Parshat Balak6 min read

Balaam Flies Through Five Layers of Air and Phinehas Catches Him

Phinehas shouted across his own army asking whether any man there could fly. A Danite went up after Balaam and lost him above the fifth layer of air.

Curated by Arthur · Told by Maggid ·
Table of Contents
  1. Phinehas Took the Plate off the High Priest's Forehead
  2. Five Layers of Air
  3. Phinehas Read Him His Own History
  4. The Sword With a Serpent Cut Into It
  5. Moses Did Not Stall and Joshua Did

Moses briefed the men before they left for Midian, and most of the briefing was about one person.

Balaam Flies Through Five Layers of Air and Phinehas Catches Him Click for full size

"Balaam the Wicked is there. He went to collect his wages. Before the wolf gets to the flock, set the trap for him." Then the part that sounded strange in a war order. "If you see that man working his magic, hold up the plate with holy to the Lord written on it. When he falls, kill him."

Balaam had come a long way for the money. He lived out by the Euphrates and had the biggest name of any prophet alive, so big that when Balak of Moav panicked at the size of Israel he sent his own ambassadors and the princes of Midian together to fetch him. That trip had gone badly. An angel with a sword had blocked a narrow place between two walls, the donkey had seen it and refused to move and taken a beating for it, and then the donkey had opened its mouth and complained about the beating in a human voice. At the seven altars every curse he opened his mouth to say had come out as a blessing. So he had changed method, told Balak to send the women down instead, and twenty-four thousand Israelites had died of it at Peor. Now he was in Midian with his hand out.

Phinehas Took the Plate off the High Priest's Forehead

Phinehas got thirty-six thousand men and split them three ways. Twelve thousand to fight. Twelve thousand to hold the baggage. Twelve thousand whose entire assignment during the battle was to pray for the men who were fighting.

Moses handed over the Ark, which always went out with the army, and the Urim and Tummim, in case Phinehas needed to put a question to God in the field. Then he took the plate of pure gold off the front of the High Priest's mitre and gave that to him too.

"The knave will fly," Moses said. "He will take the five kings of Midian into the air with him. Hold this up in front of them and they will come down."

Five Layers of Air

Balaam saw Phinehas and the commanders of Israel coming and went straight up off the ground. His sons Jannes and Jambres worked the sorcery from below to lift him.

Phinehas stood in the field with an army around him and shouted a question at it. "Is there a man here who can fly after this villain?"

Zaliah of the tribe of Dan, who knew the same arts, answered it and went up. Balaam climbed faster. He found a road through the air that Zaliah could not get onto, went up through five separate layers of it, and was gone. Zaliah hung there with nothing above him and nothing to chase.

Phinehas spoke an invocation and tore the clouds off him. Balaam was suddenly visible again with the whole army looking up at him. Then the gold plate came up, the Name on it turned toward the sky, and the arch-magician of the age and the five kings of Midian dropped out of the air and landed among the corpses of their own men.

Phinehas Read Him His Own History

Balaam started bargaining from the ground. Spare him and he would never open his mouth against Israel again.

"Are you not Laban the Aramean, who tried to finish our father Jacob? Then you went down to Egypt to finish his children. When they came out of Egypt you put Amalek on them. Then you tried to curse them and God would not hear you. So you told Balak to hand over the daughters of his country, and twenty-four thousand of us are dead of that advice. There is nothing you can say."

The Sword With a Serpent Cut Into It

Phinehas told Zaliah to kill him, and added a condition. Not by the holy Name. A man like that does not get to die by the Name.

So Zaliah went at him with ordinary weapons and none of them would bite. The magic held. Phinehas watched it fail, then handed Zaliah a sword with a serpent engraved along both sides of the blade. "Kill him with the thing he belongs to. This is what he dies by."

That worked. Afterwards they put him through all four of the deaths the law knows: they hanged him, lit a fire under the gallows, struck his head off with a sword, and dropped the body from the gallows into the fire.

The rest of the campaign was fought with a rule that has no obvious military logic. They came at every Midianite city from three sides only and left the fourth open, so that anyone who wanted to run could still run.

Moses Did Not Stall and Joshua Did

God had told Moses in advance that this war was the last thing he would do. Take the vengeance for Israel, and then you are gathered to your people.

Moses did not slow down for one hour. He sent the men out the same day. He had asked for one thing, which was to see it with his own eyes before he died, and he got it.

Joshua watched all of this and drew a different lesson. When his turn came to fight thirty-one kings, he thought about what had happened to his teacher, and he took the first one and then dragged the rest of the war out over years. It is written that he waged war with all those kings over a long period. God told him what the stalling had bought him: ten years off the end of his life, so that he died at a hundred and ten instead of a hundred and twenty.

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From the tradition

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The texts behind this telling. Some cards carry a translation of the source; others are our own retelling of it, and each card says which. Every card links out to the original.

Antiquities IV.1-3Antiquities of the Jews (Josephus)

Retold in our words. Read the original at the link below.Antiquities of the Jews, trans. William Whiston · Public Domain

A donkey saw an angel before the greatest prophet of the ancient Near East did. That detail alone tells you everything about the story of Balaam.

