Commentary for Numbers 24:23

וישא משלו וגו׳ AND HE TOOK UP HIS PARABLE etc. — Because he mentioned the captivity into Assyria he exclaimed, אוי מי יחיה משמו אל, who is able to save himself alive, so that He who decrees (God) should not place upon him (משמו) these things (אל, the equivalent of אלה) — for Sannacherib, king of Assyria, shall rise up and bring all the nations into confusion. And further, there will come —

מי יהיה משמו א־ל "Who shall live after G'd has appointed him?" Our sages in Sanhedrin 106 offer two interpretations on this verse. I recommend that you look at them. Personally, I prefer to understand this verse with the help of an introductory comment by the Zohar which I have referred to frequently. The purpose of exile is to enable the Israelites to isolate and rescue "sparks" of sanctity which are trapped in the land in which the Jews are exiled. This concept is alluded to in Kohelet 8,9 את אשר שלט האדם באדם לרע לו, "a time when man rules over man to his detriment." Solomon means that such rule will boomerang to the detriment of the pagan ruler himself. This will occur when the spiritually valuable element trapped within the ruler will be taken from him so that he will be exposed exclusively to the spiritually negative forces within him. We have explained repeatedly that the only factor which keeps a wicked person alive is the presence of a spiritually positive force trapped within him. Having said all this, we may now turn to our verse. Having previously referred to the fact that the Kenite would be exiled, the Torah (Bileam) continues the theme of exile, referring to the Israelites themselves experiencing exile. Bileam bewails the future of the nations who host Israel during its exile, predicting that all of these nations will be laid waste by G'd. The word אוי refers to the nations with whom G'd will deal by means of retribution seeing that most of them have hosted Jews as exiles. The Jews in these various countries will extract all the spiritually positive forces which alone have been reponsible for such people remaining alive.

אוי מי יחי, who will be able to survive on account of the King Messiah when G’d will orchestrate all these events which will disintegrate all the descendants of mankind.

Who is capable…? Meaning: Who is the person who is capable of causing Him not to put these decrees [into effect] against him? [These decrees] refers to the commingling that will come to the world.

V. 23. אוי מי יחיה משמו אל: Vor der Gründung Israels durch Gott wird niemand seine dem eben damit zur Herrschaft gelangen sollenden Prinzipe widerstrebende Selbständigkeit bewahren können. Mit dem gottgeleiteten Eintritt Israels in die Geschichte ist allem dieser Gottesabsicht Entgegenstehenden die Zukunft gekündigt.

?ויאמר אוי מי יחיה משמו א-ל, He said: “alas who shall live (unless) G–d has planted him firmly?” According to Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish in the Talmud tractate Sanhedrin, the meaning of this line is: “woe to any person who when assuming authority compares himself to G–d!” According to Rabbi Yochanan, the former’s brother-in-law, the meaning is: “woe to any nation that is around at the time when G–d will redeem His people!” Anyone at that time daring to declare himself as ruler anywhere will pay dearly for such arrogance. He is compared to placing his throne between a male lion and that lion’s mate, when that pair is in its mating season. (Talmud, tractate Sanhedrin, folio 106.) Another interpretation: Bileam refers to any fool who still has aspirations at ruling after the Messiah has taken his rightful place on earth.