Torah Portion

Chukat-Balak

חוקת-בלק

Numbers 19:1–25:9
Micah 5:6–6:8

Moses Strikes the Rock: His Sin Depends on Your Worldview

Moses Strikes the Rock: His Sin Depends on Your Worldview

Do miracles enhance faith? Rashi and Maimonides’ diametrically opposed positions on this question lead them to very different explanations for Moses’ sin. In between them is Ibn Ezra, who has a secret as to how miracles work and why Moses failed to perform his correctly. Avvat Nephesh, in the 14th century, rejects his predecessors’ explanations, and instead critiques Moses and Aaron’s passivity and lack of leadership; they waited for God to provide answers instead of taking initiative.

Prof.
Haim (Howard) Kreisel
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Seila, Jephthah’s Daughter: A Sacrifice Like Isaac

Seila, Jephthah’s Daughter: A Sacrifice Like Isaac

Jephthah is compelled by a vow to sacrifice his daughter. Why is YHWH silent? Biblical Antiquities, ca. 1st century C.E., expands the story, giving Jephthah’s daughter a name and agency, and presenting her sacrifice as God’s punishment of Jephthah.

Dr.
Shayna Sheinfeld
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The Torah’s Three Explanations for Why Moses Does Not Enter the Land

The Torah’s Three Explanations for Why Moses Does Not Enter the Land

The biblical authors knew that Moses did not lead the Israelites into the promised land, but the question of why preoccupied them.

Prof.
Raanan Eichler
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Balaam Sets His Face Towards the Calf—A Targum Tradition

Balaam Sets His Face Towards the Calf—A Targum Tradition

Targum Onqelos usually offers a straightforward Aramaic rendering of the biblical verse. The Palestinian Targums (=Targum Yerushalmi), in contrast, offer more expansive, midrashic renderings of the verse. Numbers 24:1, in which Balaam looks to the wilderness, offers us a further glimpse into a world with multiple Targumic traditions.

Dr.
Shlomi Efrati
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Balaam from “Divinerville”

Balaam from “Divinerville”

In a satirical account, Numbers describes how a local, non-Israelite Transjordanian prophet and diviner is forced by YHWH to bless Israel instead of curse them. Deuteronomy recasts Balaam as a stereotypical Mesopotamian diviner from faraway Aram-Naharaim, making the point that YHWH’s power extends even into the heartland of Assyria.

Dr.
Ethan Schwartz
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“How Lovely Are Your Tents, O Jacob” – Balaam’s Praise of Israelite Women

“How Lovely Are Your Tents, O Jacob” – Balaam’s Praise of Israelite Women

Using imagery of tents, gardens, and flowing water—themes associated with love and sexuality in the Bible and the ancient Near East—Balaam blesses Israelite women with fertility. The Priestly authors, however, invert this blessing to present Balaam as the instigator of the Baal Peor incident.

Dr.
Erica Lee Martin
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Preparing the Red Heifer in Purity: The Rabbis’ Polemic against the Sadducees

Preparing the Red Heifer in Purity: The Rabbis’ Polemic against the Sadducees

Several stories describe how the rabbis of the Second Temple period would force priests to prepare the ashes in the lower state of purity, tevul yom (immersed in water before sunset), and once even discarded ashes prepared in the stringent state of purity, meʿorav shemesh (after sunset), to demonstrate the law is not in accordance with the Sadducees. The Qumran halakhic text, 4QMMT, gives us the perspective of the other side of the debate.

Prof.
Vered Noam
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Red Heifer: A Soap Ritual

Red Heifer: A Soap Ritual

After contact with a corpse, a person must be sprinkled with a liquid mixture containing the ashes of a red heifer, together with cedar and ezov, alkaline plants that, when burnt, function as the key ingredients in a detergent.

Dr.
Joseph Weinstein
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Israel’s Earthquake, 8th Century B.C.E.

Israel’s Earthquake, 8th Century B.C.E.

Amos and Zechariah mention an earthquake in the time of King Uzziah. Its effects were uncovered in the excavations at Tel Agol in the Jezreel Valley: It turned the city, fortified for centuries to defend against the Assyrian threat, into a poor squatter town that could not recover.

Nurit Feig
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Wadi Zered

Wadi Zered

Crossing Wadi Zered marks the end of Israel’s 38-year sojourn in the wilderness and their entry into the land. Why does its location differ in Numbers and Deuteronomy?

