Prophecy Lost

Yaakov Weinstein

Seven prophets prophesied to the nations of the world, and they are:
Bilaam and his father Be’or, Job, Eliphaz the
Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, Zophar the Naamathite, and
Elihu ben Barachel the Buzite.
(Bava Batra 15b)

Her eldest son, a young boy of seven, burst through the door of their small cottage. “Father said I would see him today! Is he home yet? Did he get a message from God? Is he going to see the king?”

She took a deep breath and smiled at him. It was difficult raising a family on her own. Despite her diligence, she barely brought in enough money for food and a modest home. Of course, she knew this when she married; she supported it. This sacrifice was a small price to pay for a husband who was a true prophet to the one God. Be’or was one of the chosen few who had meditated, fasted, and denied himself earthly pleasures in pursuit of reaching the highest spiritual plane a human could reach.

“Not yet,” she replied calmly. “God willing, he will return before nightfall.”

For her, the hidden price was Be’or’s lack of presence for the children. But how else could one be close to God? Everyone knew it was necessary to throw off the physical to reach the spiritual. How could one attain spiritual heights amongst common, boorish humanity? Still, their son, Bilaam, missed his father terribly. Always a quick learner, he knew Father went away so he could speak with God and to do so he could only come home once a week, sometimes.

“When I grow up, I’m going to be a prophet just like Father!” declared Bilaam.

“Yes, you will,” she smiled. She dreaded the thought of her son taking the treacherous road her husband had chosen, but, for now, he was only a child…

The Holy One, Blessed be He, did not leave over even one thing
that he did not reveal to Bilaam… Bilaam was greater in
wisdom even more than Moses…
(Tanna de’Bei Eliyahu Rabbah 28)

The road to prophecy was a difficult one. Training in the school of Shem and Ever was arduous and only select children were accepted. Even at an early age, a child had to demonstrate intelligence and sincerity in order to qualify. Upon acceptance, each student studied the words of earlier prophets, meditation, and the ways of God. In addition, each student worked to refine his character traits, deprive himself of worldly pleasures, and work with a spiritual mentor. 

With his father’s encouragement, Bilaam entered the famed institution and was quickly recognized as a leading student. His wisdom and singleness of purpose was clearly evident and his ability to deprive himself of physical pleasures amazed his instructors. As the years passed, it became known to all that Bilaam was destined for greatness, a prophet capable of a unique relationship with God and of influencing others to strive for the heights of spirituality.

The night of his first prophecy began like any other night. Bilaam reviewed what he had learned that day, finished his evening prayers and rituals, and went off to get a few hours rest, ready to awaken at midnight to praise God.

And then God appeared. Bilaam had been told it was an experience like no other. Undeniable, unignorable, unable to be mistaken. And now that God appeared to him, it was obvious. The encounter of the overwhelming Infinite made every other experience he had ever had appear as fog and mist. God’s prophecy was formulated not with words but experientially. And the next day he set off on his first mission as a messenger of God.

Many subsequent prophecies followed. And as Bilaam’s relationship with God blossomed, his prophecies became clearer, his missions more important, and soon he became widely known as a zealot of the one God. He advised kings and directed nations. Some followed his advice, but many did not and suffered God’s wrath. In between these appearances he would confine himself for long periods, to commune with God, in deep meditation, and to connect to nature. He became everything his father hoped for and his mother fretted over. He had become not only one of God’s chosen few, but had reached heights that few, if any, had ever experienced.

Until the fateful prophecy came. A prophecy which would lead to his transformation from God’s emissary into God’s most vocal critic.

Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba said in the name of Rabbi Simai: Three
were consulted by Pharaoh when he questioned what should be
done with the Jewish people. They were Bilaam, Job, and Jethro.
(Sotah 11a)

The prophetic message seemed straightforward enough. A new Pharaoh was to ascend the throne of the Egyptian Empire. Bilaam’s task was to encourage him to be ethical and moral, following in the ways of his predecessor who had been advised by the great Joseph son of Jacob. Bilaam rejoiced at the opportunity not only to influence Egypt, but because it gave him the opportunity to see firsthand the workings of God’s master plan.

For twenty generations, God connected with humanity through His chosen few, a small caste of prophets dedicated to Him. These were the elite who held up each generation, for they fulfilled the purpose of Creation. However, those prophets had minimal influence. The people they reached were few and far between. Noah had tried to sway his generation and failed. Shem succeeded his father and set up a school later to be co-led by his great-grandson Eber. The school educated the great prophets for over half a millenium, but even this did little to influence humanity as a whole. Bilaam himself, famed for his prophetic pronouncements, known throughout the world, could not win over many converts to the worship of God. 

