Jul 15 2008
Balak: Messiah Will Die the Death of the Righteous
Numbers 23:10
Who counted the dust of Jacob or the number of a fourth of [or, of the seed of] Israel? May my soul die the death of the upright and let my end be like his.
The seed, can be taken as a remez back to the Seed of the Woman, the Promised Seed. The “fourth” can be taken as a remez back to the stone that Jacob anointed with oil and wine (the Messiah) since it was from four stones that that stone was made echad:
Gen 28:18
And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put under his head, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it.
Since this establishes that the Torah is talking about the Messiah here in Numbers 23:10, and in Gen 28:18 (since Messiah means “anointed”), then the Torah clearly teaches that the Messiah is “upright” and that he will “die the death of the upright” and his “end” is to live forever.
from: http://jerusalemcouncil.org/midrash/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=474