Resources: • Adventist Mission Website: http://wjafc.globalmissioncenters.org/
This website is the new resource provided by the Office of Adventist Mission of the General Conference of the Seventh-day
• Website: www.jewishadventist.org
We pray every week for the leaders of the Jewish Ministry,
Shabbat Shalom Newsletter
738
8 July 2017 1 4 Ta m u z 5 7 7 7
Professional Urban Development: The WJAFC provides:
Shalom Adventure Magazine online: www.ShalomAdventure.com
If you would like to read articles, watch videos, learn things about Judaism and Israel, this website is just for you.
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WJAFC: If you would like to share with people, this forum on facebook is a good place for that.
• Photos: https://get.google.com/albumarchive/1131446298409925652
- Professional Urban training for Jewish Ministry
91?source=pwa We have posted a lot of pictures on Internet during the last years. Don’t hesitate
- Teaching for theological students
• Russian Website: http://www.boruh.info/ This website is in Russian, many articles
- Help to plant new congregations. - Support for AdventistJewish dialogue with scholars and rabbis
WJAFC Paris
A weekly Journal of information and training published by the World Jewish Adventist Friendship Center Under the umbrella of the General Conference —Office of Adventist Mission
English Edition: Richard-Amram Elofer Russian Edition: Alexandra Obrevko French Edition: Sabine Baris Spanish Edition: Jael Wells Cuellar Portuguese Edition: Carlos Muniz Dutch Edition: Hubert Paulleta
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Weekly Jewish-Adventist Journal of Information
and the parasha are posted on it every week.
Carlos Muniz
Hubert Paulleta
News 1 Parasha’s comments 2-4 Haftarah 4-5 Apostolic Writings 5 Stories & Traditions 6 Inspirational Corner 6, 7
to look at them.
Journal of Information and Training — Issue 738 — 8 July 2017 / 14 Tamuz 5777
Richard Amram Elofer
qDlD;b This issue
A must website. To subscribe to our newsletter. To download some resources (Hebrew Sabbath School, and other documents). To order the book “Comfort, Comfort my people…” and many other things. •
Balak
Emails: English: richard@elofer.com Russian: sashok_l@mail.ru French: sabinebaris@gmail.com Spanish: jael_wells@hotmail.com Portuguese: cdmuniz@gmail.com Dutch: hpauletta@hotmail.com
Credit photos: Richard Elofer, Alexandra Obrevko, Jael Wells Cuellar Hubert Paulleta, Laurent Baris and Advent Digital Media
for more information: contact us at www.jewishadventist.org
Alexandra Obrevko
Sabine Baris
We pray every week for the Jewish Friendship Ministry. I suggest our partners to pray from July 9 to 15 for Emmanuel Lascu and Shalom David who are Pastors in Haifa, Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan, Rehovot and Jerusalem (Israel) Let’s pray for their ministry and their family.
News
Resources on our Website
A set of new websites has been setup by the General Conference of the Seventh-day Adventists. These websites are specially built for people who are interested in relations with other religions, especially non-Christian faiths, such as Muslims, Buddhists, and Hindus, but also Secular, and Post-Modern people, and those who are living in the big cities of this world. All these websites and their resources can be reached from http://www.globalmissioncenters.org/ Among them, one is especially dedicated to our Friendship ministry with the Jewish people. It is the official World Jewish Adventist Friendship Center website of Global Mission: http:// wjafc.globalmissioncenters.org/ This new website has two parts, a public one where everybody can look at who we are, and to contact us, and the second part, which is a private one, that means not everybody can access to it, but only people who have registered and gotten a password.
We have decided to go this way in order to preserve the privacy of everyone, all the parasha/newsletters are stored in this private part, in this way only authorized people can download them. From this private part of our web, authorized people can have access to many resources, photos, movies, and training materials such as the Hebrew Sabbath School study guides. Keep checking, because many more resources will be coming to this website as we move forward. In the future, we would like to have in this private part of the web, the street address of each Jewish Adventist congregation we have in the world with their own web to be sure that each person who would like to meet one of our leaders will be able to do it. It will be important also to list in this web our other websites in different languages to reach people from all over the world. We know that the main languages spoken by Jews today are English, Spanish, Russian, French, Portuguese, Yiddish, German and Hungarian. Our goals will be to provide more and more resources in all these languages.
