When we left Bilam in Parashat Balak, the prophet of HaShem was heading home: (Chap 24, V 25) And Bilam rose up and went and returned to his place; and Balak went his way. (Hertz Soncino).
An aside: Has there been any suggestion that we – the Israelites - knew Balak was watching us from the hill tops and that Bilam was blessing uS from those same hill tops. The Torah offers not even a hint that we knew.
We, on the other hand, decided to stay in Shittim and we allowed ourselves – under the leadership – to take on Midinite ways, mostly because the men became “involved” with the Midinite women.
Finally HaShem got angry and told Moses (Chap. 25, V4) “Take all the chiefs of the people and hang them up unto the Lord in the face of the sun.” This leads to Pinchas making a shish-kabob of “an Israelite man and a Midinite woman.”
The rabbis still are debating: Was Pinchas’ action proper? Sounds like similar debates to this day among the “common folk.”
We skip Parashat Pinchas with only a brief stop to learn the names of the Israelite man, Zimri, the son of a Shimonite leader and Cozbi, the daughter of a head of the Midinite people. Politically connected people who felt they were above the law?
Bilam comes on stage again in Parashat Matot (מטות) where he allegedly is slain when the Israelites (Chap. 31, V. 7, 8) “warred against Midian as the Lord commanded Moses.”
(For Ashkenazim, this parasha really takes off – most Ashkenazim pronounce מטות as מטוס - “matos” being Israeli Hebrew for airplane. Admittedly a bad attempt at humor.)
Back top Bilam.
We read that Moses is angry at the men who slew the Midinite men in the previously mentioned war because they failed to kill all the women. Moses tells the returning troops (Chap. 31 V 16) “Behold, these (the Midinite women) caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Bilam, to revolt, to break faith in the Lord.”
There is NO indication in bik’tav that Bilam did anything of the kind.
1) He repeatedly tells Balak he only can say what HaShem tells him to say.
2) He reportedly was on his way home – away from Midian – when we left him near the end of Parashat Balak.
3) There is no indication in bik’tav that the Israelites knew Balak and Bilam were watching from the hilltops.
4) There IS an indication that Moses and Pinchas and Aaron allowed the Midinite women to “get close” to the Israelite men – rather than immediately taking action.
5) It was Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to take enemy women, children, and animals captive after prevailing in a battle. There is nothing in bik’tav that shows Moses telling the people NOT to take captives, unlike HaShem telling Saul and his troops.
It is interesting to note that Pinchas, the son of Eleazar the priest (Chap.31, V.6) went, with the 1000 men of every tribe, carrying the holy vessels and trumpets for the alarm in his hand. So much for draft dodging religious extreme – how much more extreme can anyone be than Pinchas who killed two politically prominent people sans trial?
The bottom line, as Johnny Cochran said in defense of O.J. Simpson, “If the glove don’t fit, you must acquit.”
If we read bik’tav and put aside any rabbinical embellishments to make a prophet of HaShem into a villain, not only does the glove not fit, there is no glove at all.
True, the Torah does record Balaam’s death with the others during the war. I would suggest however, that there would be little, if any, people going around trying to identify dead enemy – and there must have been thousands if each Israelite tribe sent 1000 men. Moses didn’t seen a pilot tour; his intent was total elimination of all Midinites.
I am not a critical student of the Torah – I read it for what it says; I don’t try to read what it does not say. No conjecture. The rabbis tell us that the Torah is complete; we are not to add or detract from it. Interpret, yes, most assuredly, but add or delete – no.
I simply cannot accept that a prophet of HaShem deserves to be, can be, painted as a villain as the rabbis have portrayed Bilam.
The glove don’t fit.
