Commentaire sur Les Nombres 24:2

וישא בלעם את עיניו AND BALAAM LIFTED UP HIS EYES — he wished to cast the evil eye upon them. Thus you have his three characteristics — an evil eye mentioned here, and pride and greed which have been mentioned above (see Rashi on Numbers 22:13 and 18).

וישא בלעם את עיניו, Bileam raised his eyes, etc." The Torah had to write Bileam's name once more as well as the word וישא, "he raised." Seeing that we have explained earlier that the Israelites were surrounded and enveloped by G'd's protective cloud so that no evil eye could harm them, the Torah had to tell us that Bileam "raised" his eyes, i.e. that he invoked the prophetic powers with which he had been equipped, in order to see what ordinary people could not see (compare verse 4: "who sees the vision of G'd…with open eyes"). The Torah describes things Bileam saw with his mental eye. His name was mentioned here once more in order to make clear that what Bileam did here he did in his capacity as a prophet designated by G'd to the Gentile nations. He succeeded in seeing the Israelites as a result of invoking these powers G'd had equipped him with.

ותהי עליו רוח אלוקים, “the spirit of G’d remained upon him.” Now the hand of Hashem rested upon Bileam similar to the phenomena experienced by true prophets. This is similar to what Moses had had in mind when he told Joshua that he wished every member of the Jewish people would be endowed with the kind of prophetic visions granted to Eldod and Meydod. (Numbers 11,29) As a result of this experience Bileam was now able to refer to himself as

וירא את ישראל שוכן לשבטיו, “He saw Israel dwelling according to its tribes.” He saw the flags arranged in proper order. He noted that the entrances of the tents did not face each other so as to preserve a maximum of privacy for each family at all times. This would prevent an evil eye damaging the air-space of one’s neighbour. As soon as he realised the purpose of this arrangement, he exclaimed: “how goodly are your tents O Yaakov” (Baba Batra 60).

To induce the evil eye in them. For if not so, why did he raise his eyes now more than at other times?

V. 2. וישא וגו׳. Als er aber seine Augen aufhub und Israel "לשבטיו" in seinen nach Häusern und Familien gegliederten Stämmen gelagert sah, da sah er in diesem Anblick bereits die Antwort auf Balaks Frage gegeben vor sich, und "es kam auf ihn Gottes Geist" — er war nicht, wie die ersten beiden Male, widerwilliges Organ der ihm in den Mund gelegten Worte Gottes; was er fortan spricht, spricht er im reinen Geist, der Prophetie.

שכן לשבטיו DWELLING ACCORDING TO HIS TRIBES — He saw each tribe dwelling by itself not intermingled one with another; he saw that the entrances of their tents were not exactly facing each other so that one could not peer into the other's tent (Bava Batra 60a).

נאם הגבר, “the words of the man, etc.” Bileam referred to himself as גבר, “man,” in the masculine sense of the word, seeing that the masculine rooster has intuitive knowledge of the moment dawn breaks. Bileam claimed similar knowledge of the “moods” of the Lord, as we pointed out earlier (compare Berachot 7 which states that he was the only human being able to do this). The rooster is the only one of the birds which possesses this talent. The rooster is credited with calling out seven times during the night. We also find that Bileam raised his voice i.e. וישא משלו, on seven different occasions during his visit to Balak. Just as the rooster is the sexually most promiscuous animal amongst the birds, mating with innumerable hens, so Bileam was stooped in sexual licentiousness, sleeping with any female he could get hold of. The reason that the rooster is not acceptable as an offering on the altar is precisely because of its sexual mores. Bileam is reputed to have slept even with his ass, and it is not surprising therefore that he tried to seduce the Israelites into becoming similarly indiscriminate in their sex life (compare Sanhedrin 105).

It occurred to him not to curse them. Rashi wishes to answer why Scripture wrote, “And the spirit of Hashem rested upon him,” which implies that [a spirit of] prophecy was upon him, but it does not specify afterwards what the prophecy was. Rather, the Torah recounts the praise of Yisroel, and he explains, “It occurred to him…” as if the Torah had stated that a different sprit was upon him, which was the spirit of Hashem that caused him not to curse. (Divrei Dovid) In the Gemara (Bava Basra 60a) Rabbi Yochanan states: He saw that the entrances to their tents did not face each other and he said, “They are fit to have the Divine Presence rest upon them.” There Tosafos explain that one learns this because afterwards it is written, “The spirit of Hashem rested upon him.” However, this requires explanation because the Torah says, “The spirit of Hashem rested upon him” in reference to Bil’am. Rather, one must say that the explanation is as follows: There is a difficulty with the verse because it states, “He saw Yisroel encamped according to its tribes, and the spirit [of Hashem] rested upon him.” This implies prayer, [i.e.,] that he prayed for them that the Divine Presence would rest. [Consequently, we must explain that] whenever a person prays [on behalf of someone] and he needs the same thing, he is answered first. Here too, Bil’am merited that the spirit of Hashem rested upon him. This is why Rashi writes that it occurred to him not to curse them, since the spirit of Hashem had come upon him. Gur Aryeh explains why he wished to curse them that they not have Synagogues and Study Halls. Bil’am wished to remove the Divine Presence from their midst. [We find] a similar teaching regarding Study Halls: “From the day that the Temple was destroyed, Hashem only has [i.e., rests His Presence upon] four amos of Halachah.” Bil’am’s only intention was to separate the Divine Presence from Yisroel. However, Hashem reversed this and he blessed them saying, “How goodly are your tents, Yaakov, your dwelling places, Yisroel.” Furthermore, [one may explain the blessing] based on [the verse], “The voice is the voice of Yaakov,” [whose Midrashic interpretation is]: As long as the voice is the voice of Yaakov [i.e., Yisroel are engaged in prayer and study], the hands are not the hands of Eisav [i.e., he is powerless].

וירא את ישראל שכן לשבטיו, "He observed the Israelites encamped according to their tribes. He was overcome by the Holy Spirit." Bileam discovered two things of importance. 1) The Israelites were disciplined, each tribe occupying the area assigned to it, their leader at their head. The reason for this separation of the tribes was that each tribe represented a spiritual level all its own. 2) The Holy Spirit rested on the people. It is also possible that Bileam realised the truth of the statement in Baba Batra 60 that the reason the people qualified to have the Holy Spirit rest on them and to have become the מרכבה, G'd's chariot, as it were, was that each tribe had arranged to be a closed unit.

ותהי עליו רוח אלהים AND THE SPIRIT OF GOD WAS UPON HIM — Then he made up his mind not to curse them (i.e. he decided to comply with the will of God, רוח אלהים).