Midrash Tanchuma, Balak 14

(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.”62In the Biblical context the HIM would normally refer to Israel, but the midrash understands this HIM in the singular throughout this paragraph. 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.63I.e., the wall of Jericho. (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 heights64Rt.: T‘P. The word can also mean “horns” and is so translated in most English versions in order to fit the context of the next word (R’M), which is then understood to mean “wild ox.” See the following note. of His loftiness (r'm).”65In most translations the word is understood to mean “wild ox,” but the midrash regards it as a derived from the root RWM, a verb meaning “to be high.” 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.”66Cf. yShab. 6:9 (8d). (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 her67The midrash reads the HER as referring to Torah, but in the context of Isaiah the HER refers to Tyre as a harlot. 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 embark on 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.68On reciting the Shema‘ to be safe from demons, see yBer. 1:1 (2d); Ber. 5a; M. Pss. 4:9. (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.”69In reciting the proper liturgical response to the Shema‘, even the demons recognize the sovereignty of the Holy One. Moreover, through the recitation of the Shema' he is sustained from the day watch to the night watch.70I.e., his guardian angels for the morning and the night. 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.”71Cf. Ber. 5a. 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.”72For a description, see Shab. 63b; Suk. 5a. (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 you73Cf. the parallel account in Gen. R. 20:20, which reads, “for them.” 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,74Galuf. Cf. Gk.: glufein (“to engrave.”) 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,75See Deut. R. 1:2. 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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