Tafsiran yang Mengutip untuk Bilangan 11:29

AND HE WENT NOT, AS AT OTHER TIMES, TO SEEK FOR ENCHANTMENTS. [This means] that on the previous [two] occasions Balaam acted as an enchanter, and wanted to curse them by means of enchantment, and G-d came to him as if by chance, and not because he [Balaam] had concentrated on [attaining] prophecy, nor because of any superior status that he had achieved [because he was in fact not worthy of prophecy]. But now when he was told, For there is no enchantment in Jacob, neither is there any divination in Israel,¹⁵⁸Verse 23. whether to do them evil or good, Balaam abandoned his enchantments, and he went not [any more] as at [the] other times to seek them. Instead, he set his face toward the wilderness where Israel was [encamped], so that he would see them and prepare his soul towards them, so that the Divine communication would come unto him, as had happened to him twice [previous], and so indeed it happened to him now. Therefore Scripture states, and ‘the spirit of G-d’ came upon him,¹⁷⁵Verse 2. for now the hand of the Eternal was upon him as it was upon the prophets,¹⁷⁶Ezekiel 37:1: The hand of the Eternal was upon me. and just as Moses said, would that all the Eternal’s people were prophets, that the Eternal would put ‘His spirit’ upon them!¹⁷⁷Above, 11:29. — and it is further said: ‘The spirit of the Eternal G-d’ is upon me.¹⁷⁸Isaiah 61:1. Therefore Balaam now referred to himself as him who heareth the words of G-d,¹⁷⁹Verse 4. for he was [for that particular moment] a prophet.¹⁸⁰Genesis 20:7. Now Rashi commented: “And he set his face toward the wilderness. This is to be understood as the Targum [Onkelos] rendered it.” For the Rabbi’s [Rashi’s] Targum contained [the following text]: “He directed his face toward the wilderness in which the children of Israel had made the [golden] calf.” But this is not found in accurate editions of Onkelos’ Targum,¹⁸¹Nor is it found in our texts of Onkelos. and is [only] written in some of the texts [of Onkelos], which were emended on the basis of the Targum Yerushalmi,¹⁸²It is also found in our texts of the Targum of Yonathan ben Uziel. — There are three traditional Targumim (translations) of the Pentateuch: Onkelos, Yonathan, and Yerushalmi. The latter was lost for many centuries, and only parts of it have reached us. Recently, however, a copy of this Jerusalem Targum has been found in its full version, and the text quoted here by Ramban appears in it. but the correct interpretation is as we have explained [above, that Balaam turned to the wilderness in order to receive Divine communication as he had previously, and not because that was the place where they had made the golden calf].
Scripture says [in describing Balaam]: Who seeth the vision of the Almighty,¹⁷⁹Verse 4. meaning that he now saw through a lucid spectrum, as did the early prophets of whom it is said, And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob by the Name ‘E-il Sha-dai’ (G-d Almighty).¹⁸³Exodus 6:3. Or it may be that Balaam [only] received [the Divine communication] through a degree [of vision] less than theirs, since ‘the vision of’ the Almighty¹⁷⁹Verse 4. is not the same as the Almighty.¹⁸³Exodus 6:3. Thus the patriarchs saw by ‘E-il Sha-dai’ (G-d Almighty), [a double expression], whereas Balaam saw only by ‘the vision of’ the Almighty — two degrees lower than them [because only one Name of G-d is used, and he only saw a vision of it]. Therefore Balaam described himself as [one who saw the vision of the Almighty] with opened eyes, which is the degree of prophecy attained by the sons [i.e., the disciples] of the prophets, as it is said, Eternal, open the eyes of these men etc.,¹⁸⁴II Kings 6:20. and in connection with Balaam himself it says, upon his seeing the angel, And the Eternal opened the eyes of Balaam.¹⁸⁵Above, 22:31. Now do not [be induced to] think otherwise than that which we have explained in this matter, because of the statement of our Rabbis who said in the Sifre:¹⁸⁶Sifre, Berachah, 357. “And there hath not arisen a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses.¹⁸⁷Deuteronomy 34:10. In Israel there hath not arisen, but in the [other] nations of the world there has arisen. And who was he? It was Balaam. But there was a difference between the prophecy of Moses and that of Balaam, because Moses did not know about what G-d was going to speak to him [as will be explained further on], and Balaam knew about what He was going to speak to him, as it is said, The saying of him who heareth the words of G-d.¹⁷⁹Verse 4. Moses did not know when He would speak to him, as it is said, [then he heard the Voice] speaking unto him,¹⁸⁸Above, 7:89. and Balaam knew when He would speak to him, as it is said, and knoweth the knowledge of the Most High.¹⁸⁹Further, Verse 16. He spoke to Moses while he was standing, as it is said, But as for thee [Moses], ‘stand’ thou here by Me,¹⁹⁰Deuteronomy 5:28. and to Balaam He spoke when he was fallen down, as it is said, fallen down, yet with opened eyes.¹⁷⁹Verse 4. [The prophecy of Balaam may be] compared to the cook of a king, who knows what expenses the king has for [the food on] his table.”
The explanation of the meaning of this Beraitha¹⁹¹The teachings of the Sifre are considered Beraithoth. See in Vol. II, p. 133, Note 209, for fuller explanation of this term. is as follows: Scripture stated, And there hath not arisen a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses,¹⁸⁷Deuteronomy 34:10. and our Rabbis explained that this verse does not come to declare the superiority of Moses’ prophecy over that of the other prophets, since Scripture has already informed us of his superiority over them in two places — in the verse, And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob by the Name ‘E-il Sha-dai’ (G-d Almighty), but by My Name, the Eternal, was I not known unto them,¹⁸³Exodus 6:3. and in the verse, If there be a prophet among you etc.