Commento su Numeri 22:32

כי ירט הדרך לנגדי BECAUSE THY WAY IS PERVERSE BEFORE ME — Our Rabbis, the Mishnaic Sages, explain it as an acrostic, יראה she feared when ראתה, she saw, and נטתה she turned aside (Shabbat 105a), because that the journey (הדרך) is לנגדי, is against me, that is to say, to anger me, to affront me. — But according to its literal meaning, it is equivalent to חרד הדרך לנגדי, the word ירט being associated in meaning with רטט, “rapid movement” (cf. 49:24). The phrase therefore signifies: for I have seen the man who is taking the journey (Balaam) that he hastened and hurried on the journey, which was taken to my anger and to my despite. It is an elliptical verse (the words בעל הדרך being omitted after ירט), just as (II Samuel 13:39) “And the soul of David longed” (the word נפש being omitted). Another explanation is: ירט is an expression denoting “being pleased”. Similar is, (Job 16:11) “Through the wicked ירטני” — i.e., He appeases and comforts me through the wicked, whilst indeed they do nought but annoy me (Midrash Tanchuma, Balak 9).

FOR THE WAY ‘YARAT L’NEGDI’ — for he who is going [on this journey, i.e., Balaam], has distorted his way and perverted it in front of my eyes, for I am He that knoweth, and am witness.⁸³Jeremiah 29:23. In our verse the angel is speaking, of course, on behalf of G-d, Whose messenger he is. Or [the word] l’negdi [may not mean “in My presence”, but] that he perverted the way [i.e., the journey] to act “against My Will,” as Onkelos rendered it, [“because you wanted to go on the journey against My Will”], as in [the verse]: for they have vexed ‘l’neged’ (before) the builders.⁸⁴Nehemiah 3:37. Here too, the word l’neged does not mean “in the presence of,” but means that they have vexed the builders by speaking “against” them. The word yarat is an expression of “perverting.” Similarly, through the hands of the wicked ‘yirteini’⁸⁵Job 16:11. which means “He warps me.” And the meaning of our verse is as I have explained,⁸⁶Above, in Verse 20. namely that the [actual] journey had the permission of the Glorious Name,⁵⁷Deuteronomy 28:58. but Balaam perverted it by going with them and apparently having them believe that he would curse the people [since he had not informed them of the conditions under which G-d had allowed him to go].

על מה הכית את אתונך?; When you saw these various signs you should have been astute enough to guess that your journey is unwelcome and will not succeed.

ויאמר אליו מלאך השם, The angel of the Lord said to Bileam, etc. We need to understand the angel's argument "why did you strike the ass three times?" It seems pretty obvious that Bileam struck the ass each time he perceived her to act disrespectfully towards him. Why did the angel have to ask? Besides, seeing that the angel said that he himself had been the cause that Bileam had been inconvenienced, why did he have to ask Bileam this question? The angel knew full well that Bileam had not been aware that the primary obstacle to his progress had been the angel and not the ass! The Torah itself testified that G'd had to open Bileam's eyes indicating that up until that moment they had been shut! Perhaps it was the angel's intention to humble Bileam so much that he would acknowledge by word that whereas his ass had seen an angel three times, he, the Seer who had claimed to be G'd's intimate, had not even seen the angel once. This would also demonstrate how insignificant had been Bileam's achievements in trying to penetrate the mysteries of how and when G'd does what He does. The words (verse 33) ותראני האתון, "the ass has seen me," were the ultimate degradation the angel inflicted when he contrasted Bileam's spiritual blindness with the ass's sensitivity to the presence of spiritual beings. These words had the effect of an arrow having been shot at Bileam's heart. This then was the whole purpose of G'd having despatched the angel.

כי ירט הדרך, “for the path (you had taken) was obnoxious to me.” Nachmanides understands these words as “the person taking that path behaves in a manner irritating me extremely.” The root of the word when it appears in Job 16,11 ועל ידי רשעים ירטני, means: “He thrust me in the clutches of the wicked.” Basically, the meaning may be that although Bileam started out going with this delegation having secured permission for the journey, he corrupted it into a journey intended to defy and thwart G’d’s wishes by seeking devious means of cursing the Jewish people.

An acronym: “She was afraid…” As if to say that she turned because she saw me [and she was afraid].

