Komentarz do Liczb 23:23

כי לא נחש ביעקב FOR THERE IS NO ENCHANTMENT IN JACOB — For they are worthy of blessing since there are no enchanters or diviners amongst them.

FOR THERE IS NO ENCHANTMENT IN JACOB. “They do not need an enchanter or a diviner to tell Jacob and Israel what hath G-d wrought and what are His decrees on high. They practice neither enchantment nor divination [in order to know such matters], because they are told through the word of the prophets the decree of G-d, or the Urim and Thummim¹⁵⁹See Vol. II, pp. 480-484. declare it to them.” This is Rashi’s language.
The correct interpretation appears to me to be that since Balaam [himself] was a diviner, and Balak sent to him saying, for I know that he whom thou blessest through thy means of divination is blessed, and he whom thou cursest through them is cursed,¹⁶⁰Above, 22:6. and he sent him the tools of divination,¹⁶¹Ibid., Verse 7: And the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed ‘u’ksamim’ (and the implements of magic) in their hand. therefore Balaam said to Balak: “There is no enchantment in Jacob which can do them evil or good, neither is there any divination in Israel to harm them or to benefit them, for at all times it shall be said to Jacob and to Israel: ‘What hath G-d wrought for them?’” For out of the mouth of the Most High proceedeth to them evil and good,¹⁶²Lamentations 3:38. It should be noted that the verse is actually stated in the negative: “proceedeth not.” But it is actually a rhetorical question — (see J.P.S. translation), and Ramban therefore quotes it in paraphrase, in a positive form. meaning to say that the portion of the Eternal is His people,¹⁶³Deuteronomy 32:9. and they are not under the rule of the [celestial] princes and the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof,¹⁶⁴Isaiah 13:10. so that one should be able to harm them by means of divination and enchantment, as [one can harm] other nations. This is similar to that which Moses said: [… all the host of heaven …] which the Eternal thy G-d hath allotted unto all the peoples under the whole heaven. But you hath the Eternal taken and brought forth out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be unto Him a people of inheritance,¹⁶⁵Deuteronomy 4:19-20. as I have explained in Seder Acharei Moth.¹⁶⁶Leviticus 18:25. See Vol. III, pp. 268-270.

כי לא נחש ביעקב, the reason why G’d took the Jewish people out of Egypt and expels other nations in their wake by providing them with the horns of a wild ox is that they are a generation of people looking for G’d and His proximity instead of relying on all kinds of demonically inspired methods of divining the future. Moses spelled out this stark contrast between the Jewish people and their gentile neighbours in Deuteronomy 18,14 when he said: “for these nations that you are about to dispossess do indeed resort to soothsayers and augurs; to you however, the Lord your G’d has not assigned the like.”

Why does G’d make His residence among them and is fond of them? כי לא נחש ביעקב, there are no sorcerers and other magicians among these people, they do not rely on necromancers, etc., to tell them about future events. Rather,

כי לא נחש ביעקב, “for there is no recourse to divination amongst the descendants of Yaakov.” Nachmanides writes, seeing that Bileam himself resorted to divinations as a tool of his trade, and Balak, who had been well aware of this had even sent him charms with which to ply his trade, charms to employ in his quest to curse Israel, Bileam felt compelled to explain now why such charms would be completely useless if used against Israel. Israel, i.e. Yaakov, have access to G’d all the time, and never have to rely on divinations to get a glimpse of what the future holds in store for them. Their fate is not determined by intermediaries of G’d, such as astrological constellations, but G’d, personally, involves Himself in supervising their fate. They are an integral part of G’d, חלק ה' עמו], compare Deut. Ed.] Concerning Israel there is already a prophecy describing that nation as rousing itself like a lion in its prime, as a result of which it will attain ascendancy among the nations of the world as does a fully grown lion among the beasts. It will not come to rest in its own land until it has first devoured the previous inhabitants, much as a lion does not rest until it has devoured its prey. It will drink the blood of its enemies, (Onkelos‘ allegorical description of Bileams’ parable.) In effect, Bileam’s message to Balak was that the Israelites would eventually conquer the land of Canaan. Balak was aware that they had no designs on his country. Nonetheless, he wanted Bileam to curse them and he hoped that at least Bileam might be able to weaken that people, inflict some kind of defeat on them; this is why he persisted in taking Bileam to yet another vantage point from where he could see part of that nation. By saying (verse 26) קבותו לי משם, “curse it for me from there,” meant that he had given up on the blessings being revoked, but merely hoped that by adding a curse he, Balak, might achieve some partial victory, as had been achieved by the Amalekites and the Canaanites in the south of the land of Canaan who had put their army to flight. (21,3) Alternately, Balak hoped that by means of Bileam’s curse, all the lands of the Moabites that had been conquered by Sichon would be restored to him now.

