Weekly D'rash Balak

Art by John Lowery

This week's Torah portion is aptly named after Balak, the king of Moab. It describes the interaction between this king and a pagan diviner and prophet named Balaam and his donkey. What is so unique about this portion is that Moses is completely absent from this narrative and it takes place entirely in the context of a foreign nation.

We have already read about the sin of Moses as well as the death of Aaron. We have read about the sin of Korach and the rejection of the promise of God regarding the land. In this portion, God works providentially through a pagan nation to bless Israel and prophesy the future kingship of God over all the earth. The passage serves as a reminder that God will use whatever means necessary to communicate with and for his people. As one commentator put it:

“God uses Balaam instead of Moses (and Aaron) to bestow blessing and glory upon his people as a prophet and to worship God with sacrifices and offerings as a priest. The narrative arrangement creates discontinuity in the character plot yet continuity in the thematic developments. Balaam is a rebellious instrument of God, a paradoxical and oxymoronic character himself in the story. That a donkey should be the most spiritually observant character in this section stands in sharp contradistinction to the characterization of the nations and the individual leaders, a literary slap-in-the-face toward any humanly conceived means of defining God and his ways. God will ultimately accomplish his will by whatever means and agency necessary. What echoes from the mouth of this most unusual servant of God are some of the most striking words of praise for God and his purpose for his people. Reversal of fortunes reverberates through several episodes of the story: a persistent pagan prophet learns from a donkey; a Moabite king’s desires are thwarted by God; and Balaam’s intent to curse and bring condemnation upon Israel is turned by God into an opportunity to bring blessing beyond compare for the near and distant future. God reveals—the central theme of the Book of Numbers—his character and his intent to bring abundant hope and beneficence to all of humanity, indeed to the Jews and to the Gentiles”.*

God will always be consistent in His message and promises. However, He may not be consistent in whom He uses to deliver the message! We do not know how God may be at work in places where God is not honored. There are regimes in this world that are planning evil against Israel and Messiah followers everywhere. God will not allow these nations to tear down what God has built. He will speak through donkeys if necessary—and as Yeshua said, “If the disciples were silenced, the stones would cry out” (Luke 19:40; cf. Luke 3:8; Matt 3:9). The plan of God will not be thwarted!

Shabbat Shalom!

Rabbi Howard

*Dennis R. Cole. Numbers: The New American Commentary. Vol. 3B (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2000), 364–365.