Certainly we cannot. Rashi is answering the question: How was, “And Moav became terrified” (v. 3) a result of, “And Balak saw…”? For the verse implies that it was because of him seeing that Moav became terrified. Rashi answers: “Those two kings…” referring to Sichon and Og. He means to say that once the general populace heard that the king had said this, as a result “Moav became terrified.” Re’m writes: This is puzzling, because if the word ויגר ["became terrified"] refers to the verse above, what is the meaning of “because of their great numbers” which is written immediately afterwards (v. 3)? For this implies that it was because of their numbers that they were fearful, rather than because of what they did to the two Emorite kings. One cannot answer that there is a vav missing from כי רב הוא ["because of their great numbers"] and it as if it had stated וכי רב הוא ["and because of their great numbers"], which would mean that it was also because of their great numbers; for if so, Rashi should have explained this phrase like he explained “Because Hashem took Yisroel out of Egypt…” (Shemos 18:1). The answer appears to be that the Moavites also knew that Bnei Yisroel were victorious over the two kings, however they thought that the victory had been by natural means. Thus, since their victory in war was only because of their great population, it would be possible to be victorious over them with a greater population, by engaging all the kings of Canaan against them. However, now they had heard from their king that Yisroel’s victory in war was by unnatural means, since they killed the Emorites without standing against them [to cause any casualties]. Consequently, “Moav became terrified of the people because of their great numbers,” meaning that they still had great numbers as before and had not lost a man. This was why they detested their lives. Accordingly Rashi’s explanation is as follows: “These two kings…” meaning that 'we were certain that these two kings would kill at least as many Israelites as the Israelites had killed of them, and then we would come with all the Canaanite kings to kill those Israelites who remained. However now that none of them have been killed, because no man raised his hand against them due to the fear of Yisroel that fell over them, all the more so we will not be able to [overcome them], even with [the help of] all the Canaanite kings.'

We have to remember that according to Bamidbar Rabbah 20,4 Balak used to be one of the princes of Midian, but the Moabites had appointed him as their king out of fear from the Israelites. When the Torah writes that "Balak saw," it reveals that the former prince of Midian who had seen what the Israelites had done a short while previously to the mighty king Sichon of the Emorites was just as much afraid of the Israelites as the Moabites. There was no need for the Torah to spell this out as everybody had taken note of the defeat of the mighty king Sichon. Subsequently, the Torah mentions that even Moav was afraid of Israel. The fact that both Moav and Midian feared Israel brought them closer together and they made peace with one another as is evident from the proposal made by the elders of Moav to the elders of Midian. Our sages also say in that same Midrash that the proof that the Moabites and the Midianites were warring is the verse המכה את מדין בשדה מואב, (Genesis 36,35). There was always hatred between these two peoples. The Midrash describes their relationship as like that of two dogs which always fight each other until threatened by a wolf. The reason that the Moabites humbled themselves and appointed someone from Midian as king over them instead of vice versa was that the Moabites needed the counsel of the Midianites amongst whom Moses had lived for many years.

Another peculiarity in our verse is the use of the word "saw" instead of "heard" for Balak's reaction. What had Balak seen? While it is true that the Mechilta had stated that there are occasions when the Torah uses the word "saw" instead of "heard," such as in Exodus 20,15: "the whole people saw the sounds, etc.," this certainly does not apply here. In fact, we have been told in Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer 41 that the people at the time of the revelation actually saw the sounds with their eyes, [the soundwaves, I presume, Ed,]. Furthermore, why did the Torah find it necessary to tell us who Balak's father was, i.e. צפור? Why did the Torah use two expressions denoting something additional but indeterminate, i.e. את and כל? Why does the Torah describe two distinct reactions by the Moabites, "they were afraid," and "they detested?" Why are the Israelites referred to as "Israel" and simply as "the people," and then again as "the children of Israel?"

We can understand all this in light of the Zohar on our verse where Balak is described as a greater sorcerer than Bileam. He employed a certain bird, צפור to perform his sorcery with. When the Torah mentions that Balak "saw," it means that whatever he "saw" he saw by means of that bird. His biological father may not have been someone by the name of צפור, at all; his reliance on the magic he could perform with the help of that bird, caused the Torah to describe him as a "son of צפור." He was able to use such a צפור in his pursuit of magic. This צפור had informed him about all that Israel had done to the Emorite. He did not depend on outside sources of information.

It is even possible that he used the צפור as an oracle which foretold him things to come. The extraneous word כל may indicate how Balak came by his knowledge, whereas the word את may be an allusion to the visions he had of the future of what would happen to another nation., i.e. that it too would suffer a fate similar to that of the Emorite at the hands of the people of Israel. The nation which Israel would uproot at that time was Midian. The word את may be a reference to the people of Midian who were next on the list of nations whom the Israelites would destroy. It is possible that Balak "saw" that the Moabites were safe against any attack by the Israelites; he was quite right in this as G'd had forbidden the Israelites to even put pressure on Moav. Balak's magic foretold not only disaster but also pleasant news. The Moabites had to place heavy reliance on the person of Balak who alone was able to "see" by means of his צפור. The Torah alludes to all this as an introduction to why Balak and the Moabites turned to Bileam and the sins committed by Israel as a result of Bileam's visit. The "vision" Balak saw was only one factor as I shall explain later. When the Torah adds ויגר מואב, this is not something which was caused by what Balak had "heard" or "seen," but refers to another event which followed and inspired fear in the heart of the Moabites.

The Torah was careful to describe Moav's reaction as being due to מפני העם, "on account of the people," seeing the people were numerous and tough. The Torah mentions specifically that the people were numerous and by inference that the reason the Moabites detested them was because of their toughness, i.e. that they were בני ישראל, a people with access to a supernatural ally, their G'd in heaven. Had the Jewish people only outnumbered them they could have countered this by hiring armies from surrounding countries to fight together with them against the Israelites. All these factors combined to account for their calling a truce in their fight against the Midianites and appointing the Midianite Balak as their king. They sent for Bileam as a result of which 24.000 Israelites died without the Moabites having to raise a finger.

If even a single one of the causes we have mentioned had not been present, they never would have engaged Bileam and nothing would have happened. If Balak, for instance, had not foreseen with his bird what fate was in store for himself and Midian, the Moabites would never have been willing to make peace with their natural enemies, the Midianites. The idea of sending to Midian for a prophet to curse Israel would not even have been entertained. They most certainly would not have been prepared to let their women sleep with the Israelites. After all, the Midianites had not felt confident about facing Israel in war, only the Moabites were confident because they knew that whatever Israel was going to do to them was in the far distant future (24,14). [You will note that the Moabites did not fear for their lives from verse 4. Ed.] This is why the Moabites could have remained confident about any military encounter with Israel at this time. The Moabites were quite confident about sending their women into the camp of the Israelites, as opposed to the Midianites who allowed only a single woman, Kosbi bat Tzur, to entice the Israelites into immoral behaviour. In fact we have it on the authority of Midrash Hagadol on 25,15 that this Kosbi was a daughter of Balak himself who was also called Tzur. If the Moabites had not been afraid of העם because of their numbers or had detested them because they had divine support they never would have made peace with Midian and accepted a Midianite prince to be king over them. To make all these points clear, the Torah informed us first about Balak seeing, Moav being afraid, and the Moabites detesting Israel. The combined reactions of the Moabites and the Midianite Balak led to the desperate decision to invite a Midianite prophet to curse the Israelites.