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Numbers 23

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Balaam Prepares the First Altar 1–6

1
And Balaam said unto Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bullocks and seven rams. ​
2
And Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bullock and a ram.
3
And Balaam said unto Balak, Stand by thy burnt-offering, and I will go: peradventure Jehovah will come to meet me; and whatsoever he showeth me I will tell thee. And he went to a bare height. ​
4
And God met Balaam: and he said unto him, I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered up a bullock and a ram on every altar.
5
And Jehovah put a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, Return unto Balak, and thus thou shalt speak. ​
6
And he returned unto him, and, lo, he was standing by his burnt-offering, he, and all the princes of Moab.

Balaam’s First Oracle: Israel Blessed 7–12

7
And he took up his parable, and said, From Aram hath Balak brought me, The king of Moab from the mountains of the East: Come, curse me Jacob, And come, defy Israel. ​
8
How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? And how shall I defy, whom Jehovah hath not defied? ​
9
For from the top of the rocks I see him, And from the hills I behold him: Lo, it is a people that dwelleth alone, And shall not be reckoned 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 righteous, And let my last end be like his! ​
11
And Balak said unto Balaam, What hast thou done unto me? I took thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast blessed them altogether. ​
12
And he answered and said, Must I not take heed to speak that which Jehovah putteth in my mouth?

The Second Attempt to Curse Israel 13–17

13
And Balak said unto him, Come, I pray thee, with me unto another place, from whence thou mayest see them; thou shalt see but the utmost part of them, and shalt not see them all: and curse me them from thence. ​
14
And he took him into the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered up a bullock and a ram on every altar. ​
15
And he said unto Balak, Stand here by thy burnt-offering, while I meet Jehovah yonder.
16
And Jehovah met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, Return unto Balak, and thus shalt thou speak. ​
17
And he came to him, and, lo, he was standing by his burnt-offering, and the princes of Moab with him. And Balak said unto him, What hath Jehovah spoken?

Balaam’s Second Oracle: God’s Faithfulness 18–26

18
And he took up his parable, and said, Rise up, Balak, and hear; Hearken unto me, thou son of Zippor: ​
19
God is not a man, that he should lie, Neither the son of man, that he should repent: Hath he said, and will he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and will he not make it good? ​
20
Behold, I have receivedcommandmentto bless: And he hath blessed, and I cannot reverse it.
21
He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob; Neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: Jehovah his God is with him, And the shout of a king is among them. ​
22
God bringeth them forth out of Egypt; He hath as it were the strength of the wild-ox. ​
23
Surely there is no enchantment with Jacob; Neither is there any divination with Israel: Now shall it be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought! ​
24
Behold, the people riseth up as a lioness, And as a lion doth he lift himself up: He shall not lie down until he eat of the prey, And drink the blood of the slain. ​
25
And Balak said unto Balaam, Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all. ​
26
But Balaam answered and said unto Balak, Told not I thee, saying, All that Jehovah speaketh, that I must do?

Preparation for the Third Oracle 27–30

27
And Balak said unto Balaam, Come now, I will take thee unto another place; peradventure it will please God that thou mayest curse me them from thence. ​
28
And Balak took Balaam unto the top of Peor, that looketh down upon the desert. ​
29
And Balaam said unto Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bullocks and seven rams. ​
30
And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered up a bullock and a ram on every altar.

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Numbers 23

Verse 1

seven altars — Balaam asks for seven altars with seven oxen and seven rams, the number the LORD himself names in Job 42:8: 'seven bullocks and seven rams'. The same arrangement is made at each of the three places (vv.14, 29), with 'a bullock and a ram' on every altar. At none of them does the offering decide what the LORD says.

Verse 3

peradventure the LORD will come to meet me — Balaam withdraws alone 'to an high place' (shephi, a bare height) while Balak stands by the burnt offering. 'Come… to meet' rests on qarah, to encounter, the verb used again of God in v.4 and of the LORD in v.16. He promises to tell only 'whatsoever he sheweth me', and v.5 shows who sets his words.

Verse 5

put a word in Balaam's mouth — The phrase is the one used of true prophets: 'will put my words in his mouth' (Deut 18:18), 'I have put my words in thy mouth' (Jer 1:9). Balaam had said as much to Balak: 'the word that God putteth in my mouth, that shall I speak' (Num 22:38).

Verse 7

took up his parable — Mashal, a pithy saying or poem. The phrase 'took up his parable' occurs seven times, all of Balaam's oracles (Num 23:7, 18; 24:3, 15, 20, 21, 23). He names his hirer: Balak 'hath brought me from Aram', with the command to 'curse me Jacob' and 'defy Israel'.

