Kabbalah Library

27. It is written, “Behold, it covers the face of the earth.” Some say that they are Sihon and Og, whom Israel killed, that they were the eye of the earth. But when the Creator brought locust upon the land of Egypt, it is written, “For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened.”

This is so because all the sorcerers and magicians in the world cannot do magic except in one thing, in one degree, and at one time. But to this people, He brought mixed locust of several kinds mixed with one another until all the sorcerers and magicians could not rise before them. This is “For they covered the face of the whole earth,” so they could not rise from them, as it is written, “Behold, it covers the face of the earth,” that it is impossible to rise from it.

28. There were no sorcerers and magicians in the world like Balak and Balaam. Balaam, his power and might were in his mouth and in his eyes. Balak, his power and might were in the work of the hands. One needed the other, since all the types of magic in the world are with the mouth and with an action, and they are dependent on them. Balaam had a tongue but no hands, Balak had hands but no tongue.