Rashi in His Own Words
במדבר כ"ב, ב': יִֽרֹמֱאָֽל לֵ֖אָרְשִׂי הָ֥שָׂﬠ־רֶשֲׁא־לָכּ תֵ֛א רוֹ֑פִּצ־ןֶבּ קָ֖לָבּ אְר ַ֥יַּו:
ה"ד י"שרוירא בלק בן צפור את כל אשר עשה ישראל לאמורי: אמר אלו שני מלכים שהיינו בטוחים עליהם לא עמדו בפניהם ,אנו על אחת כמה וכמה .לפיכך ויגר מואב:
Bamidbar 22:2: Balak the son of Tzippor saw all that the Jews had done to the Emorites.
Rashi Heading: Balak the son of Tzippor saw all that the Jews had done to the Emorites: He said, “These two kings whom we relied on could not resist them; we certainly cannot.” Consequently, “Moav became terrified.”
Synopsis
This week, we read the Torah portion of Balak. The Parshah begins by telling us that Balak saw all that the Jews had done to the Emorites. Rashi cites the entire verse and explains what he saw. He saw that the Jews defeated the Emorites. So, he said to himself that if the Jews could defeat Sichon and Og, who are so powerful, they can certainly defeat us. Rashi goes on to explain that because of this, the second verse of the Parshah begins by saying that "Moav became terrified."
What Rashi is explaining is that the first verse of the Parshah leads to the second verse. Moav was afraid because of what Balak saw. Without Rashi's explanation, we would not recognize the connection between the two verses. We might think that "Balak saw" and "Moav was terrified" are unrelated. However, this isn't easy to say. The second verse of the Parshah must follow the first. Therefore, Rashi's comments appear to be superfluous.
The second verse of our Torah portion tells us why Moav was afraid. It tells us that they were terrified because they saw how prominent and mighty the Jews were! The nation of Moav (not Balak) feared the size and the might of the Jewish army. However, they could not do anything about their fear because their king, Balak, was not afraid. Bear in mind that the Torah says that Moav was terrified. It does not mention Balak. They could not put a plan into action until Balak was also afraid. Once "Balak saw," they could do something about it.
Without Rashi, we might accept this explanation, despite its difficulty. According to what we are saying, the problem is that it should have first said that "Moav became terrified." Only then should it have said that "Balak saw." Nevertheless, we might have understood this as being Peshat. Therefore, Rashi must come and teach us that the two verses are very much in order. Additionally, they are cause and effect. Balak's seeing was the reason that Moav feared.
Rashi's Explanation
This week's Torah portion recounts how Balak, the king of Moav, was afraid of the Israelites. Why was he scared? The verse says that "Balak the son of Tzippor saw all that the Jews had done to the Emorites." Rashi cites the entire verse and explains precisely what he saw. "He (Balak) said, 'These two kings whom we relied on could not resist them; we certainly cannot.' Consequently, 'Moav became terrified.'"
Defeating the Emorites entailed killing the two mighty giants, Sichon and Og. When Balak saw that the Jews beat them, he realized that he would not stand a chance against the Jews. He immediately became terrified. Rashi appears to be suggesting that "Moav becoming terrified" was not an independent statement. Instead, it is a continuation of the first verse.
Difficulties in Understanding Rashi
We are suggesting that there are two distinct ways of interpreting the first two verses of our Parshah. Without Rashi, we would think that first, the Torah tells us that Balak saw all that the Jews had done to the Emorites. Then, in a different vein, the Torah tells us that Moav was afraid. How could we possibly understand the verses in that manner? Why would the Torah tell us that Balak saw what the Jews had done to the Emorites? The first verse seems to be out of place.
On the other hand, Rashi tells us that the two verses are directly related to each other. After Balak saw that the Jews killed Sichon and Og, he became afraid. Based on this, we need to understand why Rashi needs to explain the meaning of this verse. The two verses are connected. Otherwise, there is no reason for the Torah to teach us the first verse. What does Rashi's explanation add to our understanding of the Torah? We would know it on our own.
Furthermore, there are occasions when Rashi explains an entire verse. In those cases, he usually cites the first few words from the verse. He follows that by writing "et cetera," to hint that he is including the rest of the verse. Here, he cites the entire verse before giving his explanation. This is not in keeping with Rashi's general pattern. Why does he quote the whole verse here?
Finally, Rashi says that "These two kings whom we relied on could not resist them; we certainly cannot." The entire point is that Sichon and Og were so strong, and nevertheless, the Jews defeated them. This being the case, the Jews could undoubtedly defeat us. What difference does it make that Moav relied on Sichon and Og to defend them? Why does Rashi need to mention this?
