Komentarz do Liczb 22:9

מי האנשים האלה עמך WHO ARE THESE MEN WITH THEE? — By putting this question He intended to delude him. And indeed he (Balaam) thereupon said: “It seems, then, that there are times when everything is not manifest to Him; His knowledge is not always alike. I will select a time when I can curse and when He will not observe it” (Midrash Tanchuma, Balak 5).

?מי האנשים האלה עמך, who are these people with you on account of whom you went to the trouble to receive prophetic messages in order to know what to do for them?Have they really come to you to inquire about matters which will occur in the future and you want to know about the future in order to give them guidance? Or, have they stayed with you to enlist your help to pronounce curses over someone and you are now asking My permission to fulfill their request?

מי חאנשים האלה עמך, "who are these men with you?" Why did G'd bother to ask him? Didn't He know who these men were and why they had come? Also, why did G'd have to say עמך, "with you?" It would have been enough to say האלה "these." We also have to understand Bileam's peculiar reply. To the question who these men are he replies who has sent them. Our sages in Yalkut Shimoni item 765 have noted this oddity and wrote as follows: "Bileam said to G'd: 'I do not know who these people are but Balak the son of Tzippor has sent them to me, etc.'" The Yalkut means that from the way Bileam phrased his answer G'd was supposed to conclude that he was unaware of who precisely these messengers were. He certainly did not say outright: "I do not kow, etc." Why did Bileam have to add that Balak was the king of Moav? Was it not enough that he told G'd the name of the man? I believe that we can best understand G'd's question after remembering what I have written about the words "stay here overnight," that Bileam invited these messengers to sleep with him in the same room. G'd wanted to know what was so special about these people whom Bileam had invited to be present when he expected to be addressed by an angel of G'd. After all, G'd implied, this room is the one you have reserved for when I communicate with you. The word האלה implies that these people are not deserving of such an honour, much as the words מי אנכי, "who am I" in Exodus 3,11 suggest that Moses did not consider himself worthy of the task G'd wanted to entrust to him. From G'd's question it is evident that He was concerned with the honour due to Bileam vis-a-vis the Gentile nations amongst whom he was rated as a prophet. We find a statement in Bamidbar Rabbah 20,14 that G'd killed the she-ass Bileam was riding on as she was belittling him. When we look at the next verse (10) we see that Bileam understood what G'd meant and that is why he said that Balak the king of Moav had sent these men, i.e. they deserve to be honoured as they came on an errand from the king. He gave Balak's full name to indicate that Balak had already been an important prince in Midian even before his elevation to become king over Moav.

ויבא אלו-הים אל בלעם, “G’d came to Bileam, etc.” The only reason that Bileam was granted a divine vision at this point was in honour of the Israelites. This situation was similar to G’d revealing Himself in a nocturnal vision to Lavan to prevent him from harming Yaakov (Genesis 34,24). Something similar occurred in Genesis 20,3 where G’d revealed Himself to Avimelech, King of the Philistines, for the sake of Avraham.

He gave him the opportunity for error. See above in Parshas Bereishis (Bereishis 3:9) where Rashi explains, “So as to enter into conversation with him.” Whereas here he explains that He gave him the opportunity for error. Re’m writes, “He gave him the opportunity for error…” Meaning: He entered into conversation with him so that he would not be startled. And why was this? To give him the opportunity for error. Here Rashi explains why he entered into conversation with him but there he does not explain the reason.

V. 9. ויבא אלקי אל־ .ויבא אלקי אל בלעם kommt nur noch bei Abimelech (Bereschit 20, 3) und Laban (daselbst 31, 24) vor, denen beiden eine Mitteilung von Gott unerwartet und von einem Vorhaben zurückhaltend kommt. Auch hier ist es durchaus nicht notwendig, dass Bileam diese Gottesanrede erwartet oder auch nur erbeten habe. Das כאשר ידבר ד׳ אלי des vorigen Verses erscheint ganz nur als eine Phrase in Bileams Mund. Wenigstens haben Balaks Boten und insbesondere auch Balak das מאן ד׳ וגו׳ in Bileams Mund als nichts anderes bedeutend aufgefasst, als: ich will nicht mit euch gehen, mein Ehrgeiz und mein Interesse lässt es noch nicht zu. Sie gehörten sicherlich zu den Wissenden und Täuschenden und nicht zu den Getäuschten und Unwissenden, sie wussten, was die Berufung auf Götterwillen im Munde der im Interesse der Herrscher ihre Kunst übenden Mantik bedeute und dass das מאן ד׳ im Munde eines Bileam gleichbedeutend sei mit מאן בלעם. Geradezu entscheidend aber hierfür scheint uns die fragende Anrede: מי האנשים האלה עמך zu sein. Wenn Bileam in der Tat hätte auf eine höhere Entscheidung rekurrieren wollen, wenn er sich eine solche von Gott erbeten hätte, die Frage: מי האנשים וגו׳ hätte gar nicht mehr stattfinden können, sie kündigt sich vollständig als eine Bileam selbst ganz unerwartete göttliche Intervention an. Womit er bis jetzt sein Lebelang gespielt und was er seinen Zeitgenossen vorgespiegelt, ward ihm hier mit einemmale unerwartet und, wie es scheint, ebenso unerwünscht zur Wahrheit.

By mentioning that Balak was king over Moav he wanted to remind G'd that the Moabites were not one of the nations which would be given to the Israelites to conquer. He was very astute in hinting at this as he wanted G'd's consent to accept the assignment and he did not want G'd to put any obstacle in his way.