¹⁹²Above, 12:6. But now [in speaking of Moses’ prophecy]¹⁸⁷Deuteronomy 34:10. He did not say about Moses that he knew G-d, as Moses had requested, Show me now Thy ways, that I may know Thee,¹⁹³Exodus 33:13. for the verse there¹⁸⁷Deuteronomy 34:10. does not say that “he knew G-d face to face,” but says: whom ‘the Eternal’ knew face to face,¹⁸⁷Deuteronomy 34:10. because it is telling us an explanation of [the nature of] Moses’ prophecy. It is thus saying that to Moses our teacher [the Divine communication] used to come clearly, like one who speaks to his friend face to face,¹⁸⁷Deuteronomy 34:10. and tells him his words and his meaning until he sees from [the expression on] his face that he understands his words and his intention, and [indicates this] by saying so and by showing on his face that he recognizes what [his friend] wants. Thus the Rabbis [in the Sifre quoted above] said that Balaam had this [degree of prophecy only] when he prophesied in honor of Israel, for he fully understood the words of G-d and His intention and wish in all that was destined to happen to Israel. And even so there was still a difference between the prophecy of Moses and that of Balaam! For Moses did not know what He would tell him, and about what topic or which commandment He would speak to him, but he was ready at any time for the Divine communication, and the Holy One, blessed be He, would command him as He so desired. But Balaam had to concentrate and think about the [particular] matter which he wanted [G-d to speak to him about], and he would retire into solitude and prepare himself spiritually so that the [Divine] Spirit⁶³See Vol. I, p. 59, Note 237. See also ibid., pp. 228-231, where Ramban discusses at length the subject of angels in relation to prophecy. would come upon him, peradventure the Eternal will come to meet him, as is explicitly stated here [in our verse]. He knew [also] that if the Spirit were to come upon him, it would speak to him [only] about that subject which he had thought of, and not about any other matter. Furthermore, Moses did not know when He would speak to him, because he did not have any fixed time for the [Divine] communication, but whenever Moses wanted it and directed his mind towards [receiving] a Divine communication, He would speak to him; as Moses said, Stay ye, that I may hear what the Eternal will command concerning you,¹⁹⁴Above, 9:8. Although Moses had not been told in advance that G-d would speak to him, he knew that if he concentrated on receiving a Divine communication, he would surely receive one. and similarly whenever G-d wanted to command him from the Tent of Meeting,¹⁹⁵Leviticus 1:1. then he [Moses] heard the Voice speaking unto him.¹⁸⁸Above, 7:89. But Balaam knew how to determine the [exact] moment when he would have the [Divine] communication, and the Spirit would only rest upon him at that moment. Perhaps this is “the moment” that our Rabbis speak of in Tractate Berachoth¹⁹⁶Berachoth 7a. The Gemara there states that there is “one moment” every day when G-d, is angry, and Balaam knew precisely when that moment was. The anger is occasioned when the sun begins to shine “and the kings of the world put on their crowns and prostrate themselves to the sun.” — It is the Rabbis’ way of saying that the deification of nature by man occasions the displeasure of the Creator, for how could they change His glory for that which is His creation and tool! and in Tractate Sanhedrin,¹⁹⁷Sanhedrin 105b. The same text as in Berachoth 7a is also quoted there. and at that moment he [thought he] would utter the curse, and it was [only] at that moment that the Spirit would rest upon him, and never at any other time. Similarly the fact that Moses remained standing [during the Divine communication] indicates his superiority, whereas Balaam’s falling down denoted his inferiority, [implying] that he could not endure the prophecy, just as it says, if we hear the voice of the Eternal our G-d any more, then we shall die;¹⁹⁸Deuteronomy 5:22. Go thou near, and hear.¹⁹⁹Ibid., Verse 24. The Rabbis further said [in the Sifre quoted above]: “[The prophecy of Balaam may be] compared to the cook of a king, who knows etc.” [This comparison refers] to the first distinction [between Moses’ prophecy and that of Balaam, namely, that Moses did not know in advance about what G-d would speak to him, whereas Balaam did know], and the intention of the Rabbis thereby is to say that the cook knows what are the expenses of the [upkeep of the] king’s table, but his minister who is trusted in all his house²⁰⁰A reference to Moses. See above, 12:7. and knows his secrets, does not know the expenses of the household. This example indicates that the Sages’ intention was to say that Balaam himself knew, after concentrating [his intention on receiving a Divine communication], that G-d would tell him [to say]: How shall I curse, whom G-d hath not cursed?²⁰¹Above, 23:8. and the whole of the blessing [mentioned in the verses], and that afterwards he would hear the communication in [precisely] those words which he had thought of in his heart. This is, as I have mentioned,²⁰²Ibid., 22:5; 31. because he was a diviner, and thus future [events which would befall the people of Israel] would come into his heart [through divination]; but now on account of Israel he also heard the [Divine] utterance about them, and therefore he now prided himself, saying, The saying of him who heareth the words of G-d.¹⁷⁹Verse 4.
Now I have seen this same subject which is taught in the Sifre [quoted above] said in another form in the homiletics of Bamidbar Sinai Rabbah,²⁰³Bamidbar Rabbah 20:1. but there is no need for me to prolong [this subject]. The general idea is that the Sages intended to say that Balaam’s prophecy came to him in words which he clearly understood, and the reason for this was, as the Sages have said,²⁰³Bamidbar Rabbah 20:1. so that the nations of the world should not have an excuse to say: “If we had had a prophet like Moses, we would have served the Holy One, blessed be He.” But the degree of Balaam’s prophecy was [nonetheless] lower than that of the other prophets, because it was [only] by the ‘vision’ of the Almighty,¹⁷⁹Verse 4. as we have explained. And so also the Rabbis have said in Vayikra Rabbah:²⁰⁴Vayikra Rabbah 1:13. “The Holy One, blessed be He, only revealed Himself to the prophets of the [other] nations of the world with a half-communication,’ as it is said: ‘Vayikar Elokim’ (And G-d ‘happened to meet’ Balaam)²⁰⁵Above, 23:4. [instead of saying ‘vayikra’ Elokim — and G-d ‘called’ to Balaam], but to the prophets of Israel [He revealed Himself] with a complete communication, as it is said: ‘Vayikra’ (And He called) unto Moses.”¹⁹⁵Leviticus 1:1. The meaning of [the expression] “a half-communication” you will understand from what we have explained [above].

