(ה) וַיָּ֧שֶׂם יְהוָ֛ה דָּבָ֖ר בְּפִ֣י בִלְעָ֑ם וַיֹּ֛אמֶר שׁ֥וּב אֶל־בָּלָ֖ק וְכֹ֥ה תְדַבֵּֽר׃
(5) And Adonai put a davar in Bilaam’s mouth and said, “Return to Balak and speak thus.”
(16) Adonai manifested to Bilaam and put a davar in his mouth, saying, “Return to Balak and speak thus.”
Numbers Rabbah 20:20 "And Adonai put a davar in his mouth..." as a rider puts a bit in the mouth of his horse, to control him in whatever direction he wants, thus the Blessed Holy One controlled [Bilam]
Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 105b "And Adonai put a davar in Bilam's mouth"-- R. Elazar said, "an angel"; R. Yonatan said, "a bit".
Avivah Zornberg, Bewilderments: Reflections on the Book of Numbers. New York: Shocken, 2015 p.244
The imagery of the bridle bit piercing [Bilam's] mouth suggests the horror of the loss of personal autonomy. Prophets and poets also know about possession, perhaps value it as a privilege. But in the context of relationships such as those described in this narrative -- of asses, controlling and brutalized by riders, of kings manipulating and being manipulated by hired clairvoyants, Balaam's relation to God takes on a similarly dialectical tension. He is rider and ridden; his power, which lies in this mouth, takes on a life of its own, leaving him helpless to achieve his desire.
Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Prophets (vol. 1). New York: Harper, 1969 (pp. 25-26).
The prophet is not a mouthpiece, but a person; not an instrument but a partner, an associate of God.
Emotional detachment would be understandable only if there were a command which required the suppression of emotion, forbidding one to serve God "with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your might." God, we are told, asks not only for "works," for action, but above all for love, awe, and fear...
The prophet is no hireling who performs his duty in the employ of the Lord...
The task of the prophet is to convey the word of God. Yet the word is aglow with the pathos. One cannot understand the word without sensing the pathos. And one could not impassion others and remain unstirred. The prophet should not be regarded as an ambassador who must be dispassionate in order to be effective...Sympathy is the prophet's answer to inspiration, the correlative to revelation.
(5) “My people, Remember what Balak king of Moab Plotted against you, And how Bilaam son of Beor Responded to him. [Recall your passage] From Shittim to Gilgal— And you will recognize The gracious acts of Adonai.”
Key to Sources
- Babylonian Talmud: redacted c. 600-800, present day Baghdad.
- Heschel (R. Abraham Joshua Heschel): 1907-1972. Eminent theologian, bible scholar, and activist.
- Numbers Rabbah: Collection of exegetical and homiletical Midrash on the book of Numbers spanning many centuries.
- Zornberg (Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg): b. 1944. A modern day bible scholar. Her new book on Numbers (Bewilderments) came out just this year.