Commento su Numeri 22:31

AND THE ETERNAL OPENED THE EYES OF BALAAM. From this verse we learn that Balaam was not a prophet [who habitually received Divine messages], because had he been a prophet, how could it be that he required “opening of the eyes” to see the angel, which is the term used by Scripture about someone who has not reached the degree of prophecy, such as Elisha’s young man,⁷⁶II Kings 6:17: And the Eternal opened the eyes of the young man. or Hagar the Egyptian,⁷⁷Genesis 21:19: And G-d opened her eyes. and Scripture does not speak in this manner about the prophets! And indeed Scripture calls him, Balaam the son of Beor, the soothsayer.⁷⁸Joshua 13:22. And when Balaam said, as the Eternal may speak unto me,⁷⁹Above, Verse 8. he called his [ability] to know future events by means of his soothsaying “the word of G-d,” [and it does not refer to the gift of prophecy]. But for the sake of the honor of Israel G-d [indeed] came to him that night⁸⁰Ibid., Verse 9. [in a prophet-like vision], and afterwards he was favored with “opening of the eyes” in seeing the angel, and speaking to him, and finally he attained the degree of [seeing] the vision of the Almighty⁸¹Further, 24:4. — all this being for the sake of Israel and in their honor. But after he returned to his land, however, he [reverted to the status of a mere] soothsayer, for that is how Scripture describes him at [the time of] his death, [saying]: And Balaam the son of Beor, the soothsayer, did the children of Israel slay with the sword,⁷⁸Joshua 13:22. and G-d forbid that they should stretch forth a hand against a prophet of G-d! And so did the Rabbis say in the Midrash Bamidbar Sinai Rabbah:⁸²Bamidbar Rabbah 20:16. “Balaam partook of the Ruach Hakodesh,⁶⁴Literally, “The Holy Spirit.” See Rambam in Moreh Nebuchim II, 45, at the paragraph beginning: “the second degree of prophecy.” See also above, Seder Korach, Note 71 and Ramban ibid. but after he associated himself with Balak, the Ruach Hakodesh departed from him and he became again a [mere] soothsayer, as he had been originally. Therefore he complained: “I was elevated [in prophecy], but Balak brought about my descent.’”

ויגל ה' את עיני בלעם, “Hashem uncovered the eyes of Bileam.” Nachmanides writes that the principal message of our verse is that there was a need to remove the spiritual blinkers from Bileam’s eyes, the blinkers that had prevented him from becoming aware of the angel. All this teaches that Bileam was not a prophet in the true sense of the word else G’d did not need to remove these “blinkers” from his eyes. We find something parallel in Kings II 6,17, when Elisha’s disciple needed to have similar “blinkers” removed with the help of Hashem. Hagar, the Egyptian maid of Sarah, also underwent such removal of blinkers that enabled her to “find” a well that had been nearby all the time. (Genesis 21,19) Such expressions never occur in connection with true prophets. Bileam is correctly referred to as a קוסם “a sorcerer,” When the Torah quotes him as revealing what “Hashem had said to him” regarding future events, this reflects only knowledge he had acquired by resorting to magic. When G’d did appear to him at night, this was not because he was a prophet, but this was in honour of Israel. Similarly, when he describes himself as מחזה שדי, someone accorded visions of the Divine, this too was only in honour of Israel, where he prophesied Israel’s feats in the future. When he returned to his home he is again referred not as a seer, or prophet but either without title or as the sorcerer when his death by the sword during the punitive expedition against the Midianites is reported in the Torah (Numbers 31,8 and Joshua 13,22 respectively)

וחרבו שלופה בידו, “with a drawn sword in his hand.” This was a hint to Bileam that he would ultimately die by the sword. It presages Joshua 13,22: “and Bileam the magician they killed by the sword.”