Commentaire sur Les Nombres 22:41

במות בעל BAMOTH-BAAL — Understand this as the Targum does: to the heights of his god (more lit., of that which he reverenced); Baal is the name of a god.

[AND IT CAME TO PASS IN THE MORNING AND BALAK TOOK BALAAM] AND BROUGHT HIM UP INTO BAMOTH-BAAL, AND HE SAW FROM THENCE THE UTMOST PART OF THE PEOPLE. Balak took him up to a [high] place from which he could see them [the people of Israel], in order that he could concentrate his curse upon them, and his mind would not separate itself from them, for it is one of the attributes of the soul’s powers that it attaches itself at the time of seeing a certain object as is known from that which the Sages tell¹⁰¹Baba Kamma 117a. The story is told there of a certain Babylonian scholar [Rav Kahana] who arrived at the academy of Rabbi Yochanan in the Land of Israel and Rabbi Yochanan was informed that “a lion had come up from Babylon.” When Rabbi Yochanan presented his teachings, Rav Kahana out of respect first remained silent. But when Rabbi Yochanan remarked his astonishment at his silence, Rav Kahana then successfully refuted Rabbi Yochanan’s teachings. Rabbi Yochanan, who could not see properly because of his heavy eye-lids [or eyelashes] asked his disciples to lift up his eye-lids so that he could see the new great scholar. Upon doing so, Rabbi Yochanan received the impression that the scholar [owing to a malformation of his lips] was laughing for having refuted him. Thereupon he gazed at him, and Rav Kahana died as a result. Ramban quotes this story in order to illustrate the “power of the soul” which can be transferred by a concentrated look. [of Rabbi Yochanan, that he said to his disciples]: “‘Lift up my eye-lids for me, because I want to see [this scholar].’ They [accordingly] lifted up his eye-lids. He set his eyes upon him, and [as a result] that person died.”
Now Scripture relates that Balaam did not see the whole camp [of Israel] because they were encamped in four standards [positioned in all] four directions of the heaven. On the second occasion Balak said to him, thou shalt see but the utmost part of them, and shalt not see them all,¹⁰²Further, 23:13. meaning: “this time also you will not [be able to] see them all, if that is what prevents you from cursing them, but [nonetheless] curse me them from thence¹⁰²Further, 23:13. if you can, for I do not have any place from where I can show you all of them.” Balak thought that perhaps there was a standard in one of the sections [of the camp of the Israelites] consisting of righteous and good people whom it pleased not the Eternal to crush,¹⁰³Isaiah 53:10. [and therefore Balak took Balaam to other places from which Balaam could see other parts of the camp, in order to curse them effectively].
It is also possible to explain that on the first occasion [referred to in this verse] Balaam did see the whole camp, for Bamoth-baal is a high place, and from there both of them [Balak and Balaam] saw part of the people, and built the altars there;¹⁰⁴Further, Verses 1-2. then Balaam ascended to the peak of the hill on that mountain, and saw the whole people, this being the meaning of [the expression] and he [Balaam] went ‘shephi,’¹⁰⁵Ibid., Verse 3. which means he went to “the height” thereof, as Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra has explained.

וירא משם קצה העם, in order to harm them by focusing his evil eye on them. Compare kings II 2,24 ויפן אחריו ויראם ויקללם, “He turned around and cursed them in the name of the Lord.” (the prophet Elisha cursed the lads who had insulted him) Deuteronomy 34,1 is an example of the very reverse, i.e. bestowing a blessing. Moses looked at the people with a benevolent eye, i.e. he blessed them.

ויהי בבקר ויקח בלק…וירא משם קצה העם. On the following morning Balak took Bileam…and he saw a small part of the people. The word ויהי, as usual, also connotes something sad. The word may refer to the disagreement between Bileam and Balak over the measly portion of meat the latter had sent over on the previous day. The words ויקח בלק accordingly would refer to Balak trying to assuage Bileam's hurt feelings on the subject.

ויעלהו במות בעל וירא משם קצה העם, “he brought him up to the heights of Baal, and from there he could view the edge of the people.” Balak had brought him to an elevated piece of land from where it was possible to see some of the people of Israel. The Torah makes a point of telling us that Bileam could not see the whole people, seeing that the pattern in which they were encamped spread out in the four directions of the globe. This made it impossible to see more than some of them at one time. It was commonly believed that for a curse or a blessing to be effective, there had to be at least visual contact between the parties concerned. On the second occasion Balak informed Bileam in advance that he would only be able to see part of the people. Nonetheless he asked Bileam to at least curse the part of the people who were within his field of vision (23,13) He made it plain that he was unable to provide Bileam with a site from which he could see the entire encampment of the Israelites in all directions. Balak thought that possibly among the various sections of the people there could be a group of righteous people whom G’d did not want to be harmed in any way.

וירא משם קצה העם, “from that point he was able to see part of the people.” Our author understands these words as meaning that he saw the entire nation from one end (קצה) of the camp to the other.

ויעלהו במות בעל, “he brought him up to the heights of Baal;” the word בעל as a description of a plain, also occurs in Numbers 21,28: when it describes a similar plain in the region of the river Arnon. Our author draws the reader’s attention to what he had written on that verse. It also occurs in this sense in Joshua 11,17 בעל גד.

