Kommentar zu Bamidbar 24:14

הולך לעמי [AND NOW, BEHOLD, I] GO TO MY PEOPLE — “From now on, behold, I am like the rest of my people”. He said this because he knew that the Holy One, blessed be He, had departed from him.

COME AND I WILL COUNSEL THEE. Since Balaam wanted to tell [Balak] about the punishment [that would befall] his people, as it is written, and he shall smite through the corners of Moab,²²⁷Further Verse 17. therefore he told him, I will counsel thee, that is to say: “I will tell you ‘on the side’ an advice, so that others should not hear it.” “Come and I will counsel thee what you have to do [to revenge yourself upon Israel]. And what was the advice [that he gave him]? [He told him]: ‘The G-d of these [Israelites] hates immorality, etc., [therefore I advise you to seduce Israel into sin by means of the lure of the Moabite women],’ as is narrated in the Chapter Cheilek.²²⁸Literally: “Portion” — “All Israel have ‘a portion’ in the World to Come.” Sanhedrin 106a. The story of the Israelites committing immorality with the Moabite women is related in the following chapter of the Torah, and tradition has it that this plan was suggested by Balaam in his parting words to Balak. This, as Rashi explains, is the reason why he used the phrase “I will ‘counsel thee’ what this people shall do”, meaning: “I will counsel thee how to lead the people astray, and I will tell you what this people shall do …” Ramban explains the phrase “I will counsel thee” differently. You may know that it was Balaam who gave them this counsel [to lead Israel astray] through immorality, for it is said, Behold, these [women] caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, [to revolt so as to break faith with the Eternal].²²⁹Further, 31:16. WHAT THIS PEOPLE SHALL DO TO THY PEOPLE. This is an elliptical verse [which means as follows]: ‘I will counsel thee how to corrupt them, and I will [also] tell you what evil they are destined to do to Moab in the end of days.’” This is Rashi’s language.
The correct interpretation [of the word i’atzcha, normally translated: I will counsel thee] seems to me to be that Balaam told Balak: “I will tell you the purpose that G-d has planned that this people shall do to thy people in the end of days,” this being similar to the expressions: This is the ‘eitzah’ (purpose) that is ‘y’utzah’ (purposed) upon the whole earth;²³⁰Isaiah 14:26. Hear ye the ‘atzath’ (design) of the Eternal, that He hath ‘ya’atz’ (purposed) against Edom.²³¹Jeremiah 49:20. Balaam said i’atzcha [which literally means “I will give you counsel”], because one who hears counsel, [as Balaam heard G-d’s counsel], is called a no’atz [he with whom counsel is taken].²³²See Isaiah 40:14: ‘Eth mi no’atz’ (with whom took He counsel).
And this prophecy [in the following verses], refers to Messianic times, for all of Balaam’s prophecies added [to the previous ones] in [speaking of more] distant events. Thus at first²³³Above, 23:7-10. he said that Israel is [now] the portion of the Eternal and His inheritance;²³⁴Deuteronomy 32:9. in the second prophecy²³⁵Above, Chapter 23, Verses 18-24. he added that they would [later on] conquer the Land and kill its kings. In the third [prophecy]²³⁶Above, Verses 3-9. he saw them dwelling in the Land and increasing and multiplying therein, and that they would appoint a king [Saul] who would defeat Agag, and that the kingdom [of Israel] would be further exalted; for he saw David [whose kingdom] was exalted exceedingly,²³⁷I Chronicles 14:2. as it is said, And David perceived that the Eternal had established him king over Israel, and that He hath exalted his kingdom for His people Israel’s sake,²³⁸II Samuel 5:12. that is to say, because He had promised them that their kingdom would be exalted. And now in this fourth prophecy Balaam continued [on the future] and saw the Messianic era; therefore he spoke of it as a very distant event, saying, I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not nigh,²²⁷Further Verse 17. [a phrase] which he did not use in his first [three] prophecies. He stated that this is the purpose of G-d which He had planned, to come to pass in the end of days.²³⁹Verse 14.

לכה איעצך, the advice was to use the women as seducers. This is made crystal clear in Numbers 31,16.

ועתה הנני הולך…איעצך, "And now, I am ready to go..and I will advise you, etc." On the one hand Bileam says that he will comply with the king's orders at that time. He speaks in the singular corresponding to Balak's orders that he was to leave לך, i.e. unaccompanied even by his lads. He adds the word לעמי, "to my people," to indicate compliance with Balak's orders that he was to return directly אל מקומך, "to your home." However, concerning Balak's instruction that he was to leave in a manner which reflected flight Bileam demurred. He was not scared of Balak, being a powerful enough sorcerer. It is interesting to read in the Midrash Hagadol on 31,8 how much effort even the Israelites had to make in order to succeed in killing him. If the Israelites encountered such resistance, we can imagine how much more difficult it must have been for pagans to overcome Bileam.

