Balak: Chapter 2

Sihon and Og

Synopsis

Rabbi Shimon says that God can do anything immediately, but because people don't fully believe, they think that it will take years to fulfill a wish, and so it does. Although the lives of people are fleeting, they are sanctified with repentance and prayer and good deeds and tears, since God commits Himself to do as they wish. We hear about Og the King of Bashan and Sihon the King of the Amorites, with whom Moses waged war. Sihon was destroyed by a flame from the King of Heaven and it could not therefore be rebuilt. Rabbi Shimon says that the children of Yisrael overthrew the rulers below in this world and also in the world above. He tells us why Esau did not receive his birthright even though he was the eldest.