22:1-20 Moab had not attacked Israel as the people of God had moved north along Moab's eastern border. In fact the Moabites sold the Israelites bread and water (Deut. 2:29). The Moabites probably counted on Sihon, who had formerly defeated Moab, to take care of Israel too (21:26; cf. Judg. 11:25). When Sihon lost, Balak looked for other help. He allied with his neighbors to the southeast, the Midianites.
Israel's victories over the two mighty Amorite kings filled Balak, the King of Moab, with fear (vv. 5-6). He allied with Midian and sent for Balaam, a famous magician, to curse the Israelites. Baalam's town, Pethor (v. 5), was probably the Mesopotamian village of Pitru by the Euphrates River (cf. Deut. 23:4).
Balaam has been a problem for Bible students. On the one hand he appears to have been a pagan, but on the other there are indications that he may have been a believer. Some commentators believe he was an idol-worshipping false prophet whom God compelled against his will to bless Israel. Others hold that he was a true prophet of Yahweh who simply fell before the temptations of ambition and money.
"As a biblical character . . . Balaam appears to be neither fish nor fowl."201
"Was he a sinner or saint? . . . The text of chs. 22-24 is not concerned to pronounce on the matter. Balaam's character is incidental to the story. . . .
"As the old saying goes, The Lord can strike a mighty blow with a crooked stick,' . . ."202
Balaam's name probably came from a Hebrew root meaning "destroyer"or "devourer."His father's name, Beor, apparently came from another word meaning "to burn,""eat off,"or "destroy."The name of Balaam's father suggests that he may have been a sorcerer and may have given Balaam his power as well as his name at birth. However, Balaam may have received his name later in life when his powers with the spirit world became known. In either case Balaam's name suggests that he was a veteran conjurer of curses.
The Old Testament never calls Balaam a prophet or seer but a diviner (soothsayer; Josh. 13:22). This title never describes true prophets of Yahweh. God prohibited divination in Israel (Deut. 18:10-13), and the Israelites regarded it as a serious sin (1 Sam. 15:23; Ezek. 13:23; 2 Kings 17:17) as well as a mark of a false prophet (Ezek. 13:9; 22:28; Jer. 14:14). Balaam customarily sought omens (24:1) to understand the future by divination. He also had a reputation for being able to persuade the gods to take a particular course of action.
Nevertheless Balaam knew Yahweh, submitted to Him, and received revelations from Him (22:8, 13, 18-20, 38; 23:5, 12, 16; 24:1, 13). There are many indications in the narrative that Balaam genuinely feared Yahweh. He seems to have been sincerely sympathetic with the Israelites, and he praised them (23:10).
Balaam's behavior is similar to the Jewish exorcists of Jesus' day who cast out demons in Jesus' name but did not follow Him (Mark 9:38-39; Luke 9:49). He also resembles Simon Magus who was a sorcerer before he professed faith in Christ and submitted to baptism. Simon's fascination with supernatural powers and desire for personal gain diverted him from his Christian commitment (Acts 8:13).
"Balaam is the pagan counterpart to Moses the man of God. The recovery of prophetic texts of Balaam in Aramaic from the sixth century at Deir-'Allah in Jordan shows how very famous this man was in the ancient Near East, even centuries after his death."203
Whether Balaam was a true believer or not, his love of money got him in trouble (2 Pet. 2:15; Jude 11). He served Yahweh, but he also wanted the reward that Balak offered him. At best he was double-minded. This characteristic accounts for the instability of his character and makes Balaam hard to classify with certainty. Balaam died in the Israelites' battle with the Midianites (31:8).
Balaam's importance in Numbers should be obvious in view of the amount of text Moses devoted to his activities (chs. 22-25). His oracles are the focus of this revelation. God announced through these revelations that He would bless Israel and that He would fulfill His promises to the patriarchs. The restatement of these promises was especially appropriate at this moment in Israel's experience. The nation received a reminder that God would give them the land of Canaan west of the Jordan, not just the territories of Sihon and Og. That these messages had come through a man who was not an Israelite but received pay to curse Israel from her enemies would have given the Israelites even greater confidence. The oracles, therefore, not only weakened the will of Israel's enemies in Moab, Midian, and the other Canaanite nations, but they encouraged the Israelites.
