ייִדישער מחשבֿה אויף במדבר 23:23

Divine intervention when applied to the Jewish people is the norm rather than the exception. Divine intervention, when applied to gentiles is restricted to a small segment of the people and occurs at rare intervals. Examples are: the deluge, Sodom, Nineveh, Avimelech and Pharaoh being punished on account of Abraham, Egypt's ten plagues and the kings of Canaan in their war against Joshua. We read in Psalms 33, 14, "G-d looks down from the heavens and relates to all the inhabitants of earth from His residence...the eye of the Lord is directed towards those who fear Him." Clearly, the application of Divine intervention when dealing with the gentiles has as its objective the protection of His people. When Isaiah 44,28, quotes G-d as saying "who says about Cyrus "He is My shepherd," it refers to Cyrus' dream in which he had seen himself as rebuilding Jerusalem and the temple in G-d’s honour. This is an instance of Divine intervention in the life of a gentile for the sake of the Jewish people. Since the tabernacle became the seat from which Divine intervention would emanate, we understand the Midrash which states that until the building of the tabernacle, prophecy was found amongst the nations of the world, only to be removed from them once the tabernacle had been erected. When Bileam prophesied, it was only for the benefit of Israel. The problem with the Midrash is that we do not really find gentile prophets either prior to or subsequent to the erection of the tabernacle. The few instances of visions in a dream that Pharaoh and Avimelech or Laban had experienced, are not to be equated with prophecy. (Maimonides Moreh section three, chapter 2) On the other hand, were we to assume that such prophets did exist, it seems unfair to remove such powers from them merely because of the erection of the tabernacle. Regarding Moses’s prayer (Exodus 33, 16) to withhold the shechinah from non Jews, and G-d’s acquiescence, this too seems a case of an improper request by a student, and a response by his teacher that hardly seems appropriate. One must consider however that the very paucity of Divine intervention until that time, had made it difficult for people to recognise G-d and His power, since people had only seen natural law at work. They believed these laws to be inexorable. For that reason, G-d had to allow prophets among the nations, so that people would become aware of an alternative to natural law, namely G-d’s Personal intervention in the affairs of man. Prophecy at that time, meant that astrology and such would be used by wise men to forecast the future. Once the string of miracles that had preceded the building of the tabernacle and continued afterwards became the norm, the relative wisdom of the astrologers, soothsayers etc. faded into insignificance. This is why Bileam said "Jacob has neither charms nor enchantments." (Numbers 23,33.) What he meant was that those who had the powers of charms and enchantments could not bring them to bear upon this nation, since that people was not subject to the rule of natural law as evidenced in horoscopes and the like. This is the removal of prophecy from the nations of the world that Moses had prayed for. In other words, Moses prayed that such enchantments become irrelevant to Israel's fate. He did not ask that real prophetic powers which the nations never possessed be removed from them. Moses wanted veniflinu, let us be distinguished; G-d responded "I shall do wonderful things." Israel, on the other hand, would be guided only by hashgachah peratit, and astrologers, enchanters etc. should not exist among them. This realisation came to the gentiles in stages. First, the Egyptians acknowledged "a finger of G-d." Vitro came to acknowledge "for I know that G-d is greater than any other deity." Rahav, who had harboured the spies that Joshua had sent to Jericho, expressed herself in similar fashion.

Since the Torah had made a point of outlining that the people should conduct their own affairs in the previous chapter, the restrictions on methods that may be used must be outlined also. The king, though instructed to consult G'd via the breastplate of the High Priest, must not resort to consulting other media such as oracles, commonly employed by the previous rulers of the land of Canaan. In fact, such soothsayers must not be tolerated in Jewish society and must be put to death. G'd will provide prophets for His people who will grant them an insight into what the future holds when He deems such knowledge to be useful and necessary. Should there be someone who claims to be a prophet but is in reality an impostor, he must be executed. The entitlement to have prophets stems from the laudable sentiments expressed by the people on the occasion of the revelation at Mount Sinai. At that time they had wished to be addressed by Moses rather than by G'd Himself, an experience they had found too terrifying. Anyone demurring against a true prophet would be held responsible by G'd, since that kind of guidance had been introduced in answer to the people's own request. The entire Parshah then has discussed various aspects of leadership here on earth, and it is the Torah's goal to establish a system of leadership in our society that is patterned on the kind of justice and leadership that exists in the celestial regions.

The text continues for a little bit more than a page. Nevertheless, portions of the manuscript were illegible and thus not copied in the printed text. As a result, it was not possible to translate the conclusion of the text word for word. The paragraphs that follow reflect a summary of the translator’s partial understanding of Tosfos Yom Tov’s intent.³⁵Of great assistance in this process of interpolation was the text of Chiddushei HaLevanah printed as an addendum to Machon Chochmas Shlomoh edition of Rambam’s Hilchos Kiddush HaChodesh.