Kommentar zu Bamidbar 24:11

ברח לך, the use of the word ברח does not refer to escape from a pursuer, but refers to abandoning a certain place because of fear of what might happen there in the future.

ועתה ברח לך, "And now, you better flee for yourself, etc." Balak decreed four penalties against Bileam. 1) He was not allowed to remain in Moav but was forced to return home (in disgrace). 2) He should make haste, i.e. ברח, "flee." 3) He should go by himself without attendants, i.e. לך "by yourself." 4) He was not to go from this city of Moav to another city or even to Midian but straight to his home, מקומך, "your place." Balak explained to Bileam that if he was forced to belittle him in this fashion though he had previously boasted about his ability to confer a lot of honour on him (22,17), this was only because G'd did not want Bileam to receive this honour, i.e. הנה מנעך השם מכבוד. Balak appears to have interpreted G'd's refusal for Bileam to curse the Jewish people as only a stratagem to prevent Bileam from being honoured.

ועתה ברח לך אל מקומך, “and now, flee to your place, etc.” He did no longer ask him to curse the Israelites seeing that Bileam had told him that G’d had told Avraham that anyone cursing him or his descendants would himself be cursed by Him. (Genesis 12,3) Another reason was that Bileam had told Balak that the Israelites would consume all those who would oppress them. (24,8) He had included oppressors from all nations. Originally, Bileam had limited his remarks to what would happen to the Kings of the Canaanites, but now that he had widened the scope by including oppressors of the Israelites from any quarter, Balak had decided to refrain from antagonizing their G’d. He was convinced that he could not prevail.

ועתה ברח לך אל מקומך, “and now, flee to your place!” According to the father of R. David Kimchi this is not a flight in the conventional sense of the word but means the same as “go quickly!” The word is used in a similar meaning in Isaiah 48,20: ברחו מכשדים, “flee from Chaldea! Declare with loud shouting, Announce this, bring out the word to the end of the earth!” It may describe that Israel departed from Egypt with great fanfare. When the prophet Jonah is described as לברוח תרשישה, “hiring a ship to escape to Tarshish” (Jonah 1,3) this must not be taken to mean that he imagined he could escape from the Lord; it means that he meant to travel to Tarshish quickly. This is also the meaning of the words מלפני ה' that we find there which means “away from the presence of the Lord” and not מפני ה', “on account of the Lord,” as we find in Psalms 139,7 where David makes plain that it is impossible to flee from G’d using the words: “Where can I escape from Your spirit (presence)?”
The reason that Bileam was anxious to leave was to forestall G’d giving him a sign such as He did to the people of Nineveh (in later years) which would prompt them to do repentance, resulting eventually and indirectly in the destruction of the Northern kingdom of the Ten Tribes. Jonah himself told G’d that the reason that he was in such a rush to embark for Tarshish was to forestall that demise of the Jewish kingdom, not to escape from the Lord (Jonah 4,2). The “sign” to the people of Nineveh which prompted them to take Jonah’s prediction of their doom seriously and to repent their evil ways was undoubtedly that they had heard what had happened on the boat to Tarshish, how Jonah despite being thrown overboard had miraculously remained alive, etc., etc. This is a beautiful explanation although it clashes with that of our sages at the beginning of Mechilta 21 who do understand Jonah’s flight to Tarshish as an attempt to escape G’d in order not to be burdened with Holy Spirit, something he thought is not imposed when away from the Holy Land.

ועתה ברח לך אל מקומך, “and now flee to your place!” Balak urges Bileam to disappear with all possible speed before he will express his anger in stronger terms. The expression: ברח, “flee!” is used in this context in Song of Songs 8,14, ברח דודי, “flee my beloved;”An alternate interpretation: the words “ועתה ברח לך,” are not so much a dismissal of Bileam, as a reversal of what Bileam had been saying to him repeatedly when exploring if there was a place from which cursing the Israelites might be effective. He would no longer accompany Bileam to any place suggested, as he knew that he would not curse the Jewish people when he would come to such a place. The best thing for Bileam to do therefore would be to return home at once.

אמרתי כבד אכבדך, “I had said that I would honor you greatly;” the reason Balak used the word כבד, “honor,” twice in succession is that it refers to the two locations to which Balak had taken Bileam, hoping each time that he would curse the Jewish people. Now that he had taken him to a third location he no longer even planned to honor Bileam since he had acquired a reputation of blessing the Israelites instead. As soon as Bileam had declared that those who curse the Israelites will themselves be cursed whereas those who bless them will be blessed, Balak had lost all hope of a successful confrontation with that people and he told him “to get lost.” He blamed his inability to reward Bileam on G’d, saying that “G’d has prevented me from honoring you.”

Bileam immediately denied this argument when he reminded Balak that he had already told the delegates that he would only be able to say what G'd would tell him, and that Balak had insisted that he should come all the same. Bileam reminded Balak that he had repeated the word כבד אכבדך, i.e. he had insisted that Bileam should come because he wanted to honour him regardless of what he would say. He also repeated the words: "your delegates whom you sent," although the words "whom you have sent" were quite redundant, because he also referred to the first set of emissaries. The word מלאכיך refers to the second set of delegates, the words אשר שלחת refer to the first set of emissaries. He added the word לאמור to remind Balak that he had not only told the emissaries what was on his mind, but had asked them at the time to make sure that they would convey this to Balak.