seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Numbers 23:1 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 a 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!”
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 a 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?”
Here's the link to the commentary I use.Then the Lord put a word in Balaam’s mouth: We might be surprised that God spoke to and through someone as obviously wicked as Balaam. But this shows us that spiritual giftedness does not equal spiritual maturity or holiness of life. God spoke through a donkey in the previous chapter and now He spoke through a bigger donkey.
So he returned to him, and there he was, standing by his burnt offering, he and all the princes of Moab: When Balaam returned, Balak and all the princes of Moab were ready. They were ready to learn what their money bought them from Balaam.
What have you done to me? The king of Moab was understandably disturbed. He paid good money for a particular outcome, and the opposite happened.
Must I not take heed to speak what the Lord has put in my mouth? Perhaps Balaam was disappointed also. It isn’t hard to sense a note of sorrow in this response of his. After all, he wanted to please his employer.
Recap...King Balak of Moab saw Moses and all the refugees and all the livestock, camped out on the border. King Balak heard that Balaam was capable of putting powerful curses on people. So, King Balak hired Balaam to curse Israel, so Moses and the refugees could be easily murdered by King Balak's army.King Balak offered a sum too handsome to turn down. Balaam loaded up his donkey and headed off to Moab to curse Moses and the refugees, in spite of God's warning not to curse His People.
God didn't want Balaam cursing Moses and the refugees. Balaam told King Balak that God didn't want him cursing Moses and the refugees. Still, lured by the money, Balaam headed off to Moab.
Yesterday I read that Balaam's donkey talked to Balaam. Actually, it was God speaking through the donkey and Balaam was well aware it was God, not the donkey, he was having a conversation with. But Balaam couldn't turn down all those riches, so God let him go to Moab but warned him not to curse the Moses and the refugees.
Now... Balaam is in Moab with King Balak. He's putting on quite a show. There were seven altars. There were fourteen sacrifices.
But when it came time for Balaam to utter the curse.... only God's words would come out.
Check out verse 8. Balaam couldn't curse those that God didn't want cursed. He knew it before he got there and now he's confessed it.
Well King Balak paid good money for Balaam's curse! He was furious. He paid Balaam good money.
Balaam confessed... the words he offered instead of the curse... were God's words.
He was helpless.
Balaam's first message was a bust!
