The Snake directs Eve to the Fruit.
Eve saw it and ate.
Nachash / nashuch / nechoshet.
of the source of dialogue.
This knowledge undoes the Snake.
Should you be steadfast in your point of view?
But the dead are in the tent.
The dead are in the field.
The dead are in graves.
They exist in fixed spots.
who take the touch of death away.
Those whom Bila'am blesses are blessed. Those whom Bila'am curses are cursed. His visitors bring incense, and God comes to him. He commands seven altars to be made, and he summons God.
The king of Moav asks Bila'am to come to him to curse Israel. Bila'am says: Even were the king to offer him the royal palace filled with silver and gold, he, Bila'am, will only do what God has commanded.
Bila'am says, repeatedly, that he can say only what God has told him to say.
Bila'am seeks permission from God to curse Israel, though God says Do not curse the People, for it is blessed.
And God is angry with Bila'am for going to the king of Moav (for God has permitted Bila'am go to the king of Moav—not to curse, but to say only what God tells him to say), and God makes Bila'am know that a donkey has seen a holy vision that Bila'am cannot see; and rather than being shocked that there is knowledge of the holy that an animal knows that Bila'am does not know, Bila'am only asks if it is allright to continue on in his trip.
Bila'am cannot think beyond the letter of the law.
He knows the techniques of prophecy: he knows incense and altars; he will not budge unless God has let him budge.
And yet he is comfortable asking God for help in cursing God's own people.
Bila'am is dangerous because he seeks the metaphysical without God, without theology: because he is a literalist and not more.