Comentario sobre Números 23:21

לא הביט און ביעקב וגו׳ HE HATH NOT BEHELD INIQUITY IN JACOB, etc. — Understand this as the Targum has it (“I have seen that there are no worshippers of idols in the house of Jacob”). Another explanation: According to its plain sense it can receive a beautiful exposition:

HE HATH NOT BEHELD ‘AVEN’ (INIQUITY) IN JACOB. It [the pronoun “he”] refers to “G-d” mentioned [in Verse 19. G-d is not a man, that He should lie, and not to Balaam, who is referred to in Verse 20: Behold, I am bidden to bless], the verse stating that G-d has not beheld iniquity and falsehood in Jacob, nor has He seen in them anything perverse or any provocation that they have committed before Him, and therefore He is with them, and the shout of His Kingdom is among them, for He will cry, yea, He will shout aloud, He will prove Himself mighty against their enemies.¹⁴⁹Isaiah 42:13. This is the opinion of Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra, and it is correct.
It is also possible to explain that the usage of the word aven here is like [that in the verse], I see the tents of Cushan under ‘aven’ (falsehood).¹⁵⁰Habakkuk 3:7. So also the word amal [in the verse before us: neither hath He seen ‘amal’ in Israel — denotes “deception”]. Similarly, under his tongue is ‘amal v’aven’¹⁵¹Psalms 10:7. — meaning “deception and falsehood,” for a thing which will not happen and will not come to pass because it is false, is called aven v’amal [meaning: “trouble and toil”], because a person will only derive from it toil. Balaam is thus stating: “Behold, I am bidden to bless; and when He hath blessed, I cannot call it back,¹⁵²Verse 20. for no man hath beheld in Jacob nor hath anyone seen in Israel any deceit or falsehood. Their Trust is not false. And their hope of Him is not in vain¹⁵³See Job 41:1. for all their blessings and their confidence will exist forever.” [The usage of the word hibit in the verse before us: lo ‘hibit’ aven b’Ya’akov] is similar in expression to: behold, such is ‘mabateinu’ (our expectation);¹⁵⁴Isaiah 20:6. and they shall be dismayed and ashamed, because of Ethiopia ‘mabatam’ (their expectation)¹⁵⁵Ibid., Verse 5. — [thus making the meaning of the verse here to be: “the trust and expectation of Jacob will not end in trouble and sorrow”]. So also ‘v’lo hibatetem’ (but ye looked not) unto Him that hath done this, neither had ye respect unto Him that fashioned it long ago,¹⁵⁶Ibid., 22:11. [where the word hibatetem is] an expression of trust and hope [thus the verse is saying: “you trusted not in Him, nor did you hope in Him”].
Balaam states the reason for this, saying: because the Eternal his G-d is with him, Who does not lie nor repent, and the shout of a mighty King is among them, Who will never be vanquished. For by bringing them forth out of Egypt He has [shown] His great might, like the lofty horns of the wild-ox¹⁵⁷Verse 22. which are above all animals. And so it is not possible that all their blessings should not be fulfilled, seeing that there is no enchantment or divination in Israel!¹⁵⁸Verse 23.

ותרועת מלך בו, whenever the whole camp begins to journey or to make camp they blow the trumpets to express the joy of having their King with them.

