Numbers 23:13-30--Balaam's Second Oracle

Numbers 23:13-30
New American Standard Bible
​
13 Then Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place from where you may see them, although you will only see the extreme end of them and will not see all of them; and put a curse on them for me from there.” 14 So he took him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and he built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar. 15 Then he said to Balak, “Stand here beside your burnt offering while I myself meet the Lord over there.” 16 Then the Lord met Balaam and put a word in his mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and this is what you shall speak.” 17 So he came to him, and behold, he was standing beside his burnt offering, and the leaders of Moab with him. And Balak said to him, “What has the Lord spoken?” 18 Then he took up his discourse and said,

“Arise, Balak, and hear;
Listen to me, son of Zippor!
19 God is not a man, that He would lie,
Nor a son of man, that He would change His mind;
Has He said, and will He not do it?
Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?
20 Behold, I have received a command to bless;
When He has blessed, I cannot revoke it.
21 He has not looked at misfortune in Jacob;
Nor has He seen trouble in Israel;
The Lord his God is with him,
And the joyful shout of a king is among them.
22 God brings them out of Egypt,
He is for them like the horns of the wild ox.
23 For there is no magic curse against Jacob,
Nor is there any divination against Israel;
At the proper time it shall be said to Jacob
And to Israel, what God has done!
24 Behold, a people rises like a lioness,
And like a lion it raises itself;
It will not lie down until it devours the prey,
And drinks the blood of those slain.”

25 Then Balak said to Balaam, “Do not curse them at all nor bless them at all!” 26 But Balaam replied to Balak, “Did I not tell you, ‘Whatever the Lord speaks, I must do’?”

27 Then Balak said to Balaam, “Please come, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will be agreeable with God that you curse them for me from there.” 28 So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, which overlooks the desert. 29 And Balaam said to Balak, “Build seven altars for me here and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me here.” 30 Balak did just as Balaam had said, and offered up a bull and a ram on each altar.

---

Balak tries again, thinking maybe they were just in the wrong place and looking at the wrong part of the camp.  Once again, they built seven altars and sacrificed seven bulls and seven rams.  Once again, the Lord meets with Balaam and puts His words in Balaam's mouth.

God tells Balak that he should expect no other answer other than the one that he has already received, because God is not a liar and is not like man where He would change his mind.  In other words, "Stop asking for a different answer than the one you've already received." Think of this today in terms of God already giving us the answer in His Word, but we keep asking Him to give a different answer or think like Balak, "Well, that was only His answer over there, but maybe if I move over here, He'll give me a different answer."  God is not like that!  He is immutable.  His Word stands firm forever.

So then, Balaam speaks and says that the Lord has already given him a command to bless Jacob and that he will not disobey the Lord's command, and that the Lord's command is irrevocable (something that a king should understand because many of the kingdoms at that time had irrevocable edicts from the king--even the king could not go back and change it later).  The Lord has not seen misfortune or trouble when He looks at Jacob, because when He looks at them, He sees the joyful shouts of a king among them--that is the Messiah, the Son of God, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!  God looks on His people and sees His Son, and just as He would want His blessings for His Son, so it is with all of His adopted children who are being conformed into the likeness of the Son of God.

God has redeemed them and made them both a people and a nation when they were not.  He has made them strong and a force to be reckoned with.  God has said that there is no magic spell or curse or divination that will defeat His people, and, at the right time, all will be revealed to them what God has done.  We are partially there as we understand much more on this side of the cross in the Church age and with the revelation that has been given to us in the New Testament, yet there are still some things that we won't understand until we get to heaven, but we have the assurance that God will make it clear to His people (and I think that includes all of us who have been adopted into the family as well) His plan from beginning to end--at least, everything that we need to know.

Then Balak is given a warning by God that messing with Israel is going to be like messing with a lioness or a lion.  You are going to lose that battle and best keep clear, because they will devour anyone who comes against them as the lion and lioness do not leave anything behind when they kill their pray.  So it will be with Israel's enemies that there will be nothing left but the bones that have been picked clean when God is done with them.  Remember the Abrahamic Covenant of Genesis 12:3,

And I will bless those who bless you,
And the one who curses you I will curse.
And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.

Balak is being told this right now--try and curse the people of God, and it is you who will be cursed.  Balak is upset because once again Israel has been blessed by Balaam instead of cursed by him.  Balak says it would be better then if Balaam just said nothing, neither bless nor curse them.  Once again, Balaam says, “Did I not tell you, ‘Whatever the Lord speaks, I must do’?," but Balak still thinks that God is someone who can be manipulated and is like man that His prophets can be bought with silver and gold.  Balaam is finally going to get the message (even if Balak will not) and this next time, Balaam is not even going to make the sacrifices to inquire what the Lord wants him to say--he knows that the Lord wants him to bless the people of Israel.  There will be two more oracles/prophecies from Balaam in chapter 24 and we have some great promises there to look forward to.