Commentary for Numbers 23:22

אל מוציאם ממצרים GOD BROUGHT THEM OUT FROM EGYPT — You said, (Numbers 22:5) “Behold, there is a people come out from Egypt” — it did not come out of its own account, but God brought it out (Midrash Tanchuma, Balak 14).

כתועפות ראם לו like the horns of a wild ox for him, seeing that it does not act like a lion, a predator. It only pushes with its horns like a wild ox, i.e. while it wants to expel the nations living in the land of Canaan. It is not bent on killing the inhabitants unless they resist occupation. We find a matching verse in Psalms 80,9 תגרש גויים ותטעה, “You (G’d) expelled nations and planted it. (Israel in their place)” All of this because G’d is not interest in the death of people. This is also the meaning of what our sages said in the Jerusalem Talmud Sheviit 6,1 “Joshua sent three letters to each of the nations inhabiting the land of Canaan; offering them a number of choices: 1) anyone wishing to emigrate can do so and will not be molested. 2) anyone wishing to make peace with us, i.e. to surrender, is welcome to do so. 3) anyone wishing to resist us by fighting us is welcome to do so.” The people of Canaan were obstinate attacking the incoming Israelites so that the latter were forced to kill them. It is clear therefore that the Jewish nation did not behave at all in the manner a lion behaves when he looks for prey. Instead, they acted in the manner of a wild ox when it feels forced to resist opposition.

א־ל מוציאם ממצרים, "G'd who has brought them out of Egypt, etc." Although the Talmud Berachot 38 understands the word מוציא as if it were in the past tense [in connection with the benediction we pronounce before eating bread, Ed.], the fact is that Bileam used the present tense rather than the past tense about G'd orchestrating the Exodus. Why did he do this? Perhaps we can best explain this in light of the statement in Pessachim 116 that every Jew throughout the ages must bring himself to feel that he himself took part in the Exodus of our forefathers from Egypt. In fact, basing themselves on this statement in the Talmud, the Kabbalists are sure that each and every year on the anniversary i.e. the night of the 14th of Nissan to the 15th, people have a chance to get rid of spiritually negative influences, the forces of the קליפה which they absorbed during the year, and emerge with all the sanctity of their souls intact. Bileam therefore alluded to the annual renewal of the spiritual part of the Exodus experience that the Jewish people experience. He even provided a reason for this when he said כתועפות ראם לו, "they are for him like the lofty horns of the wild-ox." This is an allusion to G'd continuously elevating the Jewish people spiritually to ever higher levels. This process will continue until every vestige of spiritual impurity has been purged from the Israelites. כי לא נחש ביעקב ולא קסם בישראל "for there is no enchantment in Jacob nor is there any divination in Israel." Bileam employs a double entendre; on the one hand he uses the word נחש in the sense it is used by sorcerers, on the other he alludes to the original serpent, the original temptress, seducer. Bileam claims that on both counts the Israelites are in the clear. They do not have anything to fear from either as they do not indulge in the practice of any kind of magic. Eventually, Jacob will become totally free of the evil urge, the angel of death, etc. Compare Zachariah 13,2 "I will remove the spirit of impurity from earth." ולא קסם, this refers to an impurity of a lesser degree. Bileam says that the Israelites will not even be afflicted by this and will be on a higher spiritual level than the angels. We know this from our sages in Bamidbar Rabbah 20,20 who told us that the words יאמר ליעקב מה פעל א־ל are an allusion to the angels asking and consulting Israel about the works of G'd.