Lusting After Honor

There is a book called, “Sefer Hayashar,” that may have been written by Rashi’s grandson, Rabbeinu Tam. It contains many lessons in character development.
The book lists many of the great detriments to our spiritual growth. One of these is controlling our תאווה, or lust. The author lists nine examples of things where lust is a problem. Typically, there could be lust after women, money, the food we eat, and even the clothes we wear.
The one type of lust that could lead to our downfall, is the lust after Kavod, or honor. This was particularly true of Bilaam.

The Torah tells us that Balak needed to send several delegations to convince him to curse the Jewish people. Each delegation needed to consist of more respectable officers. They also needed to increase their offer as to the appropriate payment for his services.

We see from Bilaam’s dialogue with Hashem that he was somewhat torn as to whether it was a good idea to curse the Jewish people.

We see how the lust for honor can blind a person. He loses all sense of right and wrong and he is guided by his ego. We say in our daily prayers how Hashem is משפיל גאים ומגביה שפלים, that He lowers the proud, and elevates the humble.

Bilaam even asked to die the death of the righteous, but it was too late. Like Pharoah, his free will was taken from him, and he died by the sword.

The Talmud in Sanhedrin, lists Bilaam as one of the most evil people of all time. This is the fare of the proud honor seekers. They bring about their own demise.