Balak acknowledged Balaam's power to bring a real curse.
"Balak believed, in common with the whole of the ancient world, in the real power and operation of the curses, anathemas, and incantations pronounced by priests, soothsayers, and goetoe."204
This power was real, as is clear from the narrative, though the heathen world may have distorted it.
"The custom of cursing an enemy before battle was widespread in the ancient world . . . ."205
"In the ancient Near East it was believed that an enemy could be combatted in two ways: with arms or by means of incantations, and if possible by means of a combination of the two. The incantations are based on the concept that a people and its deity constitute a unit; they seek to force, by means of various kinds of magic, the deity of the enemy to withhold his power from his people. Thus the enemy will be powerless and become an easy prey for the opponent. Moab does not dare use the first means, since Israel has already proven to be superior in military power to Sihon, whom Moab had been forced to acknowledge as their superior in the past. This leaves only the second means; they must find the kind of man who in the Euphrates-Tigris valley is called a baru(seer'). The barubelongs to the priestly class, and his specialty is seeing' what will happen on the basis of phenomena that escape the common person, but are found e.g., in the liver of a ritually slaughtered animal, or in the configuration of drops of oil on water, or in the stars, or in the shape of the clouds. Such barus were believed to be able to influence the will of the gods because of their secret knowledge and mysterious manipulations, and to force the gods to do, or not to do, a given thing."206
Had Balaam been completely faithful to Yahweh he would have sent the messengers home and refused to entertain them again (vv. 7-14). Unfortunately his love for reward led him to compromise later.
". . . from the early part of the narrative, when he first encounters the true God in visions, and in the humorous narrative of the journey on the donkey, Balaam begins to learn what for him was a strange, bizarre, even incomprehensible lesson: An encounter with the God of reality was fundamentally different than anything he had ever known."207
Several types of divination were common in the ancient Near East.
1. Extispicy was the examination of the entrails of a sacrificed sheep by a trained specialist to determine messages from the gods. The intricate arrangements of the internal organs are what believers in this form of divination regarded as indicative of divine revelation.
2. Astrology studied the arrangements of the moon, sun, meteors, planets, and fixed stars to discover the future. Eclipses were particularly significant.
3. Augury was the study of the appearance, movements, and behavior of birds. The seers supposed the direction and manner of flight of birds was revelatory.
4. Kleromancy was divination by means of lots. The various configurations of symbolic objects, actors, and areas yielded a binary ("yes"or "no") answer to a given question.
5. Oneiromancy was revelation by dreams that sometimes contained verbal communication from a god or non-verbal communication. In the latter type certain colors, animals, or activities corresponded to types of misfortune, happiness, or success.
In all the types of divination, fortunetellers used tricks to deceive and impress their clients. They often clothed their predictions in mysterious ambiguous language to cover possible error. Devout Israelites were to reject divination as a way of discovering the likely outcome of events and to rely on God to make known what He wanted them to know.208
Balaam's mind had apparently been dwelling on the reward Balak's messengers had mentioned since he named his price in a clever way (vv. 18-20). He would not go for a large sum, but when his visitors offered a sum larger than what he had mentioned would be inadequate, he reconsidered (v. 18).
God evidently allowed Balaam to go with the messengers because He intended to bless Israel (v. 20). God had previously prohibited him from going (v. 12) because He would not curse Israel. The change was due to God's yielding to Balaam's desire.209Balaam was aware that he must be obedient in revealing God's message whether for good or ill (v. 20). This conviction apparently came to him as a result of God's changed permission. God seems to have been teaching Balaam by these two words that He is the true God who is flexible but all-powerful. Balaam was learning that Yahweh was not like the lesser spirits with whom he had dealt previously.
"The story of Balaam is thus an example of the folly of attempting to destroy the eternal blessing of the people of the Lord."210
22:21-41 Balaam was sensitive to the spirit world. Either he did not sense the presence of the Angel of the Lord or his greed had blinded him to the Angel's presence.