Another meaning of these words may be a reference to Bileam's partial lameness. As a rule people suffering from such lameness have difficulty in walking in the morning and especially if they have to climb hills. The word ויהי may hint at the discomfort Bileam experienced on that morning when he had to undertake physical exertions which were most difficult for him. Balak assisted him, and this may be the meaning of the words ויקח בלק את בלעם Balak helped Bileam climb the במות, the hills.

וירא משם את קצה העם, “He could see from there a portion of the people.” He could not see all of them. The reason was that their encampment extended in all four directions of the globe. Balak was very eager to lead Bileam to heights from which he could see them and focus his eye on them as he believed Bileam’s power to curse to repose in his evil eye. The eye, or the manner in which it sees, reflects the inner soul. Our sages in Baba Kama 117 comment on this: (in connection with a story involving Rabbi Yochanan and Rabbi Kahane where a stare from Rabbi Yochanan who mistakenly thought that Rabbi Kahane had made fun of him killed Rabbi Kahane). Rabbi Yochanan had used his eyes as conveying a curse. The reason that such stares from great Torah scholars can have such lethal effect is that these scholars cannot stand being deflected from thoughts of Torah even momentarily. When they encounter persons who cause them to be deflected from Torah thoughts they resent this strongly and when they look at the person causing this their look reflects their anger. They view the person having caused them to become deflected from pure Torah thoughts as if guilty of heresy, deserving to be cursed. This may be the meaning of Kohelet 10,9 ”He who splits logs, עצים, will be endangered by them.” If someone becomes the cause of the עץ החיים, i.e. Torah, to be “split,” to be interrupted, he endangers his life by doing so.
It is true, of course, that we find many times that the words or stares of great Torah scholars, pious individuals, do not appear to have any harmful effects at all; the matter is something which is subject to the individual. The makeup of the personality of the individual scholar determines if his stare can be potentially lethal. One requires this particular gift in addition to great Torah knowledge in order for one’s stare prompted by one’s anger to have such harmful effects as reported in the Talmud of certain outstanding personalities.

The word בבקר, "in the morning," may also indicate that Balak did not sleep well during the preceding night. We have a rule that kings do not normally rise till 3 hours after daybreak (Berachot 9). In this instance, Balak broke the rule and rose much earlier than usual.

Still another reason why the Torah mentioned the detail בבקר, may be connected with what we learned in A vodah Zarah 4. The Talmud questions what precise time is called רתח, a moment when G'd's anger is hot and Abbaye says it is three hours after daybreak. [In order to understand the significance of this let me quote from the text of the Talmud prior to this statement. The Talmud discusses Bileam's ability to divine what G'd thinks about and asks how this is possible in view of Bileam's demonstrated inability to know even what his ass was thinking about. After explaining that there was a special reason why on that day Bileam did not know what went on in his ass's mind, the Talmud even reconstructs the dialogue carried on between Bileam and his ass in addition to that reported in the Torah. At any rate, it is presumed that he was an expert at divining the precise moment when G'd is angry, something important because G'd's anger is so brief. Ed.] When the Torah speaks about בבקר, it hints that Balak and Bileam picked that moment in time when G'd might be angry at His world and a curse might be effective. Bamidbar Rabbah 20,18 also claims that the במות בעל mentioned in our verse refer to the cult of the בעל פעור and that Bileam foresaw that the Israelites would die there [as they did in due course as a result of Bileam's advice to Balak to have the Israelites seduced. Ed.] It is well known that this cult consisted of the worshiper excreting before that idol. Sanhedrin 64 describes what happened in these words: "how did one serve this particular deity? One ate beets and drank beer and then excreted and urinated in front of the idol." In other words, the very worship consisted in the worshiper behaving in the most primitive and revolting fashion. In view of this, Balak wanted to take Bileam up to the hills on which this cult was practiced and at the time it would be performed. This is the meaning of the words ויעלהו במות בעל, he took him up to the hills dedicated to the "Baal Pe-or." Perhaps this was not one of the cults which Bileam worshiped and Balak tried to talk him into performing such worship.

Still another reason for the Torah writing בבקר, "in the morning," may be related to what the Zohar wrote at the beginning of this portion when it described Balak's particular brand of magic and sorcery involving a bird, צפור. Balak took Bileam up to the hill at the time when this bird was known to be chirping. At such times Bileam could perform his tricks successfully.

Let us now turn to the reason that Bileam was only able to see a small part of the Jewish people from where Balak had taken him. We have already explained that Taanit 9 tells us that during all the preceding 39 years protective clouds had hovered over the encampment of the Jewish people so that outsiders could not even peek at the Israelites. When Aaron died these clouds disappeared and the camp of the Israelites became visible to outsiders for the first time. This is why the Canaanite (read Amalekite dressed as Canaanites) had been able to locate them and they made war against the Israelites. Subsequently, the protective clouds returned thanks to the merit of Moses. As a result, the camp of the Israelites was once more concealed from outsiders. In view of this how is it possible that Balak showed Bileam even part of the people? Should not G'd have made doubly certain that Bileam could not see them as his evil eye was potentially dangerous to them? We must conclude therefore that the קצה העם, the small part of the people whom Bileam did see, he saw only as a result of invoking Balak's magic by means of the bird we have mentioned earlier. Sanhedrin 67 asks why the witches are called מכשפות in the Torah? The answer is that witches by definition reveal matters which normally are hidden. [not in my text of the Talmud. Ed.] In this instance the witchcraft consisted of revealing what the cloud had hidden. The Torah therefore tells us that even with the help of his witchcraft Bileam managed to glimpse only a small part of the nation.