After the wicked Bilaam tried to curse Israel and did not succeed, he left behind a few “parting words”... among them (24:21): הקיני את וירא קינך בסלע ושים מושבך איתן ויאמר משלו וישא- “And he saw the Kenite, and he took up his parable and said: Strong is your dwelling, and you placed your nest in a rock.” Rashi explains: “I wonder from where you merited this, were you not with us in the counsel of ‘לו נתחכמה הבה’ - ‘Come, let us deal wisely with them’ (Shemos 1:10)? And now you have settled in the stronghold and refuge of Israel!”
The Gemara describes (Sanhedrin 106a): “Bilaam said to Yisro: Kenite, were you not with us in that counsel? Who settled you among the mighty of the world?!” And this is as Rebbe Chiyya bar Abba said in the name of Rebbe Simai: “There were three involved in that counsel: Bilaam, Iyov, and Yisro. Bilaam, who gave the advice—was killed. Iyov, who remained silent—was judged with suffering. Yisro, who fled—the descendants of his descendants merited to sit in the Chamber of Hewn Stone.”
In truth, we must understand how such a thing happened. Seemingly, at the time they took counsel together in the matter of “Come, let us deal wisely with him”, they were on the same level. How then did it happen that Bilaam descended lower and lower, while Yisro rose and was elevated, until he merited that his descendants would sit in the Chamber of Hewn Stone?
To understand, we must return to Egypt, where both of them were advisors to Pharaoh. Both of them understood at the time that what they were doing was not proper. Not only had they not shown gratitude toward Yosef, who had saved them from the shame of famine, and toward Yaakov Avinu, who had brought blessing to Egypt—but in addition to that, they took counsel together on how to harm their descendants and enslave them.
Both of them understood that they would not be able to change the plan of the wicked Pharaoh. But Yisro, even though he had nothing he could do about it, at least made a protest, and because of that protest, he was forced to flee from Egypt. He lost his position and his honor. In contrast, Bilaam did not want to give up his high status and cooperated with the wicked plans of Pharaoh.
The consequences of this story are known to us, but stories like it take place every single day. Each one of us is faced with challenges, and within the heart we know what the truth is. And although at the time of the challenge, it might seem as if the one who goes with the truth loses out, after some time the results become clearly visible: “Bilaam, who gave advice—was killed. Yisro, who fled—his descendants merited to sit in the Chamber of Hewn Stone.” This is something worthwhile to remember at the time of a challenge!
- Tiv HaTorah - Balak
