Numbers, Chapter 23

Numbers Chapter 23

Verses 1-30: Balaam’s First and Second Oracles

1. Balaam said to Balak, “Build me here seven altars, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.”
2. Balak did as Balaam had spoken, and Balak and Balaam offered on each altar a bull and a ram.
3. Then Balaam said to Balak, “Stand beside your burnt offering, and I will go. Perhaps the LORD will come to meet me. Whatever he shows me I will tell you.” And he went to a bare height.
4. God met Balaam, who said to Him, “I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered on each altar a bull and a ram.”
5. The LORD put a word in Balaam’s mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.”
6. He returned to him, and, lo, he was standing beside his burnt offering, he and all the leaders of Moab.
7. Then he took up his discourse and said, “From Aram Balak has brought me, the king of Moab from the eastern mountains: ‘Come, curse Jacob for me, and come, denounce Israel!’
8. How can I curse whom God has not cursed? How can I denounce whom the LORD has not denounced?
9. For from the top of the crags I see him, from the hills I behold him; lo, a people dwelling alone, and not reckoning itself among the nations!
10. Who can count the dust of Jacob, or number the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the upright, and let my end be like his!”
11. And Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have done nothing but bless them.”
12. He answered and said, “Must I not take care to speak what the LORD puts in my mouth?”
13. Then Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place, from which you may see them; you shall see only a fraction of them and shall not see them all. Then curse them for me from there.”
14. And he took him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
15. Balaam said to Balak, “Stand here beside your burnt offering, while I meet the LORD over there.”
16. The LORD met Balaam and put a word in his mouth and said, “Go back to Balak, and thus shall you speak.”
17. He came to him, and behold, he was standing beside his burnt offering, and the leaders of Moab with him. And Balak said to him, “What has the LORD spoken?”
18. And he took up his discourse and said, “Rise, Balak, and hear; listen to me, O son of Zippor:
19. God is not a man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?
20. Behold, I received a command to bless: He has blessed, and I cannot revoke it.
21. He has not beheld misfortune in Jacob, nor has he seen trouble in Israel. The LORD their God is with them, and the shout of a king is among them.
22. God brings them out of Egypt and is for them like the horns of the wild ox.
23. For there is no enchantment against Jacob, no divination against Israel; now it shall be said of Jacob and Israel, ‘What has God wrought!’
24. Behold, a people! As a lioness it rises up and as a lion it lifts itself; it does not lie down until it devours the prey and drinks the blood of the slain.”
25. Then Balak said to Balaam, “Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all!”
26. But Balaam answered Balak, “Did I not tell you, saying, ‘All that the LORD speaks, that I must do’?”
27. And Balak said to Balaam, “Come now, I will take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God that you may curse them for me from there.”
28. So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, that overlooks the desert.
29. Balaam said to Balak, “Build me here seven altars, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.”
30. Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

Interpretation: Balaam’s first two oracles highlight a crucial theme: the irrevocability of God’s blessing on Israel, despite external attempts to curse them. Balaam, though brought to curse, ends up blessing Israel, affirming their special status and divine protection. This section emphasizes God’s sovereignty and the futility of opposing His will, as well as the distinct and blessed position of Israel among the nations. Balak’s frustration grows as his plan to weaken Israel through curses fails, illustrating the principle that God’s purposes cannot be thwarted by human schemes.