Drash for Shabbat Balak

Going Free-lance

Many are the times that we are given a certain measure of power over others, to be used only within specific constraints and for specific purposes.  But such is the seductive call of power, that even good people have a tendency to abuse it.  We’ve all heard the saying:  Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely.  The saying is usually attributed to Lord Acton, a Nineteenth Century figure.  But similar sentiments have been attributed to the Eighteenth Century William Pitt the Elder, Prime Minister of England, in a speech to the House of Lords.  For most of us, whether we know of the saying’s origins or not, and regardless of who coined it, it rings true.  That’s because many of us have personal knowledge of someone in power, abusing that power to the detriment of someone else.

Power comes in many guises.  Many in history have been those who have been believed to have special knowledge of, or influence with God.  There are those who have been ascribed such power who have proved to be saintly individuals worthy of the trust.  There are also those who have proven to be charlatans, abusing such trust for raw self-interest.  In this week’s Torah reading we see an example that some or the Rabbis think is the latter.

Bilaam son of Be ‘or, is a Prophet in Pethor which is believed to be a city on the Euphrates River.  The Torah reading, from the 22^nd chapter of Numbers, represents him as a gentile Prophet of the God of Israel.  But the Rabbis are divided on whether he genuinely was, or whether he was a charlatan.  For the sake of argument and today’s lesson, let’s assume that from the start he’s genuine.  He has some special knowledge of the God of Israel and has a calling to share it with the nations.  For this, he was known far and wide, even to Balak son of Tzippur the King of Moab, located hundreds of kilometres away across inhospitable desert.

Balak sent emissaries to Bilaam to ask him to go with them to curse the people Israel, whom Balak feared.  Praying about it overnight, Bilaam received the unequivocal message that he was not to go with the men.  He was not to curse God’s chosen people.

Balak was a mighty king and not one to take ‘no’ for an answer.  He sent a second group- of emissaries to Bilaam and offered him great riches if he would do the king’s bidding.  Praying about it again, Bilaam received the answer:  he can go with them, but he must only do as God commands.

Most of us are familiar with the oft-repeated doctrine that God is steadfast and unchanging.  It is one of the Rambam’s 13 Principles of Faith, articulated in his commentary on the Mishnah.  If you saw The Frisco Kid, one of my favourite movies of all time, you saw Gene Wilder as Rabbi Avram Galinski.  Speaking to Chief Grey Cloud, he proclaims:  “[God] doesn't make rain. He gives us strength when we're suffering. He gives us compassion when all that we feel is hatred. He gives us courage when we're searching around blindly like little mice in the darkness... but He does not make rain!”  [Thunder and lightning begin, followed by a downpour]  “Of course... sometimes, just like that, he'll change His mind!”

As funny as Wilder’s performance was, most of us, if we believe in God at all, do not see Him as willing to change his mind – as it were – to accommodate our whims.  So it is surprising in our Torah reading when Bilaam, after Balak’s second request, went back to God in prayer expecting to hear a different answer.  What changed from the first deputation, where Bilaam enquired of God and was told in absolute terms not to go to Balak and try to curse Israel? 

It would appear that the only thing changed is Balak’s level of desperation, leading to the extravagant offer:  “I will reward you richly and will do anything you ask of me; only come and damn this people for me.” And Bilaam’s greed, brought to the surface by knowledge of the power over Balak that he clearly wielded.  That’s what changed.

Bilaam was sorely tempted by Balak’s entreaties, despite God’s earlier, unequivocal judgement.  Does this prove whether he was a genuine Prophet or simply a charlatan?  I don’t think so, but it probably does prove that he was drunk with power.  Even the best man ever born would be in danger or losing his integrity if offered a promise of unlimited riches by a powerful king.  Since by definition, only one man can be the best man ever born, that means that the rest of us are even more susceptible to temptation!  And we see the results of these temptations, the results of our susceptibility to abuse of power, every day.

Bilaam isn’t one of the most corrupt men to ever live.  He’s simply one of the few whose corruptibility made it into the Torah narrative for all generations to read.  And as such he provides us with an important negative role-model.  He provides us with an important lesson on the importance of integrity.  With an opportunity to receive great reward for doing something that God has already told him in no uncertain terms not to do, Bilaam goes free-lance.  Instead of accepting that his power derives from a unique facility he possesses, and using that power within the constraints that come along with it, he decides to become his own boss.  The rest of the narrative, where Bilaam’s donkey tries to stop him from travelling to Balak, implies this.

I’ve written a piece on integrity as a core value for the issue of our congregational newsletter, Gates of Peace, which will be published in a few days’ time.  In it, my thesis is that, If we don’t have integrity, we can have little else going for us.  Bilaam, in acceding to Balak’s second entreaty, acted without integrity.  Unwilling to accept God’s answer in the face of the promise of untold riches, he re-opened the conversation with God in order to get the answer he wanted.  For a Prophet to try to manipulate God in that was, shows a lack of integrity.  And what is a Prophet without integrity?

Bilaam teaches us of the futility of life without integrity.  And he teaches us of the danger of power.  Even if Lord Acton was not correct, and power is not in its very essence corrupting.  After all, it can’t be argued that countless individuals over history have wielded power of various types without being corrupted!  But we nevertheless understand the temptation.  And Bilaam’s plight illustrates the pitfall.

 May our Sabbath prayer be that those who wield power among us, prove themselves able to do so and retain their integrity.  And may each one of us, if give the gift of power, be steadfast in using it only for good.  Amen.