He sent messengers to Bilaam son of Beor. (Bemidbar 22:5)
You might ask, why did Hakadosh Baruch Hu bring His Shechinah to rest on an evil gentile? It was so the nations of the world will not have the opportunity to say, “If we had prophets, we would mend our ways.” Hashem granted them prophets, and they broke down the world’s mores. Originally, the non-Jews refrained from illicit relationships. But Bilaam advised them to abandon themselves to licentiousness. (Rashi)
Let’s figure out how Bilaam’s prophetic mission countered the non-Jews’ claim of, “If we had prophets, we would mend our ways.” After all, they could still claim that had Hashem given them a righteous prophet like Moshe, they would have bettered themselves. What was accomplished by giving them the evil Bilaam?
This question is based on the mistaken assumption that Bilaam was an evil person who became a prophet. This is not so. Bilaam was not evil despite being a prophet; he was evil because he was a prophet. The faculty of prophecy made Bilaam’s inner being go bad.
How so?
“It is not because you are more numerous than all the peoples that Hashem desired you” – Hakadosh Baruch Hu said to Yisrael: I desire you because even when I shower you with greatness, you minimize yourselves before Me. I gave greatness to Avraham Avinu, and he said, “I am dust and ashes.” To Moshe and Aharon, and they said, “What are we?” To David, and he said, “I am a worm and not a person.”
But the idol worshippers are not like that. I gave greatness to Nimrod, and he said, “Come, let us build a city.” To Pharaoh, and he said, “Who is Hashem?” To Sancheriv, and he said, “Who among all the gods of the lands?” To Nebuchadnezzar, and he said, “I will rise up on the heights of a cloud.” To Chiram king of Tyre, and he said, “I sat in the dwelling of G-d, in the heart of the seas.”
Greatness is a factor that promotes growth. It causes the seed planted deep down to grow. When a person is little, the hidden points inside him are so little and so deep that they are not noticeable to others. But when he grows greater, his inner self grows as well, and then it manifests itself externally, and his true nature is revealed.
This explains the difference between the Jewish people and the nations of the world. When they are still small, the differences between them are subtle, because they are buried deep inside them. But when they grow greater, it becomes apparent who they really are. Avraham Avinu, Moshe and David, when they grew, their humility grew along with them. Also Nimrod, Pharaoh, Sancheriv and Nebuchadnezzar, if not that they became great, we would not know much about their true inner nature. When they grew, their wickedness grew along with them, and showed who they really were.
We may assume that if Bilaam had not become a prophet, he would have been the best and most praiseworthy non-Jew of all times. He would have been a really proper person and displayed all kinds of desirable qualities. Hashem chose the best non-Jew that was to be found, and granted him tremendous greatness, prophecy like that of Moshe Rabbeinu. This caused his inner self to grow and develop. What came out? A really wicked person. He even eliminated the world’s existing moral practices.
This definitively refutes any claim of the non-Jews that had they been granted prophets, they would have bettered their ways.
Avimelech, who took Sarah, was a prophet. Hashem spoke to him. And so were Bilaam, Lavan and Eliphaz son of Eisav. They all were prophets from the nations of the world. Yet, all these “prophets” tried to uproot everything good. We know what Bilaam tried to do, and what Lavan tried to do. Eliphaz grew up around Yitzchak Avinu and knew very well that according to Halachah, he need not and should not obey his father, if his father tells him to transgress a Torah prohibition. But he still sought to kill Yaakov.
A prophet encompasses the entire world, as the Rambam writes. Thus, every prophet of the nations, who encompassed the whole world, wished to uproot and destroy the whole world.
