Cyberdov

I’d like to address 2 questions. One has long puzzled me - why does the Torah digress into a long story about Bilaam? The other only recently occurred to me - what are the Israelites doing battling Midian? They were poised to enter the Land of Israel, encamped north of the Dead Sea. Midian is hundreds of miles to the south!

Before giving my thoughts, I would like to digress to an idea I heard recently at the YCT Yemei Iyyun in Tanach from Dr Aster about the place of Hazael, king of Aram, in Tanach. II Kings 8 tells us:

7 And Elisha came to Damascus; and Ben-hadad the king of Aram was sick; and it was told him, saying. ‘The man of God is come hither.’ 8 And the king said unto Hazael: ‘Take a present in thy hand, and go meet the man of God, and inquire of the LORD by him, saying: Shall I recover of this sickness?’ 9 So Hazael went to meet him, and took a present with him, even of every good thing of Damascus, forty camels’ burden, and came and stood before him, and said: ‘Thy son Ben-hadad king of Aram hath sent me to thee, saying: Shall I recover of this sickness?’ 10 And Elisha said unto him: ‘Go, say unto him: Thou shalt surely recover; howbeit the LORD hath shown me that he shall surely die.’ 11 And he settled his countenance stedfastly upon him, until he was ashamed; and the man of God wept. 12 And Hazael said: ‘Why weepeth my lord?’ And he answered: ‘Because I know the evil that thou wilt do unto the children of Israel: their strongholds wilt thou set on fire, and their young men wilt thou slay with the sword, and wilt dash in pieces their little ones, and rip up their women with child.’ 13 And Hazael said: ‘But what is thy servant, who is but a dog, that he should do this great thing?’ And Elisha answered: ‘The LORD hath shown me that thou shalt be king over Aram.’ 14 Then he departed from Elisha, and came to his master, who said to him: ‘What said Elisha to thee?’ And he answered: ‘He told me that thou wouldest surely recover.’ 15 And it came to pass on the morrow, that he took the coverlet, and dipped it in water, and spread it on his face, so that he died; and Hazael reigned in his stead.

This is introduced much earlier, in the time of Elijah, in I Kings 19:

15 And the LORD said unto him: ‘Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus; and when thou comest, thou shalt anoint Hazael to be king over Aram; 16 and Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel; and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room. 17 And it shall come to pass, that him that escapeth from the sword of Hazael shall Jehu slay; and him that escapeth from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay.

Dr Aster mentioned a stele found in Hazor (?) in which the Aramean king boasts of his illustrious father (the king preceding him) and his election by his god Hadad, and his conquest of Israel. Dr. Aster accepted the opinion that this Stele was written by Hazael (this is debated among scholars). If so, the Tanach seems to be responding to a contemporary issue.

1. Hazael claims royal lineage - Tanach quotes his own words in contradiction (”But what is thy servant, who is but a dog, that he should do this great thing?”). Moreover, Tanach charaterizes him a a usurper rather than a member of a dynasty (”he took the coverlet, and dipped it in water, and spread it on his face, so that he died; and Hazael reigned in his stead.”)
2. Hazael claims election by Hadad - Tanach rebuts that God was responsible for his acsension to the throne (’Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus; and when thou comest, thou shalt anoint Hazael to be king over Aram’)

Now with this idea - that Tanach is speaking to contemporary issues - we can revisit Bilaam. I recently purchased The Sacred Bridge, an overview of Ancient Near East archaeology and worthy successor to the MacMillan Bible Atlas - a beautiful and fascinating work. One tidbit I picked up is that Bilaam was written about in other artifacts from the period, found in Jordan. He was clearly a well-known contemporary figure.

Furthermore, the Torah tells us that Midian and Moab formed an alliance against the Israelites. However the Torah commands that Moab not be attacked - Deuteronomy 2:9, “Be not at enmity with Moab, neither contend with them in battle.” Midian, however, was fair game.

So, the picture that emerges is, Midian sent a force northwards to join with Moab against the Israelites. Bilaam was a well-known Midianite and was involved in the effort. The Torah’s focus is on the cosmic significance of this struggle - on one level it was a military conflict, but it must also be understood as a battle that reflected cosmic forces that must be interpreted through the lens of monotheism and God’s election of the Israelites.

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