לא הביט און ביעקב, "He has not seen iniquity in Jacob, etc." We must try and understand this by reference to a part of the Zohar called Raaye Mehemenuta volume 3 page 265 where we are told that when man sins, the sin leaves a physical impression on the part of his body with which he committed the sin. Our sages consider such parts of the body as being blemished. The meaning of the word און is the name of the physical blemish which results from the commission of a sin. Proverbs 30,20 describes the adulterous woman as saying לא פעלתי און, "I have not done any wrong." We find the same expression in Psalms 125,5: "The Lord makes them go the way of evil-doers." Bileam says that he could not detect any physical blemishes on the body of the people called Jacob which would bear testimomy to their having committed evil. We have already explained that Bileam described the "average" Israelite as יעקב, whereas he described the spiritual elite as ישראל. He meant that though, intellectually speaking, the Israelites had erred on occasion, the result never was serious enough as to leave a blemish on their bodies. Bileam took his cue from the description of the Jewish people in Song of Songs 4,7: כלך יפה רעיתי ומום אין בך. "You are completely fair My beloved, you are totally free from any blemish." The sins the Israelites had been guilty of from time to time did not leave a permanent blemish, nothing that could not be cleansed by a thorough washing. Shir Hashirim Rabbah on Song of Songs 1,5 "I am black and yet beautiful" echoes this sentiment. ולא ראה עמל בישראל "neither has He seen perverseness in Israel." The word עמל usually means toil. Bileam means that G'd did not even find amongst the elite of Israel the kind of temporary blemish which can be scrubbed away only laboriously.

לא הביט און ביעקב, He does not want to punish them even when they commit sins (in error). His is what is meant in Job 11,11: “when He sees iniquity He does not discern it.”

לא הביט און ביעקב, “He observed no iniquity in Yaakov.” Bileam explains why he had said that he could not countermand any blessing, i.e. why Hashem would not retract blessings bestowed on Israel. They had not given Him any cause to do so. Not a single person among the Israelites had become guilty of dealing deceitfully. The meaning of the word און in our verse is iniquity based on lies, deceit. Lies are referred to as און as well as עמל seeing that as a result of lies man is apt to reap only עמל, fruitless endeavour. Bileam is explaining that seeing he had been commanded to bless the people they would not be burdened with fruitless endeavours, their expectations would not be disappointed, prove deceptive, i.e. כזב. The reason why this is so is that they do not place their trust in powerless idols but in the Lord, the Creator, the supreme power that is able to make good on His promises. He had displayed that power when taking this people out of Egypt where their condition had seemed totally hopeless. The awesome display of G’d’s power at that time was comparable to the lofty horns of the wild ox. Seeing that there is no liar or cheat among them, how could their blessings be revoked?

The wickedness. באוניות ["wickedness"] is derived from the word און ["sin"].

V. 21. לא הביט וגו׳ gibt die Motive an, warum Gott dieses Volk gesegnet hat. אָוֶן ist Missbrauch vonאוֹן , von Kraft und Vermögen (siehe Bereschit 35, 18). Ehe Gott ein Volk segnet, prüft Gott, ob das Volk auch das ihm zu verleihende אוֺן missbrauchen werde. Ehe Gott Jakob אוֹן zugesagt, um es damit zu ישראל zu erheben, hat Gott geprüft, ob er dieses אוֹן zu אָוֶן missbrauchen werde; לא הביט און ביעקב Gott hat in Jakob keinen Missbrauch der ihm zu verleihenden Größe vorausgeschaut, darum hat er kein Unglück in Israel gesehen, d. h. darum sah er keine Notwendigkeit, keine Veranlassung zu עמל, zu Mühseligkeit, zur Herabstimmung des Übermutes durch Mühen, durch schweren und oft vergeblichen Ankampf gegen Hindernisse des Gedeihens, denn das ist עמל (siehe Bereschit 41, 51). Er hat kein Unglück in Israel gesehen (das er durch meinen Mund hätte verkünden lassen sollen).

ותרועת מלך בו, “and their King’s acclaim is in their midst.” A reference to the camp of Israel; Bileam refers to what we have read in Numbers 10,9 about the efficacy of the trumpets.

לא הביט HE DOTH NOT SEE — i. e., the Holy One, blessed be He, doth not see און THE INIQUITY which is IN JACOB: when they transgress His Words He does not deal so strictly with them as to pay regard to their iniquitous doings and their transgression by which they infringe His law (cf. Midrash Tanchuma, Balak 14).