The Angel had drawn his sword (v. 23) symbolic of God's wrath against Balaam for acting as he was doing (cf. Gen. 3:24; Exod. 12:12).
God finally caught Balaam's attention by speaking through the donkey (v. 28; cf. 1 Cor. 1:27). Then he saw the Angel and bowed in submission before Him (v. 31).
". . . even a beast is more capable of discerning things from the higher world, than a man blinded by sinful desires."211
Hopefully Balaam made the connection between his own lack of insight and his donkey's ability to discern God's will.
"We see the prophet Balaam as a blind seer, seeing less than the dumb animal. . . . The long shadow of Moses falls across the pages of the Balaam story even though Moses is never named once. Moses spoke face to face with God (see ch. 12); Balaam does not even know that God is near--but his donkey does!"212
Why did Balaam answer his donkey as though he normally conversed with it (v. 29)? Perhaps spirits had spoken to him through animals previously. Probably the donkey exasperated him to the point that he answered before he realized what he was doing.
"The donkey's acts and words anticipate the problems Balaam is about to face. The ass was caught three times between the angel's sword and Balaam's stick. Soon Balaam will find himself trapped between Balak's demands and God's prohibitions. Through his third encounter with God, Balaam was reminded that God wields a sword and that disobedience means death. So he goes on his way fully committed to declaring God's words rather than submitting to Balak's wishes (35)."213
"The Lord tells Balaam to continue on his journey but to speak only what I tell you' (v. 35). This is the point of the whole chapter: Balaam the pagan mantic will not be able to speak cursing as he had planned. Instead, he would be the most surprised of all; he would be the most remarkable instrument of God in the blessing of his people, Israel."214
Some ancient and modern interpreters have pointed out the similarities and differences between the stories of Balaam's donkey in this pericope and Abraham's binding of Isaac (Gen. 22:1-19). The stories appear in inverse form as a reflection in a mirror. God through Moses may have subtly contrasted Balaam with Abraham to put Balaam in a bad light and to glorify Abraham.215
Balak was a bit put out with Balaam for delaying his arrival. He assumed Balaam's hesitancy was due to doubt concerning Balak's ability to pay him (v. 37).
The sacrifices (v. 40) were probably to secure the favor of Balak's gods.
"The pieces given to Balaam presumably would have included the livers; for as a barudiviner, Balaam was a specialist in liver divination."216
Balak assumed that Balaam would be more susceptible to receiving supernatural power and it would be more effective if he had Israel in view. This is why he took Balaam to places where he could see Israel.
"In order to lay a spell on a people, it was considered necessary to be able to see them, if only in part."217
None of the sites mentioned are identifiable with certainty, but all were around the area where Israel lay camped.
Verse 41 contains one of the first references to Baal worship in the Old Testament.
"Israel struggled with Baal and his worshippers from the beginning to the end of her national history. Baal worship was the most serious challenge and threat to the worship of Yahweh of all the pagan religions in the ancient Near East. This was true because some similarities and some vast differences existed between Baal and Yahweh."218
"Chapters 23 and 24 are two of the brightest chapters in the book of Numbers. Scores of wonderful things are said about Israel, mainly prophetical. The dark sins of the past were forgotten; only happy deliverance from Egypt was cited."219
23:1-12 Balaam offered seven burnt offerings to God on seven separate altars. Pagans as well as Israelites regarded seven as a complete number based on the seven days of creation and seven days of the week. Pagans commonly offered sacrifices on important occasions, as did the Israelites, to secure divine favor and help.
"The most arresting element of the introductory section is in the words God met with him' (v. 4) and the LORD put a message in Balaam's mouth' (v. 5). Despite the pagan and unsavory actions of this ungodly man, the Lord deigns to meet with him and to speak through him. This is utterly remarkable. We often say that God will never use an unclean vessel. This is not quite accurate. God may use whatever vessel he wishes; the issue concerns what happens to an unclean vessel when God has finished using it for his purposes."220
Aram (v. 7) is Mesopotamia, the land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. (Remember Paddan-aram from Genesis?)
Israel was not reckoned among the nations (v. 9) because of her divine vocation in the earth that set her apart from all other peoples.
