JULY 15, 2022 Numbers 6:23-27 This is the way you shall bless the children of Israel. Say to them: “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.” So they shall put My name on the children of Israel, and I will bless […]
JULY 14 2022 Numbers 6:5: All the days of the vow of his separation no razor shall come upon his head; until the days are fulfilled for which he separated himself to the Lord, he shall be holy. As stated previously, during the course of his vow, the Nazirite was not permitted to cut his hair. And […]
JULY 09, 2022 Numbers 5:6-7 When a man or woman commits any sin that men commit in unfaithfulness against the Lord, and that person is guilty, then he shall confess the sin which he has committed. This passage begs the question: “Can a person truly repent if there is no confession of the sin?” Furthermore, if […]
JULY 12, 2022 Numbers 5:27-28 When he has made her drink the water, then it shall be, if she has defiled herself and behaved unfaithfully toward her husband, that the water that brings a curse will enter her and become bitter … But if the woman has not defiled herself, and is clean, then she shall be free […]
JULY 13, 2022 Numbers 6:2 Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: “When either a man or woman consecrates an offering to take the vow of a Nazirite, he shall separate himself to the Lord.” In previous chapters, emphasis was sometimes placed on situations where someone would be considered unclean in regard to the Sanctuary […]
JULY 9, 2022 Numbers 5:1-2 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: “Command the children of Israel that they put out of the camp every leper, everyone who has a discharge, and whoever becomes defiled by a corpse.” If we understand that the sanctity of the Sanctuary had to be maintained, it stands to reason that the camp, itself, had to ritually […]
JULY 11, 2022 Numbers 5:12, 14-15 Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: “If any man’s wife goes astray and behaves unfaithfully toward him … if the spirit of jealousy comes upon him and he becomes jealous of his wife, who has defiled herself; or if the spirit of jealousy comes upon him and […]
As Balaam set out for Moab, “God was angry because he was going” (Numbers 22:22). Why? Had not God Himself granted Balaam permission to go? Why did He become angry? The Almighty knew what was in Balaam’s heart. He knew that, despite all his exterior piety, Balaam intended to curse Israel and get the reward from Balak.
The Angel of the LORD blocked Balaam’s path three times. Each time, Balaam did not see the angel, but the donkey did. This is more than just good storytelling. The three incidents correspond to Balaam’s three attempts to curse Israel in Numbers 23-24. Balaam attempted to utter a curse over the people of Israel three times, but each time the LORD stood in his way, so to speak, and changed his curse into a blessing.
Ironically, Balaam referred to himself as “the man whose eye is opened” (Numbers 24:4) and as the man “who knows the knowledge of the Most High, who sees the vision of the Almighty … having his eyes uncovered” (Numbers 24:15-16). His donkey disagreed with his self-assessment. The man who “sees clearly the vision of the Almighty with eyes open,” did not see as clearly as his donkey. The donkey had a better vision of God than Balaam did. The donkey had deeper spiritual insight than Balaam did.
The Angel of the LORD blocked Balaam’s path three times. An unseen angel with a sword in his hand stood only a few paces ahead of him. On the third occasion, Balaam assaulted his donkey with a stick. When the donkey rebuked him, Balaam said, “If there had been a sword in my hand, I would have killed you by now” (Numbers 22:29). The sages noticed the irony of such a statement from a man who allegedly could defeat an entire nation simply by the power of his words. He intended on smiting all Israel with the power of his speech, but he needed to beat his donkey with a stick and wished for a sword to kill her:
This villain was going to curse an entire nation which had not sinned against him [merely by the power of his words], yet he has to smite his donkey [with his hand] to prevent it from going into a field! … the donkey spoke to Balaam saying, “You need a sword in your hand to kill me? How then do you intend to uproot an entire nation with only your words?” Balaam could not think of an answer, so he kept silent. (Numbers Rabbah 20:14)
The Midrash Rabbah goes on to explain that one should never argue with donkeys or any other animals because they will always outwit a person. For that reason, God, in His mercy and wisdom, has closed the mouths of animals. If not, they would continually make us feel stupid:
The Holy One, blessed be He, has consideration for the dignity of mankind and, knowing their weakness, He shut the mouth of beasts. For had they been able to speak, it would have been impossible to put them to the service of man or to stand one’s ground against them. For here was this donkey, the most stupid of all beasts, and there was the wisest of all wise men, yet as soon as she opened her mouth he could not stand his ground against her! (Numbers Rabbah 20:14)
Balak – בלק Torah : Numbers 22:2-25:9 Haftarah : Micah 5:6-6:8 Gospel : Mark 11:12-26
JULY 8, 2022 Numbers 4:29, 31 As for the sons of Merari, you shall number them by their families and by their fathers’ house….And this is what they must carry as all their service for the tabernacle of meeting: the boards of the tabernacle, its bars, its’ pillars, its’ sockets. Anyone who follows football or other such team sports understands that, […]
JULY 7, 2022 Numbers 4:24-25 This is the service of the families of the Gershonites, in serving and carrying: They shall carry the curtains of the tabernacle and the tabernacle of meeting with its covering, the covering of badger skins that is on it, the screen for the door of the tabernacle of meeting. Hearkening back to something we have discussed before, the primacy of […]
