Why Balaam Blessed Israel's Tents and Dwelling-Places

"How goodly are your tents, O Jacob" (Numbers 24:5). He saw that the entrances of Israel were not aligned one opposite the other, but each entrance was opened away from the tent of its neighbor, so that none of them would gaze into the dwelling of his fellow. He began to cast an evil eye upon them; and therefore he began to praise them, so that the evil eye should not have power over them; and therefore his eye was stopped up. Another interpretation: "How goodly are your tents" — by the merit that Jacob dwelt in them, as it is said, "And Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents" (Genesis 25:27); and on account of this Israel merited to dwell in tents in the wilderness. "Your dwelling-places, O Israel" — he spoke of the Tabernacle and of the Temple that Israel made, in which the Shekhinah dwelt, and it was what protected them.