How firm is your dwelling place, and your nest is set in a cliff! ~ Numbers 24:21
If you’re a good Jew, and who am I to assume otherwise,
every morning, you quote your favorite diviner, Balaam’s
greatest hit How lovely are your tents, O Jacob;
your dwelling places, O Israel –
his famous blessing, which he meant to be a curse
but then just couldn’t, thanks to some divining
from the even Greater Diviner. Every morning!
It’s the hey, what’s up, is everything good with you
of its day. His parable continued with the
lesser-known ditty How firm is your dwelling place,
and your nest is set in a cliff! He spoke this to
a Keinite, which wasn’t very nice as the Keinites
were our pals, and how would you feel if your
good friend told you you lived in a cliff nest?
Not good, I bet. I mean, with all the Midianites
and Moabites, and some king named Og
attacking as at every turn towards the river,
let’s not make the Keinites unhappy too, you know?
We don’t hear much from Balaam after this.
He kind of shot his shot with the lovely tent thing
(I mean, we all say it every morning, right?
That’s the kind of good Jews we all are, right?)
And I guess it wasn’t so great for the Keinites
having their nests up in cliffs because
they don’t seem to be around anymore
and we are with our feet on every side of the river
and our memory longer than our own lives
and our lovely, lovely tents.
Rick Lupert, a poet, songleader and graphic designer, is the author of 29 books including “God Wrestler: A Poem for Every Torah Portion.” Visit him at www.JewishPoetry.net
