Balaam Goes Shefi - The Lame Diviner Who Hunted God's Hour of Anger

"And I will go; perhaps the LORD will chance to meet me" (Numbers 23:3) — that is, perhaps He will show me favor. "And he went shefi" (Numbers 23:3). From here our Sages, of blessed memory, said: Balaam was lame in one foot, and Samson in both his legs, concerning whom shefi is said; and concerning Samson it is written "shefifon" (Genesis 49:17, "Dan shall be a serpent by the way, a horned viper by the path"). Another interpretation: "shefi" — he went alone. Another interpretation: "shefi" teaches that he scrutinized for the hour in which the Holy One, blessed be He, is angry.