Numbers 23, Balaam Refuses Balak

(This DRAFT study has been done fairly quickly, without the further guide of commentaries. I hope to improve on it later.)

Balak and princes of Moab and Midian are expecting Balaam to curse Israel.

Numbers 23:1-6, Seven altars

Balaam said, "Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me."
   

Balak did as Balaam said, and the two of them offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
      

Then Balaam said to Balak, "Stay here beside your offering while I go aside. Perhaps the LORD will come to meet with me. Whatever he reveals to me I will tell you." Then he went off to a barren height.
         

God met with him, and Balaam said, "I have prepared seven altars, and on each altar I have offered a bull and a ram." 

The LORD put a message in Balaam's mouth and said, "Go back to Balak and give him this message." So he went back to him and found him standing beside his offering, with all the princes of Moab.

Seven altars with bulls and rams, are prepared. But Balaam's "curse" will not be what the elders of Moab and Midian expect.

Numbers 23:7-10, Balaam's oracle

Then Balaam uttered his oracle: 

"Balak brought me from Aram, 

the king of Moab from the eastern mountains. 

`Come,' he said, `curse Jacob for me;

come, denounce Israel.'

        

How can I curse those whom God has not cursed? 

How can I denounce those whom the LORD has not denounced? 

From the rocky peaks I see them, 

from the heights I view them. 

I see a people who live apart 

and do not consider themselves one of the nations. 

Who can count the dust of Jacob 

or number the fourth part of Israel? 

Let me die the death of the righteous, 

and may my end be like theirs!"

Balaam's oracle praise the might of the people of Israel, protected by YHWH

Numbers 23:11-15, Balak's anger and new plans

Balak said to Balaam, "What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, but you have done nothing but bless them!"

He answered, "Must I not speak what the LORD puts in my mouth?"

Then Balak said to him, "Come with me to another place where you can see them; you will see only a part but not all of them. And from there, curse them for me." So he took him to the field of Zophim on the top of Pisgah, and there he built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

Balaam said to Balak, "Stay here beside your offering while I meet with him over there."

Balak confronts Balaam, who replies that he can only say what YHWH tells him to say. So Balak prepares to have Balaam make a new prophecy in a new place

Numbers 23:16-24, A second oracle

The LORD met with Balaam and put a message in his mouth and said, "Go back to Balak and give him this message."
      

So he went to him and found him standing beside his offering, with the princes of Moab. Balak asked him, "What did the LORD say?"
     

Then he uttered his oracle: 

"Arise, Balak, and listen;

hear me, son of Zippor.

 God is not a man, that he should lie, 

nor a son of man, that he should change his mind.

 Does he speak and then not act? 

Does he promise and not fulfill?

 I have received a command to bless;

he has blessed, and I cannot change it.

      

"No misfortune is seen in Jacob, 

no misery observed in Israel.

The LORD their God is with them;

 the shout of the King is among them. 

God brought them out of Egypt; 

they have the strength of a wild ox. 

There is no sorcery against Jacob, 

no divination against Israel. 

It will now be said of Jacob and of Israel, 

`See what God has done!' 

The people rise like a lioness; 

they rouse themselves like a lion that does not rest 

till he devours his prey 

and drinks the blood of his victims."

Balaam's second oracle is much like the first.

Numbers 23:25-30, Then say nothing at all!

Then Balak said to Balaam, "Neither curse them at all nor bless them at all!"

     

Balaam answered, "Did I not tell you I must do whatever the LORD says?"
      

Then Balak said to Balaam, "Come, let me take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God to let you curse them for me from there." And Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, overlooking the wasteland.
      

Balaam said, "Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me."
         

Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

Balak tells Balaam, "If you can't say something bad about Israel then don't say anything! But we will have one more sacrifice and one more oracle,

First published September 26, 2025; updated September 26, 2025