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Balaam Confessed That God Only Sees Israel's Merit

In his third prophecy, forced by divine compulsion, Balaam admitted what Balak most feared: God looks past Israel's transgressions entirely.

Curated by Arthur · Told by Maggid ·
Table of Contents
  1. The Words He Did Not Plan to Say
  2. The Orchard With No Sleepless Guard
  3. What Balak Tried Next
  4. The Tikkunei Zohar's Reading

The Words He Did Not Plan to Say

Balak had hired Balaam to find the weakness. On the third attempt, on the third hilltop, the spirit moved through Balaam without his consent and his mouth delivered the opposite of the contract. "No one has beheld falsehood in Jacob," he said. "No one has seen perversity in Israel" (Numbers 23:21). Not a partial acquittal. Not a grudging admission that Israel had good qualities alongside their failures. A statement about God's mode of perception: He does not pay attention to their transgressions. He pays attention to their merit.

The Midrash Tanchuma, Balak 14, reads Balaam's words as testimony against his own interest. A prophet paid to identify vulnerabilities is confessing under divine compulsion that he cannot find any. The bit is in his mouth. The words are not his planned speech. But they are also, on some level, what he actually sees when he looks at Israel honestly, without Balak's commission or his own greed shaping the vision.

The Orchard With No Sleepless Guard

The Tanchuma offers a parable for what Balaam was trying to do, and for why it failed. An orchard with no keeper can be robbed in broad daylight. An orchard whose keeper falls asleep can be entered quietly in the hours before dawn. But this people's keeper, the Psalmist says, neither slumbers nor sleeps (Psalms 121:4). Not inattentive during the day. Not nodding off at night. The guard is always present, always watching, always capable of intervening.

Balak's theory was that Balaam could find the moment when the guard's eyes wandered, the angle from which a curse could slip through unnoticed. What Balaam discovered, and what his prophecy forced him to announce, was that the guard had no inattentive moments. The concept Balak had built his entire strategy on did not exist.

What Balak Tried Next

The Tanchuma preserves what happened after Balaam delivered this prophecy. Balak pivoted. He said: "since you cannot touch them because of Moses, look at Joshua, his successor, and tell me his deeds are weak." The king was looking for any angle, any human figure through whom a vulnerability could be reached. Balaam's answer was the same as the prophecy: Joshua would also be strong.

And Legends of the Jews preserves Balaam's own acknowledgment of what he had finally understood. He had been in error when he believed Israel could be easily attacked. They had taken deep root in the earth and could not be uprooted. God forgave them many sins, Balaam admitted, out of consideration for their preservation of the sign of the Abrahamic covenant. The brit milah, the physical mark of the covenant with Abraham, was not a formality. It was a continuous reminder to the divine ledger that this people carried a prior commitment that predated Balak's commission and could not be overridden by it.

The Tikkunei Zohar's Reading

The Kabbalistic tradition in Tikkunei Zohar, reading Balaam's statement that God does not see sin in Jacob, takes the verse in a different direction. The hiddenness of God is itself the subject. There are moments when things feel off, when the divine seems absent, and those moments are connected to the concealment of judgment. Balaam's line points toward the structure of divine mercy: not that Israel has no sins, but that God's attention, when directed toward them, passes over the record of transgressions toward something more essential.

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From the tradition

Sources

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The texts this telling draws on, in full. Open a card to read inline, or expand it for a wider, quieter read.

