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Parshas Balak
Did Bilam’s Ason Survive? Do Angels Read Minds?
The ason saw me, and turned
from before me these three times. Perhaps she turned because of me. Now,
I would kill you, and keep her alive.
Did the ason live to tell (figuratively, of course) her story?
Rashi doesn’t think so, but there may be another way to looking at the
pasuk more favorable to the animal’s longevity. Her life span hinges on
the word ulai, which usually means “perhaps.” Rashi observes that
sometimes the word means “were it not so,” and prefers that meaning
here. He reads the middle and end of our pasuk as follows: “See here.
You’ve been saved in the nick of time. Were it not that your faithful
ason thwarted your bee-line to your sinful destination by leaving the
path, I would have had to kill you, while she would have lived. Now
that you’ve had your little conversation, everything is reversed. You
will survive – but not the ason. Since she bested you in debate, I have
had to kill her, to protect your human dignity. The image of G-d – even
of an evildoer such as yourself – should not be abused by people
pointing to an animal that made a fool of a human being.”
We see that the ason, according to Rashi, did not survive beyond her
command performance. If, however, we preserve the usual meaning of ulai
as “perhaps,” we arrive at an entirely different conclusion.
The angel appeared to the ason as a sword-wielding human, not as an
angel. The ason reacted with fright not because of her contact with
other-worldly spirituality, but because the appearance of any human form
can often intimidate an animal. The malach, in fact, was uncertain
about the cause of the ason’s reaction. Did she turn away “from before
me” – as animals often do, moving away deferentially from any human, or
ulai, perhaps she turned “becauseof me?” Perhaps she sensed
something more than just another human being, and was frightened to the
point of death, sensing enormous danger.
The malach continues, after answering his own question. “In truth, I
must have made a frightful appearance, being that I appeared to be in a
rage, not as a calm stranger. The ason certainly sensed that I was
ready to kill you, and certainly herself. She was on the verge of
expiring from fright! I saw to it, though, that only you, Bilam, need
to be killed, but I have revived and sustained her!” Bilam, of course,
manages to talk his way into a stay of execution.
The point of the entire episode was to disabuse Bilam of a notion
that might have sustained his quest to move ahead with his plan. Surely,
he thought, if G-d does not want me to proceed, He will prevent me from
completing my mission. No harm in trying. The malach showed him that
this was not so. Hashem might go so far as to warn the evildoer. He will
show Himself in some way to the person willing to bend his ear in order
to listen. If a person stubbornly holds on to his plan nonetheless, He
will not intervene. The evildoer will bear responsibility for all the
consequences of his sin. Hashem will have none of the responsibility,
having given prior warning to the sinner. Bilam will have to make his
own choices, and live with their consequences.
Reading ulai as “perhaps” can be questioned. Do angels have any
doubts? Shouldn’t they be able to read minds? Tosafos[2] ask how it
could be that angels do not do well with prayers in Aramaic because the
“do not understand Aramaic,” as the gemara tells us. Angels, claim
Tosafos, understand even our inner thoughts! Certainly they ought to
have no trouble with any expressed language. Yet this seems to be
precisely the gemara’s position. Angels can’t read human minds. There is
no reason to believe that they have an easier time teasing out an
animal’s thoughts.
Assuming that his is true, a difficult pasuk in Tehillim[3] comes
alive. I sinned to You alone - I did evil in Your eyes, so that You
would be righteous in Your speech, and meritorious in Your judgment. The
word chet for sin connotes a milder offense that the “evil” of the
second phrase. Furthermore, the “eyes” of G-d mean His angels, which
spread out all over to testify to the activities of men. The last phrase
is a mystifying non sequitur. Dovid does evil in order to justify G-d’s
actions?
The gemara[4] sees this verse as Dovid’s retrospective on a tragic
episode in his life. He had questioned why we only refer speak of the
G-d of Avraham, the G-d of Yitzchok, the G-d of Yaakov. Should they not
also make mention of the G-d of Dovid? Hashem responds that they
merited such treatment by having been tested in their lifetimes, and
passing the tests. Dovid then asks for a chance to win the same
distinction. He asks to be tested so that he, too, can prove himself.
HKBH accepts the offer, even making offering him as advantage that the
patriarchs did not have. Hashem tells Dovid that his test would involve
the yetzer hora of arayos.