Now, for four generations God had instituted a new plan. It was time to go beyond the individual (though those individuals had reached great spiritual heights), and even beyond a school, and create a nation who would raise up all of humanity. The nation was fathered by the great prophet Abraham, a paragon of virtue, justice, and kindness, who pioneered a new approach of speaking to the common man and trying to influence each person, even if only a little. Abraham had made great strides and had passed the torch to his son Issac and his grandson Jacob after him. They too met with some successes, building a clan that had gained significant clout in Canaan and its surroundings.

However, the famine of several decades ago had caused momentous change. Jacob and his clan had moved to Egypt and the torch had been passed to his son Joseph. Unlike his father before him, Joseph was responsible for feeding the people of the world’s greatest empire and advising the Pharaoh, the leader of the civilized world. Joseph had little time to foster the spiritual growth of individuals the way his ancestors had, and could not go against the Egyptian priests who controlled the religious arm of the empire. Joseph’s brothers and their families lived in Goshen, their own isolated province, and thus also played no role in the lives of the general population.

Joseph was now dead and a new Pharaoh, not beholden to Joseph, was to ascend the throne of the world’s greatest empire. Bilaam had no doubt as to his role. He was to rally the new leaders of Jacob’s descendants and, with them, to raise the spiritual level of the Egyptian Empire to the point that they would finally accept the true God. It would take work, but if successful, Egypt would bow before the Holy One, and the rest of the world could then not be far behind! With these lofty goals and grand plans percolating in his mind, Bilaam traveled to Egypt ready to embrace the children of Jacob…

I said to them: Each of you cast away the abominations that
you are drawn to, and do not defile yourselves with the idols of
Egypt—I the Lord your God. But they defied Me and refused to
listen to Me. Not one of them cast away the abominations they
were drawn to, nor did they give up the idols of Egypt. Then I
resolved to pour out My fury upon them, to vent all My anger
upon them there, in the land of Egypt.
(Ezekiel 20:7-8)

Despondent and defeated, Bilaam sat on the floor of his room at the inn. True, maybe he was expecting too much. But there was no way in Heaven that he could have predicted what he had experienced over the past few days. It did occur to him that perhaps the sons of Jacob had been concerned about the new Pharaoh, maybe a bit hesitant to exercise their influence before seeing what he was like. But it never occurred to him that the opposite would happen. That the descendants of Jacob would be influenced by the Egyptians!

Bilaam identified the descendants of Jacob easily enough. He talked to them, but they had no concern for him or for the true God. They were too busy playing games, sailing the Nile, even attending to the worship of the sun god! They were as bad as the Egyptians themselves. How could the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob sink to such levels? How were these people supposed to fulfill God’s plan?

Well, tomorrow he had his meeting with the Pharaoh. Maybe there was something he could still do.

The next morning, Bilaam was warmly welcomed at the palace and, after the required rituals of greeting, was ushered into the Pharaoh’s private rooms.  The Pharaoh was clearly occupied in deep discussion with two advisors: Job and Jethro. Bilaam was, of course, well acquainted with these figures. Job was a fellow student at the school of Shem and Eber and had become a well known philanthropist and emissary of God. Jethro was a famed religious philosopher, who had explored numerous faiths and was becoming more and more influenced by the idea of monotheism. Both seemed relieved to see Bilaam and quickly apprised him of the discussion at hand.

Pharaoh was attempting to resolve the question of what to do with the sons of Jacob. It was one thing when they were a separate tribe living in Goshen and away from the populace. They were helpful as advisors, craftsmen, even traders, but generally kept to themselves. Now, however, they wanted to become Egyptian! They were invading everything: the universities, the sports teams, the theaters and circuses. This was becoming a problem. What if they started thinking of themselves as true Egyptians and others as foreigners? Their numbers were growing and soon they could gain enough strength to take over the kingdom.

As Pharaoh explained his conundrum to Bilaam, an idea began to form. Maybe this was the chance Bilaam was looking for. A way to avenge God against those children of Jacob who had squandered their destiny and ruined His plan. But first he had to hear from the others. Jethro was adamant. Joseph had not long before rescued Egypt and the entire area from the ravages of famine. True, Joseph and his generation had now passed on, but treating his children unkindly was an affront to Joseph’s memory. Leave them alone! They will remember Egypt’s kindness in housing them and will not turn against Egypt.