To be another time such as this. [Rashi knows this] because the [letter] kaf of comparison indicates that he is comparing another time to this time.

V. 23. כי לא נחש וגו׳. Denn der צופים-Weisheit, die du in diesem Volke suchst und nach deren Vorhandensein du Erfolg oder Richterfolg seiner künftigen Machtstellung ermessen zu können wähnst, jener Weisheit, die mit "Ahnungen" aus Dunklem ins Dunkle tappt und mit Menschenmacht überragender "Zauberprätension" die Gänge des Geschickes zu beliebiger Gunst zu bannen vorgibt, — dieser, von der Ratlosigkeit menschlicher Ohnmacht getragenen Künste bedarf Jakob-Israel nicht. Nicht auf "Ahnungen" lauscht Jakob in seiner Not, nicht einer "Zauberkunst" verdankt Israel seine Größe — in diesem Augenblick, wo wir hier zusammen reden und der völligen Ohnmacht unseres Beginnens gegen dieses Gottesvolk vor Gott inne werden, wird diesem Volke bereits offenbart, was hier bei uns Gott gewirkt und ihm mitgeteilt, auf dass es als Jaakob es begreife und als Israel nie vergesse.

כי לא נחש ביעקב, the word נחש here is to be understood as in Genesis 30,27: נחשתי ויברכני, “I have through testing found out that G–d has blessed me economically by your presence.” Bileam explains why it would be totally useless to even try and manipulate G–d [to Whom he refers to by the ineffable name. Bileam is seen by the sages as reincarnate of Lavan, and both, refer to the G–d of Israel by the ineffable name, a name that Pharaoh refused to admit he had ever heard when Moses used it. Ed.] He adds that in case Balak thought that granted that he could not curse the Jews in the name of G–d, why did he not invoke other deities or means of divinations to do so, he makes plain that no such קסם, sorcery, would be effective.

כי לא נחש ביעקב, “for there is none in Yaakov who relies on enchantments.” Compare use of that term in Genesis 30,27, where Lavan credits his financial success during Yaakov’s stay with him to such enchantments. We find it again when Joseph’s servant upon searching for the missing goblet credits his master with using it as such an instrument (Genesis 44,15). Here it is used by Bileam to tell Balak about the futility of engaging in such enchantments when dealing with the Jewish people. No sorcery will succeed in bringing a curse on Israel.

כעת יאמר ליעקב וגו׳ IN DUE TIME IT SHALL BE SAID TO JACOB etc. — Once again will there be a time as this time (כעת) when the love which God bears them will be made manifest in the sight of all, because they sit before Him and learn the Torah at His mouth, and the place assigned to them will be inward of that of the ministering angels and these will enquire of them, מה פעל אל WHAT HATH GOD WROUGHT. This is the meaning of what is said, (Isaiah 30:20) “And thine eyes shall see thy Teacher” (Midrash Tanchuma, Balak 14). — Another explanation is that יאמר ליעקב does not express what is to happen in the future but expresses what takes place in the present: They require no enchanter nor diviner, for at every time (כעת) when it is necessary that there should be told to Jacob and to Israel what the Holy One, blessed be He, hath wrought and what are His decrees on High, they do not do enchantment nor divination, but it is told to them (יאמר ליעקב) by the mouth of their prophets what is the decree of the Omnipresent (מה פעל אל), or the Urim and Thummim declare it to them. — Onkelos, however, did not translate it thus.