Dovid failed the test in the incident with Batsheva. The gemara sees
Dovid, through the pasuk in Tehillim, mitigating his failure. “It is
revealed and known to You that had I wanted to subdue my yetzer hora, I
could have done so. I did not do so, because I did not want people to
say that the servant has bested his Master.” Are we really to believe
that Dovid acted as he did for noble purposes?
Here is what the pasuk means. Dovid failed, but his transgression
was a lesser one than it seems. It should be termed a chet, not the more
serious ra. Hashem knows that people need Divine assistance to prevail
when they wrestle with their yetzer hora. Ordinarily, He provides that
assistance to those who ask. Without that assistance, they are often
powerless to resist temptation. Dovid, however, had sinned in asking for
the test, in bringing the temptation upon himself. As a consequence of
that misstep, Hashem withheld His expected assistance from him, and
Dovid succumbed.
To Hashem, therefore, Dovid’s misconduct was only a chet. The
angels, however, the “eyes of Hashem” who do not grasp inner human
intention, who do not know the thoughts of man, saw his behavior as
thoroughly evil. Dovid, they thought, had chosen not to suppress his
yetzer hora, and bore full responsibility.
Dovid, however, understands what transpired. ““It is revealed and
known to You that had You wanted to subdue my yetzer hora, [this is the
correct text!] You could have done so. You constantly help people do
just that. No one would could stand up to his evil inclination without
Your help. By not helping me in my inner battle, You allowed me to lose
the fight – and therefore to be judged by the angels as thoroughly
evil.
“I understand why You did not come to my assistance. Had I passed my
test, people would say that the servant has bested his Master. I have
no complaints for what has befallen me. I justify Your judgment. It is
proper for me to have failed after being so brash as to ask for a test. I
accept You as righteous in Your speech, and meritorious in Your
judgment.”
1. Shabbos 12B
2. Tehillim 51:6
3. Sanhedrin 107A
4. Sukkah 52B
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Please Say Yes to Abba Yahweh and His Laws special in
this time when Abba Yahweh is 'testing' us:
Hab 1:12 Art thou not mikedem
(‘everlasting’
also said of Moshiach, indicating Moshiach’s eternal divine nature: Dan 7:14 And there was given Him (Moshiach) dominion,
and honor, and sovereignty, that all people, Goyim, tongues, should
pey-lammed-chet. [1] (worship as deity) (see Dan 3:12, serve, reverence as
deity Him (Moshiach). His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not
pass away, and His (Messianic) Kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.] see Michah
5:1[2];)
Yahweh
Elohai (my Elohim) Kedoshi (my Holy One)? We shall not die. Yahweh, Thou hast
appointed them (these Chaldean) for mishpat (ordinance); O Tzur, Thou hast
ordained them (these Chaldean) for reproof.
(Please
read the whole book of HaNavi Habakuk?)
Please take it serious what Abba Yahweh is telling us in:
Deu 18:15 Yahweh Eloheicha (your Elohim) will raise up unto thee a Navi
(prophet) from among thee, of thy achim (bretheren), kamoni (like me.....
Exo 32:30 The next
day Moshe said to the people, "You have committed a terrible sin. Now I
will go up to Yahweh; maybe I will be able to atone for your sin."); unto
him ye must listen;
Deu 18:16 According to all that thou
desired of Yahweh Eloheicha (your Elohimin) Chorev (to be burnt dried up,
ruined, wasted) in the Yom HaKahal (day of the congregation), saying, Let me
not hear again the voice of Yahweh Elohav (your Elohim), neither let me see
this eish hagedolah (‘great fire’) any more, that I die not.
Deu 18:17 And Yahweh said unto me, They
have well-spoken that which they have spoken.
Deu 18:18 I will raise them up a Navi
(prophet) from among their achim (brethren), like unto thee, and will put My
words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.
Joh
10:18
No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have samchut
(authority) to lay it down, and I have samchut to receive it again. This
mitzvah I received from HaAv (the Father).
Deu 18:19 And it shall come to pass,
that whosoever will not listen unto My words which he shall speak Bishmi (in My
Name), I will require it of him.
Joh 8:28 Therefore, Rebbe, Melech
HaMoshiach said to them, When you perform the hagbah (lifting up) of
the Ben HaAdam, you will have da'as (knowledge) that Ani Hu [YESHAYAH
41:4; SHEMOT 3:14-16], and from myself I do nothing, but as HaAv (the Father)
of me taught me, these things I speak.
[1]
Dictionary of the Talmud. M. Jastrow p. 1178 פלח
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