במדבר

אוי מי יחיה משומו אל. ע"ד הפשט מן הגזרות האלה ששם אל בעולם על ידי מלך אשור, שהרי הוא נצח את כל הגוים ובלבל כל האומות.

אוי מי יחיה משומו אל, “who will survive unless G’d has willed it!” According to the plain meaning of the text the meaning of the verse is that no one can escape the decree of G’d in the world to be executed by the King of Ashur, seeing that that kingdom defeated every nation that stood in its way (Rashi as well as Ibn Ezra).

ועל דרך המדרש אוי מי יחיה משומו אל, על ישמעאל, שהרי בני קין מזרעו של ישמעאל הם. ומה שאמר כי אם יהיה לבער קין כלומר כי אם יהיה קין לבער אש. ומה שנקרא זרע ישמעאל קין, על שם שישבו באחוזת קין, וכן הוא אומר (שופטים ד׳:י״א) וחבר הקיני נפרד מקין, והלא כל בני קין נכרתו במי המבול, אלא על שם שישבו באחוזת קין נקראו בני קין וישיבתן מלכות אשור. אמר בלעם, מכל שבעים לשון שברא הקב"ה בעולמו לא שם שמו אלא לישראל ולישמעאל, שנאמר (בראשית ט״ז:י״א) וקראת שמו ישמעאל, וכיון שהשוה הקב"ה שמו של ישמעאל לשמו של ישראל, אוי מי יחיה משמו אל, אוי מי יחיה בימיו, כך דרשו בפרקי רבי אליעזר.

A Midrashic approach based on Pirke d'Rabbi Eliezer chapter 30: the word קין refers to the descendants of Yitro who are, however, referred to as descendants of Kayin, Adam’s oldest son as in Judges 4,11 they are described as residing in the area to which Kayin moved after having been forgiven by G’d for killing his brother. At the time Bileam pronounced the blessing the Kenites were descendants of Ishmael, i.e. the word מי שומו אל should be read as מישמעאל, “from Ishmael.” This immediately raises the problem that all the descendants of the original Kayin had perished during the deluge, so how could there be any identifiable offspring of his be left alive? The answer clearly must be that people who resided in the part of the world where the descendants of Kayin lived prior to the deluge are called בני קין, “descendants of Kayin.” They too would be taken captive by the Assyrians. Seeing that G’d had made the name of Avraham’s oldest son Ishmael sound so similar to the name Israel, Bileam exclaims: “woe to those who survive bearing the name Ishmael in the days when these events will occur.” Thus far the comment in Pirke d'Rabbi Eliezer.

ואם תשכיל תמצא כי המקטרג הזה שבארץ רמז בפסוק זה שם המקטרג הגדול שיש לישראל בשמים, והוא שר המדבר שרף מעופף ונפש גלגל מאדים, כי בעבור שראה שנפל ממועצותיו ולא הועיל קטיגורו בכל נבואותיו לא במדת הדין ולא במדת רחמים על כן וישת אל המדבר פניו, להעזר בו כנגד ישראל, ולכך התחיל לצעוק מי יחיה מגזרותיו, כלומר מי יחיה בגלות עשו, ושני הווי"ן רמז לשנים עשר כנפיו, וזהו מבואר.

If you will analyze this you will find that the accuser of Israel on earth, i.e. Bileam, alludes with these words to the great accuser of Israel in the celestial regions.” We refer to the celestial force Satan, the master of the desert. He is like a Seraph which flies all over, representing the planet Mars. Bileam, the terrestrial Satanic force who had been thwarted in all his efforts to attack the Jewish people on a spiritual level, not succeeding to make an impact on the attribute of Justice or the attribute of Mercy, now addresses himself to the desert in order to obtain some relief of his frustration from a spiritually negative celestial force. The comparison between the names of ישראל and ישמעאל, both G’d-given names that we referred to in the commentary of Pirke d'Rabbi Eliezer, refers to the ending with the letters א-ל, i.e. that both these names contain the name of G’d. None of the seventy nations enumerated after the confusion by G’d of the languages and the nations (Genesis 10,5-29) contains the name of G’d. The word משומו אל is understood by the author as if it had been written with two letters ו, a common theory for whenever the dot on the letter ש is moved from right to left. The word really should have been משמו אל, i.e. “who bears the name of G’d.” By changing the dot it is as if an additional letter ו had been added. The anti-G’d, Satanic forces, are perceived to have at their disposal 12 “princes” just as the people of Yeshurun (Israel as a pro-G’d force) have at their disposal 12 princes. [The latest commentary, I believe, can best be understood by seeing even in the reformed Bileam someone containing a residue of his former self, much as Rashi viewed the words ויחד יתרו in Exodus 18,9 where Yitro is described as rejoicing over the salvation of the Jewish people, as containing an element of his former self, i.e. he was upset at what happened to the Egyptians. Ed].