Micha was the Navi of the Jewish nation during the reign of three kings. King Yatom ben Euzeyaho, Achaz ben Yatom and Chizkiyahu ben Achaz. In his writings, he relates the prophecies of the exile of the ten tribes and events that will take place in the time of Mashiach.
Micha explains that in the end of days when many of the nations will want to wage war on Jerusalem, there will be a steady flow of Hashem’s kindness on the Jewish nation. Hashem will bestow on us of great strength and we will obliterate our enemies. We will destroy their fortresses, their paranormal powers and eradicate their idols.
The Navi Micha reprimands the Jewish nation for the lack of a proper recognition of Hashem; He proclaims, “My nation, think of all the good that Hashem has done for you. Hashem has taken you out of Egypt, and have sent you Moshe Rabainu to teach you Torah, Aaron Hakohain to forgive your sins, and Miriam Hanaviah to teach the women. Remember what Balak wanted to do to you together with Bila’am and curse the nation, but Hashem did not allow that to happen.”
The Navi Micha defends the nation to Hashem: “How can we show our gratitude? Should we bring many Korbanot of young animals? Do you want us to bring a thousand Korbanot? Do you wish we bring our first child as a Korban?” Hashem responds via Micha: “No absolutely not, but here are three things that Hashem requests, #1 we should do justice, #2 love to do kindness, #3 to go humbly in Hashem’s ways.
The Navi is going through memory lane remembering the exodus from Egypt, but then we jump to the event with Balak and Bila’am. There were many events in between that are appropriate to remember. Occurrences that had much significance and helped develop the essence of the nation. Like the war with Amalek that obligated us until today, to eradicate them. The event of Matan Torah too, has changed the Jewish people and indeed the whole world. Why is there no recollection of the many happenings that took place in the desert except for the episode of Bila’am and Balak?
It seems the Navi Micha is giving us an amazing insight to Hashem’s relationship with Am Yisrael. All the events that took place in the desert we took a part in and witnessed it. If it would not have been written in the Torah we would still know about it because we experienced it. The incident of Balak and Bila’am however, all took place without any of our involvement. There was a distant king that hired a person with a special ability to curse us. Hashem exchanged his curses for words of blessings. We were oblivious of this wicked scheme and not part of anything that happened, but the Torah dedicates an entire Parasha to share with us a message. We should know that Hashem is watching our back even when we are not aware of the danger. This is a lesson for the generations to recognize Hashem is constantly protecting us.
We sometimes hear of an individual in Gaza that blew himself up by accident while building a bomb meant for us. Or stashes of weapons that were “accidently” found and tunnels of warfare randomly stumbled upon. How many times the nations across the globe planned to hurt us but it didn’t work out? These are modern day Parshat Balak’s. We thank you Hashem for watching our backs... always.
