The weekly portion features one of the great villains in the Torah, providing a great opportunity to discuss some of the other evildoers in the Bible.
Last week's Torah portion (in Israel) is “Balak” (Numbers 22:2-25:9), and it we read about Bilaam, a non-Jewish prophet, who was granted a level of prophecy on the level of Moses. He was also a magician and sorcerer. Balak, the king of Moab, wanted to hire Bilaam to curse the Jewish people for a ton of money.
God told Bilaam not to go along with the scheme, but Bilaam ignored Him. In the end, Bilaam ended up blessing the Jews against his will instead of cursing them. With two very distinct villains in this week’s Torah portion, it is a great opportunity to discuss some of the villains in the Bible. Let’s examine some of the lesser-known ones, starting with Dathan.
Dathan, a self-hating Jew, is first mentioned in the Torah by name as one who left Egypt along with everyone else. Our sages, however, identify him earlier as the one who may have been responsible for Moses having to run away from Egypt (Exodus 2:13-15). He was the son of Eliab, who was the son of Palu, who was the son of Reuben. His brother, Aviram, was also a troublemaker.