Numbers 23. Balaam’s First and Second Oracle

Balaam’s First Oracle

And Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me here seven altars, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.” ² Balak did as Balaam had said. And Balak and Balaam offered on each altar a bull and a ram. 

• Balaam starts at Bamoth-baal (“High places of Baal”) (from previous chapter)
• Balaam tries to please God with using seven altars with seven sacrifices
  • How did he know seven is pleasing to God?

³ And Balaam said to Balak, “Stand beside your burnt offering, and I will go. Perhaps the Lord will come to meet me, and whatever he shows me I will tell you.” And he went to a bare height, ⁴ and God met Balaam.

• Again narrator uses “God” as He meets Balaam instead of YHWH
• Balaam knows what a ‘burnt offering’ is.

And Balaam said to him, “I have arranged the seven altars and I have offered on each altar a bull and a ram.” ⁵ And the Lord put a word in Balaam’s mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.” 

• Interesting that God did not say this offering was pleasing to him.

⁶ And he returned to him, and behold, he and all the princes of Moab were standing beside his burnt offering. ⁷ And Balaam took up his discourse and said,

“From Aram Balak has brought me,
    the king of Moab from the eastern mountains:
‘Come, curse Jacob for me,
    and come, denounce Israel!’
⁸ How can I curse whom God has not cursed?
    How can I denounce whom the Lord has not denounced?

• Notice the parallel phrases
  • “Curse, curse Jacob” and “denounce Israel”
  • “How can I curse….” “How can I denounce…?”

⁹ For from the top of the crags I see him,
    from the hills I behold him
behold, a people dwelling alone,
    and not counting itself among the nations!

• More parallel phrases
  • “I see him…” “I behold him”
  • “dwelling alone…” “not counting itself…”

¹⁰ Who can count the dust of Jacob
    or number the fourth part of Israel?
Let me die the death of the upright,
    and let my end be like his!”

• “count the dust…” “number the fourth…”
  • God told both Abraham and Jacob their offspring would be “dust of the earth”
• Oracle 1: Israel will not be cursed

¹¹ And Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have done nothing but bless them.” ¹² And he answered and said, “Must I not take care to speak what the Lord puts in my mouth?”

• Balaam doesn’t lie to Balak

Balaam’s Second Oracle

¹³ And Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place, from which you may see them. You shall see only a fraction of them and shall not see them all. Then curse them for me from there.” ¹⁴ And he took him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar. 

• Balak takes Balaam to a second place The field of Zophim on the top of Pisgah
  • For some reason he thought changing the location would lead to a better oracle

¹⁵ Balaam said to Balak, “Stand here beside your burnt offering, while I meet the Lord over there.” ¹⁶ And the Lord met Balaam and put a word in his mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and thus shall you speak.” ¹

• Here the narrator changes back to YHWH meeting Balaam.

⁷ And he came to him, and behold, he was standing beside his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him. And Balak said to him, “What has the Lord spoken?” ¹⁸ And Balaam took up his discourse and said,

“Rise, Balak, and hear;
    give ear to me, O son of Zippor:
¹⁹ God is not man, that he should lie,
    or a son of man, that he should change his mind.

• More parallels in this oracle…can you find them all?

Has he said, and will he not do it?
    Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?
²⁰ Behold, I received a command to bless:
    he has blessed, and I cannot revoke it.
²¹ He has not beheld misfortune in Jacob,
    nor has he seen trouble in Israel.
The Lord their God is with them,
    and the shout of a king is among them.
²² God brings them out of Egypt
    and is for them like the horns of the wild ox.
²³ For there is no enchantment against Jacob,
    no divination against Israel;
now it shall be said of Jacob and Israel,
    ‘What has God wrought!’
²⁴ Behold, a people! As a lioness it rises up
    and as a lion it lifts itself;
it does not lie down until it has devoured the prey
    and drunk the blood of the slain.”

• Oracle 2: God is unshakable
• King James Version says “unicorn” instead of “ox” in verse 22!
  • The Hebrew word is רְאֵם (reʾem). It refers to a horned animal, usually translated to ox.  For some reason, the Greek Septuagint used μονόκερως (monokerōs) which means “one-horned.” This is especially confusing because Deuteronomy 33:17 says “re’em” specifically have multiple horns. 

²⁵ And Balak said to Balaam, “Do not curse them at all, and do not bless them at all.” ²⁶ But Balaam answered Balak, “Did I not tell you, ‘All that the Lord says, that I must do’?” ²⁷ And Balak said to Balaam, “Come now, I will take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God that you may curse them for me from there.” ²⁸ So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, which overlooks the desert. ²⁹ And Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me here seven altars and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.” ³⁰ And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

• Balak takes Balaam to a THIRD place- the top of Peor (that looks toward the desert)