Some messages arrive through prophets.

Others arrive through kings.

And then there are those rare moments when Heaven chooses the most unlikely messenger imaginable.

Parashat Balak contains one of the Torah’s great ironies. Balak, king of Moav, summons Bilaam, the most renowned prophet of the nations, to curse Israel. Seven altars are built. Sacrifices are offered. Three times Bilaam ascends the mountain heights overlooking the Israelite camp. Yet each attempt ends the same way. The curses never arrive. Instead, blessing after blessing emerges from his mouth until the prophet who came to condemn Israel becomes the vessel through which Hashem reveals some of the deepest truths about His people.

Read together, these blessings become more than prophetic utterances. They become a letter from Heaven itself.

The opening words establish the foundation upon which everything else rests:

מָה אֶקֹּב לֹא קַבֹּה אֵ־ל וּמָה אֶזְעֹם לֹא זָעַם ה’ “How can I curse whom G-d has not cursed? How can I denounce whom Hashem has not denounced?” Bamidbar 23:8

Before Israel is reminded of its mission, destiny, or future, it is first reminded that it lives within a covenant. Standing upon the mountain, it becomes clear that no human being possesses the power to overturn what Hashem has blessed.

The Maharal explains that Israel’s existence cannot be understood through history alone because its foundation rests upon a covenant that transcends history itself. Empires rise and disappear. Civilisations that once appeared permanent become little more than distant memories. Yet the descendants of Avraham continue their story because the relationship between Hashem and Israel was never dependent upon power, geography, or circumstance. It rests upon a bond forged beyond time itself.

The first........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)