What had Balak seen that made him so afraid of Yisrael?
(22,2) And Balak the son of Tzippor saw everything that Yisrael had done to the Amorites. And Moav was very afraid of the people, for they were numerous…And Moav said to the elders of Midian: Now this assembly will consume everything around us…
Behold, the word “everything” is superfluous, since it should have been sufficient to write “and Balak saw what Yisrael had done to the Amorites”. But we can explain the meaning as follows:
Moav, even though they had seen saw what Yisrael had done to Sichon, should not have been afraid of them, because it was already well known that Hashem had commanded, (Devarim 2,9) “do not distress the Moabites, and do not contend with them in war”.
But Moav had also seen that Yisrael had first sent a message of peace, requesting that they be allowed to pass through their land, and that Sichon had not want to let them, went out to meet them for war, and were destroyed. Moav thought that the truth was that Yisrael had not acted thusly because of love of peace, but rather that they had acted craftily to cover their true motives, to show the world that they had not started up with Sichon, but rather Sichon had started up with them. Because although Hashem had commanded Yisrael not to contend with them in war, the intention was only that they should not make war with them, but if Moav initiates the war then they are released from this command.
Therefore, Moav was afraid lest they do the same thing again, initially requesting that they be allowed to merely pass through their land, and if they did so, then either way Moav would be lost - if he allows them to pass through, they will cause great destruction in his land, and if he does not allow them, then he would be forced to go out to meet them in war with a large number of people, as Edom and Sichon had done, and Yisrael will thus say that that Moav started the war, and are so they are released from Hashem’s warning not to make war with them.
This is what the posuk is saying, “And Balak saw everything that Yisrael had done to the Amorites” - he saw everything, including the fact that they had initially sent a message of peace. Therefore, “Moav was very afraid of the people, for they were numerous”, and if he would let such a numerous people pass through his land, they would do a great deal of damage, and “consume everything around us”.
To explain things further - although Chazal said (Gittin 38a) that Ammon and Moav was cleansed by Sichon, meaning that when Sichon conquered their territory it ceased forever to be subject to the rules about their land, Moav did not know about this, and thought that even after their land was conquered by Sichon it retained its status as land of Moav, as the king of the children of Moav similarly erred in the days of Yiftach (Judges 11). And the proof to the matter was that he saw that Yisrael initially acted peaceably with Sichon, requesting permission to pass through their land, and Moav did not know that this was because of the great importance of peace. Therefore, he had a question - if Ammon and Moav were cleansed by Sichon, why did they offer peace initially. It must be that they retain the status of Moav, and if so, this further proves that the warning not to start up with them was only that they should not start a war with Ammon and Moav, but if Ammon and Moav started with them, then it is not forbidden.
Thus all this resulted from his knowledge that they had offered peace initially. But if Moav had not known this he would not have been afraid, because he would have said that the warning not to war with Moav was even if Moav started with them. And the reason why they had taken land from Sichon, was because Ammon and Moav were indeed cleansed by Sichon. And so Moav would not have been afraid that Yisrael would destroy their land by passing through it, because if they wanted to pass through their land, he would oppose them and not allow them. But since Balak saw everything which Yisrael had done, including how they had first offered peace, therefore it must be that the land was not cleansed by Sichon yet, and so it was evident that if Moav started with them, then Yisrael would be released from Hashem’s warning. Therefore he said, “now this assembly will consume everything around us”, because what can we do - if we oppose them they will destroy us in war, and if we don’t oppose them then they will consume the land.
Another explanation of the flow of the posukim, is that when Yisrael went out of Egypt fear of them fell upon all the nations, but nevertheless, when Yisrael came to touch the portion of one of them, they opposed them with war. The reason was because they had not seen this with their own eyes the great things that Hashem had done for them - they had only heard about it, and as Chazal said, hearing is not like seeing. And therefore, Edom went out to meet them, and Yisrael turned away from them. But, as the Alshich zt”l explained, “Balak saw”, - he was present at the war with Sichon, and saw with his own eyes everything which Yisrael had done to Sichon, and it caused such a fear to fall upon Balak, that even if the children of Yisrael would come and make war with Moav, he would not be able to find the strength to oppose them.
Therefore, “Balak feared greatly” - if he had not seen with his own eyes, he would not have been so afraid, and would have opposed Yisrael as Edom had done, and therefore maybe it would have helped to save Moav. But now that he had seen with his own eyes what they had done to Sichon, he feared greatly, for he said that they will consume everything, and no one can oppose them.
Why should Midian help Moav?
(22,4) And Moav said to the elders of Midian: Now this assembly will eat up everything around us…And Balak the son of Tzippor was the king of Moav at that time.
It seems to me that the end of this posuk is part of what the elders of Moav said to the elders of Midian. Moav wanted Midian to come to help them to fight against Yisrael. But Midian asked why should they enter into a fight which is not theirs, especially as there was great danger involved. Therefore, Moav said to them that it was well known that Balak was one of the princes of Midian, and that Midian was his country, but at this time he was the king of Moav. Therefore, you must do this for a king who is one of yours. Do this for his sake and come to help us.
Why did Balak need to tell Bilaam that Yisrael was stationed opposite him?
(22,5) He sent messengers to Bilaam the son of Beor…saying: Behold, a people has come out of Egypt…and they are stationed opposite me. So now please come and curse this people for me…
Chazal said that one who prays for his fellow must mention his name, and if he does not mention his name, then his prayer will not be effective. But if he is in his presence, he does not need to mention his name. This is why it says in the Yalkut, on parshas Chukas, that the reason why Yisrael said (21,2), “if You will deliver this people into my hand”, was because they did not know the name of the people, or what to call them. Therefore, they said “this people”, and it seems to me that the word ‘this’ implies that they pointed with their finger because they were present before them.
Now, Balak knew that the name Yisrael was very great and holy, and so if he called them by this name, then cursing them would not be effective. This is especially so since the name Yisrael includes G-d’s name, so how could a curse fall on this name? Therefore he concealed their name by not mentioning it, and said only “behold a people went out from Egypt”, and he thought that thereby the curse would be effective. But according to what we said above, how could he curse them if he does not mention their name? Therefore, after he said “behold a people went out from Egypt”, he anticipated Bilaam’s question - if they have no name how can I curse them? - by adding “and they are stationed opposite me”, and so you can curse them in their presence by pointing with your finger.
To explain the matter further, he needed to give Bilaam a reason why he was trying to persuade him to come to him - because surely it was sufficient for Bilaam to curse them in his own place. Therefore, he told him that if Yisrael had their own name, so that it would be possible to call them by name, then I would not trouble you to come. But “I sent to you to call you” (posuk 37) to come to my place, because “a people has come out of Egypt” - without a name, so therefore it is impossible for you to curse them where you are. And so “please come and curse this people for me” here, because here it is possible to curse them without a name since they are stationed opposite me.
