Numbers

23.1-30

Why would God choose to speak through Balaam? Almost any question that begins with “Why would God…” is flawed in the very concept of believing we can know the mind of God. Yet, God purposes for us to know Him, and He demonstrates His nature in the ways that He does things, oftentimes in ways that are unexpected. Balaam is an unexpected prophet. Writers of the New Testament condemn Balaam’s motives as leading others astray for personal gain:

- 2 Peter 2:15-16 – Peter warns against false teachers who follow "the way of Balaam," describing him as someone who "loved the wages of unrighteousness" and was rebuked by a donkey for his wrongdoing.
- Jude 1:11 – Jude condemns those who have gone "the way of Cain," "rushed for profit into Balaam’s error," and "perished in Korah’s rebellion," linking Balaam’s actions to greed and corruption.
- Revelation 2:14 – Jesus, in His message to the church in Pergamum, warns that Balaam "taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality," showing how Balaam’s influence led to spiritual downfall.
- And here in Exodus 23, Balaam instructs Balak to build seven altars and prepare a sacrifice, which he does. These sacrifices are made by a pagan, on pagan altars, to obtain a curse against God’s people. Yet Yahweh still gave Balaam his oracle.

One consideration of “why” can come from the perspective of who was asking originally. Balak was asking for a prophet of Yahweh - to petition the God of the Israelites - to curse “the Israelites.” We know that God isn’t surprised by anything, so the irony of this didn’t catch Him off guard. But certainly, He intended for us to see this. God could have responded with silence. Had He, it likely would have escaped mention in the biblical canon. But by responding in this manner, God also demonstrates what we still see of His nature today. People who place their trust in themselves and the world continue to call out to God when they find themselves up against enemies and obstacles they find insurmountable. The nature of God is to remain faithful to His providential will and the covenants He has already established. That was true for the Israelites Balak faced. And it holds true still today. When Balak was looking for an answer from God, to use in a way that was contrary to God’s will, He answered. It didn’t matter that the prophet was less than perfect. Today, people with unrighteous motives will try to twist the Bible – God’s Word, to accomplish their purposes against God’s people. God’s covenant with His people is already set, and the outcome has been determined. So is the destruction for those who continue to oppose, resist, and refuse God.

CHAPTER 23

Yahweh Speaks Through Balaam

1 Then Balaam said to Balak, “Build seven altars for me here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me here.”
2 So Balak did just as Balaam had spoken, and Balak and Balaam offered up a bull and a ram on each altar.
3 Then Balaam said to Balak, “Stand beside your burnt offering, and I will go; perhaps Yahweh will come to meet me, and whatever He shows me I will tell you.” So he went to a bare hill.
4 Now God met Balaam, and he said to Him, “I have set up the seven altars, and I have offered up a bull and a ram on each altar.”
5 Then Yahweh put a word in Balaam’s mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and you shall speak thus.”
6 So he returned to him, and behold, 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,
Moab’s king from the mountains of the East,
‘Come curse Jacob for me,
And come, denounce Israel!’
8 “How shall I curse whom God has not cursed?
And how can I denounce whom Yahweh has not denounced?
9 “For I see him from the top of the rocks,
And I look at him from the hills;
Behold, a people who dwells alone,
And will not be reckoned among the nations.
10 “Who can number the dust of Jacob,
Or count the fourth part of Israel?
Let me die the death of the upright,
And let my end be like his!”
11 Then Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, but behold, you have blessed them repeatedly!”
12 And he replied, “Must I not be careful to speak what Yahweh puts in my mouth?”

Balaam’s Discourse

13 Then Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place from where you may see them, but you will only see the end of them and will not see all of them; and curse them for me from there.”
14 So 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 And he said to Balak, “Stand here beside your burnt offering while I myself meet Yahweh over there.”
16 Then Yahweh met Balaam and put a word in his mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.”
17 So 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 Yahweh spoken?”
18 Then he took up his discourse and said,
“Arise, O Balak, and hear;
Give ear to me, O son of Zippor!
19 “God is not a man, that He should lie,
Nor a son of man, that He should repent;
Has He said, and will He not do it?
Or has He spoken, and will He not establish it?
20 “Behold, I have received a command to bless;
When He has blessed, then I cannot revoke it.
21 “He has not observed misfortune in Jacob;
Nor has He seen trouble in Israel;
Yahweh his God is with him,
And the shout of a king is among them.
22 “God brings them out of Egypt,
He is for them like the horns of the wild ox.
23 “For there is no omen against Jacob,
Nor is there any divination against Israel;
At the proper time it shall be said to Jacob
And to Israel, what God has done!
24 “Behold, a people rises like a lioness,
And as a lion it lifts itself;
It will not lie down until it devours the prey,
And drinks the blood of the slain.”
25 Then Balak said to Balaam, “Do not curse them at all nor bless them at all!”
26 But Balaam replied to Balak, “Did I not tell you, saying, ‘Whatever Yahweh speaks, that I must do’?”
27 Then Balak said to Balaam, “Please come, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will be right in the eyes of God that you curse them for me from there.”
28 So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor which overlooks the wasteland.
29 And Balaam said to Balak, “Build seven altars for me here and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me here.”
30 And Balak did just as Balaam had said and offered up a bull and a ram on each altar.

Legacy Standard Bible (Three Sixteen Publishing, 2022), Nu 23.