Thank you for the "Insights" with the beautiful explanation of Maharil Diskin about the prophecy of Bil'am.
But, Bil'am said 3 prophecies. Hash-m put into his mouth only the first two prophecies. The posuk doesn't use this terminology by the third prophecy. In fact, Sanhedrin 95b learns from the third prophecy that Bil'am intended to curse the nation, and Hash-m changed the curses to brachos. Doesn't this imply that Hash-m would control Bil'am's use of prophecy, if He wants to?
Thank you.
Moshe Schlusselberg, Spring Valley, NY, USA
The first two times Bil'am asked Hash-m for permission to curse and Hash-m refused (Rashi 24:1). Hash-m put words of Berachah in Bil'am's mouth by transmitting a prophecy that left no room for flexibility.
The third time, Bil'am did not ask Hash-m's permission at all, since he knew Hash-m would refuse him (Rashi ibid.). Perhaps we may surmise that by not humbling himself to Hash-m, he also precluded receiving a clear, direct word-for-word prophecy. In this way, he hoped to keep his prophecy within the usual, ambiguous prophetic limits. This would allow him to make it into a curse.
But of course, Hash-m's will ruled. This time, Hash-m changed the prophecy through a different tactic. He suddenly gave Bil'am a strong love and respect for Yisrael, so that he would not want to make the prophecy into a curse (see Rashi 24:2). This was the greatest change of all that Hash-m made for Yisrael and this is the only prophecy that was "changed into Berachos."
Best wishes,
Mordeai Kornfeld