Rejecting Bilams Twisted Blessing

מ"ש רש"י שאמר בלעם א"כ אברכם והשיב לו כי ברוך הוא ואינם צריכים לברכתך אומרים לצרעה לא מדובשך וכי רצה אותו רשע לברך בנ"י

Rashi comments that Bilam said, "If so, let me bless them," and Hashem answered him, "For he is blessed, and they have no need of your blessing" — like one who says to the bee, "Neither from your honey nor from your sting." Now, did that rasha really wish to bless Bnei Yisrael?

Rashi brings the mashal of the bee — its honey is sweet but its sting is bitter — to express that Bnei Yisrael want nothing at all from Bilam, neither his blessing nor his curse. The Sfas Emes opens by questioning whether Bilam genuinely intended to bless Bnei Yisrael.

ותו מה א"כ אברכם

Furthermore, what is the meaning of his saying, "If so, let me bless them"?

He raises a second difficulty: what did Bilam actually mean when he said, "If so, let me bless them"?

אכן יראה כי הבין אותו רשע כי אם לא ישלוט בהם הקללה יתהפך לברכה

Indeed, it appears that this rasha understood that if the curse would not take hold upon them, it would be transformed into a blessing.

The answer is that Bilam grasped that if his curse failed to land, that very failure would flip into a blessing for Bnei Yisrael.

וז"ש א"כ שאין לקללם ממילא יתברכו

And this is what he meant by "If so" — that since there is no way to curse them, they will of themselves become blessed.

His words "If so" therefore mean: since they cannot be cursed, they will automatically receive blessing.

והשיב לו כי ברוך הוא שהם דבקים בעצם הברכה וא"צ לברכה שבא ע"י היפוך הקללה כי באמת נשאר חסרון ע"י ברכת בלעם

Hashem answered him, "For he is blessed," meaning that Bnei Yisrael are bound to the very essence of blessing and have no need of a blessing that comes by way of a reversed curse; for in truth a deficiency would remain through Bilam's blessing.

Hashem's reply, "For he is blessed," teaches that Bnei Yisrael are already joined to the source of blessing itself, so they need no blessing that comes only as the flip-side of a thwarted curse — such a roundabout blessing still leaves something lacking.

וגם ענין לא מדובשך הגם כי נוטלין דבש מדבורים אבל לא כשרוצין בעצמם לעקוץ האדם

And so too with the matter of "Neither from your honey" — although one takes honey from bees, one does not want it when the bees themselves wish to sting a person.

The bee mashal makes the point sharper: even though honey is drawn from bees, no one wants honey from a bee whose real intent is to sting.

כמו כן אותו הרשע הברכה הי' צריך לצאת ממנו שלא ברצונו רק לעקם פיו

Just so with that rasha: the blessing would have to come forth from him against his will, only as a twisting of his mouth.

Likewise, any blessing from Bilam would emerge only because Hashem forced his mouth against his will, not from any good in him.

אבל מ"ש א"כ אברכם השיבו לו לא מדובשך:

But regarding his saying, "If so, let me bless them," Hashem answered him, "Neither from your honey."

So to Bilam's offer, "If so, let me bless them," Hashem responds, "Neither from your honey" — a blessing born of his thwarted malice is unwanted.

Summary: The Sfas Emes examines Rashi's mashal of the bee, where Hashem tells Bilam, "For he is blessed," and Bnei Yisrael want neither his honey nor his sting. He explains that Bilam reasoned cleverly: if his curse could not take hold, it would automatically reverse into a blessing, and this is the intent of his words "If so, let me bless them." Hashem's answer teaches that Bnei Yisrael are bound to the very essence of blessing and have no need of a blessing that arrives merely as the flip-side of a foiled curse, for such a blessing still leaves a deficiency. Just as honey is unwanted from a bee whose true aim is to sting, so too any blessing wrung from Bilam against his will, as a mere twisting of his mouth, is rejected. The lesson is that true blessing flows from real dveikus to its source, not from coerced words of a rasha.