Bamidbar/In the Wilderness

Commonly called Numbers:

Bamidbar 22: 2 – 25: 9

Torah Portion Balak
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http://www.BeitTefillah.org Wayne Ingalls
 Outline
• Balaq
• He Whom You Curse is Cursed
• Balak’s Descendants Will Rule
Over Yisrael
• What Kind of Prophet was
Balaam?
• The Future of Balaam-ism
• Ba’al-Peor
• Mah Tovu
• Questions
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 The Traditional Blessing Before
Reading the Torah Portion

Baruch atah Adonay Eloheynu melech ha'olam,

asher bachar banu mikol-ha'amim, venatan lanu et-torato

Blessed are You – Adonai our Elohim, King of the Universe,

who has chosen us from all peoples and has given us His Torah.
Baruch atah Adonay, noten hatorah

Blessed are You - Adonai, Giver of the Torah.

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Read the Torah Portion

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 Balaq
(Usually Transliterated “Balak”)

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 Balaq
Bamidbar/Numbers chapters 22: 2 – 25: 7

Vayar’ Balaq ben Tzippor et kal ‘asher-’asah Yisrael la’emoriy

Bamidbar 22:2 (ISR) And Balaq son of Tsippor saw all that
Yisra’ĕl had done to the Amorites.

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 Balaq
Bamidbar/Numbers chapters 22: 2 – 25: 7

What is the meaning of the words Bilaam (Balaam) & Balaq

(Balak)?
Various Bible dictionaries and concordances give the meanings:
Bilaam: Not of the people, destroyer of the people, foreigner,
lord of the people, glutton, devourer.
Balaq: Vain, empty, spoiler, devastator, one who lays waste.

Fausset’s Bible Dictionary connects “Bila’am,” translated as "the

destroyer of the people," with the Greek name Nicolaos,
"conqueror of the people" (Revelation 2: 14-15)

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 Balaq
Bamidbar/Numbers chapters 22: 2 – 25: 7

The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew lexicon supports this meaning

of “devastator” for Balaq/Balak, noting related words with
similar meanings in Assyrian and Aramaic.

For Bil’am (Bilaam/Balaam) the lexicon reads…

Or, in other words: Master/Ba’al/ “lord” of (the) people.

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 Balaq
Bamidbar/Numbers chapters 22: 2 – 25: 7

According to the Zohar*:

“Balak IS THE LETTERS BA LAK, meaning came (Heb. ba), he

who strikes (Heb. lakah) and hurts them as he wishes. Bilaam
CONSISTS OF THE LETTERS BAL AM, meaning there are no
(Heb. bal) people (Heb. am) and no shepherd. Our name will
cause their destruction and uprooting from the world.”
(Zohar, Balak, Vol 19, 21.276)

*The Zohar is an ancient Jewish mystical text commentary on the Torah, written in Aramaic,
that may date from the 2d Century (CE). It first became generally known in 13th century Spain.

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 Who Was Bilaam?
• According to the Zohar, Bilaam was a descendant of
Laban. The golden calf idolators “were the sons of the evil
Bilaam, the grandsons of the evil Laban.”
• But according to the Midrash, Balaam, is Laban, and the
"wall" against which Balaam's donkey crushed the
prophet's leg on his journey to the Plains of Moab to curse
Israel (Bamidbar 22:25) is the very mound of stones
erected by Laban and Jacob on Mount Galeed (Bereshiyt
31) to attest to the vow (“I will not pass by this mound of
stones to you for harm”) which Balaam was now violating
with his journey.

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 Bilaam

Referencing Ramban (Rabbi Moshe ben

Nachman, aka Nachmanides, 1194-1270 CE),
the Artscroll Tanakh text note for Bamidbar
22: 5 reads:

God ordained that the gentile nations should

have a prophet, so that they would not be able
to contend that if only they had someone who
could communicate to them the will of God
they would have been as righteous as Israel.
Balaam was that prophet.

What do you think of this assessment?

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 The River
Bamidbar 22:5 (ISR) and he sent messengers to Bil’am son of
Be’or at Pethor, which is near the River in the land of the sons of
his people, to call him, saying, “See, a people has come from
Mitsrayim. See, they have covered the surface of the land, and are
settling next to me!”
Comments/Questions:

The River: The Aramaic Targums to the Torah say the River
was the Euphrates. It was a long journey.

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Do Not Go With them//Rise and Go With Them
Bamidbar 22:12 (ISR) And Elohim said to Bil’am, “Do not go
with them. You do not curse the people, for they are blessed.”
Bamidbar 22:20 (ISR) And Elohim came to Bil’am at night and
said to him, “If the men come to call you, rise and go with them,
but only the word which I speak to you that you do.”
Comments/Questions:

• Did Elohim change his mind? No. The apparent

discrepancy can be resolved* by noting that “with them” is
actually different in Hebrew between 22:12 and 22: 20:
22:12 = Implying full agreement of purpose
22:20 = Implying accompaniment w/out agreement.

