Study Desk

"God is not a human who lies or a mortal who changes his mind. When he says something, he will do it; when he makes a promise, he will fulfill it.

Bil‘am raised his eyes and saw Isra'el encamped tribe by tribe. Then the Spirit of God came upon him,

and he made his pronouncement: "This is the speech of Bil‘am, son of B‘or; the speech of the man whose eyes have been opened;

"Water will flow from their branches, their seed will have water aplenty. Their king will be higher than Agag and his kingdom lifted high.

Balak blazed with fury against Bil‘am. He struck his hands together and said to Bil‘am, "I summoned you to curse my enemies. But here, you have done nothing but bless them — three times already!

that even if Balak would give me his palace full of silver and gold, I could not of my own accord go beyond the word of Adonai to do either good or bad? that what Adonai said is what I would say?

So he made his pronouncement: "This is the speech of Bil‘am, son of B‘or; the speech of the man whose eyes have been opened;

His enemies will be his possessions — Edom and Se‘ir, possessions. Isra'el will do valiantly,

Then Bil‘am got up, left and returned to his home; and Balak too went his way.

Moshe said to the judges of Isra'el, "Each of you is to put to death those in his tribe who have joined themselves to Ba‘al-P‘or."

Just then, in the sight of Moshe and the whole community of Isra'el, as they were weeping at the entrance to the tent of meeting, a man from Isra'el came by, bringing to his family a woman from Midyan.

(Maftir) When Pinchas the son of El‘azar, the son of Aharon the cohen, saw it, he got up from the middle of the crowd, took a spear in his hand,

and pursued the man from Isra'el right into the inner part of the tent, where he thrust his spear through both of them — the man from Isra'el and the woman through her stomach. Thus was the plague among the people of Isra'el stopped;

nevertheless, 24,000 died in the plague. Haftarah Balak: Mikhah (Micah) 5:6(7)– 6:8 B'rit Hadashah suggested readings for Parashah Balak: 2 Kefa (2 Peter) 2:1–22; Y'hudah (Jude) 11; Revelation 2:14–15 Adonai said to Moshe, "Pinchas the son of El‘azar, the son of Aharon the cohen, has deflected my anger from the people of Isra'el by being as zealous as I am, so that I didn't destroy them in my own zeal. Therefore say, ‘I am giving him my covenant of shalom, making a covenant with him and his descendants after him that the office of cohen will be theirs forever.' This is because he was zealous on behalf of his God and made atonement for the people of Isra'el." The name of the man from Isra'el who was killed, put to death with the woman from Midyan, was Zimri the son of Salu, leader of one of the clans from the tribe of Shim‘on. The name of the woman from Midyan who was killed was Kozbi the daughter of Tzur, and he was head of the people in one of the clans of Midyan. Adonai said to Moshe, "Treat the Midyanim as enemies and attack them; because they are treating you as enemies by the trickery they used to deceive you in the P‘or incident and in the affair of their sister Kozbi, the daughter of the leader from Midyan, the woman who was killed on the day of the plague in the P‘or incident." After the plague,

making a covenant with him and his descendants after him that the office of cohen will be theirs forever.' This is because he was zealous on behalf of his God and made atonement for the people of Isra'el."

Then the daughters of Tz'lof'chad the son of Hefer, the son of Gil‘ad, the son of Machir, the son of M'nasheh, of the families of M'nasheh, the son of Yosef, approached. These were the names of his daughters: Machlah, No‘ah, Hoglah, Milkah and Tirtzah.

"Our father died in the desert. He wasn't part of the group who assembled themselves to rebel against Adonai in Korach's group, but he died in his own sin, and he had no sons.

Why should the name of our father be eliminated from his family just because he didn't have a son? Give us property to possess along with the brothers of our father."

Moreover, say to the people of Isra'el, ‘If a man dies and does not have a son, you are to have his inheritance pass to his daughter.

If he doesn't have a daughter, give his inheritance to his brothers.