“Typical Jethro,” thought Bilaam, “sure – being kind is important, but look at the spiritual havoc these people have caused! Now is the time for zealotry, not kindness. Job is a true prophet, he will know better.” But Job was on the fence. He too, could not unambiguously support harming a people who had done only good for Egypt regardless of their current potential threat and low spiritual stature.

Finally, they turned to Bilaam. In no uncertain terms Bilaam insisted that the Pharaoh remove the perceived threat and enslave the sons of Jacob. “Look at these people,” he said, “they are tasked to act with justice and kindness in service of the true God! But instead they have fallen to the level of the typical Egyptians. Pharaoh, God holds you responsible for the moral and ethical status of Egypt, but as for the descendants of Jacob, there is no hope, they must be taught a lesson.” Bilaam’s strident, passionate appeal quieted Jethro and Job, and of course was exactly the answer the Pharaoh desired. The Pharaoh thanked Bilaam profusely, escorted his advisors out and immediately went to work on a plan to enslave Jacob’s descendants.

Bilaam contentedly left the palace, confident that his words would bear fruit. Somewhere he remembered that he appealed to Pharaoh to be generally ethical and moral, but what was more important was revenge on those who could have been spiritually great and had instead destroyed God’s plan.

That evening, God appeared to Bilaam, demanding, “Why have you enabled Pharaoh to enslave My people? Did you not know that my hope for humanity rests on them?” Bilaam, of course, was prepared. “Those people certainly are not Yours! They are idol-worshippers practically undifferentiated from the typical Egyptians. What I did was help them – slavery and punishment will teach them they were wrong to abandon You! After all, did You Yourself not tell Abraham that his descendants would be in a foreign land enslaved and afflicted there? Your master plan may still survive, thanks to me, and in the meantime You can rejoice in your prophets as You have for time immemorial.”

Years passed, Bilaam did not really expect the descendants of Jacob to recover from their spiritual malaise. Rather, he became more and more confident that the whole plan of a chosen nation was a bad one. God did not need all of humanity, He had his few spiritual giants and that should be enough! Nevertheless, every once in a while he would check on the latest Egyptian news, and was quietly satisfied that the spiritual level of Jacob’s descendants continued to decline. 

These (Israel) were uncircumcised and those (Egypt) were
uncircumcised. These grew long locks of hair and those grew
long locks of hair. These wore forbidden mixtures and those
wore forbidden mixtures. Therefore, the attribute of justice
would not allow Israel to ever be redeemed.
(Vayikra Rabbah 23:2)

“What!”

The news hit Bilaam like a sledgehammer. God took the Children of Israel out of Egypt! He could not believe it. Miracles, plagues, the splitting of the sea, God did all of that for whom? A group of idol-worshippers! After all these years, long after Bilaam was sure that God’s plan for a specially created nation had died, God turned nature upside down for a clan of blasphemous heathens. “Yes,” thought Bilaam, “there was a promise to Abraham that his descendants will be redeemed and so on, but really there had to be some basic conditions on the promise – like recognizing God!”

The previous night, God had told Bilaam that He was going to give the Children of Israel the Torah and help them waltz into Canaan without a fight. “Does God have any standards anymore? Does He think the people would be at all capable? People do not change!”

A few weeks later, Bilaam watched in horror as Israel received the Torah, but 40 days after that he was again gleeful. “You see? A Golden Calf! You can take the people out of the place of idol worship, but you cannot so easily take the idol worship out of the people. Just like I said, God would have been much better off satisfied with His spiritual elite. It really is time to dismiss this whole silly notion…”

Yet, the nation survived. “That Moses! Sure, he is a great prophet and you have to admire his dedication to the people. But really, such naivete. Does Moses think that because he saved them once, they will never sin again? No, all Moses accomplished was to keep God’s plan alive a little longer, but at the end the whole premise will have to be discarded…”

And before long, Bilaam was back to his self-assured righteousness. “See, now Israel is stuck in the wilderness. God’s still doing miracles for these ungrateful wretches, but any day now, they will turn around and go back to Egypt…”

But the Children of Israel did persist, despite the doubts, weaknesses, and complaints. The great Emorite kings, Sihon and Og, fell before them, and shortly afterward Bilaam was again called to solve the question first addressed so many years earlier: what could be done about the Children of Israel? This time the questioner was Balak, the King of Moab, and, once again, Bilaam approached the people seeking vengeance.