Israel had increased in number as God had promised Abraham. The Israelites were as numerous as dust from Balaam's perspective (v. 10; cf. Gen. 13:16). The "fourth part of Israel"refers to that quarter of the camp that was closest to Balaam as he prophesied. He could not even count the quarter of the nation that was closest to him. This is another indication, besides the number of Israelite males counted in each tribe, that Israel was about two million strong at this time.
"The account of Pharaoh's first attempt [to suppress God's blessing of Israel in Egypt] (Ex 1:11-14) is intended to show that the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread' (Ex 1:12). In his first oracle Balaam focused precisely on this point: How can I curse those whom God had not cursed?' (Nu 22[sic]:8), and he concluded by stressing the phenomenal growth of God's people: Who can count the dust of Jacob or number the fourth part of Israel?' (22[sic]:10)."221
Balak became disappointed and angry because he expected that Balaam would control the gods. Balaam acknowledged that the God of Israel controlled him. Balak concluded that the site was not conducive to his purpose so he took Balaam to another place hoping that the spirits might be more favorable there.
This first oracle was not as specific as those that follow, but it did reveal that Yahweh was backing Israel rather than Moab. The fulfillment of the promise to multiply Abraham's seedstands out in this oracle (v. 10).
23:13-26 The new site afforded a better view of Israel, though the whole nation was still not in view. Balak repeated the same ritual of sacrifice.
God does not change His ultimate purposes or go back on His solemn promises. He does, of course, respond to the words and actions of people by adjusting His plans. It is from God's larger purposes that He does not "repent"(v. 19).222The point is that God is not fickle. No one can induce Him to curse those whom He has chosen to bless.
"Balaam is constantly shifting, prevaricating, equivocating, changing--he is himself the prime example of the distinction between God and man."223
"It may be of interest to note that Pharaoh's plans were stymied by the apparent deception of the Hebrew midwives and that in Balaam's second oracle he states, God is not a man, that he should lie' (Nu 23:19)."224
God had "not observed misfortune [iniquity] in Jacob"to the extent that He would curse rather than bless the nation (v. 21). Obviously Israel had sinned, but her sins were not sufficient to change God's ultimate purpose to bless her.
"Only in the family is the sinfulness of the people addressed. Since Yahweh the King is in their midst, they are invincible from outside attack."225
Israel would be victorious in battle as well as enjoy God's blessing (v. 24; cf. Gen. 49:9; Mic. 5:8). This was the opposite of what Balak wanted to hear.
Since Balaam's curses had turned out to be blessings Balak instructed Balaam to say nothing rather than continue to prophesy.
This oracle, as the first, began with a criticism of Balak's theological assumption that people can manipulate God. In this oracle Balaam saw Israel blessed and God as King walking among His people (v. 21). The Exodus was the supreme example of God's care for Israel (v. 22). Israel's future would be bright just as her past had been (vv. 23-24). Balaam also alluded to Israel's possession of the landas God had promised Abraham (v. 26).226
23:27-24:14 Still hopeful Balak took Balaam to a third site from which he could view the whole of the Israelite camp. Again he offered sacrifices as before.
Balaam had learned that God would bless Israel even though Balak had not. Consequently this time he did not seek indications of the will of God in omens as he had done previously (v. 1). He simply proclaimed the message the Holy Spirit revealed to him (v. 2).
Balaam intended his opening words (vv. 3-4) to impress upon Balak that the Almighty God had inspired his oracle.
The phrase "falling down, yet having his eyes uncovered"(found also in v. 16), ". . . has usually been interpreted as describing the particular state in which the prophet-seer received his revelations (e.g., that he was in a prophetic trance or sleep . . . or was falling down in awe, or in the overpowering presence of the spirit of prophecy . . .)."227
In the article just cited, the author went on to suggest the translation "pared or peeled of eye(s)"(vv. 4, 16), which is possible grammatically.
Balaam pictured Israel as a man carrying two buckets overflowing with water (v. 7). Water was the source of material prosperity and blessing in the hot and arid Near East. Israel's seed would enjoy the richest blessing (i.e., would grow up beside many waters).