Midrash Tanchuma, Balak 14Midrash Tanchuma

(Numb. 23:21:) “No one has beheld falsehood in Jacob […].” Balaam said, “He does not pay attention to the transgressions in their hands, He only pays attention to their merit.” (Numb. 23:21, cont.) “The Lord their God is with him.” You (Balak) said to me (in Numb. 23:7), “Come, curse [Jacob] for me.” If an orchard has no keeper, a thief is able to harm it; or if the keeper falls asleep, the thief will enter [it]. But in the case of these people (according to Ps. 121:4), “Behold, the One keeping Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.” So how can I harm [Israel]? (Numb. 23:21:) “The Lord their God is with him (i.e. Moses).” Balak said to him, “Since you cannot touch them because of Moses, who protects them, look at Joshua, his successor, and his deeds.” He said to him, “He also will be strong like him.” (Numb. 23:21:) “The Lord their God is with him; a royal war cry is within him.” He is blowing [a trumpet], giving a war cry, and throwing down a wall. (Numb. 23:22:) “God brings them out of Egypt.” You said to me (in Numb. 22:5), “’Here is a people that has come out of Egypt,’ on their own. But that is not so. Rather God brought them out.” (Ibid. cont.) “Like the heights of His loftiness (r'm).” Such is His nature. [When] they sinned a little, He brought them down like a bird, as stated (in Hos. 9:11), “Ephraim's glory shall fly away like a bird.” [When] they are worthy, He raises them up and exalts (rt. rwm) them on high like a bird. Thus it is stated (in Is. 60:8), “Who are these that fly like a cloud?” (Numb. 23:23:) “There is no augury in Jacob and no divination in Israel.” Here you are (Balak) practicing augury and divining in what place you may prevail against them, but they are not like that. When they have to fight against enemies, a high priest stands up and puts on urim and thummim, which are asked about [the will of] the Holy One, blessed be He. So all the gentiles practice divination and augury, but these (Israelites) prove them false through repentance and nullify their divinations. It is so written (in Is. 44:25), “Who frustrates omens of liars and confounds diviners.” (Numb. 23:23, cont.) “Now it is said for Jacob and for Israel, [‘What has God done?’]” His (i.e. Balaam's) eye saw that Israel was sitting (yoshevim) before the Holy One, blessed be He, like a pupil before his master and was hearing why each and every parashah was written; and so it says (in Is. 23:18), “for her profits shall belong to those who dwell (yoshevim) before the Lord […].” It also says (in Is. 30:20), “and no more shall your Teacher hide Himself, for your eyes shall see your Teacher.” The ministering angels will ask them, “What has the Holy One, blessed be He, taught you?” As they cannot enter their (i.e. Israel's) precincts, as stated (in Numb. 23:23), “now it is said for Jacob and for Israel, ‘What has God done?’” (Numb. 23:24:), “Here is a people rising up like a lion.” You have no nation in the world like them. Here they are sleeping away from the Torah and the commandments. [Then] having risen from their sleep, they stand up like lions. Quickly reciting the Shema', they proclaim the sovereignty of the Holy One, blessed be He. Then having become like lions, they begin worldly business pursuits. If one of them should stumble, or if destroying demons come to touch one of them, he proclaims the sovereignty of the Holy One, blessed be He. (Numb. 23:24, cont.) “It (a lion) does not sleep until it has eaten its prey.” When he (the reader) says (in the Shema' of Deut. 6:4), “the Lord is one,” the destroying demons are destroyed on his account, [and] they intone after him (as the liturgical response), “Blessed be the name of His glorious kingdom forever and ever.” Through the recitation of the Shema' he is sustained from the day watch to the night watch. And when he goes to sleep, he entrusts his spirit into the hand of the Holy One, blessed be He, as stated (in Ps. 31:6), “Into Your hand I entrust my spirit.” Then when he awakens [and] proclaims the sovereignty of the Holy One, blessed be He, the night watch transfers him to the day watch. Thus it is stated (Ps. 130:6), “My soul [yearns] for the Lord more than the watchmen for the morning, the watchmen for the morning.” For that reason Balaam says, “There is no nation like this one.” (Numb. 23:24, cont.) “And drunk the blood of the slain.” He prophesied that Moses would not die, until he had taken vengeance upon him and the five kings of Midian, as stated (Numb. 23:24), “it does not sleep until it has eaten its prey,” this [prey] is Balaam; “and drunk the blood of the slain,” these are the five kings of Midian. It is so stated (in Numb. 31:8), “And they slew the five kings of Midian upon their corpses.” (Numb. 31:6:) “With the vessels of the sanctuary.” This is the [high priestly diadem] plate upon which it is written (according to Exod. 28:36), “holy to the Lord.” (Numb. 31:6, cont.) “And the trumpets for sounding the alarm in his hand.” Moses said to Israel, “Balaam the wicked has practiced magic for you and is making the five kings fly. So he flies and makes [others] fly. Show him the [high priestly diadem] plate on which the name of the Holy One, blessed be He, is engraved, and they will fall down before you.” You know that it is so written (in Numb. 31:8), “And they slew the five kings of Midian upon their corpses and Balaam ben Beor [with the sword].” What did that wicked man want with the kings of Midian? Is it not in fact written (in Numb. 24:25), “Then Balaam arose and went back to his own place?” It is simply this: when he heard that twenty-four thousand [Israelites] had fallen (in Numb. 25:9) through his counsel, he returned to get his wage. For that reason Balaam ben Beor is recorded (n Numb. 31:8) together with the five kings of Midian.

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Legends of the Jews 6:41Legends of the Jews

Legends of the Jews turns to Balaam Admits Israel Cannot Be Uprooted From the Earth.

Balaam admitted, "I was in error when I believed Israel could be easily attacked, but now I know that they have taken deep root in the earth, and cannot be uprooted." He realized something fundamental: the connection between the Jewish people and their land, their roots, runs incredibly deep.

Why this resilience? Why this protection? Balaam offers some clues. He says, "God forgives them many sins out of consideration for their having preserved the token of the Abrahamic covenant..." That "token" is brit milah, circumcision, the physical sign of the covenant between God and Abraham and his descendants. It's a constant reminder, a physical embodiment of this ancient agreement.

