According to Ginzberg's retelling in Legends of the Jews, it all started 130 years after the Israelites went down to Egypt. Pharaoh, in his dream, saw an old man standing before him. This old man held a balance scale. He watched as the old man gathered all the elders, the nobles, the great men of Egypt, tied them together, and placed them in one scale.
And then, he put a tender kid – a young goat – in the other scale.
Can you picture it? The weight of all those powerful Egyptians…and then this tiny, innocent kid. But here’s the thing: the kid’s side went down. It outweighed them all!
Pharaoh woke up shaken. He immediately summoned his servants and wise men. He needed someone to interpret this terrifying vision. They were, understandably, afraid. What did it mean?
That’s when Balaam, son of Beor, stepped forward. Now, Balaam is a fascinating figure in Jewish tradition, often portrayed as a diviner, a prophet of sorts, though not of Israel. He had a reputation, let's just say.
Balaam, in this account, doesn't mince words. "This means nothing but that a great evil will spring up against Egypt," he declared. “For a son will be born unto Israel, who will destroy the whole of our land and all its inhabitants, and he will bring forth the Israelites from Egypt with a mighty hand.”
Talk about a buzzkill.
Balaam’s interpretation? This dream wasn't just some random subconscious burbling. It was a prophecy. A dire prophecy. A Hebrew child would be born who would bring Egypt to its knees and lead the Israelites to freedom.
And his solution? "Now, therefore, O king, take counsel as to this matter, that the hope of Israel be frustrated before this evil arise against Egypt." In other words: nip this problem in the bud. Before this child is even born, find a way to crush the Israelites’ hopes and dreams.
Think about the implications. This dream, and Balaam’s interpretation, set in motion a chain of events, a paranoia that fueled the oppression of the Israelites for generations. It's a powerful reminder of how fear, fueled by prophecy and interpreted through a particular lens, can lead to terrible consequences. But could Pharaoh have chosen a different path? Could he have seen the dream as a warning rather than a threat, an opportunity for reconciliation instead of repression? Maybe, just maybe, history could have been different.