What does it say about the Balaam story that such incredible mysteries come in through what is basically seen as a "public enemy number one" in the Torah, right up there with, say, Amalek, and Pharaoh? It says that wisdom is everywhere.
Take the prophecy in Bemidbar 23:18: "Not a man is G-d that [G-d] should be deceitful, nor a son of man that [G-d] should change [G-d's] Mind. Would it be that [G-d] would say and not do, or speak and not confirm it?"
We commonly look at the arguments that Moshe and and Avraham had with G-d, and it's hard to see what mystically went on beneath the surface, but it sure looks like they "changed G-d's mind." This is of course, we know, an impossibility - especially when compared with the express word of G-d (how many times does Balaam say that everything he says is so, on top of the express instruction he is given earlier) that G-d does not change minds or "say and not do."
There are some who say that our goal here is not to be adversarial, to fight, to change, to dedicate life to a cause - that if we just sort of gave up the struggle, we'd lose suffering and find peace. That really isn't the message here of the Torah, though - and from the words of a foreign prophet, no less. We are intended to advocate and fight and struggle - just look at all the forefathers went their entire lives pushing for their higher purpose, with no indication that they every really gave up - and still this is very much "part of the plan."
It would certainly be nicer to be given a perfect world - and, to be sure, the world is absolutely becoming "nicer" in this holy era. But it's humankind's efforts - in partnership with G-d, of course - that got us there, which is entirely the purpose of living. Avraham and Moshe repeatedly fought for life, putting everything on the line. But that doesn't mean, ever, that what they did was become an adversary to the holy energy - instead, perhaps, that they brought it out and channeled it in direct, face-to-face interaction for all of our benefit.
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