No Spirituality

Balak sends a message to Bilam, עַ֣ם יָצָ֤א מִמִּצְרַ֨יִם֙ הִנֵּ֤ה כִסָּה֙ אֶת־עֵ֣ין הָאָ֔רֶץ וְה֥וּא ישֵׁ֖ב מִמֻּלִֽ, A people has come out of Egypt, and behold, they have covered the eye of the land, and they are stationed opposite me.  According to Rashi the words כִסָּה֙ אֶת־עֵ֣ין הָאָ֔רֶץ refers to the killing of Sichon and Og who were the guardians of the land.  Why does the possuk use the word כסה, cover to refer to destruction, we would expect the word to be destroyed, killed, a harsher word to convey that they were wiped out.  Furthermore, why does the possuk use the word עיו, eye, to refer to taking over the land?  

The Sfas Emes says כִסָּה֙ אֶת־עֵ֣ין הָאָ֔רֶץ refers to the idea that Klal Yisrael takes the ארץ, the total gashmious and and they find the ruchnious aspect of it.  What Balak was afraid of what not a physical destruction but a spiritual elevation.  He did not want to be bothered with having a spiritual way of living life, he preferred to continue living the way he always had. The Chasam Sofer adds based upon the writings of the Shla that the letter עין is often inserted to take something of holiness and lower it.  An example of this is seen in the name of בלעם himself.  the name בלעם contains the word לבם, their heart and has an עין added to it.  בלעם was a heart contaminator.  He took the capability of kedusha that he had but exchanged it for tumah purposes.  This fits with the Sfas Emes that the complaint of Balak is that Klal Yisrael is covering the עין, they are covering over our ability to use the base aspects of the world for tumah and instead are infusing it with kedusha.  That is why he approaches בלעם to reinsert the עין of tumah back into everyday activities.  With this idea we can read the possuk differently.  כִסָּה֙ אֶת־עֵ֣ין הָאָ֔רֶץ means that Klal Yisrael has covered over our natural tumah way of living by introducing kedusha into the very basic aspects of our lives and we are not willing to tolerate it.  In other words, Balak was not not able to tolerate a change of adding kedusha into his life.