{"id":48004,"date":"2019-01-23T12:10:17","date_gmt":"2019-01-23T10:10:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=48004"},"modified":"2022-08-17T18:22:32","modified_gmt":"2022-08-17T15:22:32","slug":"the-power-of-balaam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-power-of-balaam\/","title":{"rendered":"The Power Of Balaam"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[504,583,412],"acf":{"old_id":"48004","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":47905,"related_cahpter":"140","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Divine blessings and prophetic curses, and the psychological effects of words","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When Balak asks Balaam to curse the Israelites, Balaam opens his mouth and out fall blessings. Balak\u2019s motivations for hiring Balaam are clear: he is a great warrior, but is nonetheless concerned about warring with the wandering Israelites, and seeks to decrease their power. The motivations of the Almighty are less clear to parse. We know that the Divine interrupts Balaam and weaves blessings for our ancestors, but surely God could simply ignore Balaam\u2019s attempts, and Balaam\u2019s curse would be empty and ineffective. Are we to believe that Balaam has the power to curse the Israelites independently of the Almighty? Furthermore, are we to believe that the Israelites are in need of a blessing from a foreign prophet when they have the Divine fighting in their corner? <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In exploring this question, Abravanel reminds us that Balaam is world famous for his status as a prophet. Indeed, Balaam\u2019s name has survived history outside of the Torah and Jewish sources (see the Deir Alla Inscription). It is precisely Balaam\u2019s renown as a prophet that provides Abravanel\u2019s understanding of the divine motivation for interrupting Balaam\u2019s efforts: the psychological effect of a curse. Balaam\u2019s power does not rest solely with the Divine, because there is significant psychological power in words. Balaam\u2019s words cannot remain with him on the mountaintop, as the words of the famous travel far and wide. Had the story gone differently, according to Abravanel, Balaam\u2019s curse would have empowered our enemies to attack. It stands to reason, too, that had the Israelites heard of the curse, they might have been emotionally weakened in a time that called for great courage. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The story of Balaam is one of Divine blessings and prophetic curses, but it is also a story of the human power afforded to us all: the power to influence one another. May we all use that great power to bring blessings into the world. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p>image: Deir Allah &#8220;Balaam&#8221; Inscription, 880-770 BCE https:\/\/he.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/%D7%9B%D7%AA%D7%95%D7%91%D7%AA_%D7%91%D7%9C%D7%A2%D7%9D#\/media\/File:Deir_Allah_Inscription-text.jpg\u00a0<\/p>\n","image":{"ID":48081,"id":48081,"title":"Num23-Balaam-Deir_Allah_Inscription-text","filename":"Num23-Balaam-Deir_Allah_Inscription-text.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num23-Balaam-Deir_Allah_Inscription-text.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-power-of-balaam\/num23-balaam-deir_allah_inscription-text\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"num23-balaam-deir_allah_inscription-text","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":48004,"date":"2019-01-24 05:41:22","modified":"2019-01-24 05:41:35","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":544,"height":468,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num23-Balaam-Deir_Allah_Inscription-text-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num23-Balaam-Deir_Allah_Inscription-text-300x258.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":258,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num23-Balaam-Deir_Allah_Inscription-text.jpg","medium_large-width":544,"medium_large-height":468,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num23-Balaam-Deir_Allah_Inscription-text.jpg","large-width":544,"large-height":468,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num23-Balaam-Deir_Allah_Inscription-text.jpg","1536x1536-width":544,"1536x1536-height":468,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num23-Balaam-Deir_Allah_Inscription-text.jpg","2048x2048-width":544,"2048x2048-height":468,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num23-Balaam-Deir_Allah_Inscription-text.jpg","post_full_size-width":544,"post_full_size-height":468,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num23-Balaam-Deir_Allah_Inscription-text-488x420.jpg","home_baner-width":488,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"The Power Of Balaam","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"Divine blessings and prophetic curses, and the psychological effects of words","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":48081,"id":48081,"title":"Num23-Balaam-Deir_Allah_Inscription-text","filename":"Num23-Balaam-Deir_Allah_Inscription-text.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num23-Balaam-Deir_Allah_Inscription-text.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-power-of-balaam\/num23-balaam-deir_allah_inscription-text\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"num23-balaam-deir_allah_inscription-text","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":48004,"date":"2019-01-24 05:41:22","modified":"2019-01-24 05:41:35","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":544,"height":468,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num23-Balaam-Deir_Allah_Inscription-text-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num23-Balaam-Deir_Allah_Inscription-text-300x258.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":258,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num23-Balaam-Deir_Allah_Inscription-text.jpg","medium_large-width":544,"medium_large-height":468,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num23-Balaam-Deir_Allah_Inscription-text.jpg","large-width":544,"large-height":468,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num23-Balaam-Deir_Allah_Inscription-text.jpg","1536x1536-width":544,"1536x1536-height":468,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num23-Balaam-Deir_Allah_Inscription-text.jpg","2048x2048-width":544,"2048x2048-height":468,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num23-Balaam-Deir_Allah_Inscription-text.jpg","post_full_size-width":544,"post_full_size-height":468,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num23-Balaam-Deir_Allah_Inscription-text-488x420.jpg","home_baner-width":488,"home_baner-height":420}},"preview_video":"","external_link":"","link_for_pay":false,"tile_gallery_items":false,"credits":""},"alternate_tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","hide_media":false},"tile_group":{"preview_image_url":false,"main_caption":"","sub_caption":"","":null,"popup_package_extra_content":"","read_time":""},"home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo":{"seo_title":"","seo_description":"","seo_default_title":"","seo_default_description":""},"links":false,"send_noty":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48004"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48004"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48004\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107268,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48004\/revisions\/107268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}