Numbers 23/24 – Study
For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.
Passage: Numbers 23:1-12
1 Balaam said, ‘Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me.’ 2 Balak did as Balaam said, and the two of them offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
3 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.
4 God met with him, and Balaam said, ‘I have prepared seven altars, and on each altar I have offered a bull and a ram.’
5 The Lord put a word in Balaam’s mouth and said, ‘Go back to Balak and give him this word.’
6 So he went back to him and found him standing beside his offering, with all the Moabite officials. 7 Then Balaam spoke his message:
‘Balak brought me from Aram,
the king of Moab from the eastern mountains.
“Come,” he said, “curse Jacob for me;
come, denounce Israel.”
8 How can I curse
those whom God has not cursed?
How can I denounce
those whom the Lord has not denounced?
9 From the rocky peaks I see them,
from the heights I view them.
I see people who live apart
and do not consider themselves one of the nations.
10 Who can count the dust of Jacob
or number even a fourth of Israel?
Let me die the death of the righteous,
and may my final end be like theirs!’
11 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!’
12 He answered, ‘Must I not speak what the Lord puts in my mouth?’
A. Find out:
- How did Balaam prepare? v.1-3
- What then happened? v.4-6
- How does the oracle begin? v.7
- What problem does Balaam have? v.8
- How does he describe Israel? v.9,10
- What response and counter response were given? v.11,12
B. Think:
- What is the basic ground rule for Balaam?
- Why therefore is this a fruitless task?
- What does it say about Balaam that he goes on with it?
C. Comment:
As we’ve hinted in the questions above, this is really a fruitless task. Why? Because Balaam can only speak what God gives him and he knows that what God will say will run contrary to what Balak wants! From the outset Balak has been clear in his request. He is afraid of Israel and so wants this seer to put a curse on them so that he can beat them in battle. The only problem is that Balak hasn’t realized yet that Almighty God is with them and He won’t curse His people. Balak seems to be someone who seems to think they can manipulate the gods. That has always been the belief of pagan peoples, that if you do certain things you will be able get the ‘powers’ to do what you want them to do, whether that be to ensure your safety or your fertility or your general well-being.
It is superstition. What does superstition mean? A dictionary defines it as “a widely held but unjustified belief in the effects or nature of a thing.” Balak’s unjustified belief is that by paying a seer he can bring about a course of events that benefit him, and so when his seer only says positive things about them he is upset. Twice now Balaam has to speak the same message: I can only say what God says (22:38 & 23:12), but he can’t seem to convince Balak, so it carries on!
D. Application:
- Do we think we can manipulate God to bless us, by our good works or our spirituality? We’re wrong.
- God is not impressed by self-centred good works. He just loves us anyway and wants to bless us anyway!
Passage: Numbers 23:13-26
13 Then Balak said to him, ‘Come with me to another place where you can see them; you will not see them all but only the outskirts of their camp. And from there, curse them for me.’ 14 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.
15 Balaam said to Balak, ‘Stay here beside your offering while I meet with him over there.’
16 The Lord met with Balaam and put a word in his mouth and said, ‘Go back to Balak and give him this word.’
17 So he went to him and found him standing beside his offering, with the Moabite officials. Balak asked him, ‘What did the Lord say?’
18 Then he spoke his message:
‘Arise, Balak, and listen;
hear me, son of Zippor.
19 God is not human, that he should lie,
not a human being, that he should change his mind.
Does he speak and then not act?
Does he promise and not fulfil?
20 I have received a command to bless;
he has blessed, and I cannot change it.
21 ‘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.
22 God brought them out of Egypt;
they have the strength of a wild ox.
23 There is no divination against Jacob,
no evil omens against Israel.
It will now be said of Jacob
and of Israel, “See what God has done!”
24 The people rise like a lioness;
they rouse themselves like a lion
that does not rest till it devours its prey
and drinks the blood of its victims.’
25 Then Balak said to Balaam, ‘Neither curse them at all nor bless them at all!’
26 Balaam answered, ‘Did I not tell you I must do whatever the Lord says?’
A. Find out:
- What happened before the next oracle? v.13-17
- What did Balaam declare first of all? v.18-20
- What was not seen in Israel and why? v.21,22
- What will not work and why? v.23
- How does he describe Israel? v.24
- What interchange follows? v.25,26
B. Think:
- What truth is declared about God in this passage?