ותרועת מלך בו, from the word ריע, companion, as in Proverbs 18,24 איש רעים להתרועע, “there are friends to keep one company.”

Alternatively, the word און refers to sins of an intellectual nature, similar to Psalms 66,18: "Had I had an evil thought in my mind, etc." Bileam says that G'd does not consider the Israelites culpable for evil thoughts, only for evil deeds. Evil thoughts do not leave behind them the kind of permanent damage that evil deeds do. To make this distinction clear, Bileam uses the expression הבטה in connection with such intellectual sins as opposed to the expression ראיה. The former is a far more intensive kind of look than the latter. What may appear a serious sin at first glance, i.e. ראה, turns out to be less so on doser examination, הביט. The reason Bileam used the word און in connection with Jacob was to tell us that even the sins "Jacob," i.e. the average Israelites had been guilty of at one time or another, did not leave a permanent mark so that we can call Jacob blemished. As far as the elite, the צדיקים amongst the Israelites are concerned, לא ראה עמל, He did not even see that they had sinned by in intent, certainly not by deed. By referring to עמל, toil or burden, Bileam also wanted to convey that although the righteous Israelites perform a host of commandments they do not consider fulfilment of all these commandments burdensome. Contrast this with Psalms 73,16 where Assaph describes the attempt to understand why the wicked appear to prosper as a burdensome task, עמל. Bileam may imply what Solomon spelled out in Proverbs 8,14 that the righteous consider preoccupation with G'd's Torah as acts of courage and the fruit of insight.

ד׳ ,ד׳ אלקיו עמו: der unsichtbare Eine, den auch wir aus unserer Heimat als den Urquell alles Seins und Werdens und als den Gebieter über Himmel und Erde kennen, der ist אלקיו, ist der besondere Eigner, Lenker und Leiter dieses Volkes in Geschick und Tat, dieser ist als sein Gott mit ihm, steht ihm bei und geleitet es auf seiner Wanderung durch die Zeiten — תרועה .ותרועת מלך בו, der erschütternde Klangton, ist auch die erschütterte, in tiefer bebender Scheu erregte Gemütsstimmung, welcher jener Klangton zum Ausdruck und Wecker dient. So וירא פניו בתרועה (Job 33, 26) ואזבחה באהלו זבחי תרועה (Ps. 27, 6). Es bezeichnet Gott gegenüber die von dem überwältigenden Gedanken seiner Größe erzeugte, sich ihm völlig unterordnende Huldigung des Gemütes. Hier heißt es nun: Gott ist mit ihm, und in ihm ist nichts als Königshuldigung, d. h. es huldigt ihm als König und diese Huldigung erfüllt sein ganzes Innere. Es kann auch Kausalverbindung sein: Gott ist mit ihm, weil seine Königshuldigung in ihm ist.

And He has seen no transgression in Yisroel. It appeared to Balak and Bil'am that Yisroel are able to change the course of nature and, if so, it is futile to take hold of the forces of nature, so to speak, [to fight against them]. In truth, however, they are not able to change the course of nature, as will be explained.

עמל denotes transgression, as in (Psalms 7:15): “He conceiveth transgression (עמל)"; (Psalms 10:14) “For thou beholdest transgression (עמל) and vexation” — and it denotes this because transgression is a vexation (עמל) before the Omnipresent.

