Komentaryo sa Mga Bilang 23:9: Rashi, Kli Yakar, Ramban & Sforno

כי מראש צורים אראנו FOR FROM THE TOP OF THE ROCKS I SEE HIM — I look at their origin and at the beginning of their root (descent), and I behold them strongly founded as younder rocks and mountains through their ancestors and ancestresses (Rashi translates thus: For (כי) starting from their very beginning (מראש) I behold them firm as rocks) (Midrash Tanchuma, Balak 12).

As I see them from the mountain tops [rosh tzurim]: [Israel’s] pedigree is not from Terach but rather from Abraham, who was called tzur, as it is stated, Look to the rock [tzur]you were hewn from, to the quarry you were dug from. Look back to Abraham your father (Isaiah 51:1-2). And that tzur acted completely with the Lord and destroyed all of the idols from the land. Gaze on them from the heights: These are the matriarchs. The head of its pedigree is from there. They are a people that dwells apart, etc.: From the day that it was said to Abraham, Go from your land, etc., from then on, he isolated himself from every nation and has no connection to his father’s home or to any other nation, for the Lord took him as His portion. And know that it is so! For the Holy One, blessed be He, has not given a number to any nation besides Israel. And this thing indicates their importance, as we explained above in Parashat Bemidbar. And about this, he said, who can count the dust of Jacob, etc.. As this is a sign that it has no partnership with any [other] nation or language. And this is [the meaning of] not reckoned among the nations. For the notion of any reckoning is a number. So he said that none of the nations have a specific reckoning but rather a general [one]. But Israel has a specific number, even as Judah and Israel are like the sand of the sea. And this is [the meaning of] who can count the dust of Jacob, etc. — even at the time that they are as numerous as the dust of the earth, they are given a specific number. And this number is not enough, but rather even after the numbering, He made them four camps and again gave a particular number to each camp, which is a fourth of the [whole] camp. And this is [the meaning of] what is written, and the number of the fourth part of Israel. And why so much? Rather, it comes to show us that they are the essence of the world; as if there are not four directions in the world without them, and anything that is beyond them is not considered part of the four directions of the world at all. And this is proof that Terach, the father of Abraham, was not part of the [clan], and Abraham is not related to him at all.

FOR FROM THE TOP OF THE ROCKS I SEE HIM. The meaning of this is that since Balak had brought him up to Bamoth-baal¹²⁸Above, 22:41. [which was a high place] to see Israel, Balaam said: “From the top of the rocks and from the hills I look and I see him, for he [is a people that] shall dwell alone, and there is no other nation with him that can be counted together with him, in the way that many [different] peoples and various nations gather together to become one camp — for these [people of Israel] all have one law and one ordinance,¹²⁹Ibid., 15:16. and are one nation, dwelling alone by the name of Jacob and Israel.” Therefore he [Balaam] mentioned, Come, curse me Jacob, and come defy Israel,¹³⁰Above, Verse 7. referring to them [both] by their name of honor [Israel] and by the name of their ancestor [Jacob], meaning to say that they are a people alone, and have names befitting them from their ancestors. For Balak did not tell him [Balaam] the name “Israel,” but merely said, Behold, there is a people come out from Egypt,¹³¹Above, 22:5. as if he was a stranger to them and did not know them, and he was not grateful for the favor that their father had done.¹³²This refers to Abraham risking his life in order to save his nephew Lot — who was the ancestor of the Moabites (Genesis 14:12-16; 19:36-37). And the meaning of Balaam’s words is that “just as I see him now dwelling alone, so will he forever dwell in safety, the fountain of Jacob alone,¹³³Deuteronomy 33:28. and he will always be at the head, for no nation will [ever] prevail over him [and cause him to perish], and he will never become assimilated to them [i.e., other nations].