*Source: Haketav Ve'Hakabbalah al Hatorah by Rabbi Yaakov Tzvi Mecklenburg, 1839. 13

 Balaq
Talmud Bavli, Sanhedrin 106A (slide 1 of 3)

D. “[Balaam] said to [Balak], ‘The God of these people hates

fornication, and they lust after linen [clothing, which rich people
wear]. Come and I shall give you advice: Make tents and set whores in
them, an old one outside and a girl inside. Let them sell linen garments
to them.’
E. “He made tents for them from the snowy mountain to Beth
Hajeshimoth [north to south] and put whores in them, old women
outside, young women inside. “When an Israelite was eating and
drinking and carousing and going out for walks in the market, the old
lady would say to him, ‘Don’t you want some linen clothes?’
G. “The old lady would offer them at true value, and the girl would
offer them at less.

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 Balaq
Talmud Bavli, Sanhedrin 106A (slide 2 of 3)

H. “This would happen two or three times, and then [the young one]
would say to him, ‘Lo, you are at home here. Sit down and make a
choice for yourself.’ Gourds of Ammonite wine would be set near her.
(At this point the wine of gentiles had not yet been forbidden to
Israelites.) She would say to him, ‘Do you want to drink a cup of
wine?’
I. “When he had drunk a cup of wine, he would become inflamed. He
said to her, ‘Submit to me.’ She would than take her god from her
bosom and said to him, ‘Worship this.’
J. “He would say to her, ‘Am I not a Jew?’
K. “She would say to him, ‘What difference does it make to you? Do
they ask anything more from you than that you bare yourself?’ But he
did not know that that was how this idol was served.

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 Balaq
Talmud Bavli, Sanhedrin 106A (slide 3 of 3)

L. “‘And not only so, but I shall not let you

do so until you deny the Torah of Moses,
your master!’
M. “As it is said, ‘They went in to Baal-peor
and separated themselves unto that shame,
and their abominations were according as
they loved’ (Hos. 9:10).”

Baal

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He Whom You Curse Is Cursed

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 He Whom You Bless is Blessed…

Bemidbar/Numbers 22:6 (RSTNE3) Come now therefore, I

ask you, curse for me this people; for they are too mighty for
me: perhaps I shall prevail, that we may smite them, and then I
may drive them out of the land: for I know that he whom you
bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed.

Bemidbar/Numbers 22:6 (RSTNE3) And Elohim said to

Bilam, You shall not go with them; you shall not curse the
people: for they are blessed.

Is Balaq correct? Did Bilaam actually have the ability to

render a curse that would “stick” against Yisrael?

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 …Whom El Has Not Cursed
I think the answer is “No.”

Bemidbar/Numbers 23: 8 (RSTNE3) How shall I curse, whom

El has not cursed? Or, how shall I rage, at those whom vuvh has
not raged?

As YHWH told Avraham:

Bereshiyt/Genesis 12: 3 (RSTNE3) And I will bless them that

bless you, and curse him that curses you: and in you shall all
mishpachot of the earth be blessed - mixed.

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Balak’s Descendants Will Rule Over
Yisrael

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 Balak’s Descendants will Rule over
Yisrael

Bemidbar/Numbers 23: 1-2 (ISR) And Bil’am said to Balaq,

“Build seven altars for me here, and prepare seven bulls and
seven rams for me here.” 2 And Balaq did as Bil’am had spoken,
and Balaq and Bil’am offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

It may sound strange, but as a result of this action, the sages

teach that the descendants of Balak will rule and reign over
Yisrael.

Do you think this is a good thing or a bad thing?

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 Balak’s Descendants will Rule over
Yisrael
Talmud Bavli, Tractates Nazir, 23B and Horayot 10B

For as a reward for the forty-two offerings that were presented

by the wicked Balak to force Balaam to curse Israel, he was
deemed worthy that Ruth should descend from him.

For said R. Yosé b. R. Hanina, “Ruth was the granddaughter of

Eglon, the grandson of Balak, king of Moab.”

King David is Ruth’s Grandson, and we know the lineage of

Messiah ben David comes through David.

If R. Yosé is correct, we definitely want Balak’s descendants to

rule over Yisrael!
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What Kind of a Prophet
was Balaam?

