Chasidut sobre Números 22:3
וַיָּ֨גָר מוֹאָ֜ב מִפְּנֵ֥י הָעָ֛ם מְאֹ֖ד כִּ֣י רַב־ה֑וּא וַיָּ֣קָץ מוֹאָ֔ב מִפְּנֵ֖י בְּנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃
E Moabe tinha grande medo do povo, porque era muito; e Moabe andava angustiado por causa dos filhos de Israel.
Kedushat Levi
Numbers 22,3. “Moab was greatly afraid of the people because they were so numerous; Moab greatly dreaded the Children of Israel.”
Judging by the fact that the Torah distinguishes the feelings of the Moabites vis a vis העם, the “people,” and subsequently vis a vis the בני ישראל, “the Children of Israel”, we are entitled to assume that the term העם refers to the fellow travelers, the mixed multitude that had attached themselves to the Israelites at the time of the Exodus. (Compare Sh’mot Rabbah 42,6)
According to the Zohar, the fear of the Moabites was due to their having noticed that wherever the Israelites encamped (40th year near the Jordan river) many gentiles would join them and convert to Judaism, so that the word העם, here does not refer to the mixed multitude that had joined the Israelites already at the Exodus. [I have not found this Zohar, Ed.] Balak or his people were afraid that if the Israelites were to encamp near them, many Moabites would convert to Judaism and join them. [The legislation that Moabites were not allowed to convert (Deuteronomy 23,4) had not yet been made public. Ed.] The next line describing the mental state of the Moabites as being one of dread of the Israelites, explains that whereas normally, Balak could not have cared less, here the fact that the Moabites were in such dread of the Israelites caused him to fear wholesale defection among his people to the Israelites as a real possibility. Balak was a great anti-Semite.
Judging by the fact that the Torah distinguishes the feelings of the Moabites vis a vis העם, the “people,” and subsequently vis a vis the בני ישראל, “the Children of Israel”, we are entitled to assume that the term העם refers to the fellow travelers, the mixed multitude that had attached themselves to the Israelites at the time of the Exodus. (Compare Sh’mot Rabbah 42,6)
According to the Zohar, the fear of the Moabites was due to their having noticed that wherever the Israelites encamped (40th year near the Jordan river) many gentiles would join them and convert to Judaism, so that the word העם, here does not refer to the mixed multitude that had joined the Israelites already at the Exodus. [I have not found this Zohar, Ed.] Balak or his people were afraid that if the Israelites were to encamp near them, many Moabites would convert to Judaism and join them. [The legislation that Moabites were not allowed to convert (Deuteronomy 23,4) had not yet been made public. Ed.] The next line describing the mental state of the Moabites as being one of dread of the Israelites, explains that whereas normally, Balak could not have cared less, here the fact that the Moabites were in such dread of the Israelites caused him to fear wholesale defection among his people to the Israelites as a real possibility. Balak was a great anti-Semite.
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