This week is Balak, Numbers 22:2-25:9. The haftorah, Micah 5:6-6:8, comments on it fairly directly:
And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof: thus shall he deliver [us] from the Assyrian, when he cometh into our land, and when he treadeth within our borders. And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the LORD, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men. And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep: who, if he go through, both treadeth down, and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver. Thine hand shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries, and all thine enemies shall be cut off.
And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD, that I will cut off thy horses out of the midst of thee, and I will destroy thy chariots: And I will cut off the cities of thy land, and throw down all thy strong holds: And I will cut off witchcrafts out of thine hand; and thou shalt have no [more] soothsayers: Thy graven images also will I cut off, and thy standing images out of the midst of thee; and thou shalt no more worship the work of thine hands. And I will pluck up thy groves out of the midst of thee: so will I destroy thy cities. And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury upon the heathen, such as they have not heard.
Hear ye now what the LORD saith; Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice. Hear ye, O mountains, the LORD’S controversy, and ye strong foundations of the earth: for the LORD hath a controversy with his people, and he will plead with Israel. O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me. For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of servants; and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.
O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal; that ye may know the righteousness of the LORD. Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, [and] bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, [or] with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn [for] my transgression, the fruit of my body [for] the sin of my soul? He hath shewed thee, O man, what [is] good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
What Balaam said to Balak in the Torah portion was that the tents of Jacob were goodly, and so were the tabernacles of Israel. Ma tovu yochalecha Ya’akov, mishkenotecha Yisro’el. Balaam is particularly memorable because he prophesied out his ass. But what happened with our old friend Balak, the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Let’s look in Second Kings: he wars against Israel, and Israel smote them, yea verily, with great smiting and smoting and crunchings and munchings and getting ready to sack the city, and then Balak, the son of Zippor, king of Moab “took his eldest son that should have reigned in his stead, and offered him [for] a burnt offering upon the wall.”, and Israel left and returned home.
Hunh? Shall I give my firstborn [for] my transgression, the fruit of my body [for] the sin of my soul? That’s what Balak, the son of Zippor, king of Moab does, and it works out very well for him. And in fact Jephthah, that paragon of idiocy, holds up Balak (the son of Zippor, king of Moab) as a role model for the leaders of the nations. And if you don’t like Jephthah (and who does), why not look at Ruth, the epitome of the ger, the righteous stranger among us, who is, yes, a Moabite.
What’s going on here? Is Micah calling to mind this Moabite akedah, to reject it in favor of justice, mercy and humility? If so, does that not apply to Isaac? Is this a specific response to Balaam? Anyone?
Tolerabimus quod tolerare debemus,
-Vardibidian.