"And they killed the kings of Midyan along with the rest of their slain: the five kings of Midyan; and Bilaam the son of Beor they killed with the sword." (31:8) We need to understand why the Torah separated Bilaam from the the slain kings of Midyan, stating that they killed him "with the sword." Why couldn't the Torah simply write: "Midyan and Bilaam were killed along with their slain"?
The heilige Ben Ish Chai explains this with a parable: A Yid once entered a shul where the custom was that when the Chazzan recited the Birchos HaShachar, the entire Shul stood up. As this Yid walked in, he mistakenly thought everyone was standing up in his honor! Flattered, he immediately walked up to Mizrach and sat in the seat of the Rosh HaKahal. Just as he reached the eastern wall, the Chazan finished the brachos, and the entire Shul sat back down. The man, however, convinced himself that they had sat down out of respect for him. When the Rosh HaKahal arrived and saw someone in his seat, the Shamash approached the man and instructed him to move all the way to the back to Maariv, to the bench reserved for the passing guests. The man was furious at the Shamash, but having no choice, he went and sat there.
When he returned home, he complained to his wife how he was mistreated. His wife, understanding the situation, told him: "They weren't standing for you; they were standing in honor of the brachos!" But the husband stubbornly insisted: "No, they were definitely standing for me!" Wisely, his wife asked: "Did anyone stand up for you when you walked to the back of the shul?" "No," he replied. "Well," she said, "that is proof that they weren't standing for you when you first walked in either!"
The Ben Ish Chai concludes: From the "end" of the event, one can understand the true meaning of the "beginning". This was exactly the case with Bilaam. He could have deceived himself into thinking that because the Torah records his prophecies, it must mean he was a deeply important and righteous person. Therefore, the Torah concludes by showing that Bilaam was killed separately with a sword—a disgraceful, shameful end to demonstrate that his prophecy held no personal merit, and he himself was never truly important.