"In an ironic reversal of the evil intended by Pharaoh's order to cast the seed of Abraham into the river, Balaam's third oracle uses the well-watered gardens that spread out along the banks of a river to speak of the abundance of Israel's seed.' A literal reading of Balaam's remark in Numbers 24:7 is Their seed is in the abundant waters' . . . Thus what was once the intended means for the destruction of the promised seed, that is, the abundant waters,' has now become the poetic image of God's faithfulness to his promise."228
"Agag"(v. 7) was the title of the kings of the Amalekites or the name of several Amalekite kings, perhaps a dynasty (cf. Gen. 20:1-2; 26:1; Josh. 11:1; Judg. 4:2). Balaam may have used it here as the personification of Israel's enemies. King Saul later defeated another Agag (1 Sam. 15:8).
"It is clear from Numbers 23:24 that Balaam is speaking about the people of Israel and the exodus from Egypt. In 24:8, however, Balaam repeats the same line and applies it, using singular forms, to the king he has introduced in 24:7: God brought him [singular] out of Egypt; he has the strength of a wild ox.'
"The writer's purpose appears to be to view the reign of the future king in terms taken from God's great acts of salvation in the past. The future is going to be like the past. What God did for Israel in the past is seen as a type of what he will do for them in the future when he sends his promised king."229
"The stunning climax is in the blessing of God on all who bless Israel [v. 9; cf. v. 17; Gen. 12:3; 27:29; 49:9]. This, of course, takes us back to the original promise of God to Abram. The irony cannot be missed by Balaam or by any who hear his words. In his actions he brings a curse on his own head, even as he speaks blessing!"230
Balak sent Balaam home without pay because he failed to produce the curse Balak had hired him to deliver.
This oracle is even stronger than the preceding two. As Balaam had alluded to other aspects of the Abrahamic promises previously (23:10, 24) here the blessingaspect concludes this oracle (v. 9; cf. Gen. 12:3; 27:29).
"Like Pharaoh before him, Balak also made three attempts to thwart God's blessing for Israel (23:1-12, 13-26; 23:27-24:9), and each attempt was turned into a blessing (23:11-12, 25-26; 24:10-11)."231
24:15-19 Before Balaam departed he gave Balak four more revelations from God. They dealt with the future of Israel, Moab, and Israel's other neighbors. They were entirely futuristic in their prophecies. Each one began with the phrase "took up his discourse and said."In all Baalam made seven discourses that Moses recorded in the text.
The fourth oracle dealt with Israel, Moab, and Edom. Balaam seemed to sense that what he predicted would take place in the distant future: "I see him, but not now, . . ."(v. 17).
Saul and David partially fulfilled these prophecies. However Jewish and Christian interpreters have seen them as looking beyond the early monarchy to Messiah at His first and second advents.
The "star"(v. 17) was a common symbol for a king in biblical and non-biblical ancient Near Eastern literature (cf. Isa. 14:12; Ezek. 32:7; Rev. 22:16).232This identification finds support in the reference to the "scepter"in the next line (cf. Gen. 49:10; Amos 1:5, 8; Ps. 45:6). One wonders if it might have been this prophecy that was in the minds of the three wise men who came from Balaam's country to Bethlehem to look for the promised King of the Jews (Matt. 2:1-2).