איעצך, a counsel of how to entrap the Israelites in sin.

לכה איעצך, “I shall advise you;” Nachmanides writes that seeing that Bileam wanted to predict the disaster that would befall Moav as we read in 24,17 ומחץ פאתי מואב, “it will smash the nobles of Moav, this is why he now introduces his comments as “well-meaning advice.” This was said to Balak in private, not within the hearing of any of his servants. Rashi interprets the words לכה איעצך, as Bileam adding further details to what he had already said concerning what the Israelites would achieve in the future. Nachmanides adds that in his own opinion Bileam is telling Balak that he is about to reveal to Balak the advice G’d will give to His people how to deal with Moav when the time comes, just as He gives this kind of advice to Israel concerning any of the other nations at that time. The word עצה appears in that sense in Isaiah A person receiving and accepting advice is called נועץ. The prophecy announced here by Bileam applies to the end of time, i.e. to the period immediately preceding the final redemption and the coming of the Messiah. All of Bileam’s prophecies refer to the future, but follow a chronological pattern once the period to which they apply has commenced. They begin with describing the Jewish people as an integral part of G’d Himself and His heritage, followed by the description of their conquest of the land of Canaan, how they will kill many kings, etc. In his third prophecy he envisions Israel on its own land being fruitful and multiplying. A later stage, that of the defeat of Agag, at the hands of a Jewish king, but not yet a king of the Davidic dynasty whose descendant in due course will usher in the Messianic age, is envisioned by Bileam, but he qualifies it by saying that though he foresees it, it is not relevant at this time. At this point, Bileam describes himself as knowing what is in G’d’s mind even in the distant future. In other words, he presumes to foretell events that he has not been specifically told about in a vision, but which he knows by intuition, his being on a wavelength with G’d. When the Torah commences with the words:וישא משלו ויאמר, in verse 16, and he does not mention that what follows is a prophecy as he had done on the previous three occasions, it is clear that what follows is not something that he had heard from the mouth of the divine vision he had experienced. Nonetheless, the fact that he speaks of himself also here as the שומע אמרי א-ל, “the one who has heard words of G’d,” it is clear that the origin of what follows is divine, no less so than the previous prophecy.

ועתה הנני הולך לעמי לכה איעצך, “and now that I am about to go to my people, let me give you some advice.” He meant that he was going to give Balak advice how to trip up the Jewish people, to deflect them from their pious ways. He should encourage the Moabite women to make themselves sexually available to the Israelites. He, Bileam, knew that the G’d of the Jews hated sexual promiscuity. Although in our verse Bileam did not spell out precisely what he advised, it becomes clear in Numbers 31,16 where Moses tells the returning warriors that the Midianite women whom they failed to kill were the seductresses who, at the instigation of Bileam, were responsible for the thousands of Jewish lives lost in the pestilence.

V. 14. לכה איעצך. Kap. 31, 16 heißt es von den Midjanitinnen: הן הנה היו לבני ישראל בדבר בלעם למסר מעל בד׳ על דבר פעור, dass sie sich auf Bileams Anleitung den Söhnen Israels ergeben hatten, um sie zum Verrat an Gott im Peorkult zu veranlassen, ein Ereignis, das hier sofort nach Bileams Fortgang (Kap. 25) erzählt wird. Man bezieht daher gewiß mit Recht hierauf das איעצך, womit Bileam ihm den Rat erteilte, der Israels Jugend zum Falle bringen sollte. Hatte doch eben in seiner letzten Spruchrede Bileam erklärt, dass gerade in der Peorseite, in welcher Balak den letzten Versuch machte, eine schwache Seite an Israel zu erkunden, dieses Volkes Stärke liege, ja, dass diese geschlechtliche Reinheit die Grundbedingung ihres nahen Verhältnisses zu Gott bilde. Was lag näher, als dass er ihm nun sagte: dein Volk wird einst von diesem Volke zu leiden haben, aber dies liegt noch in weiter Ferne. Für jetzt hast du von diesem Volke nichts zu fürchten, vielmehr weiß ich eben nach der uns gewordenen Offenbarung einen Rat, wie du es versuchen kannst, diesem dir verhassten Volke empfindlich wehe zu tun. Wir haben es soeben gehört, אלהיהם של אלו שונא זימה הוא wie es Sanhedrin 106a heißt, der Gott dieses Volkes ist ein Feind jeder Unzucht, er ist der gerade Gegensatz zum Peor. Gelingt es dir, sie zur sinnlichen Ausschweifung, zu verlocken, so führst du ihren Fall herbei, und den Versuch kannst du durch Töchter deines Volkes veranstalten (siehe folgendes Kapitel).