V. 32. ירט ,כי ירט הדרך לנגדי kommt nicht wieder vor. ועל ידי רשעים יִ ְד ֵטנִי (Job 16. 11) ist der Form nach von ירט .רטה dürfte das verstärkte ירד sein und das Jähe, Abschüssige eines Weges bedeuten. לנגדי wie אין הכמה ואין תבונה ואין עצה לנגד ד׳ (Prov. 21, 30). Nicht weil du überhaupt gegangen, — dazu ward dir ja die Erlaubnis — sondern weil du in einer der meinigen entgegengesetzten Absicht den Weg unternommen und du so völlig unbesorgt und sicher zu deinem Ziele zu gelangen gedenkst, wie man auf einem jäh abschüssigen Wege zweifellos nach unten gelangt.

כי ירט הדרך לנגדי, “because your way is contrary to me.” The word כי is used here in the sense of “although,” just as in Genesis 48,14: “כי נמשה הבכור, “although Menashe is the firstborn.” The same meaning for the word כי is true inPsalms 41,5: כי חטאתי לך, which correctly translated means: “although I have sinned against You.” It would not make sense to translate this as “for I have sinned against you,” although most translated editions of Psalms translate it this way. One does not ask for mercy because one has sinned, but in spite of having sinned. The angel explains to Bileam that although the latter had undertaken a mission against G-d’s will, G-d gives him this opportunity to desist from his evil intent and the resulting punishment. [This is also why the angel is associated with G-d’s attribute of Mercy, Hashem, instead of with His attribute of Justice, i.e. elokim. Ed.]

זה שלוש רגלים, how could you remain obstinate in light of three successive warnings! How could you persist in trying to hasten events?

As if to say, “To arouse my vengeance, and to anger me.” Rashi is answering the question: Since ירט is an acronym, what does “your way is against me” refer to? He answers that it refers back to "behold, I came out to obstruct you” and this is what the angel was saying: I came out to obstruct you because the way that you have followed is contrary to me, to arouse my vengeance and to anger me. With this the difficulty of Re’m is somewhat resolved, for he writes that he does not know how to explain the word כי ["because"] here.

The angel had also wanted to demonstrate the immediate negative effects Bileam's decision to go with Balak's delegates had on his standing as a prophet. We have been told in Sanhedrin 106 that originally Bileam enjoyed Holy Spirit. As soon as he befriended Balak this Holy Spirit departed from him and the Bible refers to him as a קסם, sorcerer, (Joshua 13,22). The proof of this is the fact that he did not recognise that the angel was blocking his way. Previously he would have immediately recognised the angel as such. The angel had been despatched against him to apprise him of the fact that he had forfeited the Holy Spirit he once possessed. The operative words of the angels are כי ירט הדרך לנגדי, i.e. because he had decided to walk along that way against the wishes of G'd he lost his Holy Spirit (compare Nachmanides' comment on this verse).

הנה אנכי יצאתי לשטן, When I went out of my way to oppose you I did so for your eventual benefit!

The word ירט denotes hurrying. [רטט] means hurrying.

כי ירט הדרך לנגדי, the root of the word ירט is רטט, it occurs in a sense similar to here in Jeremiah 49,24 ורטט החזיקה “and a quaking has seized her.” The construction is parallel to that of the root רצץ, to crush, which we find meaning “it crushed his skull,” ותרץ את גוגלתו, in Judges 9,53. The angel when saying הנה יצאתי לשטן, explained that his purpose in opposing Bileam had been to frighten him into turning back Sometimes the presence of a hostile or superior force is felt although not seen, as in the case of Daniel’s companions who trembled although they did not see the visions Daniel had seen and which were the cause of this trembling. (Daniel 10,7). The angel chides Bileam for all his efforts apparently having been in vain. He accuses Bileam of having been stiff-necked, else he could not have failed to notice the signs.

Because I saw that the traveler along the course hastened and hurried on the course to anger and defy me. This is what the verse is saying: That "the traveler along the course", referring to Bil’am, "hurried contrary to Me", meaning to anger Me and to defy Me. Thus this is a shortened passage, because there are two nouns missing, the [name of the] traveler and the course [he was travelling]; for it would have been correct to write, “Because the traveler along the course hurried on the course that was contrary to me.” Accordingly, it is understandable why Rashi brought the simple interpretation after he brought the Midrashic interpretation, because according to the Midrashic interpretation one does not have to say that this is a shortened passage.

This is a shortened passage, similar to “Dovid longed.” For it was also missing [something], since ותכל ["longed"] is in the feminine form and cannot refer to Dovid. Thus it must mean “Dovid’s soul longed.”

Another interpretation ירט denotes desire. The structure of the verse is as before, [but here it means] that the traveler along the course wanted to go along a course that was contrary to me. However, according to the first interpretation ירט is an expression of hurrying, while according to this interpretation it is an expression of desire.