Chasidut for Numbers 24:8
אֵ֚ל מוֹצִיא֣וֹ מִמִּצְרַ֔יִם כְּתוֹעֲפֹ֥ת רְאֵ֖ם ל֑וֹ יֹאכַ֞ל גּוֹיִ֣ם צָרָ֗יו וְעַצְמֹתֵיהֶ֛ם יְגָרֵ֖ם וְחִצָּ֥יו יִמְחָֽץ׃
God who brought him forth out of Egypt Is for him like the lofty horns of the wild-ox; He shall eat up the nations that are his adversaries, And shall break their bones in pieces, And pierce them through with his arrows.
Kedushat Levi
Numbers 24,8. “it will consume nations that are its oppressors.” The meaning of this verse is that G’d’s intervention on behalf of His people Israel who are being oppressed by the gentile nations, occurs in order to glorify His name. He helps the Israelites in a variety of ways. All the people who have at one time jeeringly asked the Israelites: “where is your G’d?, will be shown G’d’s power when they observe the Israelites consuming all the “goodies” G’d provides for His people. Seeing that G’d will do all this for the sake of His glory, none of these acts of generosity of G’d will be offset against merits that the Israelites had previously accumulated. In other words, the Israelites benefit indirectly from the hostile actions of the gentile nations, as they will be more than compensated for their suffering.
“and they will crush their (enemies’) bones.” Bileam uses the word עצמות as a double entendre, to indicate that the very personalities, their independence, עצמיות, will be crushed. This will be a punishment for the uncalled for cruelty with which the gentiles treated the Israelites. G’d treats people according to the yardsticks with which the sinners had treated their victims.
Incidentally, this is also one of the reasons why the Torah describes G’d as being so angry at Bileam for going with Balak’s second set of emissaries, when a superficial reading of the text would have led us to believe that G’d had approved of Bileam’s journey.
The real reason why G’d was so angry at Bileam was –as the text clearly says- כי הולך הוא, “he went of his own accord, “ i.e. he signaled that he welcomed the opportunity to harm the Jewish people who had never harmed him. Cruelty is not always expressed physically. In the case of Bileam he expressed it, or tried to express it, spiritually, metaphysically. Whereas G’d always tried to “awaken” love and sympathy for Israel, as well as hatred against its enemies, Bileam, on the other hand, tried to do the opposite. No wonder that G’d’s anger was inflamed by this. It follows that a single attribute, i.e. loving kindness, can be split into two branches, love for Israel and simultaneous hatred against its enemies.
The word וחציו, literally translated as: “and its arrows,” in this instance is indicative of strife, as Rashi has already explained on Genesis 49,23 where Yaakov refers to the brothers’ hatred of Joseph. He explains the word as referring to divisions, basing himself on Onkelos who links חץ, “arrow,” to מחצה, “half.” Israel is able to divide the single attribute of חסד, love, into two halves, i.e. love for G’d and hatred toward G’d’s’ enemies. Rashi’s major contribution is that he considers the subject of the word וחציו, to be Israel.
“and they will crush their (enemies’) bones.” Bileam uses the word עצמות as a double entendre, to indicate that the very personalities, their independence, עצמיות, will be crushed. This will be a punishment for the uncalled for cruelty with which the gentiles treated the Israelites. G’d treats people according to the yardsticks with which the sinners had treated their victims.
Incidentally, this is also one of the reasons why the Torah describes G’d as being so angry at Bileam for going with Balak’s second set of emissaries, when a superficial reading of the text would have led us to believe that G’d had approved of Bileam’s journey.
The real reason why G’d was so angry at Bileam was –as the text clearly says- כי הולך הוא, “he went of his own accord, “ i.e. he signaled that he welcomed the opportunity to harm the Jewish people who had never harmed him. Cruelty is not always expressed physically. In the case of Bileam he expressed it, or tried to express it, spiritually, metaphysically. Whereas G’d always tried to “awaken” love and sympathy for Israel, as well as hatred against its enemies, Bileam, on the other hand, tried to do the opposite. No wonder that G’d’s anger was inflamed by this. It follows that a single attribute, i.e. loving kindness, can be split into two branches, love for Israel and simultaneous hatred against its enemies.
The word וחציו, literally translated as: “and its arrows,” in this instance is indicative of strife, as Rashi has already explained on Genesis 49,23 where Yaakov refers to the brothers’ hatred of Joseph. He explains the word as referring to divisions, basing himself on Onkelos who links חץ, “arrow,” to מחצה, “half.” Israel is able to divide the single attribute of חסד, love, into two halves, i.e. love for G’d and hatred toward G’d’s’ enemies. Rashi’s major contribution is that he considers the subject of the word וחציו, to be Israel.
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