Musar על במדבר 23:8

You should know that when the wicked Bilaam saw that he could not harm Israel through his sorcery, as it is written, “How can I curse whom God has not cursed?” (Bamidbar 23:8), he advised Balak to order the Maobite daughters into immorality in order to cause the Israelite men to stumble. Then, when the Israelites did indeed stumble and twenty-four thousand Israelite men fell, Bilaam came to collect his reward from Balak. Later on, when Israel waged war against Midyan, Pinchas saw Bilaam flying through the air and he shouted to his soldiers (see the Zohar, 3:194a) and asked, “Is there anyone who knows how to fly after that wicked one?” For he saw that Bilaam was flying like a bird. One man by the name of Tzalyah from the tribe of Dan responded instantly. He knew how to subjugate the forces of impurity and to fly after him. But when that wicked one saw him coming, he cut his way through five levels of the atmosphere and continued flying hidden from the eye. At that moment Tzalyah found himself in peril and suffered great anguish because he did not know what to do.

Another difficulty is the whole question of Bileam cursing the people. What possible difference could it make to G–d if Bileam did or did not curse Israel, seeing that G–d Himself had blessed the nation with peace? – Let us look at the way the Talmud in Berachot 7a, and in Sanhedrin 105b, treats the statement by the prophet Michah 6,5: "My people, remember what Balak king of Moab plotted against you; and how Bileam son of Be'or responded to him. Recall your passage from Shittim to Gilgal, and you will become aware of the gracious acts of the Lord." In response to the question of what is meant by the "gracious acts of the Lord," Rabbi Eliezer said that Israel should recognize how kindly G–d had dealt with them by not being angry at Israel during the period Bileam had been called to curse them. Had G–d at that time allowed Himself to be angry at Israel, not a shred of it would have been left. This is why Bileam begins by saying: "How can I curse where G–d has not seen fit to curse, how can I damn whom G–d has not damned" (23,8)! According to Berachot 7a Bileam knew the exact moment when G–d was angry. He had wanted to capitalize on the precise moment of the presence of the attribute of Justice within the greater presence of the attribute of Mercy. During that period however, G–d did not allow the attribute of Justice to accompany any part of the attribute of Mercy. Hence Bileam felt stymied This is his lament, "how can I curse when G–d failed to allow for such a possibility?" According to Tosaphot on that folio, Bileam would have been able to condense all his curses by uttering the word כלם "destroy them," into the "רגע," moment, that G–d's anger would have lasted. If however, we say that G–d converted the curses into blessings, the situation becomes quite different. He re-arranged the letters in that word to read “מלך,” and that would have been the reversal of what Tosaphot suggested he could have done. This is the deeper meaning of 23,21: ותרועת מלך בו, "and their king's acclaim is in its midst." As a result, there is no need to say that G–d reversed His usual method of allowing a minor presence of the opposite attribute when another attribute was in the ascendancy. The reason that we do not accept the premise of Ibn Ezra that once G–d's זעם, anger, is active there is no trace of mercy, is that the Torah itself describes G–d as practicing justice and mercy at one and the same time in Exodus 15,6: "Your right hand O Lord, glorious in power, Your right hand O G–d, shatters the foe." While G–d metes out justice to Israel's enemies, He practices mercy with His people. Rashi says specifically that the same right hand, i.e. the same attribute which saves Israel, annihilates its enemies.

When David says in verse 12 הפכת מספדי למחול לי, "You have turned my lament into dancing," he refers to the רגע באפו, "G–d's brief moment of anger" (verse 6). The curse is now to become a blessing instead. Berachot 7a discusses the brief span of G–d's anger based on Bileam's comment in Numbers 23,8 that he, the expert at timing G–d's "moods," had been unable (because of G–d's anger at the time) to find the opening to make a curse effective. Tosafot ask what good it would have done Bileam to pinpoint that anger, seeing it only lasts a רגע, moment (the length of time it takes to utter the word רגע); they answer that all Bileam had to say was "כלם," "destroy them!" By reversing that word כלם into מלך, king, the curse was converted into a blessing. This is the secret of the expression ותרועת מלך בו (Numbers 23,21), of which Bileam speaks. David also alludes to the repentance which we will perform when we experience persecution. According to the Arizal, the letters in the word תשובה, repentance, are the first letters of the words: תענית, שק, ואפר, בכיה, הספד. One can recognize a person's penitence by observing these five manifestations of remorse. In our Psalm the same idea is alluded to by the words: היודך עפר, הפכת מספדי, פתחת שקי, בערב ילין בכי. The תענית is alluded to by the words: ותאזרני שמחה, "You girded me with joy," parallel to Kohelet 9,7: אכול בשמחה לחמך, "Eat your bread [reversal of fasting. Ed.] joyfully."