민수기 23:18의 Chasidut
וַיִּשָּׂ֥א מְשָׁל֖וֹ וַיֹּאמַ֑ר ק֤וּם בָּלָק֙ וּֽשֲׁמָ֔ע הַאֲזִ֥ינָה עָדַ֖י בְּנ֥וֹ צִפֹּֽר׃
발람이 노래를 지어 가로되 발락이여 일어나 들을지어다 십볼의 아들이여 나를 자세히 들으라
Kedushat Levi
Numbers 23,18. “arise Balak and listen!” This rather curious line may best be explained through a reference to B’reshit Rabbah 82,8 where the Midrash comments as follows on Isaiah 3,13: נצב לריב אלוקים ועומד לדין עמים, “the Lord stands up to plead a cause, He rises to judge peoples.” According to the Midrash there, the verse needs explaining, as we appear to have another verse (Joel 4,12) describing G’d as sitting. The solution offered is that when G’d “sits” in judgment of the Israelites He does so standing up, whereas when He judges the nations of the world He does so while remaining seated. The difference is in the amount of time devoted by G’d to that judgment. When forced to do things while standing up, one tends to try and finish one’s business so that one can sit down again. When doing one’s work while remaining comfortably seated, one is more likely to do things more slowly.
When our sages offered this solution to the apparent contradiction, they may have had in mind the verse according to which the tzaddik is able to reverse G’d’s evil decrees. The Talmud Ketuvot 111 views the word ישיבה, as a more comfortable position only if the seat has arm rests; otherwise standing upright while able to rest one’s arms is a preferable posture, (in the sense of “more comfortable.”) When G’d is portrayed as judging the nations of the world while seated, the meaning is that the throne He sits on has arm rests. When G’d judges the Israelites, although doing so while standing, He has no supports for His arms. This “shakiness” is what enables thetzaddikim to reverse evil decrees, as these decrees had never been firmly rooted. In other words, we learn that curses never have the kind of strength that blessings have. Bileam’s calling on Balak to arise, was meant to undermine any curse which would subsequently be issued against Israel. Israel’s righteous would be able to reverse such curses.
[I find all this somewhat irrelevant as the Jewish people never knew of what Bileam and Balak had planned until told about it by Moses. There were no Jewish witnesses to anything which transpired in this portion until where the Torah reports on what occurred subsequently in chapter 25. Ed.]
When our sages offered this solution to the apparent contradiction, they may have had in mind the verse according to which the tzaddik is able to reverse G’d’s evil decrees. The Talmud Ketuvot 111 views the word ישיבה, as a more comfortable position only if the seat has arm rests; otherwise standing upright while able to rest one’s arms is a preferable posture, (in the sense of “more comfortable.”) When G’d is portrayed as judging the nations of the world while seated, the meaning is that the throne He sits on has arm rests. When G’d judges the Israelites, although doing so while standing, He has no supports for His arms. This “shakiness” is what enables thetzaddikim to reverse evil decrees, as these decrees had never been firmly rooted. In other words, we learn that curses never have the kind of strength that blessings have. Bileam’s calling on Balak to arise, was meant to undermine any curse which would subsequently be issued against Israel. Israel’s righteous would be able to reverse such curses.
[I find all this somewhat irrelevant as the Jewish people never knew of what Bileam and Balak had planned until told about it by Moses. There were no Jewish witnesses to anything which transpired in this portion until where the Torah reports on what occurred subsequently in chapter 25. Ed.]
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