Numbers: Chapter 22, v. 2 through Chapter 25, v.9 (Balak)
By Irvin H. Jacobs, MD, MPH, MFA
LA JOLLA, California — The gist of this parsha is a story of an intended curse of the approaching Israelites by a fearful pagan ruler, through a seer named Balaam. (f1) Though there are lessons to be learned, the story is clearly a fantasy involving a talking donkey and curses morphed into blessings.
For this commentary, I choose to focus on (1) ancient curses, and (2) a compendium of metaphors and similes in the story.
Curses – *Biblical Hebrew contains three different words (alah, arar, and qalal) to express “curse.” (i) for a violation of community standards, (ii) to invoke evil against a person who violates a contract or oath, (iii) wish someone ill will, e.g. curse a neighbor in an argument.
Curses employ powerful words intended to invoke supernatural harm, and can be expressed by either gods or persons. Some are definitive, some conditional. A conditional curse is one to be activated if the people fail to adhere to laws/demands. For example, the curses in Deuteronomy are conditional to failure to follow its laws. The intended curses in the story of Balak were to be applied to a feared ethnic group, but were foiled by a metamorphosis into blessings.
Another Biblical curse: A member of deposed King Saul’s clan hurled insults at King David (II Samuel, Chapter 16) for having seized Saul’s throne. Also, in Zechariah, Chapter 5, a curse came in the form of a flying scroll at sinners guilty of thievery and swearing falsely.
A biblical sacrifice could include a curse. When God and Abraham ‘cut’ (made a covenant) in Genesis 15, Abraham followed God’s command to cut (split) the sacrificed animal into halves and ‘pass between the parts.’This was a visible conditional curse to warn of the same consequence to Abraham should he fail to uphold the terms.
Another curse was that of karat, i.e. to ostracize one from the community for such as non-observance of Passover or for performance of a child sacrifice (worship of Molech) (Leviticus Chapter 20, vv.2-5).
On occasion, a person might curse his own life (Job, Chapter 3), which can be an indirect criticism of God, who created Job. The Biblical expression “so may God do to me” (II Samuel, Chapter 3, verse 35) accompanies a promise to do self-harm should he violate his oath.(f2)
Curses can be found in most religious traditions. The purposes are consistent: enforcement of law, assertion of doctrinal orthodoxy, assurance of community stability, harassment of enemies, moral teaching, and protection of sacred places or objects. (Austin Cline, 2019)
II. Metaphors/Similes -Examples: Numbers, Chapter 22, v. 5: “There is a people that came out of Egypt; it hides the earth from view…”
Numbers, Chapter 23, vv. 9-10: There is a people that dwells apart, … Who can count the dust of Jacob, number the dust-cloud of Israel?
Numbers Chapter 23, v.18: “Give ear unto me, son of Zippor…”
Numbers,Chapter 24,vv 6-7 “How fair are your tents, O Jacob, Your dwellings, O Israel! Like palm-groves that stretch out, Like gardens beside a river, Like aloes planted by the Lord, Like cedars beside water; Their boughs drip with moisture, Their roots have abundant water…”
Numbers, Chapter 24, v.16 “A star rises from Jacob, A scepter comes forth from Israel; It smashes the brow of Moab…”
Contemporary: Jews pray to the avinu malkeinu, a mixed metaphor, i.e. our father, our king.
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f1–Independent of the Bible, there actually was a seer of that name. Elements of his story were found in 1967 by Dutch archaeologists. They are inscribed on fragments of wall plaster inside an Iron Age II (900-600 BCE) temple. The location is in an ancient delta at the juncture of the Jabbok and Jordan Rivers. This corresponds to the area of the Israelites’last prior conquest of the Ammonites. On stratigraphic and epigraphic grounds, the inscription is dated to the 8th Century BCE. (J. Milgrom, JPS Torah Commentary, 1989, pp. 473-6)
f2–Brian M. Britt, Dept. of Religion and Culture at Virginia Tech, “Biblical Curses and the Displacement of Tradition,” 2011.