The power of rumor… Balak had not only heard of what terrible acts Isra'el had committed in destroying the ‘Emori, according to the first verse of our Torah portion, he also saw it! Did he witness it firsthand? Perhaps. Perhaps he saw the aftermath of the campaign and did the mental math. Whatever the case, the fame and reputation of HaShem was becoming more and more known among the tribes of Kena’an (Canaan). The offspring of Avraham was gaining a name for themselves: “the dreadful people who have come out of Egypt”. Indeed, the LORD was working mightily among them! But our opening sequence has Balak, king of Mo’av (Moab) seeking a way to destroy these seemingly unstoppable and numerous people. Based on his observation of their might (because of their sheer numbers), he decides that a military campaign is futile. Therefore, he decides to fight fire with fire: he hires the top pagan prophet of his day, Bil’am (Balaam). Now Bil’am was a peculiar man. Here is a prophet who hears, converses and knows the ineffable name of HaShem! Yet, he does not follow the ways of HaShem’s Torah. How can this be? Occasionally in the Torah, to our seeming dismay, God actually converses with unbelieving pagans. In these dialogues we catch a glimpse of the incredible nature of our God in his dealing not only with the Jewish Nation, but with other people groups as well. I believe that even the greedy Bil’am could have found a place in the community of God’s Called-out ones, but as we shall see, he chose a different course for himself. The power of blessing… Balak sends messengers to Bil’am, with a request for Bil’am to pronounce a curse upon the blessed. Bil’am, at first, entertains the notion, and takes the matter before HaShem. The Holy One reminds him of the foolishness of such a request, and forbids him from pronouncing any such curse. But the messengers of Balak are soon found returning to Bil’am with a second similar request, backed by a more hefty reward upon Bil’am’s success. At this point Bil’am begins to make his mistakes. He, knowing that HaShem has forbidden him to curse the people, conveys this information again to the messengers, but then proceeds to find another way around HaShem’s apparent final answer. Why is Bil’am double-minded? Here is the revelation of his greedy nature. I believe that the increased reward was actually beginning to appeal to him, and an abuse of his relationship with HaShem might indeed secure for him the praise of Balak. HaShem does something rather peculiar to Bil’am. He grants him permission to go with the men this time, provided he only does what HaShem specifically tells him to do. But HaShem, who sees the heart of all men, instead sees greedy gain in Bil’am’s heart as he quickly saddles his own donkey and heads out the next morning. This is upsetting to HaShem. Left to his own devices, Bil’am will not follow the instructions of the LORD, but will rather follow his own baser nature and seek the wealth offered by Balak. So the God of all circumstances decided to alter Bil’am’s plans. He sends an angelic messenger to sway Bil’am from following through with his greedy plan. The angel finally succeeding in gaining the attention of Bil’am, through his miraculous talking donkey, informs Bil’am that his plans are not good ones, but are in fact opposite those of HaShem! Amidst this whole transaction, I am amazed that Bil’am does not even think it an incredible thing to have a conversation with a donkey! Such is the blindness of material lust. Even the incredible seems dull in comparison to our own heart of greed. It took the supernatural hand of ADONAI to open the eyes of Bil’am.