Balak: Truth

When Moshe begged off  from being the spokesperson of GD at the burning  bush, Gd answers: 
 מִ֣י שָׂ֣ם פֶּה֮ לָֽאָדָם֒  Who gives man speech? Is it not I, the LORD? ( Moshe is absent form this parsha)

Balak, the king of  Moab senses the fear of the ascendant Israelites among the people he rules, the Moabites.  It is not clear that the fear is justified.  It seems that the tribes of relatives, Edom ( Esau) and Ammon ( Lot) were exempt from the battles visited upon aliens like the Emorites. But the fear is real so Balak attempts to hire an influencer, one famous for brilliance, a man with connections, Billam to make pronouncements that will cast the Israelites in a more vulnerable light. Propaganda is a key element in this war.  If the Moabite people are fearful, they are disadvantaged.  If they perceive the Israelites  as weak and vulnerable, they have a better chance in battle. 

Billam is offered the job of cursing the Israelites.  The word for curse אָֽרָה, arah, is closely related to ohr, light. Billam is hired to cast light upon, to reveal, the faults of Israel . ( Note that the antonymic baruch  can refer to burying a [revealed] branch in the ground so that new growth can appear). 

Billam's art is based upon accurately reporting communications that come from his heavenly sources. These sources tell him not to do this job.  Balak takes the rejection as a basis for negotiation.  He ups the ante so Billam asks again. Wow, even heaven is open to appeal... if the price is right.  Gd's plan can accommodate Billam's cooperation.  Billam will not curse the Israelites, he will repeat what he is told ... and bless them! 

Billam's subservience is reinforced by the armed angel  of antagonism (Satan) that blocks his way. The donkey, the symbol of the American Democratic Party, the party of the [downtrodden] workers speaks.  This speech is a fated act of Gd as revealed in Pirkei Avoth משנה אבות ה׳:ו׳

(ו) עֲשָׂרָה דְבָרִים נִבְרְאוּ בְעֶרֶב שַׁבָּת בֵּין הַשְּׁמָשׁוֹת, וְאֵלּו הֵן, פִּי הָאָרֶץ, וּפִי הַבְּאֵר, וּפִי הָאָתוֹן

Ten things were created on the eve of the [first] Sabbath at twilight, And these are they: ... The mouth of the donkey [that spoke to Balaam in Numbers 22:28–30]

The miracle is as much  that the servant  musters the courage to criticize her wrong-headed master as the fact that the speech comes from an animal.  The statement of the now-visible angel, justifying the statements of the loyal oppressed , simplifies the story. 

Billam can only say what he is told, he can only speak the truth as it appears to Heaven, ... Gd's truth.  But he has been hired to do a job, to  diminish the Israelites in the eyes of Moab,  perhaps, to diminish the confidence of the newly victorious Hebrews and, maybe even turn their allied Gd against them.  The Balak-Bilam team try selecting potentially negative viewpoints, partial truths, as road to plausible  deprecating theories.  The final attempt leads to a gloss by Onkelos that clarifies this ploy: 

וַיָּ֥שֶׁת אֶל־הַמִּדְבָּ֖ר פָּנָֽיו׃  but turned his face toward the wilderness.

Onkelos (according to  Mikraoth Gadoloth and Artscroll; Targum Jerusalem according to Sefaria) translates

but went and set his face toward the wilderness to recall to memory their work of the calf, (still) being desirous to curse Israel.

Billam would tell the truth as revealed to him, but he wanted to adjust the truth to his advantage.  This is the work of the salesperson, the spokesperson, the lobbyist. 

Billam's statements of praise ultimately become the basis of millenia of persecution for the Jews.  His first statement: 

הֶן־עָם֙ לְבָדָ֣ד יִשְׁכֹּ֔ן וּבַגּוֹיִ֖ם לֹ֥א יִתְחַשָּֽׁב׃  There is a people that dwells apart, Not reckoned among the nations,

alienates and disenfranchises the Jews in their diaspora.  The subsequent  general (excessive?) praise of Hebrew achievements  are a paradigm for antisemitism to this day. The Chofetz Chaim  alludes to this problem:

אם רוצה לדבר עם אחד אודות מי, והוא משער שאין לבו שלם עם אותו פלוני, (ד) ויבוא על ידי זה לגנותו, דאסור לדבר עמו אודותיו.

Hilchos Lashon Hara chapter 9, section 2

Before many people, one may not even praise [a person] a little because there will generally be those who agree or disagree or are jealous of him, and will disparage him because of the praise.

I can talk about Jewish captains of industry and it is a source of national pride.  It is  a turn of a few degrees to "Jews control the media and have all the money. " 

Facts are not truth. Perspective is for sale.