Numbers 23
Big idea: Twice Balak builds seven altars, twice he offers a bull and a ram on each, and twice the answer comes back wrong. The first oracle names the impossibility — how shall I curse whom God has not cursed? — and ends with a wish no hired prophet should want: let me die the death of the righteous. The second refuses even the possibility of change: God is not a man that he should lie; I have received a command to bless, and I can't reverse it. Balak's response is the chapter's running joke — he keeps moving Balaam to a different hill, as though the view were the problem. By the end he has stopped asking for a curse and is begging for silence: neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all.
Chapter 23 has Balaam seeking omens between oracles. Chapter 24 opens with him giving that up — and the best of the four follows.
23:1–12 — How shall I curse whom God has not cursed?
Balaam has Balak build seven altars and prepare seven bulls and seven rams; they offer a bull and a ram on each. Stand by your burnt offering, and I will go — perhaps Yahweh will come to meet me. God meets him; Balaam reports the altars, and Yahweh puts a word in his mouth: return to Balak and speak this. He returns to Balak standing by his burnt offering with all the princes of Moab, and takes up his parable: from Aram has Balak brought me, from the mountains of the East — come, curse Jacob for me; come, defy Israel. How shall I curse whom God has not cursed? How shall I defy whom Yahweh has not defied? From the top of the rocks I see him: a people that dwells alone, not listed among the nations. Who can count the dust of Jacob? Let me die the death of the righteous; let my last end be like his. Balak protests: I took you to curse my enemies, and you have blessed them altogether. Balaam replies: must I not take heed to speak what Yahweh puts in my mouth?
1 Balaam said to Balak, “Build here seven altars for me, and prepare here seven bulls and seven rams for me.” 2 Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bull and a ram. 3 Balaam said to Balak, “Stand by your burnt offering, and I will go. Perhaps Yahweh will come to meet me. Whatever he shows me I will tell you.” He went to a bare height. 4 God met Balaam, and he said to him, “I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered up a bull and a ram on every altar.” 5 Yahweh put a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.” 6 He returned to him, and behold, he was standing by his burnt offering, he, and all the princes of Moab. 7 He took up his parable, and said, “From Aram has Balak brought me, the king of Moab from the mountains of the East. Come, curse Jacob for me. Come, defy Israel. 8 How shall I curse whom God has not cursed? How shall I defy whom Yahweh has not defied? 9 For from the top of the rocks I see him. From the hills I see him. Behold, it is a people that dwells alone, and shall not be listed among the nations. 10 Who can count the dust of Jacob, or count the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous! Let my last end be like his!” 11 Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have blessed them altogether.” 12 He answered and said, “Must I not take heed to speak that which Yahweh puts in my mouth?”
23:13–24 — God is not a man, that he should lie
Balak tries a different vantage: come with me to another place where you may see just part of them, and curse them from there. He takes him to the field of Zophim on the top of Pisgah, builds seven altars and offers a bull and a ram on each. Yahweh meets Balaam and puts a word in his mouth. Balak asks, what has Yahweh spoken? And the second oracle comes: Rise up, Balak, and hear. God is not a man that he should lie, nor a son of man that he should repent. Has he said, and he won't do it? I have received a command to bless; he has blessed, and I can't reverse it. He has not seen iniquity in Jacob nor perverseness in Israel; Yahweh his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them. God brings them out of Egypt; he has the strength of the wild ox. There is no enchantment with Jacob, no divination with Israel — now it shall be said of Jacob, what has God done! A people rises up as a lioness. Balak says: neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all. Balaam answers: didn't I tell you, all that Yahweh speaks, that I must do?
13 Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place, where you may see them. You shall see just part of them, and shall not see them all. Curse them from there for me.” 14 He took him into the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered up a bull and a ram on every altar. 15 He said to Balak, “Stand here by your burnt offering, while I meet God over there.” 16 Yahweh met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and say this.” 17 He came to him, and behold, he was standing by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him. Balak said to him, “What has Yahweh spoken?” 18 He took up his parable, and said, “Rise up, Balak, and hear! Listen to me, you 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 he won’t do it? Or has he spoken, and he won’t make it good? 20 Behold, I have received a command to bless. He has blessed, and I can’t reverse it. 21 He has not seen iniquity in Jacob. Neither has he seen perverseness in Israel. Yahweh his God is with him. The shout of a king is among them. 22 God brings them out of Egypt. He has 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 it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, ‘What has God done!’ 24 Behold, a people rises up as a lioness. As a lion he lifts himself up. He shall not lie down until he eats of the prey, and drinks the blood of the slain.”
23:25–30 — Neither curse them, nor bless them
Balak says: neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all. Balaam answers, didn't I tell you, all that Yahweh speaks, that I must do? Balak tries once more: come, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will please God that you may curse them for me from there. He takes him to the top of Peor, which looks down on the desert. Balaam says, build seven altars here and prepare seven bulls and seven rams — and Balak does, offering a bull and a ram on every altar.
25 Balak said to Balaam, “Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all.” 26 But Balaam answered Balak, “Didn’t I tell you, saying, ‘All that Yahweh speaks, that I must do’?” 27 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 Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, that looks down on the desert. 29 Balaam said to Balak, “Build seven altars for me here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me here.” 30 Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered up a bull and a ram on every altar.
Scripture text: World English Bible (public domain).