Tammuz 9, 5776/July 15, 2016
"Who gave man a mouth, or who makes one dumb or deaf or seeing or blind?" (Exodus 4:11) This is G-d's rhetorical question to Moshe when Moshe once again raised his doubts as to his own ability to be the prophet and redeemer of Israel. The deep truth that it is G-d who chooses His prophets and it is G-d's voice which speaks through the mouths of His prophets is seen time and time again from G-d's response to Moshe'sprotest to Jeremiah's expressions of pain at having been chosen G-d's vessel of prophecy.
The pattern repeats itself. The chosen prophet's protest is an expression of his own profound humility and sense of inadequacy to be the mouthpiece for G-d's word. And yet it is that very modesty that proves the prophet's ability to deliver G-d's word only, and not his own. And so it was with all the Hebrew prophets.
Not so with Bilaam the heathen prophet who steps out from the shadows in this week's Torah reading of Balak, hired by the Moabite king to curse the children of Israel, perched, as they are, on the eastern banks of the Jordan river. Bilaam was a world renowned prophet, a glib speaker of 'G-d's word.' He was a man of tremendous intellect and penetrating perception. Of the many praiseworthy qualities he possessed, modesty wasn't one of them. And while Bilaam was busy trying to curse the children of Israel, he was fatally losing the battle against his own curse, that of unbridled pride, even in the presence of the G-d whom he claimed to be his own.
Time after time Bilaam tries to raise his voice and curse Israel, and time after time G-d confounds his intentions and places words of praise and blessing on Bilaam's tongue. Nonplussed, and ever the debonair dissembler, Bilaam prefaces his words with a disingenuous claim of faithfulness to G-d's will: "How can I curse whom G-d has not cursed, and how can I invoke wrath if HaShem has not been angered?" (Numbers 23:8) But in truth it is G-d who is imposing His will on Bilaam and not Bilaam who is giving over his will to G-d.
Bilaam himself witnessed how G-d opened the mouth of his she-ass and place His words upon her tongue, giving her prophecy and the ability to see the sword bearing angel thatBilaam could not see. Doesn't he get it? When will Bilaam give up on his game of trying to 'outwit' G-d?
At last both Bilaam and Balak grow weary of their repeatedly foiled efforts to curse Israel and each goes his own way, but not before Bilaam attempts one last go at subterfuge. "And now, I am going to my people. Come, I will advise you... what this people will do to your people at the end of days." (ibid 24:14) And with flourish and fanfare Bilaam delivers a breathtakingly beautiful vision of the victory of Israel and the G-d of Israel and the Torah of Israel over their enemies at the end of days. These are truly words of prophecy that are unfolding even in our days. Did Bilaam at last willingly succumb to G-d's will and embrace G-d's truth? Did Bilaam have the last laugh? Or did G-d?
If we recall, upon his deathbed, the patriach Yaakov "called for his sons and said, 'Gather and I will tell you what will happen to you at the end of days,'" (Genesis 49:1) and yet the words which followed were not a prophecy of the end of days, but deeply insightful blessings of each of his sons. What happened? Our sages tell us that just asYaakov was about to open his mouth, the Shechina - G-d's presence - left him, and with it his prophecy of the end of days. Why? Perhaps Yaakov perceived the brutal enslavement his children would suffer in Egypt and suddenly grew fearful. Perhaps he thought twice about sharing with his sons their dark future, fearing that they would be gripped with despair.
Or perhaps G-d had other plans. Yaakov spent his life battling with adversaries whose choice mode of attack was with their mouth. Esau, we are told, was loved by his fatherYitzchak because "his game was in his mouth," or literally in Hebrew, "his hunt was in his mouth." (ibid 25:28) The inner meaning of these words is that Esau professed righteousness (before his father) with his mouth but murdered with his hands. Lavan,Yaakov's father-in-law, was another adversary who repeatedly battled Yaakov with false kisses and words of deception.
And now comes Bilaam, the master of deceit, who is hired to "Come, curse Yaakov for me and come invoke wrath against Israel." (Numbers 23:7) Yet, perched on the Jordan river, the very place when Yaakov our patriarch was met by an encampment of angels when he returned from exile to the land of Israel, the very place where Yaakov wrestled with an angel and was told "Your name shall no longer be called Yaakov, but Israel, because you have commanding power with [an angel of] G-d and with men, and you have prevailed," (ibid 32:29), this is the very place where Bilaam will lose his final and decisive battle with the G-d of Yaakov. The end of days prophecy so eloquently uttered by Bilaam are not his words at all, as he would like all to believe. These are the very words that Yaakov sought to tell his sons, but G-d, in His endless love for Yaakov and his descendants, placed instead in the mouth of the adversary, thus paving the way, for once and for all, for Yaakov's children to enter into the land of Israel. How sweet that Yaakov, who dreamed of a ladder to heaven, would be able, with his own words, to insure their entry into the land and the ultimate fulfillment of his dream of a House of G-d for his children, the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.
-The Temple Institute
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