בחדש הראשון, “in the first month;” The Torah writes here: במדבר סיני, “in the desert of Sinai,” and it did so also in Numbers 1,1, when that date was in the second year of the Israelites’ wanderings. This teaches that what was communicated to the Israelites on both occasions was told to them on the first day of the month. Here Rashi comments that the communication recorded there was not communicated to them until the beginning of the second month. This was to teach us that the author of the Torah did not feel obligated to order Moses to write things down in chronological order. Why did the Torah (Moses) not write this chapter at the beginning of the Book of Numbers? He did not want to commence this Book with recording matters which reflected negatively on the Jewish people. If you were to counter: what is so negative, seeing that in the Book of Exodus chapter 12,25, the people’s coming to the land of Israel and receiving it as their ancestral heritage was made conditional on their observing the laws connected with the Exodus? The fact is that had it not been for the people’s complaining as reported in chapter 11, they would have come to the land of Israel much sooner and the question of observing the anniversary of the Exodus in the desert would never have arisen. They would have entered the land of Israel during the month in which the event recorded in this chapter occurred. As it is, they moved away from Mount Sinai on the 20th day of the month of Iyar, and Moses told the people that there was only eleven days’ march to the land of Canaan from Mount Sinai. In fact, in expectation of this, Moses had invited his father-in-law Yitro to accompany them on that short journey in verse 29 of our chapter, indicating that they would move on forthwith. According to Rashi, the way Moses had formulated this invitation it meant that within a maximum of 3 days the Israelites would break camp and enter the Holy Land. They would have had ample time to prepare for the Passover which was to commence on the evening of the fifteenth of that month. Now, seeing that the Israelites had become guilty of the sin of demanding meat in an unfitting manner, and they had spent a whole month eating the quail, except for the ones who died from overindulging even earlier, the time to observe the Passover in the Holy Land had already passed. (Numbers 11,29) They were delayed again on account of having to wait until Miriam had been healed after she had spoken deprecatingly of her brother Moses. (Numbers 12,116). Subsequently, they were delayed for 40 days while Moses had to send out spies to pacify the doubters. To cap it all, the whole generation of the adults who had left Egypt were condemned to die in the desert for having preferred to return to Egypt rather than to trust the Lord to bring them to the Holy Land. All of this were events which Moses did not wish to record at the beginning of this Book.

