Signpost 3 · Rav Haim Ziegler זצ״ל
The Prophecy of Bilam
Two verses: one gives the frame, the other the sequence
A teaching of Rav Haim Ziegler zatsal · Éditions Gueoula
Translated from the French original; the French version remains the reference text.
The Prophecy of Bilam
Two verses: one gives the frame, the other the sequence
The readings of the end of days rest on two verses of the portion Balak.
The first sets the frame: “Woe! who shall live mi-sumo El?”
Tradition reads in אֵל the peoples whose names carry it: Israel and Ishmael.
The second verse gives the sequence: tsim coming from the hand of Kittim.
1 The first verse: the frame
וַיִּשָּׂא מְשָׁלוֹ וַיֹּאמַר: אוֹי מִי יִחְיֶה מִשֻּׂמוֹ אֵל
“He took up his parable and said: woe! who shall live when G-d establishes this?” — Bamidbar 24:23
“He took up his parable and said: woe! who shall live when G-d establishes this?” — Bamidbar 24:23
The words מִשֻּׂמוֹ אֵל are veiled. The received reading hears in them the peoples in whose names אֵל stands: יִשְׂרָאֵל and יִשְׁמָעֵאל.
The frame is set: the period in which what is at stake between those two is tied.
2 The second verse: the sequence
וְצִים מִיַּד כִּתִּים וְעִנּוּ אַשּׁוּר וְעִנּוּ עֵבֶר וְגַם הוּא עֲדֵי אֹבֵד
“And tsim from the hand of Kittim; they shall afflict Ashur, they shall afflict Ever, and he too shall perish.” — Bamidbar 24:24
“And tsim from the hand of Kittim; they shall afflict Ashur, they shall afflict Ever, and he too shall perish.” — Bamidbar 24:24
צִים (tsim) is read as ships — forces setting out by sea.
The verse then chains those who are afflicted, and ends on the one who strikes.
3 What the Rav said of it
He held these two verses to be the key: the first gives the frame, the second the order of things.
This is a reading of verses, not an explicit commentary carried by the text. What the verse says and what one reads in it remain two distinct things.
Did you follow the lesson?
Four questions on the third signpost.
1
From which portion do these two verses come?
Bamidbar, chapter twenty-four.
2
What does tradition read in the word אֵל of the first verse?
That is what sets the frame.
3
What does צִים mean in the second verse?
Forces setting out by sea.
4
What status should this reading be given?
The Rav kept the two apart.