Nombres 23:10

Who can count the dust of Yaakov. As Targum [Onkelos] interprets, “the children of the house of Yaakov, etc., . . . of the four camps” — of the four banners. Another interpretation [of] the dust of Yaakov, One cannot reckon the commandments which they perform with dust. “Do not plow with an ox and a donkey,” “do not plant kilayim,” the dust of the [red] cow, the dust of the sotah, and similar ones.

Or count the seed of Yisroel. The seed which emanates during their intercourse.

May my soul die the death of the righteous. Among them.

And when Bileam the sinner beheld the house of Israel, a circumcised people, hidden in the dust of the desert, he said, Who can number the merits of these strong ones, or count the good works of one of the four camps of Israel? Bileam the wicked said: If the house of Israel kill me with the sword, then, it is made known to me, I shall have no portion in the world to come: nevertheless if I may but die the death of the true! O that my last end may be as the least among them!

WHO HATH COUNTED THE DUST OF JACOB? Balaam is saying: “I see them from the top of the rocks dwelling alone, and I cannot count them for they alone are like the dust of the earth, and no man can number the dust of the earth; nor can I count even rova Yisrael (one fourth of Israel) when they are encamped under four standards.” Thus he prophesied that they would increase in number and they shall not be diminished, and the seed of Jacob will always be alone as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered. This is Onkelos’ opinion [as to the meaning] of rova Yisrael [that it means “one fourth” of the total population of Israel, i.e., one standard of the four in which the people encamped].
It is also correct that the term rova be [interpreted as in the expression], Thou dost measure my going about ‘v’riv’i’ (and my lying down), of [the same root as in]: Thou shalt not let thy cattle ‘tharbia’ (gender) with a diverse kind, and similar in expression to: and are come forth out of the fountain of Jacob.
Balaam said [in this verse]: Let me die the death of ‘yesharim’ (the righteous), and let mine end be like his, meaning that they are those who are inheritors of the Garden of Eden [i.e., they are assured of eternal life after death]. For since the end of man is death, therefore he wanted to die the death of ‘yesharim’ (the righteous), these being Israel, who are called Yeshurun, because they spend their days in goodness. And let mine end be like his — like that of Israel whose portion is in [eternal] life, and who do not go to Gehenna and destruction. Thus the general tenor of Balaam’s prophecy this time was that G-d does not want us to be cursed, and that we are a people [dwelling] alone, His portion and His people; we shall not mix with the [other] nations, nor be counted amongst them, and our end will be good, according to the way of the righteous.

?מי מנה עפר יעקב, seeing that they have so many small children G’d does not want to curse them. Children do not know right from wrong. In fact, when adults do not know right from wrong G’d is also very reluctant to curse them as we know from the last sentence in the Book of Jonah where G’d makes this point to the prophet. In Yuma 22 the rhetorical question regarding collective punishment is asked: “granted that the adults have sinned, but what have the children been guilty of that they should suffer the fate of their elders?”

רבע ישראל, the descendants of Israel. The word is derived from רביעה, a mating process. Man is the product of such a process having taken place between father and mother.

תמות נפשי מות ישרים, if I were to die now I do not mind, provided that it would be the death of the righteous who will pass over into another life.

ותהי אחריתי כמוהו, so that my offspring be like that of the Israelites. The children of man and those who are the biological issue of him are known as אחריתו, [literally the ones who are following behind him. Ed.] We encounter the word אחרית in this sense in Psalms 109,13 תהי אחריתו להכרית, “may his posterity be cut off. We encounter it in this context also in Daniel 11,4 ולא לאחריתו, “but not for any of his posterity.”

ומספר את רובע ישראל, “or count the number of Israel?” Our author traces the word רובע as related to רביעה, i.e. as a rainfall ensuring ample growth of the grass in the field. An alternate interpretation: he was able to see only one of the four flags denoting the encampment of the four (ארבע) army groups comprising the men of military age.

תמות נפשי מות ישרים, “may I die in the same way as do the righteous. Here is proof that there is an afterlife, if Bileam, the arch enemy of Israel wishes for himself the same kind of afterlife reserved for righteous or repentant Israelites. After all, it is indisputable that he was speaking while having been temporarily inspired by the Holy Spirit.