כעת, at any time they wish to know what the future holds.

כעת יאמר ליעקב וישראל מה פעל א-ל, seeing that G’d’s benevolent Presence resides among them and they have access to divine sources through their prophets they have no need for such unreliable assists as snake charmers, necromancers, astrologers and the like. כעת יאמר, what will occur tomorrow or in the distant future is revealed to them by means of their prophets. When Monauach and his wife had been foretold that the son that was going to be born to them would be a Saviour for his people who were severely harassed by the Philistines, Monauach’s wife was sure they would not die as a result of such a revelation as there would be no point in G’d taking the trouble to reveal this part of their future to them if He were about to let them die. (Judges 13,22) Not only that, but why would G’d have accepted their offering at that time if they were about to die?
The expression כעת usually refers to the following year. Seeing that the angel had used that expression, Mrs Monauach felt certain that she would not die during the next year, otherwise how could the angel’s prophecy come true? A similar incident occurred in Kings II 4,16 where the promise of a baby being born to a woman during the following year was equivalent to telling her that she would not die before then.

For they will be seated before Him… Given that above it is written (v. 21), “He has the King’s friendship,” which refers to endearment and friendship, [here] he is saying that there is destined to be another time such as this, when they will be seated before him in an endearing manner.

Statt des armseligen נחש und קסם-Behelfes unserer dunkeln צופים-Weisheit, erhält Jakob-Israel ungesucht das helle klare Gotteswort.

כעת יאמר ליעקב, “at a time when it will be said of Yaakov and Israel all that G–d had has wrought;” we find this construction also in Genesis 18,10: כעת חיה ולשרה בן, at this time next year Sarah will have a son.” G–d will continue to perform miracles for Israel until all the nations will have to acknowledge this. This is an alternative of such expressions as מה רבו מעשיך ה', “How great are Your manifestations o Lord,” (Psalms 104,24)

כעת יאמר ליעקב, “now it will be said of Yaakov;” Bileam refers to the year following after the Israelites have crossed the river Jordan. At that time many of the miracles that G-d has performed on behalf of the Jewish nation will be recited in public. The expression is similar to: 'מה רבו מעשיך ה, “how great and manifold are Your works o Lord.” (Psalms 104,24) We know the expression

'יאמר ליעקב ולישראל מה פעל ה, they will be told by means of a prophetic message or through some other divine revelation what G’d has decreed. They will not be told what the various constellations of the stars appear to portend. The reason is that their fates are subject to direct supervision by G’d, not to the intermediaries He has appointed for that purpose for the gentile nations.

Rather they are told through their prophets. Meaning that כעת יאמר ["in due time it will be said"] is connected with כי לא נחש ביעקב ["for there no sorcery in Yaakov"]. According to the other interpretation the meaning of the kaf, which indicates a comparison, is as follows: “כעת” ["In due time"] as if to say if times arrive at which they need to speak in matters of sorcery or the occult, then “יאמר” ["He will say"] to them [what to do] through prophecy, and they will not need sorcery or the occult. Accordingly it is also understandable why Rashi brought two reasons.

נחש (siehe Bereschit 44, 5). — קסם (daselbst 11, 6). — כעת wie וכעת לא השמיענו כזאת (Richter 13, 23).

כעת, as referring to the same time in the following year when the angel announces to Avraham that his wife will have son at the same time a year hence. (Genesis18,14)

ליעקב ולישראל, concerning Yaakov and Israel;” but not concerning Avraham and Yitzchok, as only Yaakov/Israel had managed to raise all his children in the Avrahamitic tradition.