Balak (parsha) - Haftarah

Haftarah

The haftarah for the parshah is Micah 5:6–6:8. When parshah Balak is combined with parshah Chukat, the haftarah remains the haftarah for Balak.

In the haftarah in Micah 6:5, Micah quotes God’s admonition to the Israelites to recall the events of the parshah, to “remember now what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him.” The verb that the haftarah uses for “answer” (‘anah) in Micah 6:5 is a variation of the same verb that the parshah uses to describe Balaam’s “answer” (vaya‘an) to Balaak in the parshah in Numbers 22:18 and 23:12. And the first words of Balaam’s blessing of Israel in Numbers 24:5, “how goodly” (ma tovu), are echoed in the haftarah’s admonition in Micah 6:8 of “what is good” (ma tov) in God’s sight, namely “to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.”