Numberschapter 23

A.Seven altars, and a blessing insteadvv. 1-12

1 Then Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me seven altars here, and prepare for me seven bulls and seven rams.” 2 So Balak did as Balaam had instructed, and Balak and Balaam offered a bull and a ram on each altar. 3 “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, 4 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.” 5 Then the LORD put a message in Balaam’s mouth, saying, “Return to Balak and give him this message.” 6 So he returned to Balak, who was standing there beside his burnt offering, with all the princes of Moab. 7 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!’ 8 How can I curse what God has not cursed? How can I denounce what the LORD has not denounced? 9 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. 10 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!” 11 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!” 12 But Balaam replied, “Should I not speak exactly what the LORD puts in my mouth?”

B.God is not a man, that he should lievv. 13-26

13 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.” 14 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. 15 Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your burnt offering while I meet the LORD over there.” 16 And the LORD met with Balaam and put a message in his mouth, saying, “Return to Balak and speak what I tell you.” 17 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. 18 Then Balaam lifted up an oracle, saying: “Arise, O Balak, and listen; give ear to me, O son of Zippor. 19 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? 20 I have indeed received a command to bless; He has blessed, and I cannot change it. 21 He considers no disaster for Jacob; He sees no trouble for Israel. The LORD their God is with them, and the shout of the King is among them. 22 God brought them out of Egypt with strength like a wild ox. 23 For there is no spell against Jacob and no divination against Israel. It will now be said of Jacob and Israel, ‘What great things God has done!’ 24 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.” 25 Now Balak said to Balaam, “Then neither curse them at all nor bless them at all!” 26 But Balaam replied, “Did I not tell you that whatever the LORD says, I must do?”

C.One more mountain, one more attemptvv. 27-30

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

Commentary on this chapter: read the Exposition

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Chapter summary

Balaam's first two oracles.

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Balaam's first two oracles. Seven altars, seven bullocks, seven rams on each of Bamoth-baal, Zophim, and the top of Pisgah. ‘How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? Or how shall I defy, whom the LORD hath not defied? … Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his’ (23:10). Balak moves him to another vantage; a second oracle: ‘God is not a man, that he should lie … hath he said, and shall he not do it?’ (23:19). Israel seen from a fresh hill; the verdict is the same. Balak is in turmoil: ‘if thou canst not curse them at all, then bless them not at all’.

Drawn from Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory, Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary, John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and John Calvin, Commentaries.

Context

Law · Moses — Numbers overview

A. 1–12 Seven altars, and a blessing instead
B. 13–26 God is not a man, that he should lie
C. 27–30 One more mountain, one more attempt

Top cross-references8 chapters ▾

Numbers 2314 verses
- Numbers 23:1Then Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me seven altars here, and prepare for me seven bulls and seven rams.”
- Numbers 23:3“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,
- Numbers 23:5Then the LORD put a message in Balaam’s mouth, saying, “Return to Balak and give him this message.”
- Numbers 23:7And 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 23:13Then 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.”
- Numbers 23:14So 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.
- Read Numbers 23: 8 more there →
Numbers 226 verses
- Numbers 22:8“Spend the night here,” Balaam replied, “and I will give you the answer that the LORD speaks to me.” So the princes of Moab stayed with Balaam.
- Numbers 22:12But God said to Balaam, “Do not go with them. You are not to curse this people, for they are blessed.”
- Numbers 22:18But Balaam replied to the servants of Balak, “If Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not do anything small or great to go beyond the command of the LORD my God.
- Numbers 22:35But the angel of the LORD said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but you are to speak only what I tell you.” So Balaam went with the princes of Balak.
- Numbers 22:38“See, I have come to you,” Balaam replied, “but can I say just anything? I must speak only the word that God puts in my mouth.”
- Numbers 22:41The next morning, Balak took Balaam and brought him up to Bamoth-baal. From there he could see the outskirts of the camp of the people.
- Read Numbers 22 →
Numbers 244 verses
- Numbers 24:1And when Balaam saw that it pleased the LORD to bless Israel, he did not resort to sorcery as on previous occasions, but he turned his face toward the wilderness.
- Numbers 24:3and he lifted up an oracle, saying: “This is the prophecy of Balaam son of Beor, the prophecy of a man whose eyes are open,
- Numbers 24:8God brought him out of Egypt with strength like a wild ox, to devour hostile nations and crush their bones, to pierce them with arrows.
- Numbers 24:10Then Balak’s anger burned against Balaam, and he struck his hands together and said to Balaam, “I summoned you to curse my enemies, but behold, you have persisted in blessing them these three times.
- Read Numbers 24 →
Deuteronomy 332 verses
- Deuteronomy 33:17His majesty is like a firstborn bull, and his horns are like those of a wild ox. With them he will gore the nations, even to the ends of the earth. Such are the myriads of Ephraim, and such are the thousands of Manasseh.”
- Deuteronomy 33:28So Israel dwells securely; the fountain of Jacob lives untroubled in a land of grain and new wine, where even the heavens drip with dew.
- Read Deuteronomy 33 →

4 more chapters this one speaks with

Genesis 492 verses
- Genesis 49:9Judah is a young lion—my son, you return from the prey. Like a lion he crouches and lies down; like a lioness, who dares to rouse him?
- Genesis 49:27Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; in the morning he devours the prey, in the evening he divides the plunder.”
- Read Genesis 49 →
Jude 11 verse
- Jude 1:11Woe to them! They have traveled the path of Cain; they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam; they have perished in Korah’s rebellion.
- Read Jude 1 →
Job 421 verse
- Job 42:8So now, take seven bulls and seven rams, go to My servant Job, and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. Then My servant Job will pray for you, for I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken accurately about Me, as My servant Job has.”
- Read Job 42 →
Genesis 221 verse
- Genesis 22:7Then Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” “Here I am, my son,” he replied. “The fire and the wood are here,” said Isaac, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
- Read Genesis 22 →

Cross-references from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge and OpenBible.info.