Reflections on Numbers 23

Numbers 23 (Contemporary English Version)

1. Balaam said to Balak, "Build seven altars here, then bring seven bulls and seven rams."
   
2. After Balak had done this, they sacrificed a bull and a ram on each altar.
   
3. Then Balaam said, "Wait here beside your offerings, and I'll go somewhere to be alone. Maybe the LORD will appear to me. If he does, I will tell you everything he says." And he left.
   
4. When God appeared to him, Balaam said, "I have built seven altars and have sacrificed a bull and a ram on each one."
   
5. The LORD gave Balaam a message, then sent him back to tell Balak.
   
6. When Balaam returned, he found Balak and his officials standing beside the offerings.
   
7. Balaam said: "King Balak of Moab brought me from the hills of Syria to curse Israel and announce its doom.
   
8. But I can't go against God! He did not curse or condemn Israel. *
   
9. "From the mountain peaks, I look down and see Israel, the obedient people of God.
   
10. They are living alone in peace. And though they are many, they don't bother the other nations. "I hope to obey God for as long as I live and to die in such peace."
    
11. Balak said, "What are you doing? I asked you to come and place a curse on my enemies. But you have blessed them instead!"
    
12. Balaam answered, "I can say only what the LORD tells me."
    
13. Balak said to Balaam, "Let's go somewhere else. Maybe if you see a smaller part of the Israelites, you will be able to curse them for me."
    
14. So he took Balaam to a field on top of Mount Pisgah where lookouts were stationed. Then he built seven altars there and sacrificed a bull and a ram on each one.
    
15. "Wait here beside your offerings," Balaam said. "The LORD will appear to me over there."
    
16. The LORD appeared to Balaam and gave him another message, then he told him to go and tell Balak.
    
17. Balaam went back and saw him and his officials standing beside the offerings. Balak asked, "What did the LORD say?"
    
18. Balaam answered: "Pay close attention to my words--
    
19. God is no mere human! He doesn't tell lies or change his mind. God always keeps his promises.
    
20. "My command from God was to bless these people, and there's nothing I can do to change what he has done.
    
21. Israel's king is the LORD God. He lives there with them and intends them no harm.
    
22. With the strength of a wild ox, God led Israel out of Egypt.
    
23. No magic charms can work against them-- just look what God has done for his people.
    
24. They are like angry lions ready to attack, and they won't rest until their victim is gobbled down."
    
25. Balak shouted, "If you're not going to curse Israel, then at least don't bless them."
    
26. "I've already told you," Balaam answered. "I will say only what the LORD tells me."
    
27. Balak said to Balaam, "Come on, let's try another place. Maybe God will let you curse Israel from there."
    
28. So he took Balaam to Mount Peor overlooking the desert north of the Dead Sea.
    
29. Balaam said, "Build seven altars here, then bring me seven bulls and seven rams."
    
30. After Balak had done what Balaam asked, he sacrificed a bull and a ram on each altar.
    
    

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    The account continues in which a pagan prophet named Balaam was summoned by Balak, the king of Moab to pronounce a curse against Israel so his army would have an advantage over Israel. Before going to the king Balaam enquired of the God of Israel. He was not a worshipper of Israel's God, who is the true and only God, but believed each nation had its own god and thought it best to go through Israel's national god. God came to Balaam in a dream and told him to go to the king but speak only what God told him to say.
    
    As the account continues in chapter 23, Balaam was with king Balak and instructed him to build seven altars and sacrifice a bull and ram on each altar. Leaving the king at the altar, Balaam went off alone to enquire of Israel's God, "Then the LORD put a message in Balaam's mouth." (23:5) This whole account has an interesting dynamic between God and Balaam who was a believer, but not a follower of God. He was accustomed to manipulating the deities with whom he typically identified by using the prescribed rituals. This was not the case with the true God of Israel. He could say and do only what God instructed him to say or do.
    
    Following his first enquiry of God, Balaam returned to the king with a blessing over Israel. This did not make the king happy, so he took Balaam to another location to again build seven altars, offering sacrifices on each, to have Balaam summons a curse on Israel. A second time Balaam enquired of God and brought another blessing on Israel to the king. Again the king was unhappy with the outcome and proposed a third location where they would again build altars and make sacrifices and try to summons a curse for Israel. But with Israel's God they were not dealing with a deity who could be manipulated or who capriciously changed His mind. In fact, God pointed this out to the king in the second message He gave Balaam to speak: "God is not a man who lies, or a son of man who changes His mind." (23:19) Furthermore, God said in this message: "There is no magic curse against Jacob and no divination against Israel. It will now be said about Jacob and Israel, 'What great things God has done!'" (23:23) Balak was wasting his time with these repeated efforts to get God to give a curse on Israel.  God would only bless Israel and was not going to change His mind.
    
    Man's default mindset is to use God for his own purposes. Underneath any man-made religion can be found a system of rituals for manipulating man's concept of a god for his own purposes. Even in observing Biblical practices of worship, man is prone to use them as ritualistic formulas to manipulate God for his own purposes. But as Jesus tells us in Matthew 16:25, "whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of Me will find it." The life we seek for ourselves will not be gained through getting things our way, but through giving up life on our terms and living them on God's terms.