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

In his zeal to avenge the Bnei Yisroel. Because he [Shaul] intended to clean and purify Yisroel and to take care of their [Yisroel's] needs, he wanted to kill them. This anger was for a good purpose as we find "Are you zealous for my sake?"⁹Bamidbar 11:29. And we also find "by the zeal for God's sake" as was said of Yeihuh.¹⁰See Melochim I, 19:10. This is the simple explanation of our verse. [But] according to the Midrashic intepretation, he [Shaul] only ordered that the kohanim be killed. And the zeal described here was not for a good purpose but rather for a bad purpose because he [Shaul] knew that his kingdom would not continue further from the day that he did not heed God's commandment concerning Amoleik,¹¹Shmuel I, 15:9. and from that time on, he was angry [and persecuted] them.

לאלהיו means [HE WAS ZEALOUS] FOR THE SAKE OF HIS GOD, just as, (Numbers 11:29) “Are you zealous for My sake (לי)?” and (Zechariah 8:2) “I am zealous לציון", i.e., for Zion’s sake.

And the Lord was zealous for His land Heb. וַיְקַנֵּא, an expression similar to (Num. 11:29) “Are you zealous (הַמְקַנֵּא) for me?” Their distress entered His heart, and He fought their battle and engaged in their necessities. Our Sages explain it as an expression of warning. He warned the locusts concerning His land. [from Sotah 3a]

and I shall be zealous for My Holy Name [Heb. לְשֵּׁם,] for the sake of My Holy Name, as in (Num. 11:29): “Are you jealous for my sake (הַמְקַנֵא אַתָּה לִי).”