Parasha for this Week
alak, king of Moav, is in morbid fear of Bnei Yisrael. He summons a renowned sorcerer named Bilaam to curse them. First, G-d speaks to Bilaam and forbids him to go. But, because Bilaam is so insistent, G-d appears to him a second time and permits him to go. While en route, a malach (emissary from G-d) blocks Bilaam’s donkey’s path. Unable to contain his frustration, Bilaam strikes the donkey each time it stops or tries to detour. Miraculously, the donkey speaks, asking Bilaam why he is hitting her. The malach instructs Bilaam regarding what he is permitted to say and what he is forbidden to say regarding the Jewish People. When Bilaam arrives, King Balak
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Balak
Numbers 22:2 - 25:9 Balak, Or The Detestation Of Israel
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he Parasha starts: “Then the people of Israel set out and camped in the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan at Jericho.” (Numbers 22:1). The beginning of this parasha says that we are at the end of the stay in the wilderness. Israel is, after 40 years, of wandering in the wilderness, arriving in the border of Holy Land, at the East of the Jordan River, North of the Dead Sea. They have just to cross the Jordan river to enter the land of Canaan. The people of Israel had no intention to quarrel with the Moabites and the Ammonites, they were relatives. Israel were the descendants of Abraham, Itzchak, and Yaakov, and the Moabites and Ammonites were the descendants of Lot, nephew of Abraham. In addition, it was clear that the land of Moab would not be part of the Promised Land: “And the LORD said to me, ‘Do not harass Moab or contend with them in battle, for I will not give you any of their land for a possession, because I have given Ar to the people of
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Lot for a possession.’” (Deuteronomy 2:9), The people of Israel needed to cross their land, not to take it. However, Balak ben Zippor, one of the leader of Moab, was one of the great anti-Semite of that time— this word did not exist at that time, the word antiSemitism was coined in the 19th century, and Balak was himself a Semite, but I use this word to be understood by our readers in the 21st century— Balak hated the people of Israel. It is written, “And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.” (Numbers 22:2). What Israel has done to the Amorites? It was known, it is written in Numbers 21:2425, Israel fought against the Amorites and they won. However, in the same annals were written that Israel did not want to fight against the Amorites. When they arrived in their land, they sent messengers saying “Let me pass through your land. We will not turn aside into field or vineyard. We will not drink the water of a well. We will go by the King’s Highway until we have passed through your territory.” (Numbers 21:22), again, Israel did not want to make war on the
Amorites, even though they were one of the people God gave to Israel to conquer (Exodus 33:2), but the Amorites did not want, their answer was “Sihon would not allow Israel to pass through his territory. He gathered all his people together and went out against Israel to the wilderness and came to Jahaz and fought against Israel.” (Numbers 21:23), Israel had no choice but to accept the fight and to ask Hashem for help. When therefore it is written that Balak “saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.” (Numbers 22:2) it was just a pretext to fight against Israel, because Balak and all other kings around them, knew the story, they knew that Israel was just defending themselves against the Amorites. That is why we can conclude that Balak was motivated by his intense anti-Semitism or detestation of Israel.
The Morning Star
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alak was afraid of the people of Israel, thus he called a prophet of G-d to help him in cursing Israel. “So Balak ben Zippor, who was king of Moab at that time, sent messengers to Balaam ben Beor at Pethor,
“When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD, she lay down under Balaam. And Balaam’s anger was kindled, and he struck the donkey with his staff.” (Numbers 22:27)
credit: pray4zion.org.
