In honor of Shmuel ben Baruch (Samuel Wainer), a true "disciple of Abraham," whose yahrzeit is today.
This week's portion describes the efforts of Balak and Bilaam to prevent the people of Israel from entering the promised land. The Shem M'Shmuel states that Balak and Bilaam were also trying to undue all of what Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had accomplished.
If we look closely at the events that take place, we see that the parallels are quite strong: God promises Abraham that whoever blesses him will be blessed. Balak tells Bilaam that whoever he curses will be cursed. Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey in order to set an altar to sacrifice what he believed would be his sond. Bilaam saddles his donkey (a mule, to be exact) to travel to Balak and set up various different altars in an attempt to coerce God into allowing Bilaam to curse the Jewish people.
This parallel is also mentioned explicitly in Pirkei Avot, Chapter 5, verse 19: "Whoever possessess the following three traits is of the disciples of Abraham our father; and the three opposite traits, is of the disciples of Bilaam the wicked. Abraham's disciples possess a good (generous) eye, a humble spirit, and a meek soul. The disciples of the wicked Bilaam posess an evil eye, an arrogant spirit, and a greedy soul." (I just recently came across a lengthier description of the contrast between Avraham and Bilaam here).
God gives us the free will to decide what path to choose: Abraham's or Bilaam's. He might send "messengers" ("malachim," also translated as "angels") on the way, but at the end of the day the choice is ours. As Rabbi Manis Friedman states in his book "Why Doesn't Anybody Blush Anymore?" (available here), people often try to be holy despite God. That is not the idea. We have to humble ourselves like Abraham, and understand that we are here to serve.
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