Balak, the king of Moab, was terrified. The Israelites had crushed Sihon king of the Amorites and Og king of Bashan, two formidable powers. And were now camped on his border. Balak could not beat them in battle, so he tried something else. He and the Midianites hired Balaam, a prophet who lived near the Euphrates and whose curses were legendary, to come and destroy Israel with words.

God told Balaam not to go. Balaam told the ambassadors. They came back with bigger bribes. Balaam asked God again. And this time, God let him go, but with a warning. On the road, an angel with a drawn sword blocked the path. The donkey saw it. Balaam did not. Three times the animal swerved or stopped, and three times Balaam struck her. Then the donkey spoke in a human voice and asked him why he was beating her after years of faithful service (Numbers 22:28). Only then did Balaam's eyes open. The angel rebuked him: the animal had more spiritual perception than the prophet himself.

Balaam arrived at Balak's court and was brought to a mountain overlooking the Israelite camp. Seven altars were built, seven bulls and seven rams sacrificed. Balak wanted a curse. What he got was the opposite. The spirit of God seized Balaam, and he poured out one of the most extravagant blessings in all of ancient literature: Israel would possess innumerable good things, fill the earth and seas with their glory, and have descendants more plentiful than the stars. Their enemies would come to fight and never return victorious.

Balak was furious. He tried again, more altars, more sacrifices, a different mountain. Same result. God would not allow a single curse against Israel. Balaam himself admitted it plainly: "When the Spirit of God seizes upon us, nothing that we say is our own." The man hired to destroy Israel became the instrument of its greatest prophecy of blessing.

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Midrash Tanchuma, Matot 4Midrash Tanchuma

Retold in our words. Read the original at the link below.Townsend 1989 translation of Midrash Tanhuma, S. Buber Recension · CC-BY

Another interpretation (of Numb. 31:2:) “Exact vengeance for the Children of Israel.” This text is related (to Job 36:7), “He does not withdraw His eyes from a righteous person […].” What is the meaning of “He does not withdraw His eyes from a righteous person (literally, withdraw from a righteous person his eyes)?” The Holy One, blessed be He, does not keep back from a righteous person what he wants to see with his eyes. [The text] teaches that Moses longed to see vengeance on the Midianites before he died, and [so] he requested from the Holy One, blessed be He, about it, that he should [see it] with his eyes. Thus it is stated concerning him (in Ps. 58:11), “A righteous person will rejoice when he sees vengeance, he will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked person.” (Ibid.) “A righteous person will rejoice,” this refers to Moses; “when he sees vengeance,” i.e., vengeance on Midian; “he will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked person,” i.e., of Balaam. Moses said to Phinehas and the warring men, “I know that Balaam the Wicked is there, as he went to collect his wage. Before the wolf comes to the flock, spread the trap for him. And if you see that that wicked man is doing magic, show him the diadem, upon which it is written (according to Exod. 28:36), ‘holy to the Lord.’ And [when] he shall [then] fall, kill him.” (Numb. 31:8:) “And upon their [other] corpses they killed the kings of Midian,” as they were doing magic with Balaam and flying in the air; so they showed them the diadem and they fell upon their corpses. The sages said “It is written about Joshua (in Josh 1:5), ‘as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.’ So Joshua should have lived a hundred and twenty years like Moshe our teacher. And why were they shortened by ten years? Because at the time that the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses (in Numb. 31:2), ‘Exact vengeance for the Children of Israel…,’ even though the announcement of [his] death was [also] announced, he did not say, ‘Tomorrow I will die; what benefit is it to me to exact vengeance from Midian?’ Rather, he showed alacrity in the whole matter, as stated (in Numb. 31:6), ‘And Moses sent them.’ But Joshua did not do like this. When he came to war against thirty-one kings, he said, ‘If I kill them, I will die immediately, as happened to Moshe our teacher.’ What did he do? He began with one and stalled in the war [with the rest], as stated (in Josh. 11:18), ‘Joshua waged war with all those kings over a long period.’ [So] the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, ‘See that I will shorten your years by ten years.’ David said (about this in Prov. 19:21), ‘Many thoughts are in the heart of a man, [but it is the counsel of the Lord that will stand].’”

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Legends of the Jews 6:106Legends of the Jews

Retold in our words. Read the original at the link below.The Legends of the Jews by Louis Ginzberg (1909) · Public Domain

Our story today takes us into the realm of magic, betrayal, and a desperate attempt to outrun destiny. It’s a wild ride, so buckle up.

We know him from the Torah, where he’s hired by Balak, king of Moab, to curse the Israelites. But, as Ginzberg tells us in Legends of the Jews, Balaam's story doesn't end with his failed attempts to curse Israel. Oh no, it gets much more dramatic.

Balaam, caught red-handed, tries to escape the wrath of Phinehas, a zealous priest and leader of the Israelite army. How does he do it? He takes to the skies! Yes, you read that right. Balaam uses his mastery of sorcery, aided by his equally wizardly sons, Jannes and Jambres (names that echo through magical lore), to literally fly away.

