Very Good

From the Creation of the World to Bilaam's Blessing

But the Israelites were fertile and prolific; they multiplied and increased very greatly (b’m’od m’od), so that the land was filled with them. A new king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, “Look, the Israelite people are much too numerous for us. (Exodus 1:7-9)

Moab was alarmed because that people was so numerous (ha am m’od). (Numbers 22:3)

And God saw all that had been made, and found it very good. (Genesis 1:31)

“And behold it was...good,” this is man; “and behold it was…good,” this is the good inclination, “very,” this is the evil inclination. Is the evil inclination “very good”? It is to teach you that were it not for the evil inclination, man would not build a house, would not marry a wife, and would not beget children, as Solomon says: “[I saw all toil and all skilled action;] that it is man’s envy of his neighbor” (Ecclesiastes 4:4). (Ecclesiastes Rabbah)

Cain was very distressed and his face fell. (Genesis 4:5)

“Fear not, Abram,
I am a shield to you;
Your reward shall be very great.” (Genesis 15:1)

Then the Lord said, “The outrage of Sodom and Gomorrah is so great, and their sin very grave! (Genesis 18:20)

Jacob was very frightened…(Genesis 32:8)

Isaac was seized with very violent trembling… (Genesis 27:33)

Balak, King of the Moabites, observes the plenitude of the Israelites and becomes afraid. His diction is reminiscent of what the King of Egypt says at the beginning of Exodus just before enslaving the Israelites. Both rulers refer to Israel as a “nation” (am) that is m’od (multitudinous) and rav (vast). M’od, which refers to the vast population quantity and prospective population growth, simply means very. In the language of Gen Z, both rulers see the Israelites and think, “This is a lot. It’s, like, literally, too much. I can’t.” The first time we see the word “m’od” God uses it to refer to the whole of his Creation, or else, per the Midrash, to the creation of free will.

We can hear m’od as a leitmotif that speaks on multiple levels. I want to focus on two semantic dimensions: 1) m’od connotes an emotionally intense experience 2) m’od connotes the intertwinement of challenge and breakthrough, pain and gain, “bad” and “good.” M’od suggests a sense of being overwhelmed or overcome, on the brink of losing impulse control. Isaac trembles violently when learns he’s been deceived. Jacob is very afraid in the lead-up to his reunion with Esau. God beholds the great sins of Sodom and moves to destroy them. Cain falls on his face right before killing his brother.

Moments of emotional intensity power extreme, and not always prudent, action. To check Godself, God seeks out Abraham. By engaging in dialogue, God allows Godself to cool down and be more rational, as it were. Cain, by contrast, is unable to cool down, and acts out. But we can better understand God’s offer of conversation and warning. In this context, we can perceive the intense fear powering the actions of the King of Egypt and the King of Moab. Their social policy towards the Israelites is not the result of a commissioned McKinsey report but a rough and ready attempt to steady their dis-regulated hearts. The Jews are “triggering” to antisemites in the same way that the corruption of regressive civilizations is “triggering” to God. The Israelites live in a state of apparent endangerment so long as three conditions are met: 1) Tyrants hold power 2) Tyrants are unable to control their emotions 3) Israelites experience relative, public success. Mob rule and anomie also endanger the Israelites, but they hit up against coordination problems. Egyptian bondage and Moabite war require both state capacity and mission-driven actors, just as Nazism was a bureaucratic feat powered by hatred, rage, and fear.

It is tempting to look at the slavery of the Israelites as a purely negative experience. In fact, though, it is part of God’s promise and blessing to Abraham, the basis for Israelite resilience and the catalyst for covenantal purpose. When God says “your reward shall be very great,” I imagine this reward includes the enslavement of his descendants. Here we hit against the second meaning of “very.” Is the yetzer hara (bad inclination) “very good?” How can terrible things be good? One possibility is that it provides the basis for growth and personal alchemy. Extremely difficult and extremely wonderful experiences are united in their deviance from the norm. Paradise is found in the “tails” (of a standard statistical distribution). Greatness typically requires volatility.

The Israelites’ suffering and greatness are entwined. They are rav and m’od, vast and numerous; but they are also targets of hate and envy. The Israelites are beloved by God but also judged by God. One principled response to the pain and suffering of life is to say “better never to have been born.” But the Israelites are tasked with a more complex and affirmative task: “Even though life is tough, can you choose it anyways? Can you see the bad and call it very good? Can you see the pain and transform it into blessing?”

The logic of “very good” comes to a head with Bilaam’s blessing of the people. Bilaam goes out to curse the people and finds himself blessing them. There is a deeper point in this about-face: Bilaam finds the blessing in the curse, sees the two as interconnected. The people that are blessed by God elicit curses from onlookers. The people that are burdened by the oppression of tyrants are a people that finds inner strength and deeper faith. Those who only win the affection of Pharaoh do not know that their identity does not depend upon his praise or approval. The Israelites are turned into scapegoats—this is the price of their blessing and the crucible through which they attain it.

Bilaam is paid to put on a smear campaign. His killing of the Israelite reputation is a kind of bondage—but only if the Israelites believe it and internalize it. The first step to enslaving a people is getting them to think they deserve their slavery. But Bilaam’s misinformation campaign is throttled by his ownmost recognition that God, not gossip, determines reality. An invisible donkey blocks his way and forces him to reckon with a deeper question: “What else do I not see? How do I know I’m right? What lies have I been bribed and incentivized to believe and perpetuate?”

Here is the Midrashic interpretation of “Very.” When God creates the world, God sees that the Jewish people, with all of their shortcomings and all of their historical travails, are “very good.” God sees all the rulers who will be “very” upset by the Jewish people and sees that this, too, is very good. When God tells Abraham “Your reward shall be very great,” God is referring to Bilaam’s blessing, the blessing that is a renovated curse, a blessing that says “How good are the tents of Jacob.” How good is it to dwell in one’s tent, in the security of divine love, without concern for the approval of Balaak or the praise of Pharaoh.

Shabbat Shalom,

Zohar Atkins

Etz Hasadeh