Bileam may have something even more far-reaching in mind here. He perceived that because the Jewish people, both the average ones and the elite, perform Torah and the commandments, this "compensates" G'd in a manner of speaking for all the other nations who have not as yet embraced monotheism and acknowledged the kingdom of G'd on earth. Were it not for the מצוה-performance by the Israelites G'd would have destroyed the other nations long ago and would not have displayed so much patience vis-a-vis them. According to this we translate the words לא הביט און, "G'd did not closely scrutinise the sins of the Gentile nations on account of Jacob." Similarly, "He did not even glance at the sins of the Gentile nations superficially, לא רה עמל, on account of Israel, the righteous ones amongst the Jewish people." Our sages have pointed out more than once that as long as the Jewish people observe the Torah G'd lavished His goodness and abundance on the whole of mankind. All the Gentile nations enjoy prosperity and well being thanks to the conduct of Israel. As a result of this, the mere idea of destroying Israel by means of a curse is tantamount to suicide; by whose merit would the Gentile nations continue to exist then? Yet another meaning of Bileam saying: "and He saw no perversity in Israel," may refer to the way G'd receives all the "twittering" of the righteous Israelites who are constantly "bothering" G'd about something or other. G'd does not find this tiresome; it is not burden-some, עמל for Him. Compare Maleachi 2,17: "You have wearied the Lord with your talk."

Adonoy, his God, is with him. This is describing Yaakov: Although he transgresses, Adonoy, his God, is with him. He does not deny the fundamental existence of Hashem, but rather he is unable to overcome his desire at that moment. In describing Yisroel, it says and he has the King’s friendship. In truth, the righteous person does not regularly perform miracles. What Bil'am and Balak had seen was only that the righteous person can have an effect with his prayers in a time of suffering, which is not actually miraculous. Rather, it is the how the Heavenly King conducts Himself — that prayer always helps. ותרועת המלך. This expression is related to the phrase (v. 10:9), and you shall blow teruahs with the trumpets, which also implies prayer.

ה' אלקיו עמו THE LORD HIS GOD IS WITH HIM — Even when they provoke Him to anger and act rebelliously before Him He does not depart from their midst,

ה׳ אלוקיו עמו ותרועת מלך בו "the Lord his G'd with him and the shouting of the king is among him." These two statements are parallel to the two statements with which the verse began. The Lord in His capacity as "King" is with the category of Israelites whom Bileam had described previously as Jacob; The average Israelite who performs the commandments out of a sense of duty and fear, and relates to his G'd as מלך, whereas the righteous who perform the commandments out of feelings of love for G'd relate to Him as י־ה־ו־ה אלוקיו. The reason that Bileam added the suffix יו to the name אלוקים was to indicate that if G'd were to subject these people to afflictions they would not use this as an excuse to turn away from Him. The expression תרועת מלך is meant to describe the awe in which the "Jacob" category of Israelites relates to Him.

ותרועת מלך בו BUT THE תרועה OF A KING IS STILL WITH THEM — תרועה is an expression for love and fellowship, as (II Samuel 15:37) “the רעה of David’ — the friend of David; (Judges 15:6) “And he gave her to his friend (מרעהו)." (The translation is therefore: and the fellowship of their king is still with them). In this sense, too, does Onkelos translate it: and the Shechina of their King is among them.

ותרועת מלך בו, “and their King’s acclaim is in their midst.” This is a reference to the “strong hand” we mentioned earlier. To make sure we understand this Bileam added immediately: ”the G’d who took them out of Egypt.” This is also why Onkelos renders this as “the Presence of their King is among them.” The word תרועה is related to רעיא, the כלה described in Song of Songs [chapter 4,8 where the Targum understands the word as the “Jewish people, the companion of G’d.”]

The entire verse is also a compliment to the Israelites who are the only nation G'd has chosen for His presence to dwell amongst. Not only that, but G'd has given this people a supernatural power enabling them to destroy everything they have a mind to, much like a king. The words תרועת מלך are a reminder that they do not have to invoke G'd's help but are able to do all this by themselves. The Talmud is full of examples where the righteous killed with merely a glance when the situation demanded it.

We could also find an allusion to an earthly king in the words ותרועת מלך בו. The Talmud Berachot 61 describes the Romans torturing Rabbi Akiva by flaying his flesh with iron combs while he tried to end his life with the words ה׳ אחד, signifying the Unity of G'd on his lips. The meaning of the words then would be that even when Jews are being tortured by earthly kings merely for being Jews, such Jews remain loyal to their G'd to their last breath.