Bemidbar 24:14-24 records Bil'am fourth and last blessing. After Bil’am’s third blessing, Balak yelled at Bil’am, 24:10,11. This caused Bil’am to turn on Balak, and he announced that in the future Jewish people would smash (destroy?) Moav, 24:17. Bil’am then continued and spoke about Edom, Amalek, and the Kenites, 24:18-24. Was Bil'am prophesying when he made these statements?
I believe that the basis for thinking that Bil'am was a prophet when he said his fourth blessing is the third introductory verse of the fourth set of blessings, 24:16, where Bil’am states about himself that he, “Utters the hearer of Godly sayings, who knows the knowledge of Most-High envisaging a vision of Shaddai, bowed, but with eyes uncovered,” Fox translation (1995).
I believe that the basis for thinking that Bil'am was a prophet when he said his fourth blessing is the third introductory verse of the fourth set of blessings, 24:16, where Bil’am states about himself that he, “Utters the hearer of Godly sayings, who knows the knowledge of Most-High envisaging a vision of Shaddai, bowed, but with eyes uncovered,” Fox translation (1995).
Based on 24:16, Ramban (on 24:16, in other versions end of 24:14) writes that Bil’am’s declaration in 24:17-24 were prophecies from G-d. To support this contention, Chavel (1993, footnotes on Ramban) points out that the phrase “utters the hearer of Godly sayings” also appears in the third blessing, 24:4, and then just as the third blessing was a prophecy so too Bil’am's declarations in 24:17-24 were prophecies. Furthermore, the phrase “knowledge of Most-High,” as noted by the Ibn Ezra (on 24:16) also seems to refer to Bil’am’s prophetic abilities.
I doubt that 24:16 implies that Bil’am was speaking as a prophet of G-d by his fourth blessings since the verse is a statement from Bil’am. The Torah does not state that Bil’am’s fourth blessing were prophecies or from G-d. This is in contrast to Bil’am's first three blessings, where the Torah specifically states that Bil’am was speaking G-d’s word, 23:5,16 or that the spirit of G-d came upon him, 24:2. Furthermore, as we noted in our discussion on Bemidbar 22:23-35, "Bil’am’s amazing donkey," there is a parallelism between the episode with the donkey and Bil'am's prophecies, but the parallelism is only until the third blessing since by the fourth blessing, Bil'am is speaking his own mind.
The Talmud (Sanhedrin 105b, Berakhot 7a, see Rashi on 24:16) states that it is preposterous that Bil’am could have knowledge of G-d when he was bested by a donkey, and the Talmud concludes that he had a limited ability to know when to curse the people. Yet, even this seems to be giving him too much credit. With regard to Bil’am’s first three blessings, he wanted to curse the Jewish people, so G-d intervened to change the curse to a blessing (see Devarim 23:6), but by Bil’am’s fourth declaration, he never intended to curse the people, so G-d did not have to intervene. Bil’am claimed he was talking as a prophet, but this was just part of his act. As we discuss on Bemidbar 22:8-35, "Bil’am: The wizard of Petor," Bil’am was a big talker. When Balak first sent him messengers, he claimed to speak to G-d, and so too here, by his fourth blessing, he was a big talker that he claimed in 24:16 to know G-d’s knowledge.
Accordingly, my understanding is that as the Torah does not state that Bil’am’s last statements/ blessings were from G-d, then they were not, and 24:17-24 records Bil’am personal thoughts. Bil’am was a temporary prophet from the time of the incident with the donkey until his third blessing, and afterwards he reverted back to his usual personality of pretending to be a prophet.
With this approach, after reciting three blessings, Bil’am was in a good mood thinking a lot of himself since he had become a temporary prophet, and then when Balak got angry at him, he decided to continue the role of being a prophet. He made predictions about Moav’s future (24:17, 19?) since Balak was the king of Moav, and then for good measure he added on predictions about Edom, Amalek and the Kenites. These statements were based on his general knowledge, and after seeing that G-d intervenes in this world he was sure that the Jewish people would prevail with Moav.
Chavel, Hayyim Dov, 1993, Commentary of the Ramban, revised edition, Jerusalem: Mossad Harav Kook.
Fox, Everett, 1995, The Five Books of Moses: A new translation, New York: Schocken Books.
I doubt that 24:16 implies that Bil’am was speaking as a prophet of G-d by his fourth blessings since the verse is a statement from Bil’am. The Torah does not state that Bil’am’s fourth blessing were prophecies or from G-d. This is in contrast to Bil’am's first three blessings, where the Torah specifically states that Bil’am was speaking G-d’s word, 23:5,16 or that the spirit of G-d came upon him, 24:2. Furthermore, as we noted in our discussion on Bemidbar 22:23-35, "Bil’am’s amazing donkey," there is a parallelism between the episode with the donkey and Bil'am's prophecies, but the parallelism is only until the third blessing since by the fourth blessing, Bil'am is speaking his own mind.
The Talmud (Sanhedrin 105b, Berakhot 7a, see Rashi on 24:16) states that it is preposterous that Bil’am could have knowledge of G-d when he was bested by a donkey, and the Talmud concludes that he had a limited ability to know when to curse the people. Yet, even this seems to be giving him too much credit. With regard to Bil’am’s first three blessings, he wanted to curse the Jewish people, so G-d intervened to change the curse to a blessing (see Devarim 23:6), but by Bil’am’s fourth declaration, he never intended to curse the people, so G-d did not have to intervene. Bil’am claimed he was talking as a prophet, but this was just part of his act. As we discuss on Bemidbar 22:8-35, "Bil’am: The wizard of Petor," Bil’am was a big talker. When Balak first sent him messengers, he claimed to speak to G-d, and so too here, by his fourth blessing, he was a big talker that he claimed in 24:16 to know G-d’s knowledge.
Accordingly, my understanding is that as the Torah does not state that Bil’am’s last statements/ blessings were from G-d, then they were not, and 24:17-24 records Bil’am personal thoughts. Bil’am was a temporary prophet from the time of the incident with the donkey until his third blessing, and afterwards he reverted back to his usual personality of pretending to be a prophet.
With this approach, after reciting three blessings, Bil’am was in a good mood thinking a lot of himself since he had become a temporary prophet, and then when Balak got angry at him, he decided to continue the role of being a prophet. He made predictions about Moav’s future (24:17, 19?) since Balak was the king of Moav, and then for good measure he added on predictions about Edom, Amalek and the Kenites. These statements were based on his general knowledge, and after seeing that G-d intervenes in this world he was sure that the Jewish people would prevail with Moav.
Bibliography:
Chavel, Hayyim Dov, 1993, Commentary of the Ramban, revised edition, Jerusalem: Mossad Harav Kook.
Fox, Everett, 1995, The Five Books of Moses: A new translation, New York: Schocken Books.
No comments:
Post a Comment