Balak: Chapter 8

"And rose up from Seir to them"

Synopsis

We are told that God first offered the Torah to the children of Esau and then to the children of Ishmael, all of whom refused it, before He offered it to the children of Yisrael. Rabbi Shimon clarifies a point by saying that the refusal of the inhabitants of Seir and Paran enabled God to add their light and love to the children of Yisrael. We hear a dialogue between God and Samael wherein God offers the Torah to Samael who of course refuses it because of its stricture against killing. Samael suggests that God give the Torah to the children of Yisrael because he thinks that would ensure that Yisrael would never be capable of surviving or ruling - in effect, that the Torah would make them weak. Samael removes his own light and gives it to God to add to the light of Yisrael. The same thing happens with Rachav, the higher minister of Ishmael, who refuses the Torah because of its prohibition against adultery, and who also gives his light to God for Yisrael. Eventually we learn that from the other nations of the world God also took gifts on behalf of the children of Yisrael. Thus Yisrael inherited the Torah with no disagreement from anyone above or below. When Yisrael sinned and went into exile, all their gifts were removed from them, but in the future these gifts will be returned to them.