Hashem gave each and every one of us an important mission in our lives (to fulfill His commandments), and He gave us the opportunity and the responsibility to fulfill our mission.
The Medrash (on Parshas Balak) tells us that Hashem gave the nations of the world prophet Bilam. He had the ability to teach them to recognize Hashem and to lead them on the path to serve Hashem on a very high level. He had the ability to be as great as Moshe Rabbeinu had he chosen to do so. It was only due to his choices that held him back from accomplishing that feat.
The mishna in Pirkei Avos (5,19) tells us that Bilam was arrogant, and he was interested in power, pleasure, and fame. These middos determined his goals in life and they fueled his decisions in life as well. It was due to these bad middos that he lived his life as Bilam Harasha (the wicked) instead of fulfilling his mission to be like Moshe Rabbeinu. Moshe Rabbeinu was humble and kind, and his only motivation was to fulfill the will of Hashem. Bilam was the opposite, his motivations were all for personal benefit.
Moshe Rabbeinu and Bilam had similar abilities. Moshe had the job of teaching and inspiring the Jewish people to have faith and trust in Hashem, to accept the Torah and to fulfill their mission of being the Chosen People. They were tasked with the opportunity and the responsibility to be the leaders, teachers, and role models for the world. The Jewish people were responsible to show the world what it means to be a servant of Hashem; to follow in the ways of Hashem.
Hashem created every person in His image, and Hashem gave every person the opportunity and the responsibility to be a servant of His and to follow in His ways of kindness, truth, and middos tovos. Ultimately, the goal is for all of humanity to unite and to serve Hashem as one big group, where we all join together to recognize Hashem, to appreciate His greatness, and to serve Him by following in His ways.
Bilam was given the mission to lead the nations of the world to recognize what their mission was, and he was tasked with the responsibility to guide them, teach them and inspire them to fulfill this mission.
Perhaps his greatest opportunity to do so presented itself when he was approached by the delegation of officers that was sent to him by Balak, the king of Moav. The Torah relates to us that the nations of the world heard about the miracles that Hashem had done for the Jewish people as they were leaving Egypt. They heard that Hashem had destroyed the powerful Egyptian army without the Jewish people needing to raise a sword. Hashem had destroyed their army, their economy, and their gods in a manner which showed the world that there was no army that could possibly resist the power of God.
As the Jews were preparing to enter the land of Israel they were faced with the powerful armies of the Emori and Bashan nations. The great army of the Emories were lead by the great warrior, the giant Sichon Melech Haemori, and the great army of Bashan was lead by the great warrior, the giant Og Melech Habashan. These armies and these great kings were seen by the world as the feared and powerful kings and warriors. Their kingdoms and their armies stood on the western borders of Israel, and they were relied upon to protect all of the nations from any invaders. No one could penetrate the borders of Israel to attack the nations inside of it. They would have to do the impossible, they would have to defeat these legendary armies first.
However, the nation of Moav, together with the other nations of the world witnessed the complete and total defeat of the these great and mighty warriors and these great and mighty armies. The Sforno points out that the defeat was so complete that the nations of the world recognized that the battle wasn’t won due to military might, rather it was the hand of God, who had done battle on behalf of the Jewish nation and He had wiped out these armies.
The Torah tells us that Balak, the king of Moav and his entire nation were in a state of panic when they recognized that they had no way to defeat the Jewish people. Even if he was able to gather the biggest and most powerful military, it wouldn’t be able to defeat the Jewish people, because they had God on their side. Balak and his nation felt defeated, hopeless, and scared.
Balak felt that he had one more strategy that he could try, that would potentially allow them to be saved from the Jews. He turned to Bilam. Hashem had given Bilam the ability to curse others and to cause much harm to those who He desired. He had even been able to defeat powerful armies in the past! Balak offered him much wealth and power as an incentive to encourage Bilam to curse the Jewish people. This was Balak’s last hope for victory over the Jews.
Bilam knew that he didn’t have the power to harm the Jewish people unless Hashem allowed him to, and Hashem directly told him that He was not allowing him to curse them. Bilam did inform Balak’s delegation that it was possible that he wouldn’t be able to hurt the Jewish people, however at the same time he kept open the possibility that somehow he would be able to do it. As matters played out, not only did Bilam not have the ability to curse them, he ended up giving them great blessings because that was the will of Hashem, and Bilam was obviously powerless to do anything that was against the will of Hashem.
Let us take a step back and think about what could have happened differently if Bilam would have made the proper choices in this specific situation.
The nations of the world knew of the miracles that Hashem had performed for the benefit of the Jewish people, and they had begun to realize that there was no way to resist the will of Hashem. Hashem was going to protect the Jewish people against any army that stood in the way. They had come to Bilam as a last ditch effort to try to stop the Jews. Bilam should have told them the truth, that the reality is that it is truly impossible to stand up against the will of Hashem because Hashem has the power over everything in this world. He should have explained to them that the Jewish people were Hashem’s nation. He had given them the Torah, they had the responsibility to be the role models of society, and Hashem had promised them to take care of them and to give them the land of Israel. There was no way for the nations of the world to stop this from happening.
Bilam should have said that they themselves had a similar mission. Hashem created every human being in His own image, and Hashem gave every person the ability and the responsibility to serve Him by following in His ways. The Jewish people do not have a monopoly on serving Hashem, rather it is our responsibility to be the role models for the world for what it truly means to serve Hashem properly and to follow in His ways.
Bilam had an opportunity that was probably unparalleled in world history. The nations of the world had witnessed the power of Hashem, and they had heard about Hashem giving us the Torah. They were currently also in a position where they feared for their lives if they stood up to fight against Hashem and Hashem’s nation. Could you imagine what could have happened if Bilam would have helped them recognize the truth that was staring at them in their eyes! If he would have told them that their fear was justified, Hashem does run the world, Hashem will hold them accountable for fighting against His nation, and it would be futile to put up a fight against Hashem. Their fear was justified, it was a battle that they could not win.
Additionally, Bilam could have shown them that instead of fighting, and instead of surrendering in defeat, they could have had a much more noble and appropriate reaction. They had the opportunity to embrace their own true mission in life. They should have taken their recognition of the fact that Hashem is the One and only true God. They should have destroyed all of their own pagan idols and embraced Hashem as the only true power in this world. They should have recognized that they themselves had the opportunity to serve Hashem and to fulfill their own divine mission in life. Bilam was given the ability to have been like Moshe Rabbeinu. That which Moshe had done as the leader of the Jews, Bilam could have done for the rest of the world. He could have been their spiritual leader, to help them see the truth in their lives and to direct them to their true mission.
There are many messages that we can learn from this story, including the fact that in our own lives we will have many opportunities that present themselves to us where we can see the truth in our lives and where we can help others see the truth in their lives. We will have the opportunity to see the truth and to improve our lives if we choose to do so, and we will have the opportunity to help others to see the truth in their lives if they choose to do so.
However, just as the mishna in Pirkei Avos teaches us that Bilam’s desire for honor, power, money, and fame got in his way of taking advantage of his opportunity to fulfill his mission, so too we can miss out in our opportunities to fulfill our important missions in life as well. We need to have the wisdom to recognize what our true mission is in life (what Hashem wants us to do), and to have the commitment to not allow our desire for money, power, fame, or comfort take us away from fulfilling our important responsibilities in life.