ועתה לכה נא ארה לי (במדבר כב ו). מהו ארה לי, אולי אוכל אני לשלוט בהן קימעא קימעא, כאדם שהוא אורה את התאנה. (Numb. 22:6:) SO COME NOW PLEASE, CURSE (arah) <THIS PEOPLE> FOR ME. What is the meaning of CURSE ('RH) … FOR ME? Perhaps I shall be able to control them little by little, like someone who picks (rt.: 'RH) figs.
כי עצום הוא ממני (במדבר כב ו). לא שהן גבורים ממני, ולא חיילותיהם מרובין משלי, אלא שהן נוצחין בפיהם, מה שאיני יכול לעשות. (Numb. 22:6, cont.:) FOR THEY ARE MIGHTIER THAN I. <It is> not that they are more valiant than I, nor <is it> that their forces are more numerous than mine. It is simply that they conquer through their mouth, <and this is> something that I cannot do.
אולי אוכל נכה בו (שם). מה ראה זה להתגרות בה, לא כך אמר להם הקב"ה, שלא נוטלים מארצם, אלא שהיה בעל נחשים וקסמים יותר מבלעם, שכך כתיב בו וירא בלק, אלא שלא היה מכוין הדברים לאמיתם, וכן הוא אומר נלאית ברוב עצתיך יעמדו נא ויושיעוך הברי שמים החוזים בכוכבים מודיעים לחדשים מאשר יבואו עליך הנה היו כקש וגו' (ישעיה מז יג יד), והיה רואה שישראל נופלים בידו, לפיכך הפקיר את בתו ונפלו בה כ"ד אלף, לכך נתגרה בהם ולא היה יודע היאך, אולי אוכל נכה בו, כמו שמנכה אחד מן כ"ד בסאה, וכך נפלו כ"ד אלף מישראל חסר אחד, (פי' כ"ד פעמים כ' אלף הם מ"ח ריבואות, וכ"ד פעמים ה' אלפים הם י"ב ריבואות, נמצא שאם נמצא כ"ה אלף זהו חלק כ"ד מס' ריבוא, ולא נפלו כי אם כ"ד אלף, הרי חסר אלף אחד). (Numb. 22:6, cont.:) PERHAPS I SHALL BE ABLE TO SMITE THEM. What reason was there for this one to engage them (i.e., Israel) in war? Did not the Holy One tell them this, that were not to take any of their land? <It was> simply that <Balak> was more of a master of sorceries and divinations than Balaam, for it is so written of him (in Numb. 22:2): NOW BALAK <BEN ZIPPOR> SAW (in a vision), except that he did not really comprehend the things <he saw>. And so it says (in Is. 47:13–14): YOU ARE WEARIED WITH YOUR MANY DELIBERATIONS; LET THOSE WHO STUDY THE HEAVENS PLEASE STAND UP AND SAVE YOU; LET THOSE WHO GAZE AT THE STARS MAKE KNOWN MONTH BY MONTH WHATEVER WILL COME UPON YOU. SEE THEY HAVE BECOME LIKE STRAW; <FIRE CONSUMES THEM>…. When he saw that Israel would fall into his hand, he therefore gave his daughter over (to prostitution);16See Numb. 25:1-15. Numb. 25:15 specifically identifies the sacred prostitute Cozbi as the daughter of Zur, whom the midrash (above, section 7:4) has already identified with Balak. and through her twenty-four thousand fell. To this end he would have engaged them in war, but he did not know how. (Numb. 22:6:) PERHAPS I SHALL BE ABLE TO SMITE (NKH) THEM. As one discounts (rt.: NKH) one twenty-fourth of a seah;17On allowing a given species to have up to 1/24 of another species, see Kil. 2:1; yKil. 2:1 (27c); BB 6:2; BB 93b-94a, where as elsewhere a rova‘ is a quarter of a qav, which in turn is one sixth of a se’ah. Thus one rova’ equals one twenty-fourth of a se’ah. so also did there fall from Israel twenty-four thousand, one <thousand> less <than should have fallen>. {Interpretation: 24 X 20,000 = 480,000, and 24 X 5,000 = 120,000, It turns out that, if 25,000 is found to be 1/24 of 600,000 and only 24,000 fell, then 1,000 are missing.}18In a long note Buber further explains that apart from the law of mixtures, in the removal of the hallah, what is taken is generally 1/24 of the dough (so Hal. 2:7). Buber also notes a variant reading which substitutes menabber (denoting one who removes the hallah) for menakkah (translated here as “discount”). So the Holy One cleansed Israel by removing 1/24 of the people. However, since there were 600,000 Israelites, 25,000 (=1/24 of 600,000), not 24,000, should have been removed. The thousand extra can be explained on analogy with the law of mixtures allowing 1/24 for impurities. The first part of the interpretation in the text comes from dividing 25,000 into two parts of 20,000 + 5,000 and then multiplying each separately and adding the results, instead of simply multiplying 25,000 by 24,000. Regarding the number of Israelites in the desert, Scripture gives the 600,000 figure only in Exod. 12:37. Cf. Exod. 38:26; Numb. 1:46; 2:32, which fix the figure at 603,550 adult males excluding Levites; also Numb. 26:57, which reports a census figure of 601,730 after the removal of the 24,000 in Numb. 25:9.
ואגרשנו מן הארץ (במדבר שם). שלא היה מבקש אלא לגרשם שלא יכנסו לארץ. (Numb. 22:6, cont.:) AND DRIVE THEM AWAY FROM THE LAND, for he only desired to drive them away, so that they would not enter the land.
כי ידעתי את אשר תברך מבורך ואשר תאור יואר (שם). מנין שהיה יודע, שבשעה שביקש סיחון להלחם במואב היה מתיירא, לפי שהיו גבורים, שכר בלעם ואביו לקלל את מואב, שכן הוא אומר על כן יאמרו המושלים וגו', כי אש יצאה מחשבון וגו', אוי לך מואב וגו', (שם כא כז כח כט), לכך אמר כי ידעתי וגו'. (Numb. 22:6, cont.:) FOR I KNOW THAT WHOMEVER YOU BLESS IS BLESSED AND THAT WHOMEVER YOU CURSE IS CURSED. Where is it shown that he knew? When Sihon desired to fight with Moab <and> was afraid because they were warriors, he hired Balaam and his father to curse Moab, for it says (in Numb. 21:27–29): THEREFORE THOSE WHO SPEAK IN PARABLES SAY: <COME TO HESHBON, LET IT BE BUILT; LET THE CITY OF SIHON BE ESTABLISHED>…. FOR A FIRE HAS COME FORTH FROM HESHBON, <A FLAME FROM THE CITY OF SIHON. IT HAS DEVOURED AR OF MOAB>…. WOE BE TO YOU, O MOAB!…. Ergo it says (In Numb. 22:6): FOR I KNOW <THAT WHOMEVER YOU BLESS IS BLESSED AND THAT WHOMEVER YOU CURSE IS CURSED>.