Parasha Overview: Balak
which is near the River in the land of the sons of his people” (Numbers 22:4–5 [my translation]). Balaam was known as a prophet of God. Before the calling of Israel as people of God there was already priests and prophets, we have already met some of them Melchitsedek, Jethro, Noah, Sem, Job, and right now Balaam. all were priests or prophets but were not Jews or members of the people of Israel. “Balaam belonged to the magicians, though at one time a prophet of God; by the Holy Spirit he had foretold the prosperity of Israel and the appearing of the Messiah; and his prophecies had been handed down by tradition from century to century.” (DA 59), this quotation is interesting, from it we learn that Balaam was aware of the role of Israel, he knew that the Messiah or savior of the world would come from Israel. He announced the Messiah in his prophecies “I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near: a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel; it shall crush the forehead of Moab and break down all the sons of Sheth.” (Numbers 24:17), this star, which shall come out of Jacob, is called today, the “Star of David,” it is the star drawn on the flag of modern Israel,
as the symbol of their waiting for the Messiah, which is also called in the Brit Hachadasha, the “morning star” (2 Peter 1:19; Revelation 2:28; 22:16). But what Balak did not know, was that the Messiah would be one of his descendant too, indeed, according to the Gemara, Ruth the Moabite, who was the ancestor of king David and Yeshua, was a descendant of Balak and later of Eglon king of Moab.
Great Is His Faithfulness
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alak knew very well Balaam, in the verse where he asked him to curse Israel, he said: “Come now, curse this people for me, since they are too mighty for me. . . . . for I know that he whom you bless is blessed [Mevorach], and he whom you curse is cursed [Yu’ar]” (Numbers 22:6), he knew exactly that Balaam had the power “to bless” and “to curse”, he was known as a prophet of God. But it is curious that he asked Balaam to curse Israel. It would be simpler to ask Balaam to bless him. If really Balaam had the power to bless and to curse, and if Balak was afraid of Israel, a blessing from
Balaam would be enough to be protected from this horde of Israelites who came from Egypt. This is a demonstration of anti-Semitism of Balak, he did not want just a protection, or to win a war on Israel, but to destroy Israel, and without cursing this people, it would not be defeated. The second point of this verse is the tense of the verbs used for the word “blessed” [Mevorach], and “cursed” [Yu’ar] . regarding the blessing he said Mevorach and not Yevurach, the difference is the first one is in a tense that could be translated as the present or the past, “is [already] blessed, when Yevurach, would be translated as “he will be blessed” in the future (sorry to be too simple, but I try to be clear for people who does not know Hebrew). In order to bless a person, we need to be straight and without jealousy, that is why the Israel had the sanctuary and the temple not every Kohen blessed the people of Israel, but only those who were selected for this function, because they were known as good people, filled with the same qualities of their ancestor Aharon, who was known as a loving person. Thus a blessing from a corrupted prophet or “magician” full of envy would
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makes elaborate preparations, hoping that Bilaam will succeed in the curse. Three times Bilaam attempts to curse and three times blessings issue instead. Balak, seeing that Bilaam has failed, sends him home in disgrace. Bnei Yisrael begin sinning with the Moabite women and worshipping the Moabite idols, and they are punished with a plague. One of the Jewish leaders brazenly brings a Midianite princess into his tent, in full view of Moshe and the people. Pinchas, a grandson of Aharon, grabs a spear and kills both evildoers. This halts the plague, but not before 24,000 have died.