The moment the messengers from Balak arrived, Bilaam foresaw what would happen. Surely God would not want him to go. God still held on to this impossibility of a Holy Nation rather than being satisfied with holy individuals. But Bilaam was going to go anyway. Maybe seeing the people and their ways would enable him to clearly show God their weaknesses. Then he could assert his opinion. After all, that’s exactly what Moses did to save them. Worst case scenario, he would say what God tells him, but he had to try.

Of course, Bilaam was unable to curse the Jews and, much to the chagrin of Balak, instead blessed them. Bilaam walked away from the encounter frustrated, embarrassed, angry with God (though begrudgingly amused at the whole donkey affair – who said God does not have a sense of humor?). However, perhaps surprisingly, Bilaam learned from the encounter. The lesson was not that God was going to push forward with His plan irrespective of what else may happen; Bilaam had hoped otherwise but that turned out to be wishful thinking. What Bilaam learned was that the way to force God to change his mind was to undermine the plan. And because Bilaam deeply understood the blessings he was forced to give, he knew what to do as a next step.

“And Bilaam lifted up his eyes, and he saw Israel dwelling tribe
by tribe; and the spirit of God came upon him” (Numbers 24:2).
What was it that Bilaam saw? He saw that the entrances of
their tents were not aligned with each other. And he said: these
people are worthy of having the Divine Presence rest on them.
(Bava Batra 60a)

From this blessing, Bilaam saw what was the key to the Children of Israel’s uniqueness before God. Maybe he should have known from the beginning. The strength of the family unit, and particularly the conscious dedication of the women, was what saved them in Egypt. This forced blessing proved it! “How fair are your tents, O Jacob, Your dwellings, O Israel!” (Numbers 24:5).

“Well,” thought Bilaam, “they are fair for the moment, but perhaps it is time to test how strong these families really are.”

Balaam said to them: The God of Israel despises lewdness, and
they desire linen garments. Come, and I will give you advice.
Make for them enclosures and seat prostitutes in them…
(Sanhedrin 106a)

Bilaam’s thought process was straightforward. “The Moabites and Midianites are so desperate to get rid of Israel, they will happily hand their daughters over to prostitution. The men of Israel have never been seduced before and will be easy prey. And once they are separated from the women of Israel, their spiritual state will be entirely in the hands of these foreign  women.”

Even Bilaam was shocked how well the plan worked. The Jewish men saw the Moabite (and Midianite) women and were overcome with lust. The Moabite women only needed to hold out until the men agreed to renounce the God of Israel, and they did! God, as predicted, was angry! He sent a plague to destroy the people. The entire leadership of Israel was completely frozen, having no idea how to stop the blasphemy and promiscuity. Twenty-four thousand were killed, and it would have been more if not that Pinchas stood up and actually did something. But the numbers are irrelevant. Even the strategy of how to attack the Children of Israel, while useful, was not the main point. No, what was actually important was the way the entire house of cards that God had built, the entire notion of a Nation of Priests, completely collapsed.

Sure, it is easy to be a Holy Nation when there is no one else around. At Mount Sinai, and when in isolation in the wilderness, God could pretend that a nation could be ethical enough, and dedicated enough, to be a Light unto the Nations. But what happens when they actually encounter those other nations? What happens in the ‘real world’? Well, now we know, the so-called Holy Nation cannot keep its moral integrity for even five minutes.

God did His best to correct, or maybe cover up, the sins of the Children of Israel. Immediately, He commanded the Children of Israel to slaughter anyone who fell prey to idol worship and then to wipe out Midian, including the women who were the instruments of Israel’s downfall. And during this battle, Bilaam faced Pinchas in single, spiritual combat.

When Pinchas went to Midian, he and all of the soldiers that
went with him, the evil Bilaam saw Pinchas and made his arms
like two stone tablets. He then flew high and above using God’s
explicit name. When Pinchas saw Bilaam flying above, Pinchas
too made his arms like two stone tablets and flew up
after Bilaam. Pinchas caught up as he found Bilaam prostrating
himself before the Throne of Glory. Immediately, Pinchas
donned the diadem of the Holy One, Blessed be He, grabbed
Bilaam and brought him down to Moses. The court judged
Bilaam and killed him, as it says, “And Bilaam… they killed.”
(Numbers 31:8)
(Yalkut Shimoni 785)   

The midrash describes the spiritual battle  between these two exalted figures. Both are zealous for God. Both are sure of the righteousness of their cause. Bilaam has just successfully demonstrated that a Holy Nation cannot exist in the real world. As our Sages tell us, he had visited Midian to collect his reward for teaching the nation how to corrupt the Children of Israel. This time, Pinchas’ zealousness protected the Children of Israel by removing the cancer from their midst… but there would be other times.

