Parashat Balak — Balak (devastator)
בָּלָק
Balak (בָּלָק) means "balak (devastator)" — taken, as every parashah name is, from the portion's opening words in the Hebrew.
The Readings
Torah Numbers 22:2-25:9 Read →
Haftarah Micah 5:6-6:8 Read →
B'rit Chadashah Matthew 2:1-12 Read →
B'rit Chadashah 2 Peter 1:16-21 Read →
What Happens in Balak
Balak son of Tzippor, king of Moav, sees what Israel did to the Amorites, and Moav is sick with dread. His remedy is supernatural: he sends the elders of Moav and Midian with the fees of divination to Bilam (Balaam) son of Beor at Petor on the River — come, curse this people for me... for I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed. God's first answer is flat: you shall not go with them; you shall not curse the people, for they are blessed. Balak sends more honorable princes and bigger promises; God permits the journey with a leash — only the word which I speak to you, that you shall do — and then opposes the going itself, because Bilam's heart runs ahead of his permission.
On the road comes the Torah's most pointed comedy. The donkey sees the Messenger of YHVH standing in the way with drawn sword — three times — turning into the field, crushing Bilam's foot against a wall, finally lying down under him. Bilam beats her three times, and YHVH opens the mouth of the donkey: what have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times? The seer who sells visions cannot see what his animal sees, until YHVH opens his eyes and he falls on his face. The Messenger's terms repeat the leash: go, but only the word that I speak to you, that you shall speak.
So begins the strangest oracle session in Scripture. Three times Balak builds seven altars; three times he moves Bilam to a new vantage point, as if geography could change heaven's mind; and three times blessing pours out of the hired mouth. From the first: how shall I curse whom God has not cursed?... who can count the dust of Yaakov? From the second: God is not a man, that He should lie... He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it — no sorcery against Yaakov, no divination against Yisrael. The third, with the Spirit of God upon him: how goodly are your tents, O Yaakov, and your dwelling places, O Yisrael — the Ma Tovu, sung at synagogue doors ever since. Enraged, Balak dismisses him unpaid, and Bilam fires a fourth oracle into the far future: I see him, but not now... a star shall come out of Yaakov, and a scepter shall rise out of Yisrael — the Messiah sighted from Moav's high places by a pagan prophet. Yet what cursing could not do, counsel does: Israel joins itself to Baal-Peor through the daughters of Moav, and a plague erupts. When Zimri parades a Midianite woman before the weeping congregation, Pinchas rises with a spear, and the plague is stayed at twenty-four thousand dead.
Main Themes
No divination against Yaakov — Israel unassailable by curse God turning intended curses into blessing The talking donkey and the blind prophet The star out of Yaakov — the Messianic oracle Defeated by seduction where cursing failed
Key Events
· Balak hires Bilam
· The donkey and the Messenger of YHVH
· The first two oracles of blessing
· Ma tovu — how goodly are your tents
· The star and scepter prophecy
· The sin of Baal-Peor and the plague
Key People
Balak Bilam The donkey The Messenger of YHVH Pinchas Zimri and Kozbi
Key Verses
Numbers 24:17 Read →
“I see him, but not now. I see him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob. A scepter will rise out of Israel, and shall strike through the corners of Moab, and crush all the sons of Sheth.”
Numbers 24:5 Read →
“How goodly are your tents, Jacob, and your dwellings, Israel!”
Numbers 23:19 Read →
“God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should repent. Has he said, and he won’t do it? Or has he spoken, and he won’t make it good?”
All 54 Torah portions → · Open the Torah Portion tool in Hebrew Explorer