By Mitchell First

Here, we have a statement by Bilam: “Hashem elokav imo, u-teruat melech bo” Hashem—His God—is with him, and the “teruah” of a king is in him (or “among him” or “with him”). What is the meaning of תרועת here? Rashi gives it the meaning of “chibah ve-reiut.” Accordingly, the ArtScroll edition of Rashi translates the verse as “the friendship of the King is in him.” This is what is in ArtScroll’s Stone Chumash as well.

Many agree with Rashi here. For example, Rashbam agrees, as does Bechor Shor. Earlier than Rashi, Rav Saadiah (10th century) had taken this position. In modern times, Rav Aryeh Kaplan in “The Living Torah” agrees, translating: “they have the King’s friendship.” Rashi is loosely following Targum Onkelos here, as Targum Onkelos has “the Shechinah of the king is among them.” The Targum uses “Shechinah” here because this is how God manifests himself and his “closeness/friendship.” But many disagree with Rashi.

In order to get a handle on our phrase, we first have to address the meaning of the word תרועה elsewhere. This word—in its various forms—appears 36 times in Tanach.

Almost all the time in Tanach (and according to many, all the time), תרועה is a word derived from the root רוע, which means a “loud sound.” But there is still a large ambiguity. The word sometimes refers to a loud sound of war or threats, but other times, it refers to a loud sound of joy or praise. (For the former, see, e.g., Joshua 6:5, Zephaniah 1:16, Amos 1:14, and Jeremiah 4:19. For the latter, see, e.g., 1 Samuel 4:5, Job 8:21, Ezra 3:11 and Psalms 150:5.)

Some see “teruah” with a “closeness/friendship” meaning at Psalms 89:16: “Ashrei ha-am yodei teruah.” (If it means “closeness/friendship,” it probably derives from a different root: רעה.) A meaning like, “fortunate is the nation that knows how to be close to God,” is suggested by some here. E.g., Metzudat Tziyon, Metzudat David and Malbim. But most others give it the “loud sound” meaning, which is why we recite it before the blowing of the shofar. (I discussed this verse in an article in “Links to Our Legacy.”) “Teruah” may also have a “closeness/friendship” meaning at Job 33:26. But even in this verse, such a meaning is unlikely. See Daat Mikra.

So, we have three possible understandings of our word תרועה in Tanach: 1) loud sound of war or threats, 2) loud sound of joy or praise and 3) closeness/friendship.

Let us review some commentaries and modern scholars on our phrase at Numbers 23:21, the ones who are not giving it a “closeness/friendship” meaning.

Ibn Ezra: It refers to the blowing of the “teruah” sound in the camp of Israel. He cites a verse, “u-tekatem teruah,” (Numbers 10:5) which has a particular context. The note in the Torat Chayyim suggests that all he means is that the Israelites generally blew “teruot” for God.

Hizzekuni: The phrase alludes to Numbers 10:9 where we are told that in a time of war, when we blow (והרעתם) the “chatzotzrot,” we will be remembered by God and saved from our enemies.

Rabbi Bachya: In all of the Israelites’ travels, they blow a “teruah.” That is the practice in general for soldiers of a king. (He mentions other interpretations as well including Rashi’s.)

Ralbag: The “teruah” refers to the fact that God will defeat his enemies by making a strong “teruah” sound and making them tremble.

Abarbanel: The verse alludes to Isaiah 42:16: “God will go forth as a gibor … ‘yaria af yatzriach,’ he will defeat his enemies.”

Seforno: When the Israelites travel, they travel with the mishkan. They blow a “teruah” to reflect the joy that they have that their king (in the form of the mishkan) is with them.

Samuel David Luzzatto: A “teruah” to a king is blown when the Israelites thank God for saving them from troubles. This is done for a human king when he returns from war after defeating his enemies.

Malbim: A king is blown a “teruah” as a form of honor when he goes out among his people, as they are happy that their king is among them.

Ho’il Moshe (Rabbi Moshe Tedeschi, 19th century): It alludes to the Israelites shouting “yechi malkeinu,” (long live the king!).

Rabbi Dr. Hertz: They are constantly reminded of the dominion of their God and summoned to his worship by the “teruah” sound. All holy seasons were announced, and all public sacrifices accompanied, by the “teruah” of the trumpet.

Daat Mikra: The Israelites blow “teruot” to give honor to their king. (Daat Mikra also mentions Rashi’s approach as an alternative.)

JPS Numbers: “their king’s acclaim (is) in their midst.” One can view certain verses in Psalms as referring to the acclamation of God as king by a shofar and “teruah.” See 47:6 and 98:6.

Anchor Bible: “Teruah” signifies the battle cry, the call to war. The verse means that “the battle cry of the King” is with Israel.

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Our phrase is parallel to the phrase: “Hashem, His God, is with him.” At first glance, this seems to support the “closeness/friendship” approach. But this phrase is vague enough so that it can parallel many of the other suggestions.

As mentioned earlier, the “closeness-friendship” meaning of the word “teruah,” if it exists in Tanach at all, would be a rare one: at most, one or two times. But the Even-Shoshan concordance, in its listing of the 36 “teruah” words and their meanings does not give it a “closeness/friendship” meaning in any of them. Nor does the Brown-Driver Briggs lexicon. All of this strongly militates against Rashi’s approach.

Moreover, many of the other approaches suggested above are very reasonable.

Finally, I wonder whether בו is the proper word to describe a “closeness/friendship” relationship. It has too much of a connotation of “in.” עמו (imo) would seem to be a better fit, as it has more of a meaning of “with.” The Talmud at Rosh Hashanah 32b cites our verse as an example of a verse that has both “malchut” and “teruah.” On the simplest level, it seems that neither of the disputants there are adopting a “closeness/friendship” meaning.”

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The biblical terms for Rosh Hashanah are “yom teruah” and “zichron teruah.” (See Numbers 29:1 and Leviticus 23:24.) The presence of the word “zichron” in one of them, a word that often has a sound-related meaning, makes a “closeness/friendship” meaning very unlikely there. Nevertheless, there are homiletical and mystical interpretations of “yom teruah” as a day when we become close to God. (I discussed the plain sense meanings of “yom teruah” and “zichron teruah” in “Roots and Rituals,” pages 197-200.)

Mitchell First can be reached at [email protected]. A humorous approach to our phrase found in some Rishonim: At Deuteronomy 23:6, we are told that God was הפך Bilam’s curse into a blessing. The suggestion is then made that Bilam wanted to כלם (destroy) the Israelites. But God, instead, included the word מלך in his statements!