The parasha opens: “Balak ben Tzipor saw all that Israel had done to the Emorites.” Rashi explains he saw Israel’s victories over Sichon and Og. But the question is immediate: “he saw” and not “he heard”? When Yitro received the news: “Yitro heard.” So why does Balak see?

Three examples in the Torah:

This is how Balak saw, through his inner eye, what Israel had done to Sichon and Og. But the Zohar reveals far more about the words “ben Tzipor.”

The Zohar says first: Balak had a bird he would shake with a stick, fly through the air, whisper incantations to — and it would chirp back with information. This sounds like a trained living bird. But the Zohar continues and describes something radically different:

How was it powered? Seven days: by day, a window was opened so the sun charged the wings. At night, the moon recharged it. Incense was burned before it as a ritual.

Activation: They took its tongue, pierced a hole, and inserted a gold pin — exactly like a phonograph needle. And then: “it spoke great things by itself.”

The Zohar reveals a second meaning: Balak was the biological son of Yitro. Yitro, before his repentance, had seven names. One of them: Tzipor. Balak = ben Tzipor, in the most literal sense.

This verse was said by King David about Yitro. Like a bird that leaves its old nest and finds a new home — so Yitro left all the religions he was attached to as a pagan priest, and joined the Jewish people. “Ken lah” — keni, the Kenite : that is Yitro’s epithet.

When his son Balak took the opposite path, he went to Moav. They crowned him king there. But to understand what Balak saw and why he reacted as he did — we must first study a passage from Parashat Metzora : the House Leprosy.

Rashi’s explanation: the Amorites had hidden gold in the walls, and the leprosy forced the walls to be torn down, revealing the treasure. But this does not fit with leprosy as punishment for slander. Therefore, there is a great secret here.

“He shall slaughter one of the birds” Leviticus 14:50 — this is Mashiach ben Yosef who falls in battle. We pray daily that he not fall (Tractate Sukkah 52a) — but the Torah writes of slaughter. His blood atones.

“He shall release the living bird outside the city… toward the open field” Leviticus 14:53 — Mashiach ben David. Alive, free, he redeems.

And the last verse of Ha’azinou — closing the entire story of the Jewish people:

“Vekhifer” — and here: “vekhifer al habayit vetaher” — the same root, the same Redemption. Everything is connected.

Tzipor = Mashiach. “Vayar Balak ben Tzipor” — he saw that from him would emerge a son-bird : Mashiach ben David. He saw, through his prophetic vision, that his own lineage would produce the Savior of Israel.

Balak understood: Mashiach ben David will come from me — and he will redeem Israel. This had to be stopped. But how? He understood that one cannot curse Israel directly.

Bilaam was a sorcerer of extraordinary talent. He understood Balak’s reasoning: to curse effectively, one must go to the root and sever it. Like a gardener who wants to destroy a tree — trimming branches does nothing. You must uproot the root itself.

So Bilaam used all his power and ascended to the root of Israel. And here is what he found:

And from the curse emerged a blessing. This is why there is a parasha bearing the name of the greatest villain — because G-d concealed within it the most sacred secret: that of the Mashiach.

This revelation raises another question reaching back to the beginning: why did Avraham Avinu go to war to save Lot? Genesis 14 Lot had separated from him and chosen Sodom. When Sodom was attacked, Avraham could have said: that was his choice.

Everything is connected: Avraham → Lot → Moav → Balak → Eglon → Ruth → Boaz → David → Mashiach. And Parashat Balak, at the heart of Bamidbar, secretly encodes the entire chain of Redemption.

The usual interpretation: Israel will not assimilate. But “lo yitchashav” means cannot be counted — too numerous to number. How? Israel is the smallest of peoples!

Thus in one single parasha — Parashat Balak — are gathered all the greatest themes: Mashiach ben Yosef, Mashiach ben David, the Ge’ula, the Resurrection of the Dead — all concealed in the parasha named after the greatest villain. Because G-d hides His most precious treasures exactly where one would never think to look.