Utilizing their advanced knowledge of God, both combatants transformed their arms into stone tablets, the tablets of God upon which are engraved His laws. Acknowledgment of and adherence to the law enabled them to fly up to the Heavenly Throne to submit before God as the true Judge. Bilaam arrived first and prostrated himself before the Holy One. In his submission, he acknowledged that he had worked to counter God’s plan for humanity, but he submitted that he is correct. Look at the actions of Israel! They cannot control themselves, they cannot even admit they have done wrong. Instead they are attempting to clear away all of the evidence of their sin by leaving no one in Midian alive.

Pinchas caught up to Bilaam. He saw Bilaam making his case before God. To counter this, Pinchas showed Bilaam the diadem of the High Priest, one that Pinchas himself will wear in future times. Upon the diadem is written, “Holy to God.” The High Priest wears the diadem only when he serves in the Temple. It reminds him that the nation of Israel is holy. That even when sacrifices are brought with ritual impurity, God will accept and forgive (see Pesachim 78a). And that his own holiness is only because he serves his people.

Bilaam, who urged God to give up the notion of a Holy Nation and to be satisfied with the spiritual elite, fell to his death at the sight of the diadem. He saw on it the explicit name of God that he himself had used to fly to Heaven. But the diadem was a reminder that God dedicates an emissary of the people, and the holiness of the High Priest is only to sanctify those people.

Pinchas emerges victorious, his zealotry vindicated. Bilaam was killed as a traitor and blasphemer of God. His prophecy lives on for us, but not for him. For Bilaam, prophecy is lost.

Epilogue: Bilaam and Elijah

Three kings and four commoners have no share in the
World-to-Come… The four commoners are: Bilaam son of
Beor…
(Sanhedrin 90a)

But the story is not finished. Neither the Children of Israel nor Pinchas himself live happily ever after. The Sages tell us that Pinchas later took on the moniker of Elijah the Prophet (Yalkut Shimoni 771) and, as Elijah, he again encountered the complete collapse of ethics and morality in Israel. This occurred when the northern kingdom of Israel was under the rule of Ahab and Jezebel. Upon seeing this collapse, Elijah/Pinchas was forced to grapple with the same question Bilaam posed to him so many years earlier: can a Holy Nation survive in the real world? Looking around at the rampant idol-worship of the time, it certainly did not seem possible.

In Elijah’s zeal for God, he too went solo without God’s instruction. He decreed a famine on the people, he insisted on the revival of the son of the Shunamite woman, and he brought sacrifices on Mount Carmel (outside of the Temple). As a result of the chaos he caused, Elijah too lost his prophetic ability (see Abarbanel 1 Kings 19:12). Looking for refuge, he traveled to Mount Sinai, where he declared, “I acted with zealousness for the Lord, God of Hosts, for Israel has forsaken Your covenant…” (1 Kings 19:10). Elijah admitted defeat. His zeal had previously countered that of Bilaam, but could not save Israel from the idols of the nations. Elijah retired in failure and it was his student, Elisha, with an entirely different approach, who was (somewhat) successful.

Behold, I will send to you the prophet Elijah before the coming
of the awesome and fearful day of God.
(Malachi 3:23)

Yet, Bilaam and Elijah are treated very differently in the traditional Jewish worldview. Bilaam is considered evil and his story is re-imaged in the most negative of lights. Elijah is praised and poised to be the harbinger of the Messiah. Why?

Perhaps we view these two characters differently because they viewed us differently. We, the plebians, the common-folk, the spiritual lightweights, what is our status before God? Bilaam was ready to give up on us. Why should God bother with us when He can rejoice in the spiritual elite? Why care for the beast-like human when there are those who are slightly lower than angels?

Elijah, for all of his zealotry, aloofness, and transcendence, believed in us. His ardor, inflexibility, and stubbornness before God arose because he was sure that his way would awaken the people to the one God. To Elijah there are no commoners, there are only those not yet like him. He used unorthodox methods, even ones that were harmful to the very people he was trying to save, but Elijah’s goal was to raise each of us to the level of, “I acted zealously for the Lord.”

Maybe the approach was problematic, perhaps it was too harsh. But Elijah’s singularity of purpose enabled him to be forever praised among Israel and thus he will be the one who will “Reconcile parents with children and children with their parents…” (Malachi 3:24).