לכה איעצך, “now I will give you some advice.” According to Rabbi Yochanan, there were three people involved in this “advice.” They were Bileam, Job, and Yitro. Job who kept silent was punished for not objecting with the afflictions described in the Book of Job. Yitro who left this discussion in disgust, was rewarded by his descendants becoming seated in the offices near the Temple of Solomon. Bileam was killed by the sword in the campaign against Midian. This has been documented in Chronicles I 2,55. The families of scribes mentioned in that verse were the descendants of Yitro. They are also mentioned in Judges 1,16: as “the sons of Keyni, the father-in-law of Moses, who had settled in the cities of Date Palms, (formerly Jericho) (based on Sanhedrin folio 106. An alternate explanation of the word: איעצך. “I will give you an advice concerning your concern that the Israelites in your proximity will completely ruin any grassland with its roots.” As long as you will not provoke them you have nothing at all to fear from them.”

לכה איעצך, “come and I will advise you, etc.” Moses does not spell out precisely what advice Bileam gave Balak at that point seeing that it was something Bileam had not done publicly. However, when the Torah describes the portion dealing with the Midianites, it becomes clear to the reader what Bileam must have suggested to Balak, i.e. to find a way to seduce the Israelites into promiscuous conduct with the females of Moav and Midian and thus pull down their G-d’s wrath on themselves. (Compare what Moses said in Numbers 31,15 to the soldiers bringing female Midianite prisoners of war home with them)

לך איעצך COME AND I WILL COUNSEL THEE what you have to do. And what is the counsel? The God of these people hates unchastity, therefore tempt them to sin by means of thy women-folk, as is related in the chapter חלק (Sanhedrin 106a) — You can know that it was Balaam who gave this counsel, to make them fall by the sin of unchastity, for it is stated, of the women of Midian (Numbers 31:16), “Behold, these were an enticement to the children of Israel through the word of Balaam”.

Although I know what these people are going to do to yours in the distant future, at this time, during your life, you have no call to fear them. This was the advice that is described later on in Numbers 31,16. Here Moses does not spell out the details of this advice as Bileam himself did not have the courage to say this aloud, and he only whispered it to Balak. It was revealed in detail by Moses only when there was a need to do so.

אשר יעשה העם הזה לעמך באחרית הימים, for indeed the evil this people will cause to your nation will not occur during your lifetime so that you, personally, have nothing to fear. It will only happen at the end of time. He repeats this later on in verse 17, and we find reference to this in Isaiah 11,14.

אשר יעשה העם הזה לעמך באחרית הימים, "what this people will do to your people at the end of days." On the one hand Bileam wanted to reveal to Balak what Israel would to do Moav, that they would uproot the people completely. On the other hand he realised that Balak the sorcerer with the aid of צפור might already be aware of this. He therefore meant to calm Balak by telling him that what was in store for Moav would be a long time hence, nothing to worry about at this time. The reason he had to tell Balak this was that otherwise Balak might be afraid to implement his advice to seduce the Israelite males with the Moabite women. The Moabite women would be afraid even to approach the Israelites fearing they would be stabbed to death. [after all Israel had only been forbidden to invade Moav. Ed.] Bileam therefore had to reassure Balak that it would not be dangerous for his women to try and "chat up" and fraternise with the Israelites. Bileam emphasised the word לעמך, "to your people," i.e. the people over whom you are king, the Moabites. Other nations had reason to fear the Israelites already. Balak personally was not included in the words לעמך, as he was really a Midianite. Balak was killed as one of the "kings" of Midian mentioned in Numbers 31,8 (compare Bamidbar Rabbah 20,20).

אשר יעשה העם הזה, “what this people will do in the future.” This will be explained presently.

אשר יעשה העם הזה לעמך, “what this nation will do to your nation.” Seeing that this prophecy concerned events far in the future, Bileam consoled Balak that he had nothing to fear from the Israelites in the immediate future. The details will be spelled out shortly, Bileam again emphasizing that he does not speak about the immediate future. (verse 17)

אשר יעשה העם הזה לעמך WHAT THIS PEOPLE SHALL DO TO THY PEOPLE — This is an elliptical verse, the meaning being: I will give thee counsel how to make them fall into sin, and I also will tell thee what evil they will once do to thy people Moab in later days: viz., (v. 17) “they will pierce the corners of Moab”. — The Targum explains at length what is implied by the terseness of the Hebrew text (“Come I will give thee counsel what thou shouldst do and I will show thee what this people etc.")