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n the text of the parasha we have the story of Israel crossing the Negev and coming to the land of Edom. They ask permission to pass. “Now let us pass through your land” (Num. 20:17). But Edom refused. “You shall not pass through, or we will come out with the sword against you” (Num. 20:18). Israel did not insist and turned back and went around the land of Edom (Num. 21:4). The same thing happened with the Amorites (Num. 21:21-26). However this time Israel did not accept the refusal of the Amorites and took their land and cities. The story in our Haftara occurred about three hundred years later, during the time of Jephthah the Gileadite, the son of a prostitute (Judges 11:1). The Amonites came to provoke Israel for what happened during the time of Moses. “After a time the Ammonites made war against Israel” (Judges 11:4). The people of Israel called Jephthah to help them in this situation. Even though Jephthah was not happy, he sent a delegation to the Amonites. “What is there between you and me, that you have come to me to fight in my land?” (Judges 11:12). The king of the Amonites recalled to Jephthah what had
“How lovely are your tents, O Jacob, your encampments, O Israel! Like palm groves that stretch afar, like gardens beside a river, like aloes that the LORD has planted, like cedar trees beside the waters.” (Numbers 24:5–6)
credit: pray4zion.org
Haftarah Overview Judges 11:1-33
have no effect, it was, therefore, not worth to ask him to bless, this blessings would have no value. Israel is Mevorach is already blessed by the Lord. That is why in his “oracles” Balaam just repeated what he already knew about this people of God: “How can I curse whom God has not cursed? How can I denounce whom the LORD has not denounced?” (Numbers 23:8) and “God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it? Behold, I received a command to bless: he has blessed, and I cannot revoke it. He has not beheld misfortune in Jacob, nor has he seen trouble in Israel. The LORD their God is with them, and the shout of a king is among them. God brings them out of Egypt and is for them like the horns of the wild ox.” (Numbers 23:19–22), and again: “How lovely are your tents, O Jacob, your encampments, O Israel!” (Numbers 24:5). Even Balak knew that Israel was already blessed, but he wants a curse for the future, he heard that a Messiah is coming from Israel, if we can curse their future, then the Messiah would not come. But Balaam said rightly “God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind.” God is the
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same yesterday, today and tomorrow, what he has blessed cannot be cursed, that is the great faithfulness of God. Our assurance is His love for Israel and for each one of us.
Balaam, A Greedy Man
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alaam, as a prophet of God received clear instructions from the Almighty: “God said to Balaam, ‘You shall not go with them. You shall not curse the people, for they are blessed’.” (Numbers 22:12), his answer to Balak’s messengers was according to the will of God: “So Balaam rose in the morning and said to the princes of Balak, ‘Go to your own land, for the LORD has refused to let me go with you’.” (Numbers 22:13). However, Balaam was not sincere, for him a command from the king was a unique occasion to be rich. And Balak understood that Balaam would not do anything without a reward, he was ready to honor him greatly in the kingdom, “for I will surely do you great honor,” (Numbers 22:17). It was an Eastern way to say ask me whatever you want. Balak was ready to do more for him, and specially to pay him “whatever you say to me I will do.” (Numbers 22:17), or what even you ask me, I will give you. It is important to understand the mind of these East-
ern people, who lived on earth 3,500 years ago. When it is a matter of money, they always speak indirectly, by allusion, we already saw that when Abraham bought the cave of Machpelah to bury his wife Sarah. Ballam was greedy, that is why he said to the messengers “Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the command of the LORD my God to do less or more.” (Numbers 22:18), he gave his price, “his house full of silver and gold” Balak was a rich man, his house was full of silver and gold, it is exactly what Balaam wanted to go and to curse Israel. In the pirkei Abot we have the story of Rabbi ben Kisma to whom was offered a position as Rabbi in a city, he answered to the messengers of the Jewish people, “Even if you were to give me all the silver and gold, precious stones and pearls in the world, I would dwell nowhere but in a place of Thorah” the difference between both of them, is that Balak did not offer any money to Balaam, just great honor in the kingdom, but the Jewish people of the city knew that Rabbi ben Kisma needed a salary for his function and work, they offered him a good salary, but he refused even if they were offering to him millions of silver or gold coins. He was not greedy as Balaam was.