"If . . . we compare Balaam's prophesy of the star . . . and the sceptre . . . with the prediction of the patriarch Jacob, of the sceptre that should not depart from Judah, till the Shilohcame whom the nations would obey (Gen. xlix. 10), it is easy to observe that Balaam not only foretold more clearly the attitude of Israel to the nations of the world, and the victory of the kingdom of God over every hostile kingdom of the world; but that he also proclaimed the Bringer of Peace expected by Jacob at the end of the days to be a mighty ruler, whose sceptre would break in pieces and destroy all the enemies of the nation of God."233
"An interesting implication of the parallels presented here between the account of the birth of Moses in Exodus 2 and the announcement of the star' to arise from the family of Jacob in Numbers 24 is that Moses thus appears to be portrayed in these narratives as a prototype of the star of Jacob.' Such a view of Moses is consistent with the fact that elsewhere in the Pentateuch Moses is cast as a figure of the coming king (Dt 33:5) and prophet (Dt 18 and 34). This is also consistent with the fact that later biblical writers often saw in Moses a picture of the future Messiah (e.g., Hos 2:2)."234
"Seir"(v. 18) is another name for Edom. Mt. Seir was the principle geographical feature of Edom. God at first commanded Israel not to wage war with Edom because the Edomites were her kinsmen. As time passed, the Edomites became bitter antagonists of the Israelites. God punished them for this enmity beginning in David's reign and after that (2 Sam. 8:14; 1 Kings 11:15-16; 1 Chron. 18:12-13). In the years following David's reign Edom was alternately subject to Israel's kings and free. Edom attacked Israel several times, but John Hyrcanus eventually conquered her in 129 B.C. Thereafter Edom ceased to exist as a nation. Edomites lived among the Jews until Titus the Roman destroyed the Jewish nation in A.D. 70. The Greeks called the Edomites Idumeans. Herod the Great was an Idumean. He tried to kill the infant Messiah as Pharaoh had tried to slay baby Moses (Matt. 2:1-12).
24:20 This oracle deals with the Amalekites who lived in southern Canaan and the Sinai peninsula and were implacable foes of Israel (cf. Exod. 17:8-16; Num. 14:43-45; Judg. 6:3, 33; et al.). Saul and David both defeated the Amalekites (1 Sam. 15:18; 30:17), but this nation finally suffered complete destruction in King Hezekiah's time in fulfillment of this prophecy (1 Chron. 4:43).
24:21-22 The Kenites, who were identical to or part of the Midianites, were Israel's neighbors to the southwest of the Dead Sea (cf. 10:29; Judg. 1:16; 1 Sam. 15:6; 27:10; 30:29). The Asshurites who lived in the northern Sinai (Gen. 25:3, 18; 2 Sam. 2:9) and the Assyrians eventually defeated them. "Asshur"may refer to either or both of these nations. Probably Balaam prophesied concerning the future great Assyrian Empire.
"Why the Kenites come under attack here is not sure, except that it is possible that they became associated with the Midianites who come under the scourge of Israel (Num 31). The mention of Assyria is also a surprise, as its ascendancy to power in the ancient Near East was centuries away from Balaam's day; yet Assyria was known as a powerful city-state even in Abraham's day."235
24:23-25 The final prophetic oracle deals with the overthrow of other powers of the ancient world. "Kittim"refers to Cyprus as representative of western powers (the Philistines, Greeks, Romans, and others at various times). "Asshur"here probably refers to the eastern Semites including the Assyrians. "Eber"includes the western Semites descended from Eber (Gen. 10:21) who settled in Canaan excluding the Israelites. Thus verse 24 is a very broad prophecy ranging over thousands of years foretelling the ultimate destruction of these Semites by western powers. Final fulfillment awaits the Tribulation period and the second advent of Messiah.
Balaam returned to "his place,"perhaps in Ammon or Mesopotamia (31:8, 16; Josh. 13:22).236
In summary, the first three oracles were a reconfirmation of the Abrahamic promises to Israel and a testimony to their partial fulfillment thus far in Israel's history.
Oracle 1: seed promise (23:10)
Oracle 2: land promise (23:24)
Oracle 3: blessing promise (24:9)
In each case the allusion to the promise concludes these oracles. The writer showed that God's promise to bless those nations that blessed Abraham's descendants and curse those who cursed them was reliable. The key to the future prosperity of Israel's neighbor nations was their treatment of God's chosen people.
The fourth through seventh oracles differ from the others in that they looked farther down the corridors of time. They prophesied the success of Israel in the years ahead culminating in Israel's ultimate glory under her great Messiah's reign.
"Not only do the Balaam narratives play an important role in developing the themes of the Abrahamic covenant, but they also serve as an inclusioto the Exodus-wilderness narratives. That is, the Balaam narratives restate the central themes of these narratives at their conclusion in a way that parallels the statement of these themes at their beginning.
"The Balaam story, which lies at the close of Israel's sojourn in the wilderness, parallels many of the events and ideas of the story of Pharaoh at the beginning of the book of Exodus."237
