יְקַֽלְלוּ־הֵמָּה֮ וְאַתָּ֪ה תְבָ֫רֵ֥ךְ קָ֤מוּ ׀ וַיֵּבֹ֗שׁוּ וְֽעַבְדְּךָ֥ יִשְׂמָֽח׃
Qu’ils maudissent, eux, toi, tu béniras; qu’ils se lèvent, ils seront couverts de honte, et ton serviteur sera dans la joie.
Rabbeinu Bahya
At this point we may well ask if Bileam possessed the power to either curse or bless at all. You might well ask how it is possible for a mere mortal to countermand decrees which issued from G’d? If G’d blessed a people, as we know from verse 12 כי ברוך הוא, what possible point was there in anyone attempting to turn such a blessing into a curse? If you were to answer that indeed, Bileam’s curse would have been totally ineffective, then why did G’d bother to dissuade or even prevent Bileam from going? Why did He say to him: “do not curse the people!?” Let Bileam curse all day long, as long as the people enjoyed G’d’s blessing what did it matter? After all we have a verse on this subject in Psalms 109,28: “let them curse, but You bless.”
The answer is that indeed Bileam neither possessed independent power to bless nor to curse. If we want to look for proof that his curses were ineffective we only need to look at the ineffectiveness of his blessings. If he himself had believed that his curses or his blessings were effective, seeing that he was prevented from cursing Israel, a nation which already enjoyed a blessing, why did he not simply bless Balak and his people, a people concerning which he had neither been forbidden to curse nor to bless? If Balak was so afraid of the Jewish people, why did Bileam not extend the protection of his prophetic blessing to Balak? Moreover, if Bileam thought of himself as powerful by means of his words, why would he demean himself by earning his livelihood through handouts from Balak and the like, instead of blessing himself by bestowing material riches on himself? In fact, we find that he did bless himself when he said (23,10) “may my soul die the death of the righteous!” If he could do this, why did he not bless himself with silver and gold, something he sorely desired? We know that even the wish to die the death of the righteous was not fulfilled as the Torah tells us that Bileam died by the sword in battle, hardly the death “of the righteous?” (Joshua 13,22) Job 11,20 also makes it plain that Bileam’s hereafter (if he had any) was certainly not that of the righteous.
What we learn from the above is that Bileam’s power most certainly did not reside in his mouth, his pronouncements. However, any power he had emanated from his wisdom. Seeing that he was able to divine when G’d was angry and at whom, and whom G’d was favorably disposed at at a given moment in time, he would exploit that knowledge making it appear as if he had originated those people’s good fortune of misfortune. Even allowing for this fact, the question remains that seeing that at the time Balak hired Bileam G’d was not angry at the Jewish people (Berachot 7), what chance would Bileam have to even appear to curse the people effectively when he would be shown up as a charlatan in short order? Neither his pronouncements nor his insight into G’d’s “moods” would produce any results at all? Seeing that at this time Bileam would be totally ineffective why did G’d bother to restrain him in any way? Why not let him discredit himself instead? The answer is that it was known to G’d that there would shortly occur a pestilence among the Jewish people (Numbers 25,1-9). G’d did not want anyone to assume that the reason for this pestilence was Bileam’s curse. This is why He warned Bileam not even to open his mouth by mouthing any curses, however ineffective He knew those curses to be. The fact that we must remember is that Bileam was certainly unable to effect the fortunes of the Jewish people by his pronouncements.
The answer is that indeed Bileam neither possessed independent power to bless nor to curse. If we want to look for proof that his curses were ineffective we only need to look at the ineffectiveness of his blessings. If he himself had believed that his curses or his blessings were effective, seeing that he was prevented from cursing Israel, a nation which already enjoyed a blessing, why did he not simply bless Balak and his people, a people concerning which he had neither been forbidden to curse nor to bless? If Balak was so afraid of the Jewish people, why did Bileam not extend the protection of his prophetic blessing to Balak? Moreover, if Bileam thought of himself as powerful by means of his words, why would he demean himself by earning his livelihood through handouts from Balak and the like, instead of blessing himself by bestowing material riches on himself? In fact, we find that he did bless himself when he said (23,10) “may my soul die the death of the righteous!” If he could do this, why did he not bless himself with silver and gold, something he sorely desired? We know that even the wish to die the death of the righteous was not fulfilled as the Torah tells us that Bileam died by the sword in battle, hardly the death “of the righteous?” (Joshua 13,22) Job 11,20 also makes it plain that Bileam’s hereafter (if he had any) was certainly not that of the righteous.
What we learn from the above is that Bileam’s power most certainly did not reside in his mouth, his pronouncements. However, any power he had emanated from his wisdom. Seeing that he was able to divine when G’d was angry and at whom, and whom G’d was favorably disposed at at a given moment in time, he would exploit that knowledge making it appear as if he had originated those people’s good fortune of misfortune. Even allowing for this fact, the question remains that seeing that at the time Balak hired Bileam G’d was not angry at the Jewish people (Berachot 7), what chance would Bileam have to even appear to curse the people effectively when he would be shown up as a charlatan in short order? Neither his pronouncements nor his insight into G’d’s “moods” would produce any results at all? Seeing that at this time Bileam would be totally ineffective why did G’d bother to restrain him in any way? Why not let him discredit himself instead? The answer is that it was known to G’d that there would shortly occur a pestilence among the Jewish people (Numbers 25,1-9). G’d did not want anyone to assume that the reason for this pestilence was Bileam’s curse. This is why He warned Bileam not even to open his mouth by mouthing any curses, however ineffective He knew those curses to be. The fact that we must remember is that Bileam was certainly unable to effect the fortunes of the Jewish people by his pronouncements.