הִנֵּ֥ה יַשְׂכִּ֖יל עַבְדִּ֑י יָר֧וּם וְנִשָּׂ֛א וְגָבַ֖הּ מְאֹֽד׃
Narito, magtatagumpay ang Aking lingkod; siya ay itataas at dadakilain, at magiging napakataas.
Rashi
Despised and rejected by men was he. So is the custom of this prophet: he mentions all Israel as one man, e.g., (44:2), “Fear not, My servant Jacob”; (44:1) “And now, hearken, Jacob, My servant.” Here too (52:13), “Behold My servant shall prosper,” he said concerning the house of Jacob. יַשְׂכִּיל is an expression of prosperity. Comp. (I Sam. 18:14) “And David was successful (מַשְׂכִּיל) in all his ways.”
Kli Yakar
Like cedars beside the waters. In Sanhedrin (105b), they said that the curse of Ahijah the Shilonite was better than the blessings of Balaam. Ahijah cursed them with a reed, as it is said (1 Kings 14:15), The Lord will strike Israel as a reed is shaken in the water. Just as the reed only stands in a place of water, and its trunk renews and its roots are numerous, etc., but Balaam blessed them with a cedar which does not stand in a place of water, etc. Rashi explained that what is written here, like cedars beside the waters, was what the Divine Presence made him say, but this explanation is difficult.
It seems that the correct interpretation is that from Balaam’s blessings we can learn what was in His heart to curse them. Certainly, he intended to compare them to an ordinary cedar that does not stand in water, in order to make them vulnerable to the evil eye, just as an ordinary cedar, because it is tall, everyone looks at it. Similarly, Israel, because they are raised and lifted up and very high (Isaiah 52:13), the nations would cast their eyes upon them.
But God transformed the curse and put a hook in his mouth to say, “Say, like cedars beside the waters” — the remedy included with the affliction — because the waters protect it, as most of its lower part is covered by water and it doesn’t appear so tall, and the waters save it from the evil eye, like fish. Nevertheless, the metaphor of the reed is better than that of the cedar because it represents humility, as it bends before the wind, and this is its remedy. That is why our Sages said (Taanit 20a) that the reed merited to have a quill taken from it to write Torah scrolls, to teach that the Torah only endures in those who are humble in spirit like the reed, and not in one who is hard like a cedar.
Still, a cedar that stands beside the waters somewhat resembles a reed in that it is partially covered, which also somewhat indicates humility. Therefore, he immediately says, Water shall flow from his branches, meaning that from the poor [dalim] who are naturally humble, the water of Torah will flow.
It seems that the correct interpretation is that from Balaam’s blessings we can learn what was in His heart to curse them. Certainly, he intended to compare them to an ordinary cedar that does not stand in water, in order to make them vulnerable to the evil eye, just as an ordinary cedar, because it is tall, everyone looks at it. Similarly, Israel, because they are raised and lifted up and very high (Isaiah 52:13), the nations would cast their eyes upon them.
But God transformed the curse and put a hook in his mouth to say, “Say, like cedars beside the waters” — the remedy included with the affliction — because the waters protect it, as most of its lower part is covered by water and it doesn’t appear so tall, and the waters save it from the evil eye, like fish. Nevertheless, the metaphor of the reed is better than that of the cedar because it represents humility, as it bends before the wind, and this is its remedy. That is why our Sages said (Taanit 20a) that the reed merited to have a quill taken from it to write Torah scrolls, to teach that the Torah only endures in those who are humble in spirit like the reed, and not in one who is hard like a cedar.
Still, a cedar that stands beside the waters somewhat resembles a reed in that it is partially covered, which also somewhat indicates humility. Therefore, he immediately says, Water shall flow from his branches, meaning that from the poor [dalim] who are naturally humble, the water of Torah will flow.
Or HaChaim
וירום מאגג מלכו, "and its king will be greater than Agag." Bileam here revealed that Israel would become a formal kingdom at the time when king Agag the first king of the Amalekites ruled that nation. Saul lost his kingdom having failed to kill Agag and he was replaced by a more worthy colleague, i.e. David. The reason that Bileam described the commencement of the Jewish monarchy in terms of Agag the king of the Amalekites was only because this first Jewish king wasted his chance to kill Agag before the latter had progeny. Megillah 13 reveals that during the night that Saul kept Agag prisoner he succeeded in impregnating a woman who perpetuated his seed throughout the ages. The correct meter of our verse then is: "the reason that David became a greater king than Saul is the latter's failure to deal with Agag as G'd had commanded." The subject of מלכו is David. Bileam continued ותנשא מלכותו, that the kingdom of the Messiah who is a reincarnation of David will be more exalted even than that of David after Saul (Compare Ezekiel 37,24: "and My servant David will be king over them." Compare also Isaiah 52,13: ירום ונשא וגבה מאד מאד, where you have both these expressions in one and the same verse applied to one and the same person).