Commentary Parsha Balak

While having lunch with my good friend and study partner Peter King who I have learnt Talmud with for almost 10 years he introduced me to a commentary from Samson Raphael Hirsch who was quoting from Abarbanell. The book of Numbers known in Hebrew as Bamdibar is replete with complaints from the people of Israel while they are travelling through the desert.

There are various issues that the children of Israel complain to Moses about such as the spies going into the land of Israel, or the manna from heaven etc. The people continuously seem to think that God has forsaken them as their lives are considerably more challenging in the desert versus their life in Egypt. Yet they have been taken out of slavery after hundreds of years and are in the process of being led to The Promised Land, but they consistently demonstrate a lack of faith in God and Moses and Aaron .

However this week's reading of Balak shows us that in fact behind the scenes God has been assisting them quite unbeknownst to them. You realise that almost this entire parasha occurs outside the sphere of knowledge of the children of Israel. What happens with Balak and Balaam was never actually seen or heard by the children of Israel except that God gave them that information in the Torah.

Hirsch and Abarbanell make the keen observation that God was working for them behind the scenes in his grand scheme. The children of Israel may very well have thought that God was not looking out for them, however we see God was changing potential curses into real blessings that they had no idea about .

There is an idea in some Jewish circles today that God should reveal himself to the Jewish people and yet this parasha is evidence that God is always working for us whether hidden or revealed. To say that you require a revelation of God in some sort of manifestation demonstrates a lack of faith in his connection to your life end the lives of people around you.

Whilst Bilaam did believe in God, God does in fact reveal himself in the form of an angel in the scene with the talking donkey. Not so with Israel who have the Torah and proof that God is always with us regardless of how difficult our life is.

This is an important lesson.