1And Balaam said to Balak, Build seven altars for me here, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams. 2And Balak did as Balaam had spoken, and Balak and Balaam offered a bull and a ram on each altar. 3And Balaam said to Balak, Stand by your burnt offering, and I will go; perhaps Jehovah will come to meet me, and whatever He shows me I will declare to you. So he went to a barren height. 4And God met Balaam, and he said to Him, I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered on each altar a bull and a ram. 5And Jehovah put a word in Balaam's mouth, and said, Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak. 6And he returned to him, and lo, he was standing by his burnt offering, he and all the rulers of Moab. 7And he took up his parable and said: Balak the king of Moab has brought me from Aram, from the mountains of the east, saying, Come, curse Jacob for me; and come, denounce Israel! 8How shall I curse whom the Mighty God has not cursed? And how shall I denounce whom Jehovah has not denounced? 9For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him. Behold, a people dwelling alone, not being reckoned among the nations. 10Who can count the dust of Jacob, or number one-fourth of Israel? Let my soul die the death of the righteous, and let my end be like his! 11And Balak said to Balaam, What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and lo, you have blessed them to be adored! 12And he answered and said, Must I not take heed to speak what Jehovah has put in my mouth? 13And Balak said to him, Please come with me to another place from which you can see them; you shall see only the extremity of them, and shall not see them all; curse them for me from there. 14And he brought 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. 15And he said to Balak, Stand here by your burnt offering while I meet over there. 16And Jehovah met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak. 17And he came to him, and lo, he was standing by his burnt offering, and the rulers of Moab were with him. And Balak said to him, What has Jehovah spoken? 18And he took up his parable and said: Rise up, Balak, and hear! Listen to me, son of Zippor! 19The Mighty God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should be sorry. Has He said, and shall He not do it? Or has He spoken, and shall He not make it good? 20Behold, I have been chosen to bless; He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it. 21He has not observed trouble in Jacob, nor has He seen toil in Israel. Jehovah his God is with him, and the shout of a King is among them. 22The Mighty God who brings them out of Egypt is like the lofty horns of an oryx. 23For there is no omen against Jacob, nor any divination against Israel. It now must be said of Jacob and of Israel, Oh, what the Mighty God has done! 24Behold, the people rise 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. 25And Balak said to Balaam, Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all! 26And Balaam answered and said to Balak, Did I not speak to you, saying, All that Jehovah speaks, that I must do? 27And Balak said to Balaam, Please come, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will be agreeable in God's eyes for you to curse them for me from there. 28So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, that looks down facing the wilderness. 29And Balaam said to Balak, Build for me here seven altars, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams. 30And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on every altar.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 BALAK'S SACRIFICES. (Num. 23:1-30)
Balaam said unto Balak, Build me here seven altars--Balak, being a heathen, would naturally suppose these altars were erected in honor of Baal, the patron deity of his country. It is evident, from
Num 23:4 that they were prepared for the worship of the true God; although in choosing the high places of Baal as their site and rearing a number of altars (
2Kgs 18:22;
Isa 17:8;
Jer 11:13;
Hos 8:11;
Hos 10:1), instead of one only, as God had appointed, Balaam blended his own superstitions with the divine worship. The heathen, both in ancient and modern times, attached a mysterious virtue to the number seven; and Balaam, in ordering the preparation of so many altars, designed to mystify and delude the king.
3 Stand by thy burnt offering--as one in expectation of an important favor.
peradventure the Lord will come to meet me: and whatsoever he showeth me--that is, makes known to me by word or sign.
he went to an high place--apart by himself, where he might practise rites and ceremonies, with a view to obtain a response of the oracle.
4 God met Balaam--not in compliance with his incantations, but to frustrate his wicked designs and compel him, contrary to his desires and interests, to pronounce the following benediction [
Num 23:8-
Num 23:10].
7 took up his parable--that is, spoke under the influence of inspiration, and in the highly poetical, figurative, and oracular style of a prophet.
brought me from Aram--This word joined with "the mountains of the East," denotes the upper portion of Mesopotamia, lying on the east of Moab. The East enjoyed an infamous notoriety for magicians and soothsayers (
Isa 2:6).
8 How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed?--A divine blessing has been pronounced over the posterity of Jacob; and therefore, whatever prodigies can be achieved by my charms, all magical skill, all human power, is utterly impotent to counteract the decree of God.
9 from the top--literally, "a bare place" on the rocks, to which Balak had taken him, for it was deemed necessary to see the people who were to be devoted to destruction. But that commanding prospect could contribute nothing to the accomplishment of the king's object, for the destiny of Israel was to be a distinct, peculiar people, separated from the rest of the nations in government, religion, customs, and divine protection (
Deut 33:28). So that although I might be able to gratify your wishes against other people, I can do nothing against them (
Exod 19:5;
Lev 20:24).
10 Who can count the dust of Jacob?--an Oriental hyperbole for a very populous nation, as Jacob's posterity was promised to be (
Gen 13:16;
Gen 28:14).
the number of the fourth part of Israel--that is, the camp consisted of four divisions; every one of these parts was formidable in numbers.
Let me die the death of the righteous--Hebrew, "of Jeshurun"; or, the Israelites. The meaning is: they are a people happy, above all others, not only in life, but at death, from their knowledge of the true God, and their hope through His grace. Balaam is a representative of a large class in the world, who express a wish for the blessedness which Christ has promised to His people but are averse to imitate the mind that was in Him.
13 Come, . . . with me unto another place, from whence thou mayest see them--Surprised and disappointed at this unexpected eulogy on Israel, Balak hoped that, if seen from a different point of observation, the prophet would give utterance to different feelings; and so, having made the same solemn preparations, Balaam retired, as before, to wait the divine afflatus.
14 he brought him into the field of Zophim . . . top of Pisgah--a flat surface on the summit of the mountain range, which was cultivated land. Others render it "the field of sentinels," an eminence where some of Balak's guards were posted to give signals [CALMET].
18 Rise up--As Balak was already standing (
Num 23:17), this expression is equivalent to "now attend to me." The counsels and promises of God respecting Israel are unchangeable; and no attempt to prevail on Him to reverse them will succeed, as they may with a man.
21 He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob--Many sins were observed and punished in this people. But no such universal and hopeless apostasy had as yet appeared, to induce God to abandon or destroy them.
the Lord his God is with him--has a favor for them.
and the shout of a king is among them--such joyful acclamations as of a people rejoicing in the presence of a victorious prince.
22 he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn--Israel is not as they were at the Exodus, a horde of poor, feeble, spiritless people, but powerful and invincible as a reem--that is, a rhinoceros (
Job 39:9;
Ps 22:21;
Ps 92:10).
23 Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob--No art can ever prevail against a people who are under the shield of Omnipotence, and for whom miracles have been and yet shall be performed, which will be a theme of admiration in succeeding ages.
26 All that the Lord speaketh, that I must do--a remarkable confession that he was divinely constrained to give utterances different from what it was his purpose and inclination to do.
28 Balak brought Balaam unto the top of Peor--or, Beth-peor (
Deut 3:29), the eminence on which a temple of Baal stood.
that looketh toward Jeshimon--the desert tract in the south of Palestine, on both sides of the Dead Sea.