Or HaChaim on Numbers 23:10/אור החיים על במדבר כ״ג:י׳

1 מי מנה עפר יעקב, Who can count the dust of Jacob? Considering the fact that Bileam was desperate to find some way in which to make a curse against Israel stick, he had also investigated another track. That track is one often employed by the forces of the קליפה, the spiritually negative forces. It is the track of "things numbered." We have learned in Baba Metzia 42 that "blessing does not take hold on things which have been numbered, measured, or weighed, but only on things concealed from the eye." Clearly, the author of this saying is trying to tell us that the examples given are subject to the effects of "the evil eye" and even though they may have been blessed such a blessing may not endure. Bileam, the master of the evil eye, had examined if the Jewish people could be hurt by his evil eye due to their having been numbered. He found out that they enjoyed the blessing of not being subject to being numbered. [generally, only males between the ages of 20 and 60 are ever reported as having been counted. Ed.] G'd had promised Abraham long before he had even had a son that his descendants would be as numerous as the dust of the earth, i.e. not subject to count as one cannot count the dust of the earth. and that as a result no evil eye could invalidate any blessing bestowed upon this people (Genesis 13,16). Although this blessing had been given to Abraham, it had only been fulfilled in the days of Jacob. This is why Bileam referred to "the dust of Jacob."

2Bileam may also have meant that it would be a practical impossibility to count the whole people even if they wanted to count themselves. G'd had specifically forbidden them to conduct or submit to a headcount. Any attempt to arrive at the number of Israelites had to be conducted via either the counting of coins or some other object, but not the people themselves.

3ומספר את רבע ישראל, "or numbered the births of Israel?" We have already explained that Bileam had mentally divided the Israelites into two categories, the elite and the average Israelites. He referred to the latter as "Jacob," whereas he referred to the elite as "Israel." When he had said: "who counted the dust of Jacob," he referred to the number of average Israelites, whereas when he referred to the numbering of Israel, he meant the elite amongst the people. He was impressed to have found out that there was an innumerable number of righteous people amongst the Israelites. Alternatively, he may have meant that although the actual number of righteous was not all that impressive, their impact on the Israelite society on the whole made them appear as innumerable. The reverse is true of the wicked. Although they may be large in number, their influence may be negligible. We know this from what G'd said to King Chiskiyah who had complained about the large numbers of Assyrians facing him (compare Sanhedrin 27). G'd assured Chiskiyah that the wicked are not important in proportion to their number. The reason that Bileam referred to רבע is an allusion to the righteous who are "lying" within their tents as we know from Jacob's blessing to Issachar in Genesis 49,14: "couching down between the sheep-folds." [The author uses the word רבע and רבץ interchangeably .Ed.] Another reason may be that the שכינה רבעת עליהם, that G'd's presence is constantly "resting" uopn them. There is also a mystical dimension here, i.e. that the righteous are the cause that G'd's Unity is able to fuse with the terrestrial world.

4Bileam also alluded to the miracles G'd had performed for the Jewish people in Egypt at the time Pharaoh had decreed that all Jewish boy babies be drowned in the river Nile. At that time the Egyptians tried to keep track of eventual births by the Israelite women through counting the number of nights after the women had undergone ritual immersion. This proved to be of no avail as G'd performed numerous miracles in order to frustrate the calculations of the Egyptians. You will find details about this in Shemot Rabbah 23 and in Sotah 11.

5תמת נפשי מות ישרים, "May I die the death of the upright." These were Bileam's own words, they had not been inspired by G'd. We have already been told in Yalkut Shimoni (item 768) on this verse that whenever Bileam wanted to say something that would not prove harmful to the Israelites G'd did not interfere. The reason Bileam said מות ישרים instead of saying כמותם, "just like they," which would refer to the death of the Israelites is that the wicked Bileam here asked for something exceptional. We are told in the Zohar volume one page 122 that at the time of death the righteous are divided into two groups. In the case of the first group, the soul leaves the body and proceeds directly to the Celestial Regions without crossing any barriers in between. The second group of righteous people are not that fortunate as they have to undergo a period when they will be examined concerning any sins they had committed during their lifetime and for which they had not been punished. Even a minor sin can become the cause for the soul to experience some delay before entry into the Celestial Region to which it has been assigned. Bileam was careful to request that his soul should experience immediate transfer to the Celestial Region for which he hoped to qualify.

6On the other hand, it is possible that even these words were spoken while Bileam was under the influence of the Holy Spirit. In that event he wanted to experience death "at the hands of ישרים," i.e. the 12,000 righteous Israelites Moses would choose to conduct the punitive campaign against Midian. In the event, his wish was fulfilled.

7There is a third possibility namely that Bileam planned to become a penitent close to death so that he would have benefited by his wickedness in his terrestrial life while also "cashing in" on his repentance just before forfeiting his extra-terrestrial life. Now that Bileam, -though acknowledging by implication that his had been an extremely despicable life- wanted to delay his repentance, he was denied this opportunity. It is not unusual to hear potential penitents say that if they were assured of immediate death as soon as they become בעלי תשובה, penitents, they would opt for it. What they cannot contemplate is a continued life on earth as צדיקים, righteous people, and the demands made by life on earth on such people. Bileam did not ask to die the death of righteous Israelites, something obviously not possible; all he wanted was to die like a Gentile penitent.

8ותהי אחריתי כמהו, "and may my end (future) be like theirs" Bileam referred to the Jewish people. He was referring to the hereafter which is described as the "end (final purpose) of the world." Even the righteous are examined once more before a final decision is made if they are entitled to the ultimate happiness in that world. Bileam prayed that he would be allowed to qualify on both counts.

9According to the interpretation I have mentioned that Bileam wished that his death in this world should occur at the hands of the righteous Israelite soldiers who would conduct the punitive expedition against Midian, we must understand the words: "let my end be like theirs" in a different vein. According to Kabbalists, even the קליפות, the spiritually negative forces, contain some minute element of sanctity which is trapped inside them. It is this element which enables such forces to exist at all in our world. When such קליפות, i.e. the "owners" or better "captors" of these sparks of sanctity are killed by Israelites, the spark of sanctity is set free. It may happen that this spark attaches itself to the spiritual part of the Israelite who set it free. When Bileam prayed that he wanted to die at the hands of the righteous, he meant for the spark of sanctity inside him to become attached to the sanctity, i.e. soul of the Israelite who would kill him so that eventually he, Bileam, would become like the Israelite. Rabbi Yitzchak Luria (Ari zal) wrote in the Sefer hagilgulim, the book dealing with transmigrations of souls, that the soul of Bileam reappeared on earth in the guise of the she-ass of the pious Rabbi Pinchas ben Yair. This shows that it was rehabilitated. Although Bileam himself died at the hands of a righteous Israelite soldier, even the spark of sanctity within him had become so tainted already that it had to undergo a laborious process of cleansing until eventually it resurfaced on earth as the life-force of Rabbi Pinchas' she-ass. Having done so (and living an exemplary life under its illustrious master), it eventually qualified for a life in the hereafter.