- How does that impact upon Balaam?
- So what only can he declare?
C. Comment:
You some times have to laugh at unbelievers. Balak is having a bad time. In his world you can manipulate the gods to get them to do what you want them to do. In Balaam’s world it isn’t like that; you cannot manipulate God! He is the Lord and He requires us to conform to His will, not the other way round. Try changing your viewing position, is Balak’s next suggestion, in his desire to get an outcome to his liking. He goes through the same ritual but doesn’t get a good word as far as he’s concerned.
First of all comes a declaration about God: He doesn’t change His mind. Now there may be times in Scripture when you see God does change His mind, but it is only to conform to the change in men before Him. He may declare judgement but when repentance follows, the judgement is removed. That is the way it happens, but until there is some change like that, God will not change His mind, so here in this situation He’s not going to suddenly turn round and curse a people He has declared He’s going to bless. God determines blessing for Israel so only good will follow that. Later they may move into disobedience, but that’s another story. For the time being all Balaam can see is a strong nation that is going to swallow up its enemies. That is the last thing Balak wants to hear!
D. Application:
- God decrees His will and doesn’t change it.
- The only things that changes God’s intentions are obedience or repentance.
Passage: Numbers 23:27-24:11
27 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.’ 28 And Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, overlooking the wasteland.
29 Balaam said, ‘Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me.’ 30 Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
1 Now when Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he did not resort to divination as at other times, but turned his face towards the wilderness. 2 When Balaam looked out and saw Israel encamped tribe by tribe, the Spirit of God came on him 3 and he spoke his message:
‘The prophecy of Balaam son of Beor,
the prophecy of one whose eye sees clearly,
4 the prophecy of one who hears the words of God,
who sees a vision from the Almighty,
who falls prostrate, and whose eyes are opened:
5 ‘How beautiful are your tents, Jacob,
your dwelling-places, Israel!
6 ‘Like valleys they spread out,
like gardens beside a river,
like aloes planted by the Lord,
like cedars beside the waters.
7 Water will flow from their buckets;
their seed will have abundant water.
‘Their king will be greater than Agag;
their kingdom will be exalted.
8 ‘God brought them out of Egypt;
they have the strength of a wild ox.
They devour hostile nations
and break their bones in pieces;
with their arrows they pierce them.
9 Like a lion they crouch and lie down,
like a lioness – who dares to rouse them?
‘May those who bless you be blessed
and those who curse you be cursed!’
10 Then Balak’s anger burned against Balaam. He struck his hands together and said to him, ‘I summoned you to curse my enemies, but you have blessed them these three times. 11 Now leave at once and go home! I said I would reward you handsomely, but the Lord has kept you from being rewarded.’
A. Find out:
- What did Balak think and what did Balaam instruct? v.27-30
- How did Balaam proceed this time and what happened? v.1,2
- What does he first describe? v.3,4
- How does he describe Israel? v.5-7
- What more does he say about them? v.8,9
- What is Balak’s response? v.10,11
B. Think:
- How does the preparation for this oracle differ from the previous two?
- How does God move differently?
- How would you sum up the oracle?
C. Comment:
On the third time around our attention is drawn to the way the two men go about getting ‘a word’. Balak is still under the impression that it’s merely a case of getting the circumstances right so, “Try somewhere else.” Verse 1 of the next chapter is intriguing. Previously Balaam had obviously used ‘sorcery’, simply meaning he used secret methods to get God’s attention – that’s how he saw it at least. Balaam is not one of God’s prophets; he’s a seer who God will speak to.
Now here is something: the Lord will speak to whoever comes listening to Him! He won’t say what they want Him to say, but He will speak. Obviously in the previous times, Balaam had also had the mentality that perhaps you could get God to change His mind, for on this occasion he knows there’s no point trying to change what is clearly God’s will. So this time he comes with a straightforward open mind. It is perhaps for this reason that the Spirit of the Lord comes down upon him, a much more intimate encounter with the Lord. Previously he’d just had a sense of what God wanted to say. This time he’s caught up in the passion of the word – that is obvious as you look at the language used. It is clearly another very obvious blessing of Israel, except more passionately so, and Balak realizes that and is ready to give up! Balak is giving up but the Lord isn’t – there is yet more to come.
D. Application:
- God will talk to whoever seeks Him, but He won’t be manipulated.
- Seeking God? Come without an agenda. Come with an open heart.