Balak. A People that Dwells Alone

The prophet Bilaam was hired to curse the Children of Israel. However, each time he tried to pronounce a curse, it came out as a blessing. One of those blessings reads:

It is a people that dwells alone [badad],

Not reckoned among the nations. (Num. 23:9)

Israel are depicted as dwelling “alone”. Alone sounds like isolation, loneliness! Is this a blessing?

Rashi: The Eternity of the Jews

Not be reckoned among the nations. As Targum explains, they will not suffer destruction as other nations will, as it is says (Jeremiah 30:11), "for I shall annihilate all the nations” and Israel will not be counted amongst them.

In other words, Rashi sees the Jewish people as anomalous in world Histoey, outliving ancient cultures and surviving throughout the length of history. As in the famous quote by Marc Twain: