Photo Credit: Jewish Press
Is G-d playing a game with Bilaam? He seems to toy with the navi, acting as though He does not know what is going on, even inviting Bilaam to make mistakes and sin. Consider the evidence:
First, messengers show up at Bilaam’s house, representing Balak, the king of Moav. Their task is to hire Bilaam to curse the Children of Israel. “And G-d came to Bilaam. And He said, ‘Who are these men with you?’ Of course, G-d knows who they are, but He listens to Bilaam’s response: they are men who have come to hire him to curse the Israelites. “And G-d said to Bilaam. You may not go with them. Do not curse the people, for it is blessed.”
Here, G-d sends Bilaam conflicting messages. On the one hand, He does not know who the men are, implying that His control of the situation is limited. Yet, He instructs Bilaam not to go, asserting control. Bilaam understands that he cannot go but, when even greater messengers return to him to hire him to curse the Israelites, he holds out hope that perhaps G-d may be convinced. Indeed, G-d opens a window for him, if not the door. “If they have come to call you, then get up and go with them. But the word that speak with you, that you must do.”
This creates further ambiguity. Once again, G-d is in control, giving instructions. Yet, the first phrase indicates that G-d is not quite sure who Bilaam’s visitors are. “If they have come to call you” implies there is a veil of some kind that blocks G-d’s view. Likewise, the phrase “get up and go with them” is vague. Should we take it to mean get up and go with them or you may get up and go with them? Is it possible that this wording is purposefully ambiguous, unclear even to Bilaam? And towards what end?
Then G-d is upset with Bilaam for going, despite having just given permission to go, and He sends a prosecuting angel to smite Bilaam. Once again, the interaction that follows is highly confusing. The angel sent to Bilaam is not really there to kill him. Rather, he comes with more cryptic vagaries: “And Bilaam said to the angel of G-d, ‘I made a mistake, because I did not know that you were standing to greet me on the path. Now, if you think it bad, I will turn back. And the angel of G-d said to Bilaam, ‘Go with the men. But the word that speak with you, that you must speak.’”
This does not clear much up. Bilaam asks the angel if he should turn back. The angel, if not entirely approving, certainly does not bar Bilaam from going or even tell him explicitly that G-d disapproves. Rather, he simply reiterates what Bilaam was told before: he must say whatever it is that G-d tells him to say.
What are we to make of all this? There is something farcical about the way that the story unfolds, with G-d toying with Bilaam, letting him fail, again and again, before he is simply forced to throw in the towel completely. Is this not cruel? Are we to think that G-d is like a cat that plays with its food? Why does G-d allow this charade to continue? Why does He not simply cut it off at the beginning, and tell Bilaam in the clearest terms, “Absolutely not. It will never happen?!”
Of course, the Sages dealt with this question, though in the pithiest manner. They explain as follows (with help from the Koren Steinsaltz commentary and translation):
“From the Torah, from the Prophets, and from the Writings (we learn) that along the path a person wishes to walk, it is there that they lead him.
“One learns this from the Torah, as it is written that initially G-d said to Balaam with regard to the contingent dispatched by Balak: “You shall not go with them” (Numbers 22:12). After Balaam implored Him and indicated his desire to go with them, it is written: “Arise, go with them” (Numbers 22:20)…. From the Writings, as it is written: “If one seeks the cynics, He will cause him to join the cynics, but to the humble He will give grace” (Proverbs 3:34), indicating that if one chooses cynicism G-d will direct him there and if he opts for humility G-d will grant him grace.”
What we understand here is that G-d allows us to do what we want. Of course, we already knew that. But we do not always appreciate and understand what this means. On the one hand, we know that free will is central to achievement and meaning. If we did not have the ability to fail, our accomplishments – and failures – would mean nothing. Thus, because G-d allows us to fail, we can have a sense of fulfillment and joy.
Wrapped up in this idea is the fact that we can achieve great things. If we were not faced with the choice between greatness and smallness, we would deserve no credit for our accomplishments. Thus, our ability to fail means that we have the ability to do great things and even to become great ourselves.
The flip side, however, is that we often look rather ridiculous from a moral perspective. The man who throws away his family life for a few moments of pleasure looks rather silly and pathetic from the outside. The same is true of parents who pay no attention to their child’s moral and spiritual well being for many years and then wake up surprised when he or she does turn out as desired. Why does G-d not stop us? Because that would require a spiritual lobotomy and make the human project quite worthless. We need to be able to fail.
Is this any different than what Hashem does to Bilaam? Note, Hashem never signals that He thinks cursing Israel is a good idea. Rather, He signals that He is not quite sure what is going on and that He will let Bilaam get away with quite a bit of what he would like.
Yes, he looks rather ridiculous as he makes one poor decision after another, and that is rather the point. When we read about Bilaam, we are meant to understand how we look to the knowing observer. We choose one silly thing after another, knowing full well, somewhere inside, that G-d does not approve, that our decisions do not reflect the best of what we might be doing or achieving, that we are not always choosing the correct path. Yet, whatever path we choose, that is the one G-d will lead us down. He will look away, so to speak, let us get away with what we like, only to turn around at some point later, and make us say “I made a mistake. I should have focused on my family, my friendships, my character, my soul, my spiritual well being, my legacy.” And then, if we are lucky, the people around us will be too polite to tell us that they knew that the whole time.
So then, we ought to take the kindness in the story of Bilaam. Unfortunately, it is rather an analogy for our own foibles and how silly they look. But at least we get to see what happens to Bilaam rather than having to find out about ourselves. And we may make whatever changes we like before it is too late. All of this then, is a kindness, meant just for us, to shine a light briefly and gently upon our own foibles, so that we might make a change before our mistakes become too costly.