Verse 8

whom God hath not cursed — 'Curse' is naqab, to pierce or name with a curse, and 'cursed' is qabab; 'defy' is za'am, to be enraged. Balaam's reason was given at the outset: 'Thou shalt not go with them; thou shalt not curse the people: for they are blessed' (Num 22:12). It echoes the promise to Abraham, 'curse him that curseth thee' (Gen 12:3).

Verse 9

dwell alone — Badad, apart, as in 'Israel then shall dwell in safety alone' (Deut 33:28). Moses had pleaded that the LORD's presence would mark Israel: 'wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? … so shall we be separated' (Ex 33:16). Israel 'shall not be reckoned among the nations'.

Verse 10

the dust of Jacob — Echoes the promise to Jacob, 'thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth' (Gen 28:14). 'The fourth part' fits the camp's four divisions of three tribes each (Num 2). The wish for 'the death of the righteous' (yashar, upright) comes from the man of whom Num 31:8 says 'they slew with the sword'.

Verse 11

blessed them altogether — Balak's complaint uses a doubled form of barak, 'bless', for the blessing he heard. Nehemiah sums up the event: Moab 'hired Balaam against them, that he should curse them: howbeit our God turned the curse into a blessing' (Neh 13:2; Deut 23:5).

Verse 13

another place — Balak repeats the method of Num 22:41, from a new viewpoint, still allowing Balaam to see only 'the utmost part of them'. The aim is the same: 'curse me them from thence'. The change of place does not change the LORD's word, which is again put in Balaam's mouth (v.16).

Verse 14

the field of Zophim — Tsophim means 'watchers', and the field lies at 'the top of Pisgah', the height from which Moses is later shown the land (Deut 34:1). Seven altars are built again, with 'a bullock and a ram on every altar', as at the first place (v.2).

Verse 16

the LORD met Balaam — The same verb, qarah, as in v.3. The command is 'Go again unto Balak, and say thus', close to the angel's charge on the road: 'only the word that I shall speak unto thee, that thou shalt speak' (Num 22:35).

Verse 18

thou son of Zippor — The second oracle is addressed to Balak by name and by his father, 'Rise up, Balak, and hear; hearken unto me'. 'Hear' is shama, and 'hearken' is azan, to give ear. The oracle is spoken to the king who commissioned the curse.

Verse 19

God is not a man — 'Lie' is kazab and 'repent' is nacham. The same truth is stated to Saul: 'he is not a man, that he should repent' (1 Sam 15:29), and by the LORD: 'I am the LORD, I change not' (Mal 3:6). Hebrews 6:18 grounds the promise and oath on it: 'it was impossible for God to lie'.

Verse 21

not beheld iniquity — God sees no 'iniquity' (aven) or 'perverseness' (amal) in Jacob. Paul speaks of the same standing: 'Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven' (Rom 4:7). 'The shout of a king' is teruah, the word for the trumpet 'alarm' in Num 10:5. Deut 33:5 says of the LORD, 'he was king in Jeshurun'.

Verse 22

the strength of an unicorn — Re'em is the creature the KJV calls 'unicorn', found nine times, in Job 39:9–11 for its great strength and in Deut 33:17 for its horns. The subject is God: 'God brought them out of Egypt', repeated in Num 24:8.

Verse 23

no enchantment against Jacob — Nachash (enchantment) and qesem (divination), the arts of Balaam, whom Josh 13:22 calls 'the soothsayer'. Deut 18:10 lists both among the practices forbidden in Israel. 'Wrought' is pa'al, to do or make: what is said of Jacob will be what God has done.

Verse 24

a great lion — Lavi, a great lion, and ari, a young lion; compare Judah, who 'couched as a lion, and as an old lion' (Gen 49:9). The picture continues in Num 24:9: 'He couched, he lay down as a lion, and as a great lion: who shall stir him up?'

Verse 25

Neither curse them at all — Balak had begun with 'curse me this people' (Num 22:6) and now asks that Balaam say nothing either way. The verbs are naqab and qabab for cursing and barak for blessing, the words used in vv.8 and 11. Balak's anger breaks out after the third oracle, when he 'smote his hands together' (Num 24:10).

Verse 27

another place — Balak tries again with 'peradventure it will please God', literally if it be right 'in the eyes of God'. The counsel of the LORD is not subject to a change of place: 'There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the LORD' (Prov 21:30).

Verse 28

the top of Peor — This height 'looketh toward Jeshimon', a wasteland (yeshimon); Num 21:20 says the same of Pisgah. Peor gives its name to Baalpeor, to which 'Israel joined himself' (Num 25:3) in the next chapter.

Verse 29

seven altars — Balaam repeats his request from v.1 word for word, except 'bullocks' here for 'oxen'. Seven altars are now built at each of the three heights (vv.1, 14, 29), the number the LORD named in Job 42:8.