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 The False Prophet

•Num 24:1 – And when Balaam saw that it pleased the

LORD to bless Israel, he went not, as at the other times,
to meet with enchantments (‫ׁשים‬ ָ ‫)נ‬, but he set his face
ִ ‫ְח‬
toward the wilderness.
•Lev 19:26 – Ye shall not eat [any thing] with the blood:
neither shall ye use enchantment (‫ַחׁשּו‬ ְ ), nor
ֲ ‫תנ‬
observe times.
•Deut 18:10 – There shall not be found among you
[any one] that makes his son or his daughter to pass
through the fire, [or] that uses divination, [or] an observer
of times, or an enchanter (‫ַחׁש‬ ְ ), or a witch, or a
ֵ ‫ּומנ‬
charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or
a necromancer. For all that do these things [are] an
abomination unto the LORD… 24
From a teaching by Gerry Hodge
 The False Prophet

•Deut 13:1 - 4 – All this word which I command you,

that shall ye observe to do; thou shalt not add
thereto, nor diminish from it. If there arise in the midst
of thee a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams--and he give
thee a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder
come to pass, whereof he spoke unto thee--saying: 'Let
us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let
us serve them'; thou shalt not hearken unto the words
of that prophet, or unto that dreamer of dreams; for the
LORD your God putts you to proof, to know whether ye do
love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all
your soul.

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From a teaching by Gerry Hodge
 The False Prophet
Summarized

•Just because Bilaam gave a prophecy that was true does

not put him in the status of “true” prophets like Isaiah,
Jeremiah, ect. As evidence by the previous verse
citations Bilaam used enchantments to obtain 3 out of 4 of
his prophesies which is forbidden by the Torah.
•One of the aspects that makes Judaism different from
other religions is the fact that we worship a G-d that we
can not see. We can infer from Deuteronomy 13 that G-d
does not want us to throw out logic and reason based
upon what we see and hear, but rather that in our
efforts to serve him we have a balance between what
we see, hear, and our intellect.

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From a teaching by Gerry Hodge
 Who Was Balaam?
• In contrast to this view, Ramban commented on Bamidbar
24:1 that for the first time in Balaam’s life, God did not
just “happen” upon him; for the sake of Israel, God
appeared to Balaam in the fullness of his glory, and in
contrast to his sorcery, Balaam experienced the height of
true prophecy.

• Targum Onkelos, however, indicates that Balaam still had

bad intentions and malevoloent motives even still.

• Peter agrees with Gerry Hodge, linking Balaam with false

prophets (2 Peter 2)

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The Future of Balaam-ism

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 Balaam-ism
2Kefa/Peter
2Kefa/Peter 2:1 (ISR) But there also came to be false prophets among the
people, as also among you there shall be false teachers, who shall secretly
bring in destructive heresies, and deny the Master who bought them, bringing
swift destruction on themselves. 2 And many shall follow their destructive
ways, because of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of, 3 and in
greed, with fabricated words, they shall use you for gain. From of old their
judgment does not linger, and their destruction does not slumber.
4 For if Elohim did not spare the messengers who sinned, but sent them to
Tartaros, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be kept for judgment
9 then ‫ יהוה‬knows how to rescue the reverent ones from trial and to keep the
unrighteous unto the day of judgment, to be punished, 10 and most of all those
walking after the flesh in filthy lust and despising authority – bold, headstrong,
speaking evil of esteemed ones, 11 whereas messengers who are greater in
strength and power do not bring a slanderous accusation against them before
the Master.
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 Balaam-ism
2Kefa/Peter
2Kefa/Peter 2:12 (ISR) But these, like natural unreasoning beasts, having
been born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheme that which they do not know,
shall be destroyed in their destruction, 13 being about to receive the wages of
unrighteousness, deeming indulgence in the day of pleasure, spots and
blemishes, revelling in their own deceptions while they feast with you,
14 having eyes filled with an adulteress, and unable to cease from sin, enticing
unstable beings, having a heart trained in greed, children of a curse, 15 having
left the right way they went astray, having followed the way of Bil’am the son
of Be’or, who loved the wages of unrighteousness, 16 but he was rebuked for
his transgression: a dumb donkey speaking with the voice of a man restrained
the madness of the prophet. 17 These are fountains without water, clouds
driven by a storm, to whom the blackest darkness is kept forever. 18 For
speaking arrogant nonsense, they entice – through the lusts of the flesh,
through indecencies – the ones who have indeed escaped from those living in
delusion, 19 promising them freedom, though themselves being slaves of
corruption – for one is a slave to whatever overcomes him….
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 Balaam-ism
Hitgalut/Gilyana/Revelation 2: 14

In His instruction to the assembly at

Pergamos the Messiah Himself
revealed that Bilaam taught Balaq
idolatry and fornication as the ways to
ensnare Yisrael and cause Yisrael to
stumble:

Ruins of Pergamos

Revelation 2: 14 (RSTNE3) But I have a few things against you,

because you have there them that hold the teaching of Bilam, who
taught Balaq to cast a stumbling block before the children of Yisrael,
to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit fornication.
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 Balaam-ism
Do These Sound Like Balaam-ism?

