Balaam begins his speeches (v1-3). “Build seven altars … and prepare seven bulls and seven rams.” Balak did so and Balaam offered a bull and a ram on each altar. Interestingly Balaam told him to stand by his offering while he went to the Lord and “Perhaps the Lord will come to meet me and whatever He shows me I will tell you.” In a way, I guess he already knew what the Lord would say, but maybe he thought he might get a message which would satisfy Balak.
God met Balaam (v4-6) and gave him a word for Balak (v7-10) “And he took up his oracle and said: “Balak the king of Moab has brought me from Aram, From the mountains of the east. ‘Come, curse Jacob for me, and come, denounce Israel!’ “How shall I curse whom God has not cursed? And how shall I denounce whom the LORD has not denounced? For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him; There! A people dwelling alone, not reckoning itself among the nations. Who can count the dust of Jacob, Or number one-fourth of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my end be like his!”
God quite clearly knew what Balak wanted but Balaam could not curse Israel because they were God’s chosen people, and he used Balaam to tell Balak that Israel would be increased in size and would not be defeated by Balak. Balak was understandably annoyed – I paid a lot of money for you to curse them, and you have blessed them. (v11,12)
Balaam, somewhat reluctantly, replied that he could only tell Balak what God said. Balaam is getting himself into a tight corner, perhaps sooner or later he might realise that he should never have come, and the money wasn’t worth it!
We then come to a second prophecy (v13-17) and Balak takes him to another place where he could only see part of the people and he asks Balaam just to curse a smaller number of Israel when he couldn’t see the whole. Balak is clearly trying to make it a little easier.
He took him to the field of Zophim to the top of Pisgah and again, built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each. Again, Balaam told Balak to remain while he went to speak with the Lord and the Lord put a word in his mouth and told him to go to Balak with this word. (v18-24) “Then he took up his oracle and said: “Rise up, Balak, and hear!
Listen to me, son of Zippor! God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? Behold, I have received a command to bless; He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it. “He has not observed iniquity in Jacob, nor has He seen wickedness in Israel. The LORD his God is with him, And the shout of a King is among them. God brings them out of Egypt; He has strength like a wild ox. “For there is no sorcery against Jacob, Nor any divination against Israel. It now must be said of Jacob and of Israel, ‘Oh, what God has done!’ Look, a people rises like a lioness and lifts itself up like a lion; It shall not lie down until it devours the prey and drinks the blood of the slain.”
God reminds Balak that He is not a man and not a liar or one who changed His mind. What He says He will do and has all power to do it. He told Balak about Israel, His people and that they were blessed, how He had brought them out of Egypt and protected them and that He would keep His word and see them into the Promised Land. He reminds him of his mighty power and strength.
Balak seems utterly frustrated (v25,26) and says to Balaam, “Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all” In other words, don’t do either. I’ve brought you here to curse them, but you are blessing them. Balaam’s answer is really, ‘I can only say what the Lord tells me say.’ I don’t know if he was being sincere or apologetic.