Picture the scene: Phinehas and his army watching in disbelief as Balaam ascends. Phinehas, never one to back down from a challenge, shouts, "Is there any one among us who is able to fly after this villain?"

Enter Zaliah, a Danite and, according to the tale, a "past master in the art of sorcery." He answers the call and gives chase, soaring into the air after Balaam. It’s like a wizarding duel, but with higher stakes.

But Balaam is slippery. He’s not just flying; he's weaving through different "layers of air," whatever that means! He manages to lose Zaliah, vanishing from sight. Poor Zaliah is left stranded, unsure of what to do next.

That's when Phinehas steps in, using his own magical abilities. He dispels the clouds concealing Balaam, revealing him to Zaliah. Now exposed, Balaam is forced to descend and face Phinehas.

Balaam, desperate, pleads for his life, promising never to curse Israel again. But Phinehas isn’t buying it. He launches into a scathing indictment of Balaam's past transgressions. "Art not thou the Aramean Laban who tried to destroy our father Jacob?" Phinehas asks, reminding him of his long history of animosity toward the Israelites. He recounts Balaam's involvement with Amalek and his disastrous advice to Balak, which led to the sin with the daughters of Moab and the death of twenty-four thousand Israelites. According to this account, Balaam's wickedness stretched far and wide.

Phinehas condemns him: "In vain therefore dost thou plead that thy life be spared."

He orders Zaliah to execute Balaam, but with a crucial caveat: "be sure not to kill him through the holy name of God, as it does not befit so great a sinner to meet his death in such a way." Even in meting out justice, there's a concern for the sacred.

But it's not so simple. Balaam's magic protects him from ordinary weapons. Zaliah's initial attempts to kill him fail. He’s seemingly invincible.

Finally, Phinehas provides the solution: a sword engraved with a serpent on both sides, accompanied by the cryptic words, "Kill him with that to which he belongs, through this he will die." This, my friends, is poetic justice at its finest. Balaam, the master of dark arts, will be defeated by a weapon imbued with the very symbolism of his wickedness. And with this sword, Zaliah finally ends Balaam's life.

What are we to make of this fantastical tale? It’s more than just a story of good versus evil. It's a reminder that actions have consequences and that even the most powerful magic cannot ultimately shield someone from the repercussions of their choices. Balaam's story, as retold in Legends of the Jews, becomes a potent symbol of the futility of trying to escape accountability, no matter how high you fly.

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Legends of the Jews 6:104Legends of the Jews

Retold in our words. Read the original at the link below.The Legends of the Jews by Louis Ginzberg (1909) · Public Domain

The familiar reading treats these stories, but the details… the nitty-gritty… well, those are sometimes left to our imagination. But the Legends of the Jews, as compiled by Ginzberg, fills in many of those gaps, drawing on centuries of rabbinic thought. And the story of the war against Midian is a prime example.

Phinehas is in charge, and his army isn't just a fighting force; it's a carefully orchestrated machine, divided into three parts. One third are the actual warriors, ready to clash with the enemy. Another third? They’re guarding the baggage, making sure the army's supplies are safe. But the final third. now, They are praying, constantly beseeching God to grant victory to their brothers on the battlefield.

Moses doesn't just hand Phinehas a sword and say, "Good luck!" He equips him with the most potent weapons imaginable. First, there's the Holy Ark, which, as we know, always accompanies Israel into battle. Then comes the Urim ve-Tummim, (אוּרִים וְתֻמִּים) those mysterious objects used for divination, allowing Phinehas to consult directly with God when needed.

There’s more! According to the legend, Moses gives Phinehas the gold plate from the High Priest's forehead. Why? Because that wily Balaam, that sorcerer, is expected to use his magic to fly into the air – and even enable the five Midianite kings to fly with him! Moses instructs Phinehas to hold up the gold plate, which is engraved with God's name. The power of God’s name, exposed in this way, will cause Balaam and the kings to plummet to the earth. And guess what? It works! They all come crashing down.

So, what happens to Balaam after that? Well, the Israelites didn't exactly show mercy. They executed him according to Jewish law. That means… hanging, burning, decapitation, and then, to really drive the point home, dropping his lifeless body back into the fire. It's a brutal end for a man who tried to curse Israel.

Now, here's a fascinating detail. Even though God commanded them to wage this war against Midian to avenge the wrongs done to them, the Israelites still approached it with a degree of… humanity. As the story goes, they attacked the Midianite cities from only three sides, leaving one side open for escape. They didn't want to completely cut off the possibility of flight. Victory was theirs. They captured cities filled with temples, idols, and palaces. The five kings of Midian? They shared Balaam's fate, meeting their end at the hands of the Israelites. It was a communal destruction, as they had all been united in their desire to destroy Israel.

Balaam traveled all the way from Mesopotamia, expecting riches for his wicked advice. Instead, he found death at the hands of the very people he sought to harm. A stark reminder that sometimes, what we seek most fervently leads us to our own undoing. The story of Balaam’s end, as recounted in Legends of the Jews, is a powerful and cautionary tale.

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