Concealing the Earthly Eye

וכסה כו' עין הארץ ולא יוכל לראות.

“And it covered… the eye of the land, and it could not see.”

The Sefat Emet begins by noting that the plague (of locusts) blocked the ‘eye of the land,’ meaning the ordinary mode of physical perception was obstructed.

כ' רש"י לא יוכל הרואה לראות כו'.

As Rashi says: “The one who looks will not be able to see…”

Rashi explains the verse simply: no observer could see because the land was covered.

אבל יש לפרש כי המכה כסה עין הארציות והגשמיות שלא יוכל זה העין הרע להשגיח על פנימיות הארץ.

But one may explain that the plague covered the eye of earthliness and physicality, so that this evil eye could not cast its gaze upon the inner essence of the land.

The Sefat Emet reads the verse spiritually: the “eye” being blocked is the coarse, materialistic perception that prevents the inner holiness of the land from being revealed.

וע"ז חרה לבלק ובלעם דכ' עם יצא ממצרים כו' כסה כו' עין הארץ כו'.

And over this Balak and Balaam were angered, as it is written: “A people has come out of Egypt… it has covered the eye of the land…”

Balak and Balaam are upset because Israel’s emergence obscures the ‘eye of the land’—that worldly perspective through which they sought to exert influence. Israel’s presence blocks that negative vision.

The Sefat Emet teaches that the plague, and later Israel’s rise, concealed the worldly ‘eye’ that distorts perception, allowing the inner sanctity of the land to remain untouched by negative forces.