“Balak…saw” – when his emissaries came to Bilam, the Holy One blessed be He said to him: “Who are [these] men…?” (Numbers 22:9). Bilam said to Him: “Balak son of Tzipor, king of Moav, sent to me” (Numbers 22:10). Rabbi Abba bar Kahana said: This is one of three people whom the Holy One blessed be He examined but found them to be a jug of urine.11A vessel that is only worthy of contemptible use. They are Cain, Hezekiah, and Bilam.
Cain, when the Holy One blessed be He said to him: ‘Where is your brother Abel?’ he sought, as it were, to mislead. He should have said: ‘Master of the universe, the concealed and the revealed are revealed before You, and You are asking me regarding my brother?’ Instead, he said to Him: “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4:9). The Holy One blessed be He said to him: ‘This is how you speak?
“The voice of your brother's blood cries out to Me from the ground. [Now, you are cursed…]”’ (Genesis 4:10–11). Hezekiah, when he recovered from his illness, Merodakh Baladan sent him a gift, as it is stated: “At that time, Merodakh Baladan…sent [scrolls and a gift to Hezekiah]” (Isaiah 39:1). Isaiah came and said to him: “What did those men say, and from where did they come to you?” (Isaiah 39:3).
He [Hezekiah] should have said to him: ‘You are a prophet of the Omnipresent, and you are asking me?’ Instead, he began boasting: “They came to me from a distant land, from Babylonia” (Isaiah 39:3). Isaiah said to him: ‘Since that is what you said: “Behold, days are coming and everything that is in your house…will be carried [to Babylonia]…From your sons, who will descend from you…they will be officials in the palace of the king of Babylon”’ (Isaiah 39:6–7).
Likewise, the wicked Bilam, when Balak sent to him, the Holy One blessed be He said to him: “Who are these men with you?” (Numbers 22:9), he should have said: ‘Master of the universe, everything is revealed before You and nothing is obscured from You, and You are asking me?’ Instead he said to him: “Balak son of Tzipor, king of Moav, sent to me.” The Holy One blessed be He said to him: ‘Since that is how you speak, “do not curse the people” (Numbers 22:12).
The Holy One blessed be He said: ‘Wicked one of the world, it is written in Israel’s regard: “For one who touches you, touches the pupil of his eye” (Zechariah 2:12),12The term “pupil of His eye” is expounded to mean the apple of the eye of the Holy One blessed be He, something very dear to Him. and you go to accost them and curse them? Let his eye be removed, as it is stated: “One with an open eye”13"An open eye" is explained as meaning that Bilam can see with only one eye. (Numbers 24:3), to realize: “For one who touches you, touches the pupil of his eye.”’