The Explanation
The beginning student starts learning our Parshah from the first two verses. He knows that "Balak the son of Tzippor saw all that Israel had done to the Emorites." He then learns that "Moav became terrified of the people because they were numerous, and Moav became disgusted because of the children of Israel." Without Rashi's explanation, he assumes that the two verses are not related to each other. He sees that the second verse tells us the reason for Moav's terror: "because they were numerous." He doesn't see any need to refer to the previous verse for the cause of their fear. The people of Moav saw that the Jews were a large and mighty nation. Even before the war with Moav, we found that the Jews "surrounded the southern and eastern borders of the land of Moav." Therefore, they had sufficient reason to be afraid of the Jews.
One might wish to say that the people of Moav were not terrified until after the Jews defeated the Emorites. However, that is still not enough reason to connect the two verses. The first verse says that "Balak (the king of Moav) saw," while the second says that "Moav became terrified." Thus, one verse discusses the king, while the second talks about his nation.
That is why, without Rashi's comments, we would explain this as follows. Even before the Jews' victory against the Emorites, the nation of Moav was afraid. Their fear began from the time that the Jews surrounded them. However, they couldn't take any steps to deal with it; their king was not afraid. Once the Jews defeated the Emorites, Balak became worried. Then they could openly display their fear and take the necessary measures. First, they sought counsel from the elders of Midian. Balak then sent messengers to Bilaam to help them deal with the Jews.
This explanation is less than perfect. For everything to fit perfectly, the Torah should have first said that "Moav became terrified." Only then would it work to say that "Balak saw." Nevertheless, without Rashi, we would have learned that the verses are out of order. Therefore, Rashi must teach us that the first two verses are cause and effect. First, Balak saw, and as a result, Moav was afraid.
Why does the Torah say that "Balak saw" instead of "Moav saw?" After all, everyone saw that the Jews had defeated the Emorites. It was not Balak alone who saw this. Instead, Sichon and Og had a secret agreement with all of the Canaanite kings. Everyone recognized that Sichon and Og were the mightiest of the mighty. Therefore, they arranged to protect all of the Canaanite kings. They did so for a price. Each king paid tribute to Sichon and Og. The populace of the nations had no idea that any such arrangement existed. When Balak saw that the Jews had beaten Sichon and Og, he was terrified. They were his source of protection. Here he saw that even they could not stand up to the Jews. How would he be able to protect his country against them?
Granted, both Balak and his nation saw the Jews defeat the Emorites; nonetheless, each saw something completely different. The people of Moav were afraid of the Jews before; they continued to be frightened of them. For them, it was just another battle that the Jews won. Balak saw something different. He saw the defeat of those whom he had paid to protect him. He saw the destruction of those whom he had expected to be his salvation. This also explains why Rashi writes, "these two kings upon whom we had relied." The point was not that they were stronger than he. It was that Balak had relied upon him for protection.
Once Balak saw that his protection was gone, he no longer kept it a secret from his people. He told them that they had been relying on the protection of Sichon and Og until that point. Now they had no one to protect them from the Jews. Therefore, after "Balak saw," and then "Moav was terrified."
The above also explains why Rashi cites the entire verse before telling us his explanation. He quotes that "Balak the son of Tzippor saw all that the Jews had done to the Emorites." The verse tells us that Balak saw what the Jews had done to the Emorites. Sichon was the king of the Emorites. We might think that it refers to just him alone. However, Rashi's comments indicate that the verse also refers to Og. In Rashi's words, "these two kings whom we relied on could not resist them; we certainly cannot." We also find that on several occasions, Og is referred to as the king of the Emorites.
A Deeper Explanation of Rashi
There remains one thing that is not clear. We said that after Balak saw the destruction of Sichon and Og, he informed his nation of the agreement they had. Why did he find it necessary to do so? Sichon and Og were now dead, and they could no longer protect him. Of what benefit was it to tell his population that he was paying them tribute in exchange for protection? All that it accomplished was to bring upon his nation even more fear than they had before!
The explanation is that once he saw the destruction of Sichon and Og, he became baffled. Out of fear, he lost control of his faculties. He could no longer control himself. At that point, he revealed everything to his nation. This is in keeping with our Sage's teaching that "the wicked are under the control of their hearts."
This is in stark contrast to Moshe Rabbeinu. At one point, Moshe was afraid of Og, and for a good reason. Og had once done a favor (albeit for selfish motives) for our forefather Avrohom. Moshe was concerned that his merit might save him. Not only did Moshe not express his fear in any manner whatsoever. As the Talmud says, the fear remained solely in his heart. He had complete control of himself. Balak, however, had no self-control whatsoever. This, although it threw his nation into a panic.
May we learn from Moshe, the generation's leader, to control our emotions, at least in thought, speech, and deed.
(Adapted from a talk given on Shabbos Parshas Balak 5725)
I hope you gained as much by reading this as I did by translating and adapting it.
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