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Apostolic Writings — 2 Peter 2:1-16
alaam is remembered in all the biblical tradition as the false prophet “par excellence”. This text of the Apostolic Writings starts saying: “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.” (2 Peter 2:1), the people of God will be always in danger to hear and follow false prophets, false doctors and teachers and false pastors who are more attracted by financial benefits than taking care of the people of God. Balaam is an example of these false prophets “Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing,” (2 Peter 2:15) This text addresses the difficult topic of false prophets within God’s people. It is not a specificity of the disciples of Yeshua or the kehilah but it was also a challenge in the time of the Tanach. We remember the false prophets in the time of Jeremiah. “Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!” declares the LORD.” (Jeremiah 23:1) and even “Concerning the prophets: My heart is broken within me” (Jeremiah 23:9). The case of Balaam is interesting, because he wants to agree with G-d’s will. When he received the first call from Balak, he consulted Hashem (Numbers 22:8), at the second call, he did not need to consult Hash-
em, because he already had done it, and knew the answer, but his attraction for a king’s reward was so strong that he tried to ask God for a second time, and God said to him, OK, you can go. Rashi mentioned here a parallel between Genesis 22:3 and Numbers 22:21, where both, Abraham and Balaam rose early in the morning saddled their donkey, and went to a place to fulfill what they understood as the will of God: Abraham to sacrifice Itzchak, and Balaam to curse the people of Israel. The consequence of these actions could have been the destruction of the people of Israel. Without Itzchak, Jacob and then Israel would not exist, and cursing the people of Israel before their conquest of the land of Canaan would have resulted in their defeats and destruction. However, both were stopped by an angel: Abraham just before the ultimate moment of killing his son, and Balaam on the way to meet Balak. But the great difference is that if Abraham has seen and heard the angel of God, Balaam was not a prophet of God anymore, as soon as he decided to go, he became a false prophet and was not able to see and hear the angel of God. It was his donkey who saw the angel and was “the prophet,” let’s remember that “prophet” means, the “one who speaks on behalf of…” a true prophet speaks on behalf of God, Balaam’s donkey saw the angel but not Balaam, who pretended to be a prophet and servant of God. The text of 2 Peter affirms “but [Balaam] was rebuked for his
own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.” (2:16), what is the meaning of he was “rebuked for his own transgression?” The Jewish tradition teaches that Balaam was a descendant of Laban, the brother of Rivka (Sanhedrin 105), in this case we understand that he was a prophet of God, because the family of Laban was related to Abraham, Itzchak and Jacob, they had the knowledge of the true God. When Jacob left the house of Laban, they made an agreement “Come now, let us make a covenant, you and I. And let it be a witness between you and me.” So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar.” (Genesis 31:44–45), the stones of Jacob and Laban were erected as a pillar to serve as a witness “Then Laban said to Jacob, “See this heap and the pillar, which I have set between you and me. This heap is a witness, and the pillar is a witness,” (Genesis 31:51–52). What the donkey did to Balaam: “And when the donkey saw the angel of the LORD, she pushed against the wall and pressed Balaam’s foot against the wall. So he struck her again.” (Numbers 22:25), this wall was made of stone, to remind to Balaam that the stones are witnessing of the agreement made between his family and the family of Jacob, Israel. He was punished by his own transgression, his transgression was not to be faithful to his family’s covenant. What about our own commitment to faithfulness?
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happened a few centuries before (Judges 11:26) and pretended that he wanted to get back his original territory, “Because Israel, on coming from Egypt, took away my land from the Arnon to the Jabbok and to the Jordan; now therefore restore it peaceably” (Judges 11:13). However, Jephthah did not want to accept this demand from the Amonites. It was impossible, because the land had been given to the people of Israel by the L-rd himself. “So now the L-RD, the G-d of Israel, has conquered the Amorites for the benefit of his people Israel. Do you intend to take their place? (Judges 11:23). In fact Jephthah asked the Amorites if they wanted to oppose the will of G-d. They had not opposed G-d’s decision for three hundred years; it was better to continue that way if they did not want to be in trouble with G-d. The king of the Ammonites refused. “But the king of the Ammonites did not heed the message that Jephthah sent him” (Judges 11:23). Of course the conclusion is the victory of Israel. It is crucial for us to know whether or not we oppose G-d’s will. Victory is in the hand of G-d, but only if we obey him.