It's not just about that single act. Balaam continues, "Israel is distinguished from all other nations by their custom, by their food, by the token of the covenant upon their bodies, and by the token upon their doorposts.." That last one refers to the mezuzah, the small case containing a parchment inscribed with verses from the Torah, affixed to the doorposts of Jewish homes. These aren't just rituals; they're constant, visible reminders of a unique identity.

And this uniqueness has profound implications. Balaam declares, "it is a people that shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations." This isn't about isolationism or superiority; it's about a distinct path, a separate destiny.

It even affects how God judges them. "God doth not judge them at the same time with other nations, for He judges the latter in the darkness of the night, but the former in bright daylight." What does that mean? Perhaps it suggests a different standard, a more direct and transparent relationship with the Divine.

Balaam goes on: "Israel is a separate people, alone they enjoy the blessings God gives them, no other nation rejoices with Israel." It’s a powerful image of a people receiving blessings tailored specifically for them.

And this separateness, this unique connection to the Divine, extends even into the Messianic age. "So too in the Messianic time Israel will quite alone rejoice in delights and pleasures, whereas in the present world it may also partake of the universal welfare of the nations." Even in a future of universal peace and prosperity, Israel will have a unique and distinct joy, a separate portion of blessing.

So, what does all this mean for us today? Does it mean we should isolate ourselves? Absolutely not. But perhaps it’s a reminder to cherish the unique aspects of our heritage, to find strength in our traditions, and to recognize the enduring covenant that connects us to something far greater than ourselves. It's a reminder that being different, being unique, can be a source of incredible strength and blessing.

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Tikkunei Zohar 101:24Tikkunei Zohar

Jewish mysticism often explores this very idea, the hiddenness of God, the hiddenness of ourselves. And sometimes, that hiddenness is tied to moments of judgment, moments when things feel...off. to a fascinating little snippet from the Tikkunei (spiritual repair) Zohar, a core text of Kabbalah that expands on the original Zohar. Here, we're exploring a verse from the Torah and a verse from Psalms, linking them to some pretty intense spiritual concepts.

The Tikkunei Zohar zeroes in on Balaam, that ambiguous prophet in the Book of Numbers. Remember him? The one hired to curse the Israelites, but who ends up blessing them instead? He says, "He has not seen sin in Jacob, nor has He seen perversity in Israel" (Num. 23:21). Seems straightforward. God doesn't see the Israelites' flaws. But the Tikkunei Zohar takes a sharp turn. It equates "perversity and sin" with Samael (the angel of death) and the snake.

Whoa. Samael is often considered the angel of death or a powerful, adversarial force. And the snake? Well, that brings us right back to the Garden of Eden and the whole story of temptation and the introduction of evil into the world. So, what's the Tikkunei Zohar trying to tell us?

It suggests that even when things look rosy The first reading – when Balaam is proclaiming Israel's innocence – these darker forces are still present, lurking beneath. They are the "sin" and "perversity" that God, in a sense, chooses not to see.

But the passage doesn't stop there. It goes on to say that when these forces "oppress Her so-as-to look upon Her, She is self-concealed from everything." Who is "Her"? In Kabbalah, this often refers to the Shekhinah, the Divine Presence, the feminine aspect of God that dwells in the world. When negativity and judgment are rampant, the Shekhinah withdraws. The Divine Presence becomes hidden.

And when does this happen? “In the seventh month.” The text then quotes (Psalm 81:4): "Blow the ram’s horn on the New Moon, on the appointed time for the day of our festival." Now, here's where it gets really interesting. The Tikkunei Zohar asks, "What is… 'on the appointed time' (keseh)?" And it answers: "In the month in which the moon is self-concealed (it-kasya)." The seventh month, Tishrei, is when we celebrate Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) and Yom Kippur, the High Holy Days. Rosh Hashanah, the New Year, is literally timed with the new moon – when the moon is at its darkest, most "self-concealed." Yom Kippur follows soon after, a day of intense introspection and atonement.

So, the Tikkunei Zohar is connecting the dots: the presence of negative forces, the hiding of the Divine Presence, and the time of year when we are called to look inward, to confront our own shortcomings and strive for renewal. The "self-concealment" of the moon mirrors the self-concealment of the Divine.

What does it all mean? Maybe it's a reminder that even in times of celebration and apparent blessings, we need to be aware of the shadows. That spiritual work isn't just about basking in the light, but also about confronting the darkness within ourselves and in the world. Perhaps, by acknowledging the "perversity and sin," by recognizing the forces that obscure the Divine, we can actually draw closer to the Shekhinah, to the hidden God. By blowing the shofar, by making noise, we can pierce the veil.

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