• It doesn’t matter what you do --- what you believe in your heart is
what is important!

• Using the Name or using Yeshua as a magic word (incantation)….

• In order to attract “the world,” we have to mix with “the world.

• Homosexuality was only a sin in the Old Testament when associated

with idol worship. In any case, those “old Law” commandments
against it are “obsolete” and were “nailed to the cross.”

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Ba’al-Pe’or

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 Pinchas
Bamidbar 25: 1 - 8 (ISR) And Yisra’el dwelt in Shittim, and the people began
to whore with the daughters of Mo’aḇ, 2 and they invited the people to the
slaughterings of their mighty ones, and the people ate and bowed down to their
mighty ones. 3 Thus Yisra’ĕl was joined to Ba’al Pe’or, and the displeasure of
‫ יהוה‬burned against Yisra’ĕl. And ‫ יהוה‬said to Mosheh, “Take all the leaders of
the people and hang them up before ‫יהוה‬, before the sun, so that the burning
displeasure of ‫ יהוה‬turns away from Yisra’ĕl.” 5 And Mosheh said to the
judges of Yisra’el, “Each one of you slay his men who were joined to Ba’al
Pe’or.” 6 And see, one of the children of Yisra’ĕl came and brought to his
brothers a Miḏyanite woman before the eyes of Mosheh and before the eyes of
all the congregation of the children of Yisra’ĕl, who were weeping at the door
of the Tent of Meeting. 7 And when Pineh as, son of El’azar, son of Aharon the
priest, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation and took a spear in his
hand, 8 and he went after the man of Yisra’el into the tent and thrust both of
them through, the man of Yisra’el, and the woman through her belly. Thus the
plague among the children of Yisra’el came to a stop.
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 How Was Ba’al-Pe’or Worshipped?

Ba’al-Pe’or “Lord/Master/Ba’al of the Opening.”

The Talmud* says the rites before the idol included:

- eating lentils or beets
- drinking strong drink
- uncovering oneself
- excrementing in front of the idol.
The more the more one disgracefully treated the idol, the
higher degree of piety attributed to the worshiper.
Goal: Break down barriers, anything goes. Morality is
gone, only animal instinct remains.
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Mah Tovu

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 Mah Tovu
Bamidbar 24: 5-7 (Artscroll) “How goodly are your tents
(ohaleykha), O Jacob, your dwelling places (mishkenoteykha), O
Israel; 6 stretching out like brooks, like gardens by a river, like
aloes planted by HASHEM, like cedars by water. 7 Water shall
flow from his wells, and his seed shall be by abundant waters.
His king shall be exulted over Agag, and his kingdom shall be
upraised.”

This blessing begins the 5 verse prayer traditionally prayed while

entering the synagogue……

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 Mah Tovu
Yaakov, mishkenotekha Yisrael
How goodly are your tents, O Yaakov, your dwelling places, O Yisrael.
Va-ani b'rov chasdcha avo veytecha, eshtachaveh el heichal kadsh'cha
b'yiratecha
As for me, through Your abundant kindness I will enter Your House; I
will prostrate myself toward Your Holy Sanctuary in awe of You.
Hashem ahavti m'on beytekcha, umkom mishkan k'vodekha
O Hashem, I love the House where You dwell, and the place where Your
glory resides.
Va-ani estachaveh v'echra-ah, evr'chah lifnei Hashem osi
I shall prostrate myself and bow, I shall kneel before Hashem my Maker.
Va-ani, t'filoti l'cha Hashem, et ratzon, Elohim b'rav chasdekha, aneni
be-emet yishekha
As for me, may my prayer to You, Hashem, be at an opportune time; O
Elohim, in Your abundant kindness, answer me with the truth of Your
salvation. 38
Bamidbar/Numbers 24:5; Tehillim/Psalms 5:8, 26:8, 95:6, 69:14.
 The Traditional Blessing After
Reading the Torah Portion

Baruch atah Adonay, Eloheynu melech ha'olam,

asher natan lanu torat emet, vechayey olam nata betochenu.

Blessed are You – Adonai our Elohim, King of the

universe,
who has given us the Torah of truth, and has planted
everlasting life in our midst.

Baruch atah Adonay, noten hatorah

Blessed are You - Adonai, Giver of the Torah. 39

 Any Questions???

Next Week:
Pinchas (Phineas):
Bamidbar/Numbers 25:10 – 30:1

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