Tafsiran Bilangan 24:6: Rashi, Kli Yakar, Sforno & Or HaChaim

כנחלים נטיו AS THE BROOKS THAT WIND — which lengthen and draw themselves out so that they extend (נטיו) into the distance. — Our Rabbis said: From the blessings uttered by that wicked man we may learn what was in his heart as regards cursing them, when he thought to set his face towards the wilderness (cf. v. 1). When the Omnipresent turned the words of his mouth he uttered blessings corresponding to the contents of those curses which he had wished to pronounce as it is related in the chapter beginning with the word חלק Sanhedrin 105b.

Like cedars beside the waters. In Sanhedrin (105b), they said that the curse of Ahijah the Shilonite was better than the blessings of Balaam. Ahijah cursed them with a reed, as it is said (1 Kings 14:15), The Lord will strike Israel as a reed is shaken in the water. Just as the reed only stands in a place of water, and its trunk renews and its roots are numerous, etc., but Balaam blessed them with a cedar which does not stand in a place of water, etc. Rashi explained that what is written here, like cedars beside the waters, was what the Divine Presence made him say, but this explanation is difficult.
It seems that the correct interpretation is that from Balaam’s blessings we can learn what was in His heart to curse them. Certainly, he intended to compare them to an ordinary cedar that does not stand in water, in order to make them vulnerable to the evil eye, just as an ordinary cedar, because it is tall, everyone looks at it. Similarly, Israel, because they are raised and lifted up and very high (Isaiah 52:13), the nations would cast their eyes upon them.
But God transformed the curse and put a hook in his mouth to say, “Say, like cedars beside the waters” — the remedy included with the affliction — because the waters protect it, as most of its lower part is covered by water and it doesn’t appear so tall, and the waters save it from the evil eye, like fish. Nevertheless, the metaphor of the reed is better than that of the cedar because it represents humility, as it bends before the wind, and this is its remedy. That is why our Sages said (Taanit 20a) that the reed merited to have a quill taken from it to write Torah scrolls, to teach that the Torah only endures in those who are humble in spirit like the reed, and not in one who is hard like a cedar.
Still, a cedar that stands beside the waters somewhat resembles a reed in that it is partially covered, which also somewhat indicates humility. Therefore, he immediately says, Water shall flow from his branches, meaning that from the poor [dalim] who are naturally humble, the water of Torah will flow.

כנחלים נטיו, for indeed Torah academies and synagogues are for the multitude what the brooks carrying water to irrigate their fields are as a material blessing. People spend their times in Torah academies and synagogues will receive for their souls what their fields receive from the waters of the brooks Bileam describes. This is why he used the simile כגנות עלי נהר, “as the gardens alongside a river.” These gardens never fail to deliver the fruit expected of them. Our sages paraphrase this when they said that the covenant of the 13 attributes of G’d He made with Moses means that he who invokes them in his prayer will be assured that he will have at least part of his prayer granted. (Rosh Hashanah 17)

כאהלים — Understand this as the Targum does (“as aromatic plants”), — taking it in the same meaning as in (Psalms 45:9) “Myrrh and aloes (אהלים).