seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Numbers 23:123 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!”
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?”
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!”
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?”
This is from the easy English site.
Balaam and Balak built 7 altars. They sacrificed bulls and male sheep on them. This ceremony is like the type of worship that the Book of Genesis records. It is a very ancient type of ceremony. Balaam’s home was in the east. This was the region where the Israelites’ ancestors lived. Possibly, Balaam was a descendant of Laban, Abraham’s relative (Genesis 24:24-27). This offering was the type that we would expect him to offer.
This ceremony was a strange mixture of true worship and pagan ideas. (‘Pagan’ means the worship of idols.) Balak had chosen the sacred place of his god, Baal. But already he knew that his gods were too weak against the LORD’s power. Also, some parts of the ceremony looked like worship of idols, for example, the special number, 7. But Balaam had made the ceremony like one that the Israelites’ ancestors offered. He had offered clean animals so that God would accept them. People usually sacrificed pigs in pagan worship, that is, the worship of idols. Pigs were unclean. So really, Balaam was offering this Sacrifice to the LORD, whether Balak realised this or not.
Balaam wanted to be alone so that God could speak to him. And God spoke to him. God gave a message to Balaam for Balak and his officials.
Balaam spoke the message that God had given to him. It was a poem in the style of Hebrew poetry. In Hebrew poetry, there are pairs of lines. The first line and the second line of each pair are similar. Sometimes, the second line completes the first line. Or the second line may emphasise the subject of the first line. Or it may say the same thing but in a different way.
It is important to remember that Balaam was speaking prophecy. The words that he spoke were not his own words. They were God’s words.
First, Balaam said that it was not his own idea to curse Israel. Balak had brought him from his home to the country called Moab. Then Balaam said that he was not able to curse Israel. This was because God had not cursed Israel.
The word ‘alone’ (verse 9) does not mean that the Israelites were lonely. It means that Israel was not like the other nations. This was because Israel belonged to God. The Israelites were God’s special people. He had chosen them to know him. He spoke to them. He guided and protected them.
‘Nobody can count the Israelites’ (verse 10). This reminds us of God’s promise to Abraham and to his grandson Jacob. God had promised them that they would have very many descendants (Genesis 15:5; 22:17; 28:14).
People who obey God will die in peace. Balaam knew this. He wished that his death would be like such people.
Balak was angry. Balaam had not done what Balak wanted him to do. Balaam had not cursed Balak’s enemies. Instead, Balaam had spoken about the blessings that Israel had. But Balaam insisted that he had to speak those words. He could say only what God told him to say.
This ceremony was a strange mixture of true worship and pagan ideas. (‘Pagan’ means the worship of idols.) Balak had chosen the sacred place of his god, Baal. But already he knew that his gods were too weak against the LORD’s power. Also, some parts of the ceremony looked like worship of idols, for example, the special number, 7. But Balaam had made the ceremony like one that the Israelites’ ancestors offered. He had offered clean animals so that God would accept them. People usually sacrificed pigs in pagan worship, that is, the worship of idols. Pigs were unclean. So really, Balaam was offering this Sacrifice to the LORD, whether Balak realised this or not.
Balaam wanted to be alone so that God could speak to him. And God spoke to him. God gave a message to Balaam for Balak and his officials.
Balaam spoke the message that God had given to him. It was a poem in the style of Hebrew poetry. In Hebrew poetry, there are pairs of lines. The first line and the second line of each pair are similar. Sometimes, the second line completes the first line. Or the second line may emphasise the subject of the first line. Or it may say the same thing but in a different way.
It is important to remember that Balaam was speaking prophecy. The words that he spoke were not his own words. They were God’s words.
First, Balaam said that it was not his own idea to curse Israel. Balak had brought him from his home to the country called Moab. Then Balaam said that he was not able to curse Israel. This was because God had not cursed Israel.
The word ‘alone’ (verse 9) does not mean that the Israelites were lonely. It means that Israel was not like the other nations. This was because Israel belonged to God. The Israelites were God’s special people. He had chosen them to know him. He spoke to them. He guided and protected them.
‘Nobody can count the Israelites’ (verse 10). This reminds us of God’s promise to Abraham and to his grandson Jacob. God had promised them that they would have very many descendants (Genesis 15:5; 22:17; 28:14).
People who obey God will die in peace. Balaam knew this. He wished that his death would be like such people.
Balak was angry. Balaam had not done what Balak wanted him to do. Balaam had not cursed Balak’s enemies. Instead, Balaam had spoken about the blessings that Israel had. But Balaam insisted that he had to speak those words. He could say only what God told him to say.
I've been to place people called "church". The service was a lot like the real church service but it wasn't a real church. The message was intentionally "politically correct" in an effort to stuff the coffers. Balak thought Balaam was going to put on that kind of magic trick.... smoke and mirrors. Instead, Balaam said what God wanted him to say.
Balak, the king, wanted Balaam, the prophet for hire, to double-cross the Israelites.
Balaam, the prophet for hire, double-crossed Balak, the king.
Do you hear the tremble in Balak's rebuke? The king is petrified that these countless refuges were going to overrun his country.