Dr.
David Ben-Gad HaCohen
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Waheb in Suphah, the Forgotten “Town in the Stream”

Waheb in Suphah, the Forgotten “Town in the Stream”

Describing the Israelites crossing the Arnon Stream into Amorite territory, the Torah quotes the Book of YHWH’s Battles that speaks of “Waheb in Suphah,” a phrase that appears nowhere else in the Bible. Many creative explanations have been given, but based on a survey on the ground we can identify it as the “Town in the Stream,” an ancient biblical town whose name had long been forgotten.

Dr.
David Ben-Gad HaCohen
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Balaam the Seer Is Recast as a Villain

Balaam the Seer Is Recast as a Villain

The oldest biblical sources see Balaam as a great seer, but as time goes on, biblical texts portray him in an increasingly negative light. The key to this shift lies in Deuteronomy’s attitude to Israel and gentiles.

Prof.
Alexander Rofé
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The Account of Balaam’s Donkey: A Late Polemical Burlesque

The Account of Balaam’s Donkey: A Late Polemical Burlesque

Already in 1877, Marcus Kalisch, one of the first Jewish scholars to engage in the critical study of the Bible, noted that the story of Balaam’s donkey is a late insertion which contradicts the rest of the story, both narratively and ideologically. Indeed, in the main story, Balaam is a prophetic character to be respected, while the supplement lampoons him.

Prof.
Alexander Rofé
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Navigating the Torah’s Rough Narrative Terrain into the Land

Navigating the Torah’s Rough Narrative Terrain into the Land

The route the Israelites take through the Transjordan in Numbers 21 is choppy: They are in the Negev then suddenly they are back in the Transjordan; they are moving south and suddenly they are north; they are in western Moab then suddenly they are in the eastern desert. Though traditional commentators attempt to tease out an overall route, it seems more likely we are looking at a palimpsest that includes contradictory versions of the story.

Dr.
Angela Roskop Erisman
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Moses Strikes the Rock in Exodus and Numbers: One Story or Two?

Moses Strikes the Rock in Exodus and Numbers: One Story or Two?

In Numbers 20, when the Israelites are without water, God tells Moses to get water from a stone, which he does by striking it, and is punished. Yet in Exodus 17, Moses does the same thing and the story ends positively. What is the relationship between these two accounts? Remarkably, R. Joseph Bekhor Shor says that they are two accounts of the same story.

Prof.
Jonathan Jacobs
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The Grain and Pomegranates of Mei Merivah (מי מריבה)

The Grain and Pomegranates of Mei Merivah (מי מריבה)

If the people are thirsty for lack of water, why complain to Moses that they “have no grain or pomegranates”? Together with other textual anomalies, this narrative discontinuity suggests that interwoven into the water-at-Merivah story is a fragment from a different story: the missing opening verses of the non-Priestly account of the spies.

Prof. Rabbi
David Frankel
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Balaam the Seducer of Jews and an Early Christian Polemic

Balaam the Seducer of Jews and an Early Christian Polemic

Ancient Jewish interpreters imagined Balaam as the prototypical Gentile seducer. This trope was used by John of Patmos, the author of the book of Revelation and himself a Jew, to polemicize against his rivals among the early Christians.

Prof. Rabbi
Joshua Garroway
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When Did “Fire Go Forth from Heshbon”?

When Did “Fire Go Forth from Heshbon”?

Contrary to the biblical account of the Israelite conquest and burning of Heshbon in Numbers 21, the archaeological remains of Tell Hesban (biblical Heshbon) demonstrate that it was not settled until centuries after the conquest and settlement period and not burned until over half a millennium later!

Dr.
Elizabeth Bloch-Smith
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North Israelite Memories of the Transjordan and the Mesha Inscription

North Israelite Memories of the Transjordan and the Mesha Inscription

The Mesha Inscription describes Omri’s conquest of the mishor in the Transjordan, and Moab’s subsequent (re)taking of it, in the 9th century B.C.E. Reading Numbers 21 in conversation with archaeological findings confirms much of this and offers us a glimpse at the history of this region before the Omride conquest.

Prof.
Israel Finkelstein
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Prof.
Thomas Römer
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Nehushtan, the Copper Serpent: Its Origins and Fate

Nehushtan, the Copper Serpent: Its Origins and Fate

The Torah describes Moses building a copper serpent to heal the Israelites. According to Kings, Hezekiah destroys it because it was being worshiped. Archaeology and history clarify the religious and political meaning of this image.