Stories and Traditions
I Have not Sinned
Inspirational Corner v The crime that
brought the judgments of God upon Israel was that of licentiousness. The forwardness of women to entrap souls did not end at Baalpeor. Notwithstanding the punishment that followed the sinners in Israel, the same crime was repeated many times. Satan was most active in seeking to make Israel’s overthrow complete. The licentious practice of the Hebrews accomplished for them that which all the warfare of nations and the enchantments of Balaam could not do. They became separated from their God. Their covering and protection were removed from them. (AH 326)
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abbi Israel Baal Shem Tov once encountered a preacher who was forever berating his listeners for their sins. In the most graphic terms he would describe the nature of the evil in the heart of man and the terrible punishments in store for his sinful audience. “Tell me’,’ the Baal Shem Tov asked the preacher, “how do you know so much about evil, considering that you have never tasted sin yourself?” The preacher was puzzled. “How do you know that I haven’t sinned?” “But my dear friend, I am sure you would have discussed your own sins, if you had any, before recounting the sins of others.”
Are We Slaves?
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n ancient story is told of a wealthy man who, in addition to many fields and orchards, had many servants and slaves. He was unkind, difficult and also had a violent temper. If a slave didn’t fulfill his wishes to the fullest, he would be beaten mercilessly. Once when he was beating one of his slaves, a wise man happened to walk by. He stopped and said, “It is neither proper nor ethical for one slave to be hitting another slave!” 6
“What do you mean one slave hitting another?” Declared the rich man angrily. “I am the owner and he is my slave!” “You are mistaken! In my opinion, you are more slave than he is! He, unfortunately, has no choice that he is a slave, but you, who cannot control your anger, you are indeed enslaved to your evil temper and temptations. Your anger is your master and ruler and you are enslaved to it!”
Learning Bird’s Language
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simple Jewish farmer, who lived in a village, hired a rabbi to teach his child. The teacher spent much of his free time in the forest outside the village. The farmer always wanted to know what the learned man was doing in the forest, but he refused to tell. One day the farmer insisted that he tell what he was doing in the forest. He told the farmer, “I spend my time in the forest studying the language of the birds and listening to what they are saying.” The farmer was impressed. He asked the teacher to teach him to understand what the birds were saying. The teacher initially refused, telling him that it was not to his benefit to know this. But, knowing that his job was at stake, he eventually relented and taught him.
One day, as the farmer was traveling through the forest, he heard one bird telling another bird, “Tonight thieves will steal this farmer’s cow.” Upon hearing this he immediately returned home and was able to save his cow. A week later, he again overheard a bird saying, “this farmer will have a financial loss due to fire.” As a result, he again was able to save his fortune. Some time later, as he was again traveling through the forest, when he heard one bird telling the other that soon this farmer will die. He immediately went back home and approached the teacher, whom he knew as a holy man and told him what he heard. “Twice, thanks to you, I understood what the birds were saying and saved my possessions, but what can I do now?” The teacher said to him, “I warned you that it was not good to know everything! Originally, it was decreed in heaven that you shall die, but then it was decided to spare your life in exchange for the loss of your possessions. Now that you have saved your possessions, the original decree was reinstated!” The lesson of the farmer can apply to our Mishna. “Who is rich? He who is happy with his lot” - Although one may be lacking in financial areas, perhaps it is precisely this lacking that spared them from something far worse!
Kids Parasha Balak
qDlD;b
Inspirational Corner
v Balaam inquired
Numbers 22:2 - 25:9
“But G-d’s anger was kindled because he went, and the angel of the L-rd took his stand in the way as his adversary. Now he was riding on the donkey, and his two servants were with him. And the donkey saw the angel of the L-rd standing in the road, with a drawn sword in his hand. And the donkey turned aside out of the road and went into the field. And Bilaam struck the donkey, to turn her into the road.” (Numbers 22:22–23 ESV) http://www.bnai-tikkun.org.nz 7
of God if he might curse Israel. He was anxious that the permission might be given, because he had the promise of great reward. But God said, “Thou shalt not go.” Balaam was urged the second time, by messengers more honorable than the first, and greater inducements were offered. He had been shown the will of the Lord in this matter, but he was so eager for the reward that he ventured to ask God a second time, and the Lord permitted him to go. Then he had a wonderful experience; but who would wish to have such an experience? Many examples might be given to show how people have been deceived by relying upon what they supposed to be their experience. (CTBH 110)