1Entonces Balaam dijo a Balac: —Edifícame aquí siete altares, y prepárame siete toros y siete carneros. 2Balac hizo como le dijo Balaam, y ofrecieron Balac y Balaam un toro y un carnero en cada altar. 3Luego dijo Balaam a Balac: —Quédate de pie junto a tu holocausto, y yo me iré; quizás suceda que Jehovah me venga al encuentro. Cualquier cosa que me muestre, te la avisaré. Y él se fue a un cerro. 4Luego Dios vino al encuentro de Balaam, y éste le dijo: —Siete altares he preparado, y en cada altar he ofrecido un toro y un carnero como holocausto. 5Entonces Jehovah puso palabra en la boca de Balaam y le dijo: —Vuelve a donde está Balac, y háblale así… 6Después volvió a Balac. Y he aquí que éste estaba de pie junto a su holocausto, él y todos los principales de Moab. 7Entonces Balaam pronunció su profecía y dijo: "Desde Siria me trajo Balac, rey de Moab, desde las montañas del oriente. ‘Ven’, dijo; ‘maldíceme a Jacob. Ven; condena a Israel.’ 8"¿Cómo he de maldecir a quien Dios no maldice? ¿Y cómo he de condenar al que Jehovah no condena? 9Porque desde la cumbre de las peñas lo veo; desde las colinas lo diviso. He aquí un pueblo que ha de habitar solitario y que no ha de ser contado entre las naciones. 10¿Quién contará el polvo de Jacob? ¿Quién calculará la polvareda de Israel? ¡Muera yo la muerte de los justos, y sea mi final como el suyo!" 11Entonces Balac dijo a Balaam: —¿Qué me has hecho? ¡Te he tomado para que maldigas a mis enemigos, y he aquí tú los has colmado de bendiciones! 12El respondió diciendo: —¿Acaso no he de tener cuidado de hablar lo que Jehovah ponga en mi boca? 13Entonces Balac le dijo: —Por favor, ven conmigo a otro lugar desde el cual lo puedas ver. Sólo verás un extremo de él; no lo verás todo. Maldícemelo desde allí. 14Entonces lo llevó al campo de Zofim, en la cumbre del Pisga, y allí edificó siete altares y ofreció en holocausto un toro y un carnero en cada altar. 15Y Balaam dijo a Balac: —Ponte aquí junto a tu holocausto, y yo iré a encontrarme con él allá. 16Entonces Jehovah vino al encuentro de Balaam y puso palabra en su boca, diciéndole: —Vuelve a donde está Balac, y háblale así… 17Después volvió a Balac, y he aquí que éste estaba de pie junto a su holocausto, y con él los principales de Moab. Y Balac le preguntó: —¿Qué ha dicho Jehovah? 18Entonces él pronunció su profecía y dijo: "Balac, levántate y escucha; préstame atención, oh hijo de Zipor. 19Dios no es hombre para que mienta, ni hijo de hombre para que se arrepienta. El dijo, ¿y no lo hará? Habló, ¿y no lo cumplirá? 20He aquí, yo he recibido la orden de bendecir. El ha bendecido, y no lo puedo revocar. 21"El no ha notado iniquidad en Jacob, ni ha visto maldad en Israel. Jehovah su Dios está con él; en medio de él hay júbilo de rey. 22Dios, que lo ha sacado de Egipto, es para él como los cuernos de un toro salvaje. 23No hay encantamiento contra Jacob, ni adivinación contra Israel. Ahora se dirá de Jacob y de Israel: ‘¡Lo que Dios ha hecho!’ 24¡He aquí un pueblo que se levanta como leona, que se yergue como león! No se echará hasta que coma la presa y beba la sangre de los que ha matado." 25Entonces Balac dijo a Balaam: —Ya que no lo maldices, ¡por lo menos no lo bendigas! 26Luego Balaam respondió y dijo a Balac: —¿No te he dicho que todo lo que Jehovah diga, eso he de hacer? 27Y Balac dijo a Balaam: —Por favor, ven; te llevaré a otro lugar. Quizás parezca bien a Dios que me los maldigas desde allí. 28Balac llevó a Balaam a la cumbre de Peor que mira hacia Jesimón. 29Entonces Balaam dijo a Balac: —Edifícame aquí siete altares, y prepárame aquí siete toros y siete carneros. 30Balac hizo como le dijo Balaam, y ofreció un toro y un carnero en cada 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.