Dr.
Richard Lederman
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Ironing Out Israel’s Itinerary Through the Transjordan

Ironing Out Israel’s Itinerary Through the Transjordan

The itinerary notes in Numbers 21 is a hodgepodge of styles and directions. Nevertheless, once we isolate each style, we find three separate itinerary lists, each from one of the standard Pentateuchal sources.

Dr.
David Ben-Gad HaCohen
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What Is the Biblical Flying Serpent?

What Is the Biblical Flying Serpent?

Several biblical and non-biblical texts describe encounters with flying venomous snakes in the Sinai and Arabian deserts. Egyptian iconography helps clarify what is being pictured.

Dr.
Richard Lederman
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The Story of Jephthah: The Urge to Manipulate

The Story of Jephthah: The Urge to Manipulate

The haftarah for Chukkat cuts off the end of the Jephthah story, ending on a triumphant note, with the defeat of Ammon. When looking at the whole story, however, we are presented with something very different. In Judges, Jephthah is a manipulative leader, who forces everyone’s hand, including God’s. Although his tactics lead to the defeat of Ammon, they also lead him to sacrifice his own daughter and to massacre thousands of his own brethren.

Prof.
Jack M. Sasson
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Jephthah’s Wandering Biblical Message to the King of Ammon

Jephthah’s Wandering Biblical Message to the King of Ammon

An ancient quote, preserved in Jephthah’s speech to the King of Ammon, gives us a clue into the methods of the Torah’s redaction and the status of pre-pentateuchal sources.

Dr.
David Ben-Gad HaCohen
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What Was the Book of the Wars of the Lord?

What Was the Book of the Wars of the Lord?

And what can we learn by comparing it to another ancient book mentioned in the Bible, Sefer HaYashar (The Book of the Upright)?

Prof.
Edward L. Greenstein
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Did Jephthah Actually Kill His Daughter?

Did Jephthah Actually Kill His Daughter?

The story of Jephthah’s daughter is famous as an example of child sacrifice, yet certain clues in the biblical text imply she may have suffered a very different fate.

Prof. Rabbi
Jonathan Magonet
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Do Animals Feel Pain? Balaam’s Donkey vs. Descartes

Do Animals Feel Pain? Balaam’s Donkey vs. Descartes

In contrast to Descartes’ theory of animals as automatons, the Torah and rabbinic text express deep concern for animal suffering. One vivid example is the donkey’s rebuke of Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me?” (Num 22:28).

Prof.
Yael Shemesh
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The Song of the Well, Psalm 136, Was Removed from the Torah

The Song of the Well, Psalm 136, Was Removed from the Torah

The Song of the Well, as recorded in Numbers 21:16-18, is only a brief excerpt. While many commentators assume that the song was naturally short, R. Yehudah HeChasid presents a radical suggestion that the song was actually cut from the Torah and placed in the book of Psalms by none other than King David.

Dr. Rabbi
Zev Farber
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Giving Miriam and the Matriarchs Their Proper Funerals

Giving Miriam and the Matriarchs Their Proper Funerals

The Bible pays little attention to the death of its female characters, writing only cursory death notices, or sometimes none at all. Second Temple period authors retell the Torah’s stories to give more pride of place to the death scenes of its heroines.

Dr.
Atar Livneh
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The Red Heifer in Synagogue: Purifying Israel from Sin

The Red Heifer in Synagogue: Purifying Israel from Sin

Ezekiel 36 uses Priestly “purification” imagery similar to that of the red heifer ritual to describe God’s future reconciliation with Israel, inspiring the rabbis to choose this passage as the haftara for Parashat Parah.

Dr.
Ethan Schwartz
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War at Yahatz: The Torah Versus the Mesha Stele

War at Yahatz: The Torah Versus the Mesha Stele

A border dispute between Northern Israel and Moab is recorded independently in the Torah and the Mesha Stele. Comparing these accounts uncovers the underlying issues that the Torah is addressing.

Dr.
David Ben-Gad HaCohen
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Chukat-Balak

חוקת-בלק

Numbers 19:1–25:9

וַיָּרֶם מֹשֶׁה אֶת יָדוֹ וַיַּךְ אֶת הַסֶּלַע בְּמַטֵּהוּ פַּעֲמָיִם...

במדבר כ:יא

And Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod...

Num 20:11

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