A bare, rocky height at first light: broken cliffs and boulders in the foreground, a wide valley filled with pale morning haze beyond, and a clear dawn sky above.

The Book of

Numbers 23

A king paid for a curse. Three times he built the altars. Three times God would not be moved.

30 verses≈ 5 min2 peopleBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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In this chapter

Where we are

1–10Ready at SinaiCounted and ordered
11–14GrumblingTo Kadesh and refusal
15–21Forty yearsRebellion and mercy
22–25BalaamA curse turned to blessingChapter 23
26–36A new generationReady for the land

Balaam’s First Oracle

Then Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me seven altars here, and prepare for me seven bulls and seven rams.”

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

“Stay here by your burnt offering while I am gone,” Balaam said to Balak. “Perhaps the LORD will meet with me. And whatever He reveals to me, I will tell you.” So Balaam went off to a barren height,

and God met with him. “I have set up seven altars,” Balaam said, “and on each altar I have offered a bull and a ram.”

Then the LORD put a message in Balaam’s mouth, saying, “Return to Balak and give him this message.”

So he returned to Balak, who was standing there beside his burnt offering, with all the princes of Moab.

And Balaam lifted up an oracle, saying:

“Balak brought me from Aram,

the king of Moab from the mountains of the east.

‘Come,’ he said, ‘put a curse on Jacob for me;

come and denounce Israel!’

Numbers 23:8

Balaam

Balaam

For I see them from atop the rocky cliffs,

and I watch them from the hills.

Behold, a people dwelling apart,

not reckoning themselves among the nations.

Who can count the dust of Jacob

or number even a fourth of Israel?

Let me die the death of the righteous;

let my end be like theirs!”

Balak

Then Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I brought you here to curse my enemies, and behold, you have only blessed them!”

Balaam

But Balaam replied, “Should I not speak exactly what the LORD puts in my mouth?”

Reflect

Whom God has not cursed

Balak paid for a curse, and Balaam could only ask, “How can I curse those whom God has not cursed?” No one can overturn what God has said about His people. If you belong to Christ, God has spoken over you too: forgiven, adopted, kept. Write down one thing God says about you in Christ that no one else can undo. Then write down the voice, inside or outside, that tries to say otherwise, and set God’s word against it.

Balaam’s Second Oracle

Then Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place where you can see them. You will only see the outskirts of their camp—not all of them. And from there, curse them for me.”

So Balak took him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, where he built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your burnt offering while I meet the LORD over there.”

And the LORD met with Balaam and put a message in his mouth, saying, “Return to Balak and speak what I tell you.”

So he returned to Balak, who was standing there by his burnt offering with the princes of Moab. “What did the LORD say?” Balak asked.

Question

Quick question

Balak tried again from a new place, hoping a different view would bring a different word.

Where did Balak take Balaam the second time?

Then Balaam lifted up an oracle, saying:

“Arise, O Balak, and listen;

give ear to me, O son of Zippor.

God is not a man, that He should lie,

or a son of man, that He should change His mind.

Does He speak and not act?

Does He promise and not fulfill?

Numbers 23:19

I have indeed received a command to bless;

He has blessed, and I cannot change it.

Balaam

Behold, the people rise like a lioness;

they rouse themselves like a lion,

not resting until they devour their prey

and drink the blood of the slain.”

Balak

Now Balak said to Balaam, “Then neither curse them at all nor bless them at all!”

Balaam

But Balaam replied, “Did I not tell you that whatever the LORD says, I must do?”

Balak

“Please come,” said Balak, “I will take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God that you curse them for me from there.”

The top of Peor at dusk: men building rough stone altars on a bare summit, and below, the pale broken badlands of the wasteland falling away toward the Dead Sea.

And Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, which overlooks the wasteland.

Then Balaam said, “Build for me seven altars here, and prepare for me seven bulls and seven rams.”

So Balak did as Balaam had instructed, and he offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

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Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Pray

He does not lie

“God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind.” Thank Him that every word He has spoken over His people stands. Name one promise of His you are still waiting to see, and give it back to Him in trust. Father, You speak and You act; You promise and You fulfill. Keep me trusting You while I wait. Amen.

You’ve experienced

Numbers 23

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A